This year, there were a few Chinese companies at MWC 2016 held in Barcelona, Spain. We were present at the event and managed to get our hands on the latest budget smartphone from the Chinese company Blackview, namely the Blackview A8. The phone redefines budget smartphone since it costs just $56 (at MWC we were told that the price would be around $43, so we better wait for the final price quoted by retailers) and features pretty decent specs for its price. Now, here are a few more details about the device.
First of all, the Blackview A8 will go on sale soon. The company informs us that the first batch of A8 smartphones will start shipping by March 25, which is just a couple of weeks away. Looks wise, the phone feels well built and the company seems to have done a good job with the design.
As for the specs, the Blackview A8 features a quad-core MT6580A chipset clocked at 1.3GHz. In case you have been following the Chinese chip market, this isn’t the latest or the greatest chip in the budget segment, but its still pretty decent. Further, you get 1GB of RAM on board along with 8GB of internal storage which is further expandable up to 32GB via MicroSD.
There is a compact 5-inch IPS 720p display up front. The phone comes with 8MP cameras on both the back as well as front with LED flash. It supports dual SIM dual standby and sports a 2000mAh battery. Given its low-cost pricing, this is just a 3G smartphone. But the company seems to be working on a 4G version at a slightly higher price tag. As for software, the Blackview A8 runs on Android 5.1 out of the box. Color options include pearl white, champagne gold and violet black. Shipping starts by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, you can check out our hands-on with the Blackview A8 from here.
You can also check out the other Blackview smartphones on sale from below
