- Analysis by KJ David
A moderately-specked octa-core phone under BLU's unlocked Android lineup, the BLU S1's pros reside mainly on processing and connectivity, while a couple of cons taint it on the imaging and storage fronts.
Its key selling point is the MediaTek 6750 64-bit octa-core 1.5GHz processor 
sitting in its engine room, which, although not as powerful as the 2GHz-and-up eight-core chips used by some of its middle-class rivals 
, delivers true-eight-core performance nonetheless. That being said, we expected more than 2GB of RAM accompanying its engine, especially since it entered the market in a time where 3GB-RAM mid-enders were all the rage. Fortunately, it comes with a respectable Mali-T860 graphics engine . Alongside its hardware specs is an LTE adapter reaching data rates of up to 300Mbps , which is double the usual 150Mbps peak speed of many other 4G-enabled BLU models.
Related: Best octa-core smartphones
As far as imaging is concerned, the S1 sounds far from impressive when compared to some other 2017-released mid-end smartphones, but it does manage to squeeze a decent 13-megapixel FHD-video-recording main camera into its bundle of pros and cons. Its selfie camera is not as passable, however, coming in the form of a time-worn 5-megapixel front cam -- a lot of comparable models pack at least 8-megapixel selfie shooters. As for storage, we are unimpressed with its mere 16GB internal memory and up-to-64GB-only microSD card support -- come on, supporting only 64GB memory cards, when some 2017 flagships go for as high as 2TB?
Moving on, the BLU S1 features an underwhelming 5.2-inch HD-720p 282ppi display , which is at least shielded by a curved glass touch panel . Its front cover glass is matched by metallic paint coating the rest of its body. Also part of its external pros and cons is a standard (as of its release date) fingerprint detector clubbed with BLU's Encrypted Quick Access security feature .
Heading over to its battery life, the S1 is unlikely to make our list of big battery smartphones, coming with only 2800mAh of power , consequently falling short of our 3000mAh sweet spot for mid-end eight-core Androids.
Topped off by the Android 7.0 Nougat OS, the BLU S1 may not find itself among the fastest smartphones of 2017, but it should attract mid-end buyers looking for a relatively-cheap octa-core Android phone.
** This phone is also known as: BLU S-1
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