The $299 smartphone with 3 days of battery life: BLU Energy XL

While it’s up to personal preference whether you think a QHD display is worthwhile or not, there is no such indecision when it comes to battery life. More is always better. So it’s refreshing to see big batteries in smartphones when the general trend is is leaning towards thinner phones with smaller batteries. So it is with the aptly-named BLU Energy XL. Packing a 5,000 mAh battery, the just-announced Energy XL promises three days of battery life.

As you may have guessed, the 6-inch display on the Energy XL is only Full HD resolution, but if battery conservation is the name of the game, Full HD will have to suffice. As you probably also guessed, it’s an AMOLED display.

You’ll also get a MediaTek 6753 chipset with Mali-T720 GPU, 3 GB of RAM, 64 GB ROM with microSD expansion and LTE compatibility with AT&T and T-Mobile. It’ll be updated to Marshmallow by the end of the year.

On the camera front, you’ve got a 13 MP primary shooter with a 5 MP f/2.0 front-facing selfie camera. There’s a fingerprint scanner located on the all-metal back and that 5,000 mAh cell allows you to reverse charge other devices (via USB Type-C and USB 2.0). You can pick one up in gold or silver and it will only set you back $299.99. That’s not bad for a solid phone that doubles as a portable battery pack.

How important is battery life to you? Do you think this is a good deal?

See also: The BLU R1 HD redefines what you can expect for under $100