Having already announced several smartphones in the new year, U.S. manufacturer Blu announced the Tank Xtreme 5.0, the latest in the company’s line of rugged and affordable phones.
Unlike the Vivo XL2, which looks flashy with its rear-panel micro pattern, the Tank Xtreme 5.0 was not built to please the eyes. Instead, the latter was built to take a beating, and its IP65 certification for dust protection and water-resistance help with that billing. More specifically, while the Tank Xtreme 5.0 is completely protected against dust and water jets from any direction. This does not mean you can fully immerse the phone and expect it to survive the ordeal every time, though it should stand up to rain and the occasional drop just fine.
Going back to design, the Tank Xtreme 5.0 can only be described as functional. The phone’s looks might not catch the eye, but that rubber frame does a better job with shock absorption than the plastic utilized for its peers. The rubber frame and plastic body house a 5-inch, 1,280 x 720 resolution display, as well as the 5-megapixel selfie and rear cameras.
Under the hood, MediaTek’s 1.3GHz quad-core MT6580 chipset and 1GB RAM power the phone, with the meager 8GB of native storage augmented by up to an additional 64GB through the MicroSD card slot. Blu promises that the phone’s 3,000mAh battery will last two and a half days with “standard usage,” and given the humble specs, we are inclined to believe that metric.
Not as impressive is Blu’s decision to ship the Tank Xtreme 5.0 with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, a disappointment given Nougat’s availability since August 2016.
If you want the latest and greatest from Google, however, it is doubtful you will settle for the Tank Xtreme 5.0. Rather, you’ll want this phone for its rugged and affordable nature. Speaking of the latter, the phone is currently available through Amazon for $130 unlocked, but keep in mind the phone will only work on GSM carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and others.
