The Spanish brand bq returns to the charge with new terminals, and in this case we will see the analysis of the BQ Aquaris U Plus, a phone with a 16 MP camera, a metal chassis, and a 3080 mAh battery to be placed as a reference on mid-range smartphones. Will he make it?
BQ’s new mid-range
After the Aquaris X5 Plus, it was the turn of updating the range below, and it does so with two new models, whose price is not too far from the original BQ Aquaris X5, but which shows clear differences in conception, design and characteristics.
In fact, if we look at the features, everything seems to indicate that they have released a model higher than the X5 at a lower price. It includes a Snapdragon 430 octacore processor, along with 2 or 3 GB of RAM depending on the version, and 16 or 32 GB of storage, expandable by micro SD card up to 256 GB.
It also has a 5″ screen and HD resolution, although as we will see later in this analysis of the BQ Aquaris U Plus, it has certain differences. As is characteristic in bq, it also has a high capacity battery, which in this case amounts to 3080 mAh.
The highlight of this terminal is undoubtedly the main camera of 16 megapixels, which stands out with respect to what the competition offers, set in the comfortable standard of the 13 MP. Can it be a better smartphone than the BQ Aquaris X5 at a lower price? That’s what we’re going to try to solve.
Design
With the Aquaris X5 BQ he marked a design line that has convinced many, not only for its originality, but also for the correctness of the materials used, finishes and various differentiating details.
This is something we don’t have when we see U Plus. Having it in your hand is a very familiar feeling, and in fact except for the rear screen printing or the menu button on the front, it would be hard to guess that we are facing a BQ terminal.
The new BQ Aquaris U Plus offers us a design with rounded edges, which reminds us greatly of the lines of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3. With this we are not saying that the design of the Aquaris U Plus is bad, but it is perhaps too anodyne.
In any case, it should not be forgotten that the phone is quite compact, with dimensions of 144 by 70.5 mm high and wide, along with a thickness of 7.8 mm, all with a total weight of 142 grams.
With the exception of the two upper and lower ends, the chassis is made with an all-metal finish, something never seen before in BQ, and that differentiates it from its range brothers, the Aquaris U and the Aquaris U Lite, which feature a chassis made of polycarbonate. And speaking of the extremes, one of the details that has caught our attention as soon as we begin this review of the BQ Aquaris U Plus is the absence of connections at the bottom of it.
Instead, both the micro USB connection and the audio jack are located at the top, somewhat atypical, and that at first will make us err when we go to charge the mobile and look for the connection in the area to which we are most accustomed.
On the right side we can see the power button next to the volume control, while on the opposite side we have the slot for the double nano SIM card, or nano SIM plus micro SD, according to our need.
One thing that we should not overlook is the fingerprint sensor, located at the rear, although in a position perhaps too high, since to reach the sensor we must slightly stretch the finger so that we do not fail in the unlocking, although in general we can say that its operation is very fast and precise.
Screen without Quantum Color +
This test of the BQ Aquaris U Plus gradually reveals details about its positioning within the brand, and when we see the screen on we still understand it a little better.
In this case we continue to have a screen of 5 inches with HD resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels, achieving a density of 294 dpi. So far it is exactly the same as the X5, and yet the difference in quality is noticeable.
The most revealing detail is the absence of the famous Quantum Color +, a feature that BQ is including in the latest models of its catalog and that thanks to it achieves a very accurate brightness and color definition.
In this case we have a screen that defends solvently within the category to which it belongs, and offers a sufficient brightness, although it sins from limited viewing angles and that as happens in other terminals, produce a loss of fidelity of appreciable color as soon as we stop seeing the phone in front of us.
Software
We should not overlook BQ’s good work in terms of customizing its operating system, in this case, the lack of customization.
And is that in the aesthetic section, there is hardly any difference with respect to what we can see in the stock version of Android Marsmallow 6.0.1 that we can find on Google’s Nexus terminals, with the same desktop settings, and a first page with a feed where we have different notifications of the calendar, time, and different news.
We have changes, mainly focused on the functionality of the system, with a multitude of details that are to be appreciated, and that we will see within the settings. Those little details, such as double tap for unlocking, or being able to change the functions of the touch buttons at the bottom.
We also do not have the famous Bloatware that annoys some users so much, and only the application BQ Plus appears, with which we can get additional insurance against accidental damage and theft po 19.90 euros per year.
And here ends this part of the analysis of the BQ Aquaris U Plus, since there is nothing more of this system that we have not already talked about, and that this time it offers us the look and lightness that we have seen on other phones of the brand.
Performance
This BQ Aquaris U Plus presents a clear advance in performance, having the latest innovation in terms of processors of input range in the Qualcomm catalog, with the Snapdragon 430, which forgets the 4 cores to have a total of 8, and a maximum frequency of 1.4 GHz. This one is accompanied by an Adreno 505 GPU.
This is one of the main differences between the Aquaris X5 and the U plus, and to check it in this review of the BQ Aquaris U Plus we have the version of 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, an option that does not share with the Aquaris U, which stays in the 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage, although this should not affect the results in the benchmarks.
What we can see is that performance takes a step forward in terms of figures, with results speaking for themselves, offering more than 10000 points of advantage in Antutu over the Snapdragon 412.
These results are accompanied by the fluidity characteristic to which we are accustomed with Marshmallow and as long as we have at least 2 GB. That third gigabyte we notice in terms of the number of applications we have in the background. This supposed advantage we have not noticed in excess in the games that we usually use in our tests, which have shown a fluid operation.
Camera
It has been some time since the war of the megapixels has been over, assuming that the quality of the camera and the sensor is the most important thing, but despite this, having a smartphone below 200 euros with a good camera is not as common, and with a main sensor of 16 MP with focal aperture F/ 2.0. This is one of the biggest differences between the Aquaris U Plus and the Aquaris U, which includes a 13 MP camera.