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Blu Studio 5

Added by Adric ≈ over 9 years ago

Hey all,

This is an unlocked 5-inch 480p Android phone from a company based in Florida.
It is only $130.
http://www.frys.com/product/8061124?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

The Blu Studio 5.3 has these specs:
Mediatek MT6573
CPU 650 MHz, planned version with 800 MHz
GPU PowerVR SGX531
http://www.gsmarena.com/blu_studio_5_3-4370.php

Or they make a 5.5in 480p phone for $150.
http://www.frys.com/product/8061144?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Their 6-inch model is 720p and costs $200.
http://www.frys.com/product/8128795?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
Mediatek MT6582
CPU Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7
GPU Mali-400
http://www.gsmarena.com/blu_studio_6_0_hd-6330.php

I expect there is a certain amount of non-FLOSSable or blob-afflicted hardware due to the MTK SoC's.
There is a Mali 400 GPU, which I gather can do 2D graphics without a blob.

They seem to be a company that "thinks different" insofar as they are
making affordable, good-sized phones and not hiding the specs. I wonder if
perhaps they'd be willing to cooperate directly with the Replicant
project to make a more FLOSS friendly phone.

Cheers.


Replies (4)

RE: Blu Studio 5 - Added by Paul Kocialkowski over 9 years ago

I am surprised to see that a MTK SoC has a Mali GPU. You are welcome to start evaluating these devices. Double check that a proper kernel source is available at all: this is very often not the case (even though there is a MTK kernel tree in AOSP now, it probably doesn't have support for these devices in particular).

RE: Blu Studio 5 - Added by Adric ≈ over 9 years ago

I ended up not buying the BLU phone, because the salespeople at the almost entirely empty Fry's that I went to were creepy.

RE: Blu Studio 5 - Added by Linus Drumbler over 9 years ago

If we can just find the kernel source code, this company could have a gold mine of high-quality non-Qualcomm phones. Good find!

RE: Blu Studio 5 - Added by Paul Kocialkowski over 9 years ago

Well, MTK is not necessarily any better. The bootloaders are very likely signed as well and the modem embedded inside the SoC. Qualcomm paltforms are bad for precise reasons, and it seems that MTK have the exact same flaws (in addition to having no proper source code released until very soon for a couple of devices).

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