Bold N1 | 2020 | All Day Battery | Unlocked | 6.4” Full HD+ AMOLED All Screen Display | 128 GB | Dual 16MP Camera | US Version | US Warranty | Black

This review will be a long and concise review of my experience with the BOLD N1 phone.If this is TL/DR: The BOLD N1, coming in at just shy of $250 manages to capture 95% of the flagship features offered in phones that cost $750-$1000. This is an underrated and under appreciated device that deserves praise and for you to pick it up.Now, for the review. Some clarification on BOLD first though. BOLD is the newly introduced division of BLU. BLU has been a player in the budget phone market for quite a while, normally releasing multiple low and mid range devices throughout the year. While BLU has managed to release some recent devices with higher quality specs, the company has still fallen short of the flagship experience with their product line. Enter BOLD. Unlike BLU, BOLD will only focus on releasing one or two devices a year, with each device being a flagship level experience, but keeping within the same price range as BLU devices. BLU has positioned BOLD to be what Honor is to Huawei, a quasi-separate entity, with a separate dedicated team, and separate devices. BLU is attempting to reposition itself in the market and show its competitors it means business. The BOLD N1 is the introductory model from BOLD, and BOLD has definitely made a bold statement with this device.The Bold N1 is an Android 9 powered device, with a Helio P70 octa-core processor, a 6.4 inch bezel-less AMOLED screen with a 403ppi rating, 128 GB of expandable internal memory, 4 GB of RAM, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, USB Type C charging compatibility, 10 watt wireless charging, 18 watt wired fast charging, a dual module main camera, an in display fingerprint sensor and last but not least, a pop up style front facing camera. All of this technology is housed within a svelte sandwich of a Gorilla Glass 5 front, a glass rear panel and an anodized aluminum frame. At launch the N1 only comes in one color, Raven Black.Upon receipt of the N1, you will first notice the packaging that holds it has a more premium look than typical BLU releases. The box is a matte white upper, with holographic lettering of "BOLD" and "N1". On the bottom of the box you will see that the entire area is covered in the same holographic packaging, with the phone's specifications printed on the back panel.When you open the box, you'll be greeted head on by the N1. Under the display tray is an assortment of included accessories, including:- A pair of metallic looking, wired 3.5 mm earbuds, with in-line volume control and microphone.- A clear TPU case-A USB type C to USB type A charging cable-A 18 watt power supply-A tempered glass screen protector with a microfiber cleaning cloth- A BOLD branded sticker-A SIM eject tool-Miscellaneous documentationNow, for most consumers familiar with BLU, that assortment of included goodies is definitely nothing new. BLU has been offering these items or a mix of these items with most of their phone releases. But for users outside of the BLU world, for those migrating toward phones from Samsung, LG, Motorola, Google or OnePlus to name a few, included accessories on this level is unprecedented.Overview:Upon holding the N1 for the first time, you will be struck by the quality feel the device has in hand. The glossy back, while being a fingerprint magnet, is smooth and curved, and blends seamlessly into the frame. Holding the phone is like holding a smooth pebble found on the beach. The front display is a single piece of Gorilla Glass 5, there is no teardrop notch to be found here, instead the camera is housed inside the body of the phone. The side and top bezels are nearly non-existent with the bottom chin area barely being noticeable. Since the fingerprint scanner is housed under the screen, the only break in the front display that you will see is a very narrow slit at the top for the earpiece. On the right side of the phone are the volume keys and a separate power button. The tactile feel from them is firm, with a solid click when pressed. On the left side of the phone is the SIM card slot. On the top of the phone is a microphone hole and the outline of the pop up camera module. On the bottom of the phone you will find a single speaker, a USB type C charging port, a microphone hole and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Unfortunately, this phone does not have NFC or feature any sort of water or dust resistance.Software and Usability:Initial boot up of the N1 is a quick process. Once into the Android software, the user is greeted by a nearly stock version of Android 9 (Pie), with some additional applications added in by BOLD (all of which are easily uninstalled). The phone has a high degree of customization out of the box, including the ability to change ringtones, wallpapers, display calibration, and other useful tools. Using the phone is a breeze, the Helio P70 octa-core processor, coupled with the 128 GB of internal storage and the 4 GB of RAM help the phone fly through tasks that other phones (I'm looking at you Google Pixel 3 XL) would hiccup on. The phone stays very cool to the touch when multitasking or through gameplay, with no lag or graphic issues observed.Display:The AMOLED display that comes with the N1 is a 1080 x 2340, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 403ppi, 6.4 inch beast. No teardrop notch, no punch hole, no camera in the display chin...none of that. This is clean, unbroken display (except for the small slit at the top for the earpiece). The display itself produces crisp images, colors are bright and punchy, blacks are dark. The display houses an in screen fingerprint sensor, which manages to unlock the phone fast and works every single time you use it (hint: for in display sensors...register each finger you enroll, twice, and the sensor will be more reliable). The display is able to produce crisp images without distortion or color bleed. Settings for the display include the typical options of brightness level, adaptive brightness and sleep settings. You can also fine tune your default text size, calibrate the screen with a Screen Color Mode, which allows you the choice of Standard, Vivid (adds warmth), Cool Color (adds, as the name suggests, cool) or Customize, which allows you to fine tune. Keeping the display on Standard will work for most applications. There is also a "Night Light" option offered, which is a blue light filter for your phone. No Always On Display is offered for this phone. Although, you can always download an app from the Play Store, called "Glimpse Notifications" which triggers your screen to wake when you receive new notifications.Cameras:The Bold N1 features a 16 megapixel main camera coupled with a 5 megapixel depth sensing secondary camera. In good lighting the main camera is able to produce some stunning imagery. In less than optimal conditions the camera does an adequate job. The dedicated Night Mode and 96 megapixel Super Zoom mode do help in retaining a high level of detail in dark environments and on zoomed in subjects, respectively. There are also an abundance of features housed in the N1's camera application, the aforementioned Night Mode, 96 Megapixel Super Zoom, HDR, Portrait, Video, Beauty and Pro modes, as well as an Intelligent Scanning mode and Panorama. There is also a feature to create Gif files, slow motion and add filters. The camera app also has the ability to add location information to the metadata, a BLU watermark to the photo, anti-flicker and a self timer. The front facing camera on the N1 is a 13 megapixel camera of the pop up style persuasion. This camera has an exceptionally wide field of view and is able to capture a great amount of detail in photos. The portrait mode though, tends to be a bit aggressive in some situations, with some part of the photo blurred out where it shouldn't be. Luckily, there is an optional slider that allows you to adjust the blur level of the portrait. Some of the modes listed above do not work with the front facing camera, Night mode works but instead of a dedicated flash, the screen will brighten to illuminate the subject. Bold has stated that the pop up camera on the N1 is rated for a minimum of 50,000 uses without failure, so selfie aficionado's need not be worried about malfunction. It should also be noted that due to the camera being a pop up style, and housed inside the phone body, there is no facial recognition ability.Call Quality:I utilized the Bold N1 on the AT&T network in Northern California and came across with no issues whatsoever. Callers were crystal clear and recipients voiced no concern about hearing my voice. The phone managed to maintain reception in most areas, although there were some loss of signal in Target stores (although this seems to be a trend with most phones I've owned, so it may just be a dead spot for the network provider).Battery Life and Longevity:The Bold N1 comes with a 3500 mAh battery, which for most users will last an entire day with moderate usage. For those who need to top up, or who find their phone is dying before they're ready to stop using it, the Bold N1 offers 18 watt wired quick charging and 10 watt wireless charging. Both power the phone very expediently. Testing of the device showed approximately 5 to 6 hours of screen on time with YouTube, music streaming, social media usage and frequent texts and emails, sprinkled with a small amount of voice calls. Typical use saw the phone being taken off the charger at 0630 hours and placed back on the nightstand to charge at 2130 hours with approximately 20% battery left.Final Thoughts:The gap between name brand, premium tier phones with flagship specifications and lesser known brands is closing quickly. Companies like BLU (and now, BOLD), Umidigi, Xiaomi, Redmi are bringing affordability and premium feature sets to the phones they release, at an unbelievable, almost furious pace. The average consumer no longer has to spend $750-$1000 on a phone to get the newest features, and the Bold N1 shows why. For a little under $250, you get a budget friendly phone with all the bells and whistles. The marketplace has been waiting on this, BLU, by way of BOLD made it happen. Don't make the mistake of passing up this phone.

Read all of the stuff from the hardcore Android professors all over the internet about how BLU steals your data, Mediatek processors are crap, and other stuff just hating on this phone. Even with all that, I still dove in, especially since the FTC has apparently messed up their little spyware operation and has their own guys reviewing BLU's software. The company has also made this new "BOLD" division, so I decided to not listen to hearsay and give them a second chance (hell, I never even gave them a first chance, so who am I to judge).The bezel is minimal, and along with the no fixed front camera thing, makes the entire phone look really luxury. It comes with its own transparent silicone case, earbuds, fast charger, and a tempered glass screen protector, so that's a plus.I tried out the fingerprint sensor, and it's really good too. It takes a while to fully scan your fingerprint initially, but when logging in, it's really fast, even through the tempered glass! (Other in-screen fingerprint phones that I've tried take ~10+ seconds to read with the screen protector while this one takes barely 2). One complaint though is how there are so many sensors and whatnot in this phone. A small motion will signal the phone screen to turn on, thinking you picked it up and are going to use it.There's minimal bloatware, just some BLU apps, random games, and some name brand apps such as Pandora and Opera. The only app you cannot remove is Opera.The slide-down notification menu is also really accomplished. Even on some of my other Android 9 devices, I don't have stuff like Blue Light, Screenshot, Calculator, Screen Recorder, and Camera. It's really convenient to have all of these things in your notification menu.The pop-up selfie camera is a really interesting concept. Despite other reviews about it being too slow and loud, it only makes a slight buzzing sound and takes maybe 3 seconds at most to lift up/down. I feel like the slow buzzing and deployment just adds to the awe and interest of the tech. You won't need a really fast deployment time just for a selfie anyways. The cameras have a lot of interesting features such as the 96MP "Super Zoom" which actually seems to work. There's also a Night Mode and some other presets such as "beauty". For camera-philes, there's also a "Pro Mode".Performance wise, I can definitely say that my data doesn't disconnect as much and my calls are much nicer (upgrading from a ZTE Avid 4). In the task menu, you can actually see how much RAM you're using up. I got to about 2.2 GB max just downloading apps while running PUBG Mobile at the same time (for reference, PUBG recommended "Medium" as the graphics settings and I had an amazing framerate and vivid graphics. I tried pushing it to High, and it still had a decent framerate). I haven't tried that many things that might need a lot of processing power yet, but the Mediatek processor seems to pack a decent punch.The AMOLED display is really vivid, although it seems as if the colors are slightly more washed out and lighter. Still, it's really bright. I turned the brightness to about 40% and even then, it was still brighter then my old phone at max brightness which had an LCD screen. I'd suggest turning the brightness to around 50% and battery levels will no doubt be used up slower.Speaking of battery, it seems okay. Although the AMOLED screen is very bright, it has a Mediatek processor (which allegedly uses up a lot of power), and the battery is only 3500MaH, a whole day of regular browsing and gaming brings the battery down to around 50%. It's definitely enough for me at least.Overall, the fairly stock Android along with its other software features, luxury feeling hardware (although many people will claim it's no-name crap imported from China, it feels good enough to me and durable), and unbeatable $200 price tage makes this an amazing 5-star package.