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what's good people should boys fresh with Android authority and this is a review of the blue pur XR and the ever-changing landscape of mobile tech the line between mid range and flagship phones is blurrier than ever with emerging companies aiming to produce the next flagship killer some are getting closer and closer to hitting the mark the blue pur XR is a mint too high an offering from blue products second only to the pure XL many of these phones are making their way to the States and offer more than decent specs how to reduce cost now that we're getting back to school the perfect target audience could be parents looking to get their kids reliable phones without breaking the bank this phone comes in at 299 which is still a decent amount of money to part with but far less than the frontrunners in the market now let's talk about what you get for $2.99 first and foremost you get a 1080p HD Super AMOLED display with great brightness and viewing angles also you get a 16 megapixel camera with laser autofocus a 2.0 gigahertz octa-core processor four gigs of RAM USB type-c 64 gig internal storage and also a fingerprint scanner which is an impressive lineup of specs for a phone of this price now of course in addition to the phone inside the box you get your quick guide and setup manual also you get a complimentary screen protector which of course is good to avoid scratches also you get a starter case which is also good to give you some type of protection so you get a better case SIM tool to pop your SIM card out and also a USB the USBC adapter your wall break of course the USBC cable earbuds and earbud tips and now let's focus in on the camera and considering that this phone is half the price of most flagship devices out there I honestly believe that this phone's camera will be subpar coming in at 16 megapixels under the right conditions this camera can produce sharp images with realistic color accuracy but there are some glaring issues when trying to adjust the focal point and notice that the center of the image will always remain sharp and the edges would be blurred I also must admit that I'm not a fan of the HDR mode on this phone it tends to blow out your highlights and leave your colors washed out and please do not use the zoom on this camera you end up with horrible photos that lack definition in detail and just look really bad over sharpened also to be fair I'm not a fan of using digital zoom on any phone camera but the blue XR definitely struggles in this area the video quality also leaves a lot to be desired I noticed that there is noticeable shift in ISO and exposure when going from dark to highlighted areas and the image stabilization isn't very dependable and at best you can record at 1080p 30 frames per second which is in the end of the world but worth noting in regards to low-light camera performance I once again prefer the HDR mode off although there are still visible artifacts in both samples when HDR is off it looks a bit more natural and realistic in my opinion it is also important to note the discoloration and the shadowy areas when HDR is on now let's take a look under the hood and discuss how the blue pure XR performs as mentioned earlier this one is equipped with an octa-core MediaTek Helio p10 chip now when you hear octa-core your ears may perk up but it can be misleading when running antutu benchmark and EQ bench results were much worse than I expected coming in ranked 30th with a score of 50,000 789 surprisingly ranking lower than older phones like the iPhone 5s and Nexus 6 I'm happy to report that those scores haven't translated over to the day-to-day use the overall UI is responsive and quick to load applications or animations and when gaming I did notice the occasional frame drop or delay in graphic textures loading but nothing that was unbearable or a deal-breaker now let's discuss battery life when using this phone you can expect three to three-and-a-half hours of screen on time which is pretty average the real highlight here is the standby time of four days 20 hours and five minutes with 14 percent battery remaining also when testing this phone I used it on and off Wi-Fi with screen brightness maxed out GPS on and Bluetooth on all in all this phone will last you a solid day with moderate usage which for me is an occasional game YouTube videos streaming music and texting now let's summarize things and recap with the good and the bad first the full metal premium design with 7000 series aluminum in glass front this phone looks beautiful second the speakers when watching videos I was surprised by how loud the phone can get maintaining clarity without Distortion providing a valid sense of immersion when consuming media third it has a decent camera for the price although the camera has it's areas of opportunity as mentioned earlier under the right conditions you can produce a great picture next this phone offers a smooth UI that straight away from conventional Android by revealing the settings toggle when swiping up from the bottom and set at the top also the omission of the app drawer took some getting used to but after a while I forgot it was missing going from screen to screen and then out of folders had smooth transition without lag and the ability to change themes and adjust color schemes with chameleon is a nice touch also this phone has a fast fingerprint scanner which was very quick to respond no matter the orientation of my finger and lastly 3d touch was one feature that I stumbled upon when using this phone and was shocked by its inclusion it's the first Android phone that I've seen adopt 3d touch using finger pressure and now for the bad or benchmarks in comparison to other phones the blue pure XR was unimpressive but expected although when using the phone for general use it feel fine so take those tests with a grain of salt and of course the camera as mentioned earlier you can take a great picture under the right conditions but it does have poor HDR digital zoom and low light performance and lastly poor call quality when making calls the voices did sound garbled almost as if the other person had a cold now for my final verdict understanding the target audience for this product it's a solid offering giving the consumer a big bang for their buck to be honest my list of cons will short for a reason it's because this is a great phone for the price and leaves a little to be desired most people I know knew nothing about blue products but when I let them play with the phone that surprise and satisfaction with the design and performance was consistent at the end of the day and this phone isn't for everyone nor is it meant to be and have no problem recommending it and that concludes this review thank you guys for watching and stay tuned in to android authority because of course we are your number one source for all things Android