Bluboo D1 review: decent camera, affordable price


I guess there’s no doubt, that one of the most popular trends in smartphones for 2017 is the implementation of dual cameras. Thankfully it’s no longer exclusive to high-end models, and it can be found as a special feature in a growing number of entry-level and mid-range phones, such as… this Bluboo D1 model that you’re going to meet today – upclose and personal.

Bluboo promotes this model as one of the most affordable dual camera smartphones having launched with a $79.99 price tag, along with some… modest specifications and average performance. So how does this affordable dual camera model fare at the end of the day? What are its best attributes and where could we see it… do a bit better?

Let’s have a look at this Bluboo D1 review.

Decent Specs, great price

BLUBOO D1 – Technical specifications

  • Quad-core processor MediaTek MT6580A clocked at 1.3 GHz
  • 5.0-inch HD display by Sharp, 2.5D
  • 2GB of RAM
  • 16GB ROM
  • microSD expansion up to 256GB
  • Dual camera (8.0-megapixel and 2.0-megapixel Sony sensors)
  • 5.0-megapixel front camera w/ Selfie softlight, dual rear LED flash, Breathing Light
  • Metal unibody made of aircraft-grade aluminum alloy
  • Dual SIM (2x micro SIM)
  • Connectivity: GSM 5(850)/B8(900)/B3(1800)/B2(1900) – WCDMA:B8(900 ) /B1(2100)
  • Rear fingerprint sensor
  • Android 7.0 Nougat
  • 2600mAh battery
  • Available in Black, Blue and Gold colors

Bluboo D1 review: Design and general appearance

I have to be honest, I really liked the basic design of the Bluboo D1. The phone is available in 3 color variants (as you just read on its technical specs) which are mainly: Black, Golden and Blue. It surely looks impressive however thanks to its metallic build and its general design that allows for excellent grip and usability. Note that the back side of the device is made out of aircraft-aluminum alloy which improves its durability and enhances the whole “appearance” factor. There’s also a selfie softlight placed above the display next to the camera and 3 soft keys placed just below the display but unfortunately they don’t light up.

Don’t know about you, but I am a fan of 5 inch smartphones because I enjoy the one-handed use whenever I can. So the device comes with a really impressive 5 inch display with 2.5D glass and HD resolution with decent luminosity during those sunny days here in Southern Europe, along with an awesome “breathing” notification light that’s placed just under the main navigation bar and informs us on any type of notification!

The colors of the display may be rather saturated, but the images are crisp, with good viewing angles and a fully responsive panel if I may add. All in all a decent display – especially for a smartphone on this price range.

In the back side of the device you will also find a fingerprint sensor which proves to be rather fast. It can unlock the phone in less than 0.1 second with almost 97% success rate. It can basically store up to 5 different fingerprints and can recognize them all from 360 degrees, something that’s a standard nowadays.

Hardware & Performance

OK, I have told you that this is a budget dual camera smartphone and… here’s why. The Bluboo D1 is powered by a MediaTek MTK6580A SoC, along with 2GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage with a microSD card (thankfully).

It offers a rather decent user experience with minimal lags and good multi-tasking, enabling users to keep several applications open in the background with no significant impact on its everyday performance. Oh and if you’re into checking benchmark results, this Bluboo model scored 23622 points in AntuTu but had really average GPS reception. I didn’t have any issues with GPS related apps but it uses only a handful of the available satellites every time. It could be connected to more I guess, in order to offer even better results when scanning for our location.

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I guess you already know it, but I will say it one more time. The Bluboo D1 is NOT a 4G/LTE smartphone (thus the really affordable price), so you can expect normal WCDMA mobile internet speeds and decent performance in everyday use. It has good GSM/WCDMA signal reception, average in-call volume but the sound of its speaker is awesome!

Bluboo D1 review: Android software and UI performance

The Bluboo D1 runs on Android 7.0 Nougat but we have no official confirmation on when (and if) the company plans to upgrade it to Android 7.1.1 or (one can hope) Android O. In any case, the Android 7.0 gives you more control on the smartphone and also lets you customize the phone just like any other Nougat based smartphone.

There is no bloatware or other unnecessary apps inside, it supports all the classic Nougat features but the UI has been tampered a bit by Bluboo. There’s themes support with certain pre installed themes waiting for us when we first boot up, along with some few widgets for the weather, time etc.  All in all this extra customization doesn’t seem to affect the performance of the device. Don’t forget it has 2GB of RAM, which is not… a lot, but still offers decent everyday use for a novice Android user, as long as you don’t choose to put any extra pressure on it with severe multi-tasking, more than 4-5 apps opened simultaneously etc. It’s not a flagship guys, just a budget Android smartphone, don’t over-do it. 😉

Dual camera/Selfie camera performance

I guess we all know by now that the Bluboo D1 comes with an 8.0-megapixel main camera along and a 2.0-megapixel camera and a LED flash with generally acceptable photos as you can see for yourselves. Note that one camera is used for creating the bokeh effect and other will capture the image with quite impressive portrait photos, but poor performance in low light conditions.

good photos, average videos but DISAPPOINTING low light performance

Both cameras have independent vision processing unit, which enables background blurring in real time. It also allows you to choose where to focus (touch focus) and where to blur, with the ability to adjust the intensity of blurring, too.

The only thing I have to mention is the performance of the main camera in night or low light conditions, where the LED flash isn’t strong enough to create the necessary light that will help shoot crisp photos. Such as the following:

The little bluish light in the middle of the photo above, is the LED flash, trying to improve the light conditions, with really poor results however, as you can see.

bluboo d1 review

As we foretold you, the Bluboo D1 comes with a 5MP selfie camera and a soft light that illuminates the background in order to capture the image and create bokeh effects there as well.

Battery consumption

The Bluboo D1 is equipped with a relatively small 2600mAh battery but numbers don’t mean anything in this situation. The device comes with an energy efficient processor and in general performs well providing a full day’s usage with no problems and offers an extra battery super saver mode that can provide up to 12 more hours of usage. You can enable the saver mode by just holding the unlock button & you will see the option and tap on that. So simple yet efficient 😉

Conclusion – So what about it?

All in all, a decent budget Android…

I really enjoyed this small beauty from Bluboo. It’s not featured as the super wow dual camera phone that everyone should buy, no. It’s a budget dual camera phone, with good photos in daylight conditions, average photos in low light conditions and… below average videos. It offers however excellent battery consumption, good performance for a novice Android user and decent build quality.

It costs just 79,99$ (average price) in most Chinese retailer shops and – as I have already told you, I always judge a phone compared to how much it costs. So for this Bluboo D1 I think you get what you paid for: decent specs, good daylight photos with bokeh effects and impressive battery consumption.

You can find more information on the Bluboo D1 if you visit its official page.

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4 Comments

  1. Nilzie
    June 4, 2017

    need some tests on the battery. MT6580A isnt that power efficient

  2. BSJD
    June 4, 2017

    Yes, can we have video playback test to assess the battery life?

  3. Nilzie
    June 4, 2017

    need some tests on the battery. MT6580A isnt that power efficient

  4. BSJD
    June 4, 2017

    Yes, can we have video playback test to assess the battery life?