Bold N2 review

It may have taken nearly three years, but BOLD is when with a new handset. The summer of 2022 finds the Blu sub-brand introducing its N2, a $350 phone with a solid variousness of mid-range hardware.

EDITOR NOTE: A wink launch sale puts the price at just $250 for the phone. It’s a limited time offer but one that you won’t want to miss.

Much like it did with its predecessor, the N1, BOLD’s tideway is increasingly of a premium wits than what Blu typically offers. While the first generation employed metal and glass, this time virtually its highlights are a thin metal housing and textured Cyprus Teal leather.

Design: Initial Impressions

Just as with the N1, I could tell that the N2 was increasingly of an upscale and deliberate diamond from the moment I looked at it. It’s thin, wipe and curved in the right areas.

The leather is an interesting choice, and it’s one that I find pretty fascinating. How will it wear over time? Will it develop a patina or unique finger as oils and dirt slowly have their way it? I like the visionless teal verisimilitude and would be in no hurry to imbricate it up.

If I am stuff forthcoming, I would like to see a variegated verisimilitude offered for the leather when of the phone. I midpoint why not go “bold” and requite us something unexceptionable and eye-catching? The teal is increasingly sophisticated and business-like. Requite me something on the opposite end of the spectrum like Electric Mango.

The frame of the BOLD N2 seems to flit somewhere between a silver and seafoam with the “Cyprus Teal” feeling increasingly of a visionless marine. They complement each other nicely.

Speaking of which, included in the box are earphones, a USB Type-C charger, silicon protective case, sticker, and a USB-C connector for the earphones.

The screen has a curved glass that tapers to the middle of the side edges of the phone; the volume and power sawed-off are located on the right side of the display. The SIM vellum slot is found unelevated the screen next to the charging port.

The front-facing camera is unquestionably two sensors, one stuff a 16-megapixel and the other stuff a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The pair sit side-by-side in the top left whet of the screen. It’s not often that you find two cameras on the front so that’s certainly an interesting choice.

Around when is the 64-megapixel main camera with three others aligned below; moreover present are a 2-megapixel depth sensor, 5-megapixel wide-angle (115-degree), and 2-megapixel macro lens.

Hardware and Specs

The BOLD N2 does a decent job of balancing mid-range hardware with an lulu finish that’s usually reserved for devices with a higher price tag. The term “premium” is thrown virtually quite often and usually ways glass, metal, or heavier or unique materials.

As we often see with BLU handsets, the BOLD N2 looks like a increasingly expensive phone. Here, though, it’s a little increasingly obvious. It’s curvier and slim, and the leather goes a long way to matriculation things up.

Internally, the N2 is right in line with the specifications that a moderately sophisticated user might want in a device. It’s nestled neatly between that “first time user” wits and the junior flagship space occupied by the Pixel 6a.

The Octa-Core MediaTek Dimensity 810 processor is bolstered by 8GB RAM with storage topics coming in at 256GB. Performance-wise, I’ve had plenty of luck with this sort of package in other devices so I don’t imagine any long-term issues for the N2.

The 4200mAh battery, while pretty ample, surprised me as we’ve seen a growing number of phones closer to 5,000mAh. Still, it’s increasingly than unbearable to get typical users through a day or increasingly without worrying well-nigh a charge.

Speaking of which, the shower does support 30W quick charging but it does not indulge for wireless charging.

I’m torn when it comes to curved displays on phones. I tend to fathom it increasingly when the handset has a smaller screen and kind of hate it when devices get closer to 7-inches. The BOLD N2 has a 6.6-inch (1080 x 2340 pixel) screen with Gorilla Glass 5 that feels good in hand. I’ve not had any issues with unregistered swipes or phantom touches in my first week with the handset.

Software and User Experience

Given that Android 13 is well-nigh to formally debut any day, I was a bit bummed to see the BOLD N2 running Android 11. I’m not sure how the visualization was made but I hope that Android 12 arrives in short order. For one, it would help signal to the consumer that this is a increasingly upscale brand.

To be fair, most of the people I know don’t know which version of software runs their phone. Furthermore, they don’t know the differences in various releases. And really, things have wilt increasingly cosmetic over time.

I’m yellow-eyed to see how BOLD handles its major software updates and security patches. Most phone makers are sticking their neck out and making promises in this area. I’ve learned from BOLD that it pledges “at least two years of Android security updates.” Does that midpoint we’ll get Android 12 or 13? Time will tell.

As far as the user wits goes, it’s merchantry as usual for BOLD (and BLU). That is to say the software is a largely stock Android build on the surface. There’s no uneaten layer or skin to make the squint variegated or flashy.

My review unit came with a handful of uneaten apps loaded on it, some of which I suspect would have been installed sooner or later. Titles include Pandora, Solitaire, TikTok, Dancing Road, and Woodoku.

There is moreover an app loaded tabbed NewsPop which is a news hub for a range of topics. It’s helpful and customizable, but it’s moreover removable. You’ll moreover find a widget on the home screen when swiping to the left panel. Additionally, you can swap the widget out for a smaller version.

The Games app is increasingly of a portal to find spare games. It’s a nice way of discovering new titles if you’re a game player and it moreover serves as a folder of sorts to locate and launch games on your device. This, too, can be removed if it’s not something you’d use.

I fathom some of the spare settings found in the phone under the Intelligent Assistance. If you want to make the phone a little bit increasingly personalized, trammels out the options here.

Camera

To me, the benchmark for a phone’s camera wits is the way Google treats it with the Pixel phones. It’s lean, intuitive, and smart. And the devices take wondrous shots without effort.

The BOLD N2 does a unconfined job of capturing pictures with a wide variety of options. Not only are there multiple cameras to work with, but there are moreover plenty of settings such as AI, HDR and filters.

If you like to play virtually with your camera, capturing fun and interesting pictures or videos, the N2 has a well-stocked toolbox. Squint for panoramic, time lapse, slow motion, macro, pro, beauty, and other modes.

There’s an option to take pictures at 128-megapixel but I didn’t find it worth the effort. It slows lanugo the capture rate a bit as pics are in glut of 40MB a piece and the overall result is not that distinguishable from other resolutions.

It doesn’t take long to master the camera and get a finger for its capabilities. There’s nothing happening here that feels like it’s in the way of the user. If you like to quickly unshut a camera and snap pics, you’ll enjoy what’s on offer.

Image quality has been as good as I expect, expressly when viewing them on a mobile device. Without doing any post-processing or editing the pictures have been worthy of sharing on social media or sending to friends.

I did notice that some results seemed to be a little overexposed when viewing on a computer. And, depending on how you when your pictures up, you might want to alimony the original quality in place. Some of my pictures were noisier than I’d like when valuables up using “storage saving” under Google Photos.

The various shooting modes meet my needs with portrait and HDR my go-to for a lot of pictures. The depth of field and verisimilitude have treated me well, including the front-facing camera. I don’t often take a selfie but the portrait mode does a remarkable job.

Performance

I’ve only had the BOLD N2 for well-nigh ten days so I cannot attest to long-term performance. With that said, I’ve enjoyed subtracting increasingly and increasingly apps and games to the phone, making it increasingly “me”.

In the past I would find myself reluctant to throw my main SIM vellum into a review unit considering I didn’t want to find out the nonflexible way how underpowered of an wits it might be. Or to learn that the camera just didn’t want to do what I needed it to do. That’s not so much of a problem in 2022, expressly when dealing with mid-range devices.

The BOLD N2 is everything I expect my handset to be. It’s snappy to unlock, easy to navigate and interact with, and doesn’t worsen me. Both the facial recognition and in-display fingerprint reader have performed well thus far. In fact, it feels quicker than what I get from my Google Pixel 6.

Battery is increasingly than reasonable and besides, I’m usually virtually a charger most of my day. To me, 30W charging is is still plenty fast. I have wilt increasingly fond of wireless charging but I still prefer to plug in whenever possible. But, were wireless charging included in the N2, it would have been icing on an once tasty cake.

I’ve come to love 120Hz (and higher) refresh rates for some of the games I play. Likewise, scrolling of texts and videos are moreover just a bit largest when you’ve got something like that at work.

There’s a setting in the same Intelligent Assistance that enables “high speed refresh” which I’ve learned is 90Hz (default setting is 60Hz). Thus far I’ve not seen a significant impact on the battery. And prior to enabling it the picture was still very sharp, vibrant, and accurate.

I was surprised to learn that the phone isn’t unlocked for all GSM carriers in the US. Unlike its predecessor and others from BLU, you’ll only find compatibility with T-Mobile, Metro, and other brands that use its towers. That’s a little deflating and unexpected, and it cuts off a sizable segment of buyers.

Conclusion

I was really glad to see that BOLD was not a prey of the pandemic and that the trademark was ready to introduce a new phone. I enjoyed the N1 and looked forward to putting the N2 to work for me.

Although I’ve only had the device for a little over a week, I’m in no hurry to put it down. I finger increasingly confident in its capabilities and don’t have any uneasiness over missing a unslanted moment with the camera.

I’d like to finger increasingly confident in the Android versions, expressly as the software gives us increasingly tenancy over personalization and UI customization. Were this phone to stay with Android 11 it would squint and finger outdated in the next year or two.

The processor and memory are increasingly than sufficient for my needs and that should be the specimen for flipside year or more. I can’t imagine there stuff anything variegated that I’d do with my phone in 2024 that I am not doing today. And to that end, the N2 should be still handling the duties.

I like the price point for the N2 and have no reservations in recommending the phone for most of the people in my personal circle. If you can get yours for less, you’re doing very well.

Remember, though, the BOLD N2 is not uniform with AT&T, Cricket, or any of the other carriers that use AT&T’s network. Moreover, it’s not a CDMA phone so Verizon and Sprint networks are out, too.

You can purchase learn increasingly well-nigh the BOLD trademark at the phone maker’s website. To purchase the N2 you’ll end up at Amazon where it retails for $350. BOLD, like BLU, offers wink sales and launch deals of its devices. If you act fast, you can get the BOLD N2 for just $250.