Blu Phones

If you go to a major wireless carrier and ask to buy a high-end, contract-free phone, they’ll usually make you pay upwards of $600 for the privilege.

Thankfully, some alternatives are emerging for the U.S. market. Next month, a Florida-based company called Blu Phones will begin shipping a pair of $300 phones with aluminum bodies, surprisingly decent specs and the latest version of Android. Both phones will be sold unlocked and contract-free through online retailers such as Amazon.

Blu’s Life One has a 5-inch, HD display, a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. There’s also the Life View, with a 5.7-inch HD display, a 12-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera. Other specs for both handsets include a quad-core MediaTek processor, 16 GB of storage, 1 GB of RAM and a microSD card slot.

In addition to the $300 phones, Blu will also sell a $229 handset, the Life Play, with a 4.7-inch HD display, 8-megapixel rear camera, 2-megapixel front camera, 4 GB of storage, 1 GB of RAM and a microSD card slot. All three phones will ship with a stock version of Android 4.2.

Blu Products

As the Verge explains, Blu says it has access to many of the same technologies and manufacturing processes as larger companies like Samsung and Motorola. But as a small company, it doesn’t spend as much money on marketing, office space, human resources and other types of overhead, so it can pass that savings on to the customer.