Blu G90 Pro review - A one-trick pony - Android
When we talk about gaming phones, we usually talk about gaming phones. You know, the ones with the hardware triggers, cooling fans, and crazy-high refresh rate screens. These devices don’t just exist at the high-end though — you can get a solid phone for gaming for just a few hundred bucks.
One such device is the Blu G90 Pro, the company’s first gaming smartphone. It’s cheap and has a decent spec sheet, but is it worth the sub-$250 asking price? Or should you spend a little more on one of the other cheap phones available in the US? Find out in our Blu G90 Pro review.
The Blu G90 Pro is Blu’s first-ever gaming phone and its only flagship for 2020. The Miami-based company has budget-friendly smartphones down to a science. It’s now throwing its hat into the gaming phone ring, which is competitive in some parts of the world but not so much in the US.
At the high end, “gaming phone” means a device with a high-refresh rate screen, extra hardware, and an overclocked processor to make the gaming experience more enjoyable. The G90 Pro can’t really offer those things at this price point. Instead, it’s trying to entice gamers on a budget to take note of its big display and solid spec sheet.
You might not expect a whole lot out of a phone this inexpensive, but the Blu G90 Pro excels at gaming performance. Let’s talk games first. Over the past week I tried to play a variety of games — casual, graphic-intensive, and somewhere in between. The phone handled Alto’s Odyssey and Lego Star Wars: TFA very well. I didn’t notice any stuttering or lag.
I also played Fortnite quite a bit. I’m not very good, but I did my best to keep up! Fortnite is much more taxing on a smartphone than most other games, and the G90 Pro handled it with ease. There were one or two jittery frames here and there, but really nothing to complain about.
The Blu G90 Pro is powered by the tried-and-true MediaTek Helio G90T SoC and Mali-G76 GPU. It’s backed by 4GB of RAM. This is the same chipset that’s in the Realme 6 and Redmi Note 8 Pro, which we also found to be solid performers. If I could improve anything, I’d opt for more RAM — I regularly ran into lag when scrolling through the Google Play Store and switching apps. I think 2GB of RAM more could beef up the G90 Pro’s performance, but beggars really can’t be choosers at this price point.
The Blu G90 Pro can handle graphic-intensive games with ease. Just don't expect stellar performance for everything.
The phone is also outfitted with a liquid cooling system. Blu says this will help to dissipate heat and lower the device temperature by as much as 6°C. I suppose it’s been doing its job; The phone didn’t heat up for me whatsoever.
Handling the phone never proved to be an issue while gaming. It’s a chunky phone to be sure, but the included case helps give grip to the slippery glass design. You’ll have trouble using it with one hand if you’re wasting time on social media. It’s heavy at 215g (7g heavier than the Note 20 Ultra!) and it’s about as big as my Pixel 4 XL.
There’s a lot to like about the Blu G90 Pro. Despite its ultra-low price, there are a few surprises that will likely satisfy the gaming crowd.
Long-lasting battery
No one wants to worry about plugging in their phone in the middle of a match. The G90 Pro’s 5,100mAh cell is more than enough to get you through a full day’s use, even on heavy days.
With normal usage (~4 hours of screen-on time a day while gaming, browsing social media, and streaming Spotify), the G90 Pro lasted more than two full days on a charge. Expect slightly less than that if you’re constantly gaming, though the battery really didn’t discharge too quickly while playing Fortnite — only a percentage point or two was lost during a 20-minute gaming session.
Big, bright display
Gaming on the Blu G90 Pro was an overall good experience, partially thanks to the big 6.5-inch LCD display. I’ve been so used to AMOLED screens lately that I forgot what it was like to use an LCD. Honestly, it’s not that difficult to switch back. The LCD panel has a Full HD+ resolution and a 19:9 aspect ratio. It doesn’t offer a high refresh rate, though, and there’s no always-on display option.
Android 10 and quarterly security patches
The Blu G90 Pro’s software is a mixed bag. Let’s start with the good stuff. The G90 Pro runs Android 10 out of the box. Blu’s implementation of Android 10 looks a lot like Google’s in some respects, but not so much in others. The home screen launchers are visually very similar. The biggest changes to the G90 Pro’s interface are the customized quick settings panel and the ability to turn off the app drawer if you’d like.
It’ll also get quarterly security patches, and it’s slated to get Android 11 some time before Q2 2021.
Good overall value
The Blu G90 Pro offers tremendous value, especially for those living in the US. It’s a big, long-lasting gaming phone that performs well in most instances. And it costs just $220 (on sale from $250). I don’t know of many other phones in the US at this price point that offer as much as the G90 Pro.
On top of the phone already being a good value, Blu includes some extra goodies in the box that will save you even more cash. You get a protective rubber case, a cleaning cloth, a screen protector, a pair of earbuds, a Blu sticker, and a USB-A to USB-C charging cable and brick. I’d opt for a different charging cable if you can. The one Blu includes in the box has a weird plastic coating all over it.
This is a sub-$250 phone, so it’s no surprise to find some cut corners. Most of them have to do with the phone’s hardware.
Bad haptics, fingerprint sensor, and speaker
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