Blu Vivo 6

There are a lot of manufacturers looking toward the low priced yet premium phone space, but Blu is one of the only companies trying to do that from within the US.

Founded in 2009, Blu has been impressing Americans with its range of devices - which are designed in the country but manufactured in China - over the last few years.

The Blu Vivo 6 marks the very first time the brand has come to the UK, and this phone is exclusively available on this side of the pond.

It packs some high-end specs, but comes with a lower price than you may expect from looking at it.

Blu Vivo 6 price and release date 

• Out now in the UK
• Originally cost £184.99, but the price went up to £239.99
• Now cheaper on Amazon at £179.99

You can buy the Vivo 6 right now, but only in the UK currently. Blu listed the phone on Amazon at £184.99 on Black Friday, but the price then went back up to £239.99.

Since then, the price has dropped down again and at the time of updating this review we have seen it listed at £179.99.

Blu dropping the price is a big deal and makes this a much more attractive option in a market of fantastic cheap phones.

Key features

• Fast fingerprint sensor that's not always on cheaper phones
• Premium feel design makes it something to behold

We'll talk about the design of the Blu Vivo 6 in-depth in a moment, but it's a big feature of the phone and is worth highlighting.

This feels like a premium phone, it has a good weight in the hand but is also easy to hold and doesn't feel fragile to the touch. 

There's also a fingerprint sensor on the front of the phone below the screen - that's something you won't always get at this price point. This is slicker than on other affordable phones like the Moto G4 Plus, and sits flush with the rest of the body.

It's speedy too - usually fingerprint sensors on phones at this price point take a touch longer than pricier options, but this is a good choice if you want a phone that will unlock very quickly at the literal touch of a button.

Another big headline feature of the Vivo 6 is the 4GB of RAM under the hood. That's the same amount as you'd find on much more expensive devices including the Huawei Mate 9 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

Design and display

• Impressive metal design considering price point
• Full HD display is also a big highlight
• Limited colour choices is a big disappointment

When you first pick up the Vivo 6 it’s notable how premium the device feels. It’s large, but still light and sits in the hand comfortably considering this is a big phablet device.

On the front of the phone there's a 5.5-inch 1080p display. The picture quality and viewing angles look good and if you fiddle with the settings you'll be able to get it quite bright.

The auto-brightness mode isn't that impressive though, and made the screen come across a little more dull than it should have been. You'll want to manually tweak the brightness, but that's simple to do.

Full HD resolution is appreciated on the Blu Vivo 6, especially as at this end of the market the phone could have just about got away with a 720p screen.

But by opting for a higher resolution the Vivo 6 has an ideal size and quality screen for watching short bursts of video and browsing through apps.

The rest of the device has a full aluminium unibody that feels soft on the palm of your hand, while the Blu logo is indented into the back of the phone and looks slick.

The Vivo 6 also has chamfered edges, which give it a particularly high-end look that's not usually found on devices at this price point.

You especially notice how good it appears when looking at the all-metal back of the phone. There are certainly elements of the iPhone design at play here, but Blu is also trying to do its own thing with the look of the Vivo 6.

You’re going to have to like bright colours to buy the Vivo 6 though – you can only get it in either gold or rose gold. 

Both are bold choices and it's a shame there's not a grey, white or black version as well, because not everybody wants a vibrantly coloured phone.

On the bottom of the phone sits a USB-C port alongside the stereo DTS speakers. The volume rocker and power button sit at the top on the right hand side of the phone, making them easy to tap for right-handed users.

On the top edge there's a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is appreciated considering not all phones include the tech anymore.

Below the screen there's a fingerprint scanner - something you won't always get at this price point - which is easy to set up and doubles as a home button.

All in all, the Vivo 6 is a good looking smartphone and you won't be disappointed when you take it out of the box.

Interface and reliability

• Android 6 Marshmallow software, with Blu's own overlay
• Lots of customisation available in Blu's software

The Vivo 6 is running a version of Android Marshmallow with a Blu skin overlay on top. A Blu representative confirmed there are plans to bring Android 7 to the phone, but there’s no timescale for the release at the moment.

The overlay on Blu phones is an interesting addition that you may or may not like. 

It looks very different to stock Android and tries to simplify the experience. It doesn't add many new features on top of normal Android software though, instead just replacing the apps you'd usually use with alternatives.

For example, the Blu Vivo 6 has Opera instead of Chrome as its default browser.

Even though Opera was easier to get to, we found ourselves using Chrome as it's also installed on the phone. The option is there for you to use Opera though, and it's easy to switch the software around if you'd prefer Google Chrome.

There are a few interesting additions to the software, such as an app called Chameleon that allows you to change the phone’s interface based on a real life colour you find. 

Take a photo of it, and your phone's UI will change to that look.

It’s not always accurate, but it’s an interesting idea and means you can customise the look of your phone around your favourite colours in a matter of seconds.

Another interesting Blu UI feature is fake call. It works from the Apple-like control centre you’ll find when you swipe up from the bottom of the screen. 

Press the button and in 15 seconds (or whatever time you set) you’ll get a fake phone call come through from an unknown number, with someone asking if you have “sorted the files yet”, so you can get out of awkward situations.

If you're on a horrible date and you want to get out in a hurry, this may well be the perfect feature for you.

The control centre is perhaps the highlight of Blu's changes to Android. If you swipe up from the bottom of the display you're greeted with all the common options you'll likely want quick access to, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the torch.

It works much like it does within iOS and can save you valuable seconds when you're trying to change the settings on your phone.

Music, movies and gaming

• Packed full of storage at 64GB with extra microSD support
• Standard Google apps will get you by for media

The Blu Vivo 6 isn't going to disappoint you in any area of media, it's perfectly good at what it does and that's what you need from an affordable phone.

The Full HD 5.5-inch display is a perfect setup for watching films. It's a large screen by smartphone standards and it's bright enough for watching video.

The phone is easy to hold as well, which is a big benefit when watching on a commute. The Vivo 6 is also a great option for watching shorter clips on YouTube, which is ready to use right out of the box.

There's also Google Play Movies and TV, but some of the content in there can be expensive, so if you have a Netflix subscription you may want to download that instead to give you something else to watch.

Music-wise you'll only have Google Play Music installed to listen to tracks, but you can always download other players from the Google Play Store.

There are small speakers at the bottom of the phone that make an impressive noise when listening to music out loud. The speakers won't blow you away, but they're good enough to walk around and listen to a little music through them.

It's worth noting that there's also a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top of the device. Some flagship phones now don't feature jacks for wired headphones, but having one here means you'll be able to used wired headsets.

Of course you can also use Bluetooth, and we found it simple to connect the phone to Bluetooth headsets and speakers.

For gaming, the Blu Vivo 6 was capable of running most titles but struggled a little with high-intensity apps.

This will easily play Candy Crush Saga, but it struggled a little more with games such as Real Racing 3 or Pokemon Go, where a lot of processing power is needed.

That said, all of the games we tested played and it was as capable as many other phones at this price point.

It won't be a gaming powerhouse, but if you want a phone that can handle almost everything you throw at it and doesn't cost much money the Vivo 6 is one of the best options.

Specs and benchmark performance

• Enough power to handle key tasks
• Will struggle with high-intensity tasks, but no more than other phones at this price

Under the hood of the Vivo 6 there's a MediaTek P10 octa-core chipset - the same we saw in the Sony Xperia XA, which is a phone that really struggled with some processing tasks.

The Blu Vivo 6 isn't noticeably slow with general use. If you're going to be playing intensive games or editing a lot of video you will notice it slow down, but for average apps the Vivo 6 wasn't disappointing.

There's an impressive amount of RAM in the Blu Vivo 6 - 4GB, which is enough to keep it running nicely.

That's as much RAM as most flagship phones offer and we expect this is why it performs better than the Sony Xperia XA and other phones using the P10 processor.

In terms of raw processing power, the benchmark scores on the Blu Vivo 6 brought up 2762, which is high for a phone at this price point. That's been beaten by the Bush Spira E3X, which scored 2891 in the multi-score test, but other options such as the ZTE Blade V7 Lite only scored 1164.

The recently released Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus also scored lower at 2073, so the Blu is a good choice if you're looking for a decent cost-to-performance ratio.

This isn't the phone to buy if you're looking to run the latest apps and games effortlessly, but it's a good option if you're after an affordable phone with a good hit rate at day-to-day tasks.

Battery life

• A 3,130mAh cell that's good for a Full HD phone
• Strong Extreme Power Saving Mode for emergencies

Battery-wise there’s a 3,130mAh unit to keep the phone running, and an Extreme Power Saver Mode for real battery emergencies.

We put the Vivo 6 through our battery test - where we play a 90-minute video at full brightness with connectivity options on - and the phone had 81% battery at the end. 

That's not an awful score, but it's not great either.

It means the Vivo 6 lost 19% of its charge, much like the Honor 5X did in this test. The Moto G4 Plus lost less battery at 17%, while the Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus lost a lot more at 24% of its charge.

In terms of daily use we found the Vivo 6 to be OK and usually make it to the end of an intense day with about 10% of its battery left over.

If you're going to be doing a lot with your handset, you may want a phone with a slightly longer life and it's a big shame Blu didn't see fit to include fast-charging here to ensure you're always charged up.

The Vivo 6 is charged up via USB-C, which is a welcome addition to the phone and makes it easy to plug in the cable when it comes to that time of day.

There is a fast charging feature on the Vivo 6, but it's not notably fast compared to other phones. Your phone will be fully charged from 0% in about 90 minutes though, so you can't really complain with that speed.

Camera

• The rear camera has a 13MP Sony lens
• This isn't the best affordable camera phone, but it's acceptable
• Its 8MP selfie camera may impress you

The Blu Vivo 6 won't give you the high-quality photography you'd expect to see from some smartphone cameras, but the results here are quite good compared to competition in the affordable space.

The Moto G4 Plus is the one to beat in this area, and quite a few of the examples we took showed the Vivo 6 can hold its own.

There's a 13MP Sony lens on the rear of the Vivo 6 and it proves impressive in terms of raw shooting ability.

When shooting in good lighting and with a stable phone, the Vivo 6 produces a high-quality image that's a touch better than the images from most phones you'd find in this space.

The autofocus on the Vivo 6 can be a little bit off though. We found ourselves touching the phone to focus the image and then a slight shake at the last moment would make it quite blurry.

You can get a great image if you take a bit of time, but the nature of most smartphone photography is that you're usually taking photos at speed and putting your phone back in your pocket immediately after.

The camera app on the Vivo 6 is simple to use and the interface is very easy to navigate. There aren't many complicated features here - it's just a case of choosing the setting you'd like and then taking a snap.

But there are some things you can tweak, including a lens feature that's a big help if you want to create arty images and don't want to download photo editing software to your phone.

Blu's Vivo 6 also comes with a HDR mode, which is something often missing from phones at this price point. If you want a more vibrant image from the Vivo 6 we'd recommend switching this on immediately when you get the phone.

For the front camera, there's an impressive 8MP sensor. That's usually the level you'd find on a Chinese smartphone in 2016 and it can take quality shots by front-facing camera standards.

It's not something everybody needs, but it means when you're using video calling software you're guaranteed to get a clear image every time.

Camera samples

The Blu Vivo 6 is a low price phone considering what it offers. The biggest issue is there's a lot of competition in this space right now, so you have many other options to go for.

The Vivo 6 is trying to compete with the king that is the Moto G4 range (including the Moto G4, Moto G4 Plus and Moto G4 Play), all of which cost less than the Vivo 6 at the moment.

That makes it a tough sell, but if you're looking for an all-metal phone the Vivo 6 may be a better choice for you than what else is on the market right now.

Who's this for?

The Vivo 6 is for anyone who wants to have an affordable smartphone, but doesn't want to lose out on the look of an all-metal, premium feel device in their pocket.

If you need one of the speediest phones that costs under £200, this is one of the best choices on the market.

The fingerprint scanner is fast, the battery life is OK and you'll be able to take a good shot, even if it doesn't give you the best mobile photography available.

Should you buy it?

If you're in the market for an affordable phone, the Blu Vivo 6 will not let you down.

There are slightly cheaper alternatives, but if an all-metal, premium phone is what you're looking for we'd recommend opting for the first phone ever to hit the UK from Blu.

We like the Blu Vivo 6, but this shouldn't be your only choice of phone. We have a list of other good devices in our best cheap phone round-up, or read below for three alternatives.

Motorola Moto G4 Plus

Motorola's Moto G4 Plus is one of the best cheap phones money can buy right now, combining an impressive spec list with a low-end price. If you're looking to spend under £200 on a device, the Moto G4 Plus is the way to go.

The Blu Vivo 6 is a bit more expensive than that - but this is one of the only other phones to come with a fingerprint sensor at this sort of price.

Like the Vivo 6, the Moto G4 Plus provides a 5.5-inch Full HD display, as well as a powerful processor setup and an average battery life. You really couldn't go wrong with buying the Moto G4 Plus if you're looking for an affordable phone right now.

• Read the full review: Moto G4 Plus

Bush Spira E3X

Bush isn't a big name in the smartphone space, that's why the Spira E3X really surprised us. It's a touch cheaper than the Blu Vivo 6 and offers up a remarkably similar spec list.

The Bush phone also comes with Android 6, a Full HD 5.5-inch screen, 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM. The battery life isn't as good as on the Vivo 6, but the 21.5MP rear-facing camera gives it a photographic edge.

The Spira E3X may not be plastered all over billboards, but it's one of the best cheap phones money can buy.

• Read the full review: Bush Spira E3X

Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus

Wileyfox made a big impact in the phone business when it launched in 2015 as an affordable UK manufacturer.

The latest phone from the company is the Swift 2 Plus, which offers up a great alternative to the Vivo 6.

There's a fingerprint scanner on this phone as well, if that's a killer feature for you, as well as a premium design and a variety of colour choices.

It's not as powerful under the hood, but if you just want a phone that can handle Instagram and phone calls you may prefer the Wileyfox over the Vivo 6.

• Read the full review: Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus

First reviewed: November 2016