In a world full of Android users and Apple baiters, no one really gave much thought to Windows OS for mobiles. I guess this is what gave the backend boys all the time to play with tweaks and come up with a release that just might get them rolling and out of the blues.
Well, it is the BLU Win JR LTE & Win HD LTE that I am talking about. These smartphones will be sold through Microsoft retail points across India and are currently being sold through online channel Snapdeal. BLU Products will be extending their global partnership with Amazon to India as well. Does this mean that eye balls will now have a difficult time deciding if they want to look towards China, Taiwan, and Korea or towards the United States? For those who are unaware, BLU Products, founded in 2009 and headquartered in Miami, Florida, ‘designs and manufactures affordable, attractive and innovative mobile devices to suit a wide variety of consumer needs.’ Not unexpectedly, Samuel Ohev-Zion, CEO of BLU Products told me, ‘BLU aims to be a major player in the Indian mobile market.’
Windows OS is getting smarter. Let me now tell you why I said that Win OS is getting smarter. Win OS went with the assumption that Tabs will be dominating the market, which did not happen and so Win 8 gave everyone a lot of sore thoughts. So going back to the Win ’95 Start menu with Win 10 is nothing but smart. Let me also add that the two devices being launched by BLU will have a free upgrade to Win 10… now this is surely going to give a lot of blues to the Android boys and the iOS hulks.
There are other reasons why the Win OS is getting smarter… they’re harmonising the convergence between the desktop, smartphone, and tablet and this is being rather smart. Cortana, as a fellow reviewer remarked, is no longer going to remain happy being ‘a creepy cyborg geisha’ and thus this voice assistant is poised to zip and zoom into an effective avatar. There are a lot of improvements expected in the browser universe and the gaming world.
Ah! I had almost forgotten to talk about the smartphones in an affordable price bracket that BLU wants us to buy. Well, theoretically, it is always a great idea to get all the tech smartness without the expensive hardware add-ons at a lesser price. I am assuming that the phones aren’t as fragile and as prone to breakdowns as some of the lower end models even from the leaders in mobile technology tend to be. A cracked screen is not something that I will fancy putting next to my ear… nor would I want to see a picture of my wife through a cracked glass, if I may use the expression. But then I am going by what the press release says and it tells me that the design is ‘premium’, whatever this means… and that the display is ‘upgraded and vivid’. The BLU Win HD LTE is said to sport a ‘metal finishing, state of the art soft touch feel, and precision cross-hatched patterns on the side keys’… and I am suitably impressed. The front cameras in the devices aren’t worth a mention but the rear ones with 8 mp and 5 mp in the higher end and the lower end models seem to be what many are giving. I must add here that the cameras in phones are no longer to be dismissed easily because the users are finally getting to use them more than a lot of other perfunctory features. So it is a great idea to think of putting an LED flash for both in front as well as the rear cams… and make them go up in the mega-pixel range.
For those users who have been dreaming of using LTE 4G sim-cards, both these devices are primed for them. Both have some features without which I might have dismissed them curtly… features like microSD slots for expansion up to 64 GB, fairly acceptable battery specs, and FM radio. Listen, those who opt for smartphones costing less are the ones who must not be punished by giving them a device that has a limited internal memory and no scope for expanding it. Companies need to remember that a low cost smartphone is generally in a household where the children use the parent’s phone whenever it is possible… and these kids love to explore apps and do everything that the adult might find silly. I have seen my maid’s daughter draw well on drawing and sketching apps, communicate through whatsapp, connect a speaker by Bluetooth and listen to songs, and play games that surprised me. Therefore, even those devices that are priced low and target a price conscious segment must be bothered about some essential features.
I’m happy that BLU hasn’t decided to launch low priced (sub 10K for the higher end model and less than 6K for the lower end device) devices without features that I think are necessary. I’m also happy that they are giving a free upgrade to Win 10 and thus making their devices smarter than many… making BLU bold like us.
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WIN JR LTE
WIN HD LTE
BLU – Bold like us
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Arvind Passey
06 October 2015
