BLU Vivo 5: Who's getting one?
- Thread starter anon(123479)
- Start date
itguyjax8430
Retired Moderator
I have been pondering it, let us know how it is. I have the Vivo XL and love it. I'm interested in how the 5 is.
I am getting mine tomorrow as well. I am not too concerned about band 12 or 17. I am on tmobile and 2 and 4 is what I need for LTE. Not sure how it will be in real life but the reviews look very promising.
There is another thread on Blu Vivo 5 or Honor 5x too here. I listed the reasons why I ended up buying the Blu.
Will comment on how it goes overtime.
Posted via the Android Central App
There is another thread on Blu Vivo 5 or Honor 5x too here. I listed the reasons why I ended up buying the Blu.
Will comment on how it goes overtime.
Posted via the Android Central App
I got mine today. I love it! I like having 3 gig's of ram, 32 gig's of storage and 64 gig's of SD card storage. Not one lag or hiccup from this phone. Just love it.
Posted via the Android Central App
Posted via the Android Central App
I just got mine yesterday and now testing to determine if will keep it as my daily driver. I will update here over the next few days on how it goes. So far:
1) The phone build quality is very good. Its just like the videos and reviews out there say. Basically, looks like an IPhone. The screen is also very good. And while I know some reviews commented its too low, I think its fine combined with the AMOLED screen. However, don't expect the screen to look like a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus which costs $700 bucks. There is a small black border around the screen at all times (like the Honor 5X). Would have preferred this not to be the case---but I can live with it for $200 bucks.
2) Ringtones. You will have to download or make your own. It comes with very few and once you change them its almost impossible to find the default ones from Blu again---I am still looking into this. <Resolved. There are ringtones. However there is an unusual way to assign them to Messages or Ringer. By default all your songs the phone are imported into the pool of Ringtones. And way at the bottom are a list of system ringtones. You need to select the tone and then tell it if its for Messages or Ringer><There are about 15-20 choices and are pretty decent sounding>.
3) There is a blue, green, and red LED notification light at the top. Blue when charging, green when fully charged or a notification came in, and red when the battery is low. It is tiny and hidden. It helps when close to the phone but a bit to small to see from faraway for sure.
4) APN settings. It comes with too many and Net 10 as the default. You will need to add your specific carrier's (mine is T-mobile) APN settings (there is an OTA update that comes up right away too but for now I did not install it and relied on manual settings). I deleted all the others that don't apply to me and rebooted my phone. (I later tested the OTA update and it worked perfectly).
5) With 96 apps installed and a SIM card, so far the performance is as in review videos. Very good.
6) Battery life outstanding. 5 hours on screen time with 20% left. No social media or gaming, mostly texts, few calls, lots of web surfing, youtube, hulu, music playing. By far the best battery life I have ever experienced----with power saver mode on.
7) I was worried about 4G LTE on Tmobile not working well. However, once I had the APN set to Tmobile everything was as normal (compared to my Moto G 2015).
8) There is some bloatware. I think around five programs...Opera, Theme Park, Blu Help, Chamelon, File Explorer. nothing major here. But it is bloat.
9) The camera app is kinds of cool. It has more features than you would expect and more manual controls. I wish it had dual flash. Again the camera is decent and on par with my Moto G3----its not Samsung S6---but its not useless either. Outside with a steady hand and you are happy. Indoors with light happy. Low light not so happy. Ability to play with settings and the auto focus/leveler very happy.
Camera app is very cool its got advanced setting I have never had before. It is hard to dedcribe but you can do way more with it than stock androud app...very useful enhanced features. This should be the standard app on all phones. You can beautify, make animated gifs, take HDR, apply gilters, it dtects your face and lets you ehiten terth, make faces thinner, has very fsst focus, too many things to say. Just impressive.
Only thing that seems to be missing is SLO MO in video recording. Unless I just cant find it?
10) Bluetooth in the car works fine. Connected quick and downloaded my contacts with no problems.
11) Call quality seems pretty good. On par with other phones I've used. On a busy street or via bluetooth I can hear people fine and they can hear me. I do miss Android 6 dialer a bit in terms of quick dials. I highly doubt Blu will update to Andoird 6 (Marshmallow) but I can live with it.
12) It has one speaker at the bottom and it is loud and clear. Would be nice to have two but its fine to listen to music or speaker phone calls.
13) Inserting the sim and sd card is a bit tricky. Once you get it in your fine but it take a little coordination. I always had two separate slots for each so maybe this is why I had more trouble on this phone.
14) ISSUE: At 15% battery if you installed a custom app drawer, it stops working! This means you lose access to your apps. I am still testing this but it happens using APEX Launcher. I think since the phone is designed to not have an app drawer when the battery gets low it treats it like its non-essential.
RESOLVED: After clicking the App Drawer icon. When it looks like nothing happened or apps are not displayed, simply swipe left to see the Apps (they slide in). Weird but it works.
15) The metal housing won't stick to a magnet. So if you have a cell phone holder that uses a magnet it won't stick direct tot the body.
16) There is only one key issue that I have found. It seems there is no eay to turn Power Management Battery Saver on or off. It is set always on and kicks in at 15% with no eay to adjust the %.
Since this is a rebranded Gionee S6 by Blu, I checked Gionee manual and it has the option. So seems like a miss from Blu? Or they decided to keep it always on. The S6 comes with a System Manager app thst Blu doex not include I am wondering if finding and installing it could be a solution.
17) OK so this is my last entry. Verdict I am keeping the phone. There are only two minor issues for me:
1. The battery saver at 15% can't be toggled or switched off---at least on my Gold version.
2. The notification sound's volume can not be adjusted. Or at least when I made a custom sound and applied it to Messages/Notifications this turned out to be the case. So its either on or off. <Note: This is resolved. Its tied to the Ringer Volume>
17) No issues on Win 10. Plugin via USB cord, and the phone automatically displays the drivers needed from the phone. Install and you can move files back and forth. Just nice and simple.
Will stop updating now.
1) The phone build quality is very good. Its just like the videos and reviews out there say. Basically, looks like an IPhone. The screen is also very good. And while I know some reviews commented its too low, I think its fine combined with the AMOLED screen. However, don't expect the screen to look like a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus which costs $700 bucks. There is a small black border around the screen at all times (like the Honor 5X). Would have preferred this not to be the case---but I can live with it for $200 bucks.
2) Ringtones. You will have to download or make your own. It comes with very few and once you change them its almost impossible to find the default ones from Blu again---I am still looking into this. <Resolved. There are ringtones. However there is an unusual way to assign them to Messages or Ringer. By default all your songs the phone are imported into the pool of Ringtones. And way at the bottom are a list of system ringtones. You need to select the tone and then tell it if its for Messages or Ringer><There are about 15-20 choices and are pretty decent sounding>.
3) There is a blue, green, and red LED notification light at the top. Blue when charging, green when fully charged or a notification came in, and red when the battery is low. It is tiny and hidden. It helps when close to the phone but a bit to small to see from faraway for sure.
4) APN settings. It comes with too many and Net 10 as the default. You will need to add your specific carrier's (mine is T-mobile) APN settings (there is an OTA update that comes up right away too but for now I did not install it and relied on manual settings). I deleted all the others that don't apply to me and rebooted my phone. (I later tested the OTA update and it worked perfectly).
5) With 96 apps installed and a SIM card, so far the performance is as in review videos. Very good.
6) Battery life outstanding. 5 hours on screen time with 20% left. No social media or gaming, mostly texts, few calls, lots of web surfing, youtube, hulu, music playing. By far the best battery life I have ever experienced----with power saver mode on.
7) I was worried about 4G LTE on Tmobile not working well. However, once I had the APN set to Tmobile everything was as normal (compared to my Moto G 2015).
8) There is some bloatware. I think around five programs...Opera, Theme Park, Blu Help, Chamelon, File Explorer. nothing major here. But it is bloat.
9) The camera app is kinds of cool. It has more features than you would expect and more manual controls. I wish it had dual flash. Again the camera is decent and on par with my Moto G3----its not Samsung S6---but its not useless either. Outside with a steady hand and you are happy. Indoors with light happy. Low light not so happy. Ability to play with settings and the auto focus/leveler very happy.
Camera app is very cool its got advanced setting I have never had before. It is hard to dedcribe but you can do way more with it than stock androud app...very useful enhanced features. This should be the standard app on all phones. You can beautify, make animated gifs, take HDR, apply gilters, it dtects your face and lets you ehiten terth, make faces thinner, has very fsst focus, too many things to say. Just impressive.
Only thing that seems to be missing is SLO MO in video recording. Unless I just cant find it?
10) Bluetooth in the car works fine. Connected quick and downloaded my contacts with no problems.
11) Call quality seems pretty good. On par with other phones I've used. On a busy street or via bluetooth I can hear people fine and they can hear me. I do miss Android 6 dialer a bit in terms of quick dials. I highly doubt Blu will update to Andoird 6 (Marshmallow) but I can live with it.
12) It has one speaker at the bottom and it is loud and clear. Would be nice to have two but its fine to listen to music or speaker phone calls.
13) Inserting the sim and sd card is a bit tricky. Once you get it in your fine but it take a little coordination. I always had two separate slots for each so maybe this is why I had more trouble on this phone.
14) ISSUE: At 15% battery if you installed a custom app drawer, it stops working! This means you lose access to your apps. I am still testing this but it happens using APEX Launcher. I think since the phone is designed to not have an app drawer when the battery gets low it treats it like its non-essential.
RESOLVED: After clicking the App Drawer icon. When it looks like nothing happened or apps are not displayed, simply swipe left to see the Apps (they slide in). Weird but it works.
15) The metal housing won't stick to a magnet. So if you have a cell phone holder that uses a magnet it won't stick direct tot the body.
16) There is only one key issue that I have found. It seems there is no eay to turn Power Management Battery Saver on or off. It is set always on and kicks in at 15% with no eay to adjust the %.
Since this is a rebranded Gionee S6 by Blu, I checked Gionee manual and it has the option. So seems like a miss from Blu? Or they decided to keep it always on. The S6 comes with a System Manager app thst Blu doex not include I am wondering if finding and installing it could be a solution.
17) OK so this is my last entry. Verdict I am keeping the phone. There are only two minor issues for me:
1. The battery saver at 15% can't be toggled or switched off---at least on my Gold version.
2. The notification sound's volume can not be adjusted. Or at least when I made a custom sound and applied it to Messages/Notifications this turned out to be the case. So its either on or off. <Note: This is resolved. Its tied to the Ringer Volume>
17) No issues on Win 10. Plugin via USB cord, and the phone automatically displays the drivers needed from the phone. Install and you can move files back and forth. Just nice and simple.
Will stop updating now.
Last edited:
My thoughts exactly on the small black border around the screen. But, I quickly forget about it when using it. It's a beautiful phone. I'm using it as my daily driver. I like how the notification led is hidden on the front screen.
The super hd amoled is stunning.
Posted via the Android Central App
The super hd amoled is stunning.
Posted via the Android Central App
Last edited:
Erika Y
Member
Of what exactly? Just the physical phone, battery stats, leds? Help me understand what you are looking for?
Erika Y
Member
Here are some photos. I installed Apex launcher and use Minimal Text to customize my phone-----so this is why it looks different on the lock screen and home screen.
Are there detailed instructions available online regarding changing the APN settings specific to this phone?
Its easy to set manually for your carrier (just some typing in fields). The info is on your carrier website.
But when you buy the phone and turn it on it will ask you to update. I tried this too and it worked perfect Meaning it will fix the apn for you too.
Posted via the Android Central App
But when you buy the phone and turn it on it will ask you to update. I tried this too and it worked perfect Meaning it will fix the apn for you too.
Posted via the Android Central App
How much, if any, benefit is there to going in and deleting all the unneeded APN profiles/settings? I can't imagine they take up much space, so does it somehow free or speed things up in a positive way? Thanks again!
Thanks for your review. For a $200 phone, the camera is outstanding. Beautiful pictures. I also like the setting to display network speed on the status bar. I'm on AT&T and I get 4G LTE in most areas.
Posted via the Android Central App
Posted via the Android Central App
No benefit. But no point in keeping extra profiles either. If you use the OTA update it will remove them and install only ghe one that applies to your carrier.
No harm leaving them if you dnd up manualky adding your APN too.
Posted via the Android Central App
Very surprised by the camera and all the extra features. Obviiusly, reviewers do not spend time tinkerinh long enough or they would mention this. The best shot mode makes a big difference and ability to make quick animated gifs and text ghem is a hoot.
Posted via the Android Central App
Erika Y
Member
I just got this phone yesterday, and it's pretty great. The colors on the screen just pop, it looks really great. It's very fast, I haven't seen any lag. The camera seems decent, and it has alot of options. Gaming is great, I played Gangster Vegas and the banner Saga just fine. All in all, it's a great phone.
Also, i have the silver version, and it looks really nice!
Also, i have the silver version, and it looks really nice!
Agree on all your points. Did you see my post above which I keep updating. There is only one issue regarding Power Saver kicking in at 15%---any idea how to change this setting. seems like we are forced to live with it stuck on and at 15%?
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