If you are an Amazon Prime Member in the USA, Amazon is rolling out a hard-to-resist deal for you. You can now take advantage of “exclusive pricing” of up to 50% off on two decent Android smartphones, the BLU R1 HD and the more familiar Motorola Moto G4.
The BLU R1 HD will cost $49.99 (down $50 from its $99.99 retail price) and the Moto G4 (not the Moto G4 Plus) will cost $149.99 (down $50 from its $199.99 retail price).
Launch Day discount on the Moto G4 for Amazon Prime Members
The BLU R1 HD packs in a Both the phones are entry level devices, and not to be taken for offering a flagship experience as they are very clearly not meant for that. But for as low as $50, you get a working Android phone with a decent sized display and an experience that about works alright for most daily tasks. The phones are available for pre-order unlocked with no contract commitments. And if you hurry up and purchase the Moto G4 today, you get a launch-only offer of an additional $25 off on checkout, bringing the price down to ~$135!
If there are no contracts and the price is this low, where’s the catch, you ask? Glad you did, because there is one with this. The low pricing on the smartphones is made possible because of ads and bloatware, and Amazon is upfront about it. Their press release goes along as below:
The breakthrough pricing on unlocked smartphones is supported by personalized offers and ads, including deals and product recommendations, displayed on the phone’s lockscreen. When a customer sees an offer, they can tap to learn more about it or simply unlock their phone to dismiss.
The concept is similar to Amazon’s Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets, where the hardware just serves as a gateway to get you into Amazon’s software ecosystem built around product and media consumption. The hardware is subsidized for this reason, as they want you to be invested in this ecosystem, and the low pricing is made possible by offering offers and ads on the lockscreen.
The same experience is likely to be present on these smartphones, as along with ads, the phones will also be pre-loaded with Amazon’s suite of apps in addition to the Google suite of apps. If you like a lightweight-experience on your smartphone, these are certainly not the phones to buy right away.
It remains to be seen if the Amazon has done any changes to the software or hardware that would make it difficult to just flash over a stock ROM for the standard Moto G4, which should theoretically get rid of the ads and the bloatware. The bootloader situation on the phone is unknown as of now, so we would not advise to make the purchase while banking on root to be easily achievable. There’s a good chance that the phones could be hacked around, but you know what they say — Better be safe than a Verizon phone.
Nonetheless, this is a very sweet deal and should work about right for the normal consumer, or for those looking for good burner phones. Let us know in the comments if you picked up the deal!
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