14 DAY TRIAL // BLU recently become one of the most popular Windows Phone handset manufacturers from the “other” category. This means that the US-based company dominates the Windows Phone market when put against brands like Micromax, Allview, Prestigio, Karbonn and others.
Obviously, Microsoft's Lumia brand is still king with no less than 97% of the Windows Phone market share. The Redmond-based company is followed by companies like HTC, Samsung, LG and Huawei, which launched Windows Phone handsets in the past.
Unfortunately, the major brands mentioned earlier did not release a Windows Phone more recently, except for the HTC One M8 for Windows that hit shelves last year.
One of the reasons BLU has gained so much market share in the last couple of months is the fact that it has expanded its Windows Phone portfolio with more affordable smartphones.
We reported last week about BLU Win HD LTE, which became available at Microsoft Store for just $200. Today, another Windows Phone handset released by BLU made its debut in the United States and Canada.
Beginning today, customers in the US can purchase the BLU Win JR LTE Dual SIM for just $100 outright. In Canada, consumers will be able to get the affordable smartphone for $110 off contract.
Decent quad-core CPU, but only 512MB RAM
The device ships with Windows Phone 8.1 build 14226, but it's upgradeable to Windows 10 for Phones. This means that those who get it will have to wait until this summer when Microsoft is expected to launch its new Windows 10 for Phones operating system.
Moving on to specs, BLU Win JR LTE sports a 4.5-inch capacitive touchscreen display that suppors 480 x 854 pixels resolution. On the inside, the smartphone is equipped with a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory.
Users will be able to further expand storage up to 32GB via microSD card slot. BLU Win JR LTE also comes with a 5-megapixel photo snapper on the back and a VGA front-facing camera for video calls and selfies.
As mentioned earlier, the smartphone is sold unlocked and offers dual-SIM support. Customers can choose from grey and yellow color options, but additional colors might be introduced soon, such as pink, orange and white.