LAS VEGAS—The slimmest phone at this year's CES costs only $199 up front, with no contract.
It comes from Blu, an up-and-coming seller of low-cost, unlocked phones. Typically, Blu's phones tend to be a bit underpowered, but have some design element that really stands out, like neon-colored cases or the new Studio Energy's massive 5,200 mAh battery.
The Vivo Air's selling point is that it's thin. It looks a lot like an iPhone 5, but taller and slimmer, with a flat glass back. The 4.8-inch, 1,280-by-720 display is the punchiest of Blu's current lineup, thanks to its Super AMOLED colors, although it still needed to be pulled out of full sunlight to be really visible.
This is Blu's "flagship" phone, so it redesigned the icons and added a "system manager" app that flushes the cache and optimizes battery life. There's a new camera app on here, too, with built-in filters. It's running Android 4.4 with icons that look a little more stark and flat; Lollipop will probably come soon, Blu said, although the company reps couldn't commit to it.
The phone looks and feels premium. It's made of glass and aluminum, to be sure; it's super-thin, and feather-light. It certainly doesn't feel like a cheap prepaid phone. I was reminded several times of the Sharp Aquos Crystal, a $149 phone on Boost - that's another prepaid phone with a striking design that doesn't look like a low-cost device.
The Vivo Air definitely has a market: it's people who want a great-looking phone and don't have much money to spend, but aren't techies and aren't concerned with performance. It'll go on sale in mid-January at Amazon for $199 unlocked.