BLU announce the confusingly named Vivo 5 and Vivo XL


blu vivo 5 and vivo xl

U.S fans of affordable unlocked smartphones will find the two latest Blu Vivo phones of interest, even if we do think the naming is a little odd.

Blu’s to new additions to the Vivo range (not to be confused with Vivo the brand) are the Vivo 5 and Vivo XL. Generally a phone’s name might give a clue to the phone and you might suppose the Vivo 5 has a 5-inch display and the XL something a bit bigger.

In actual fact both phones have a 5.5-inch panel, and the XL actually has slightly lower hardware specifications.

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The Blu Vivo 5 ships with a 5.5-inch 1280 x 720 Super Amoled display, Mediatek MT6753 SoC, 3GB RAM, 32GB memory and 13 mega-pixel rear camera for $199.

The Vivo XL has the same Super AMOLED panel, Mediatek chipset and rear camera but 2GB RAM and a 3150mAh battery. The XL will cost $149.

Both phones will be available through Amazon and Best Buy and both will come with Android 5.1 OS with promised future update to Android 6.0.

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57 Comments

  1. balcobomber25
    January 7, 2016

    The Vivo 5 is just Blu’s version of the Gionee S6.

    • jimberkas
      January 7, 2016

      i would definitely prefer it had the X10, but honestly doesn’t seem too bad for $200. We don’t have that many great options in the US. The Honor 5X for the same price is a pretty good competitor

      • balcobomber25
        January 7, 2016

        The only thing has going for it, it should have US LTE bands. If LTE isn’t a huge concern there are about a dozen phones that blow this away, starting with Redmi Note 3.

  2. KUDT HE
    January 7, 2016

    Anyone who can help me find the Blue pure XL in Europe??? Amazon does not ship outside the USA.

    • Assefa Hanson
      January 7, 2016

      amazon does ship outside the us, there is amazon for france,india etc etc depends on what country your from, i have personally ship things from amazon to jamaica

      • KUDT HE
        January 7, 2016

        I contacted them, they do not ship it 🙁

    • Joel Adames
      January 7, 2016

      BLU PURE XL is an USA only device. They will ship only to continental 50 states. I’m not into any of those. You need to get a mailing courrier company to receive it for you in Miami or New York and then send it to your home country try investigating that.

      • KUDT HE
        January 7, 2016

        What do you think of customs? Haha, price +30% extra when I import it into The Netherlands.

        Thanks anyway man.

        • Rob
          January 8, 2016

          The Blu Pure XL doesn’t support the LTE bands used by the Dutch telecom providers, so why even buy it?

      • balcobomber25
        January 7, 2016

        They had it in Cambodia last time I was there, Blu has a small presence there. Amazon will also ship it to several countries.

      • xi7
        January 8, 2016

        blu = UsA / and now official paraguay too , brazil have lot of this version trash available, I already threw away

        • Joel Adames
          January 8, 2016

          Then you really did not understand what we said.
          AMAZON IS THE ONE SELLING THE “”BLU PURE XL”” EXCLUSIVELY IN THE USA.
          nos that we have that cleared, BLU as a brand I Know that is and will be spending it’s presence elsewhere fast.
          Then your comment calling TRASH these phone shows you might be behind the latest info. As many of the BLU phones are derived from gionee with is excellent craftsmanship and quality, then there are other phones they re-brand I can’t talk about, those could be your case, and then there is the story of AFTER-SERVICE and support.

          But take the example of the PURE XL, is a US$550 phone sold at a 200 discount by Amazon at US$350 ((and shhhss they are giving it updates) as mine as seen almost all the bugs reported in YouTube and forums fixed already)
          I will just keep fingers crossed for a marshmallow update in the future, just for the sake of even better battery life. (I’m getting 4hours and around 30minutes of OCT.)

    • Joel Adames
      January 7, 2016

      In Europe it goes by ALLVIEW X2 XTREME I believe just different branding and different frequencies for the antenas.

      Also GIONEE is the manufacturer for the previous 2 but they make the ELIFE E8 with is the original/main version of it, being exactly the same again only difference the frequencies.

      • careeste
        January 7, 2016

        I think allview sells this one in europe ,not just in romania .Vivo xl was rebranded in Allview V2 Viper X .

      • KUDT HE
        January 7, 2016

        I’m sorry. I forgot to mention the allies x2 xtreme is the same phone yes, BUT.. Blue pure XL is about 349$ and the allview is over 450$.. Elife E8 is even more expensive.

  3. balcobomber25
    January 7, 2016

    The Vivo 5 is just Blu’s version of the Gionee S6. I am usually a huge fan of Gionee’s as many of you know, but the S6 is a letdown to me for the price. If it had an X10 it would be a much better device.

    Typically Vivo has been Blu’s “premium line”, this is anything but.

    • Guest
      January 7, 2016

      i would definitely prefer it had the X10, but honestly doesn’t seem too bad for $200. We don’t have that many great options in the US. The Honor 5X for the same price is a pretty good competitor

    • balcobomber25
      January 8, 2016

      The only thing has going for it, it should have US LTE bands. If LTE isn’t a huge concern there are about a dozen phones that blow this away, starting with Redmi Note 3.

  4. Guest
    January 7, 2016

    Anyone who can help me find the Blue pure XL in Europe??? Amazon does not ship outside the USA.

    • Assefa Hanson
      January 7, 2016

      amazon does ship outside the us, there is amazon for france,india etc etc depends on what country your from, i have personally ship things from amazon to jamaica

    • Guest
      January 7, 2016

      I contacted them, they do not ship it 🙁

    • Joel Adames
      January 7, 2016

      BLU PURE XL is an USA only device. They will ship only to continental 50 states. I’m not into any of those. You need to get a mailing courrier company to receive it for you in Miami or New York and then send it to your home country try investigating that.

    • Joel Adames
      January 7, 2016

      In Europe it goes by ALLVIEW X2 XTREME I believe just different branding and different frequencies for the antenas.

      Also GIONEE is the manufacturer for the previous 2 but they make the ELIFE E8 with is the original/main version of it, being exactly the same again only difference the frequencies.

    • careeste
      January 7, 2016

      I think allview sells this one in europe ,not just in romania .Vivo xl was rebranded in Allview V2 Viper X .

    • Guest
      January 8, 2016

      I’m sorry. I forgot to mention the allies x2 xtreme is the same phone yes, BUT.. Blue pure XL is about 349$ and the allview is over 450$.. Elife E8 is even more expensive.

    • Guest
      January 8, 2016

      What do you think of customs? Haha, price +30% extra when I import it into The Netherlands.

      Thanks anyway man.

    • balcobomber25
      January 8, 2016

      They had it in Cambodia last time I was there, Blu has a small presence there.

    • Rob
      January 8, 2016

      The Blu Pure XL doesn’t support the LTE bands used by the Dutch telecom providers, so why even buy it?

      The Allview X2 Xtreme does support all of those bands and is therefor, albeit more expesive, the better buy.

    • xi7
      January 8, 2016

      blu = UsA / and now official paraguay too , brazil have lot of this version trash available, I already threw away

    • Joel Adames
      January 8, 2016

      Then you really did not understand what we said.
      AMAZON IS THE ONE SELLING THE “”BLU PURE XL”” EXCLUSIVELY IN THE USA.
      now that we have that clear, BLU as a brand I Know, is and will be spanding it’s presence elsewhere fast.
      Then your comment calling TRASH these phone shows you might be behind the latest info. As many of the BLU phones are derived from gionee with is excellent craftsmanship and quality, then there are other phones they re-brand I can’t talk about, those could be your case, and then there is the story of AFTER-SERVICE and support.

      But take the example of the PURE XL, is a US$550 phone sold at a 200 discount by Amazon at US$350 ((and shhhss they are giving it updates) as mine as seen almost all the bugs reported in YouTube and forums fixed already)
      I will just keep fingers crossed for a marshmallow update in the future, just for the sake of even better battery life. (I’m getting 4hours and around 30minutes of OCT.)

    • Guest
      January 8, 2016

      lol,
      if it’s trash xi7. Give ur XL to me, Gold version ofc.

    • xi7
      January 8, 2016

      brand considered weak, this does not compare with Xiaomi, Meizu or Oneplus

    • xi7
      January 8, 2016

      after poweroff with 0% battery not started more, the recovery mode is gone too… mode upload/fastboot never start. (vol+ or – with power) 2 day and it brocke. No software ROM online available, impossible try reflash full rom with PC.

    • Joel Adames
      January 8, 2016

      Can you say what device you have???

    • xi7
      January 8, 2016
    • Joel Adames
      January 8, 2016

      Then send it back for a new one if it’s not working. That would be the first one I hear dying on someone.

    • Joel Adames
      January 8, 2016

      This case is Gionee which is as strong as those you mentioned.
      You obviously got a sour lemon send it or take it back for a refund that can happen with any brand.

    • xi7
      January 17, 2016

      allview x2 xtreme, blu pure xl, walton primo zx2, qmobile noir e8, gionee elife E8 , all the same device.

    • xi7
      January 8, 2016

      mediocre blu pure xl, i have it and stop with 2 days only after battery in 0% show me charging but never start the phone, recovery never work too. (never more blu unknown brand impossible reflash full rom, no software available online)

    • balcobomber25
      January 8, 2016

      I know others who have it, including a few on this site, that love it and have no issues. Maybe yours is defective or has a rouge app causing issues.

    • xi7
      January 15, 2016

      brand name: walton primo zx2 , qmobile noir E8 , blu pure XL , gionee elife E8 , allview x2 xtreme ….. all same. lol

  5. Acer_Predator
    January 8, 2016