The retail behemoth announced on Wednesday that the new Moto G4 and Blu R1 HD could be had for $50 off their going price, in exchange for lock screen ads like the company puts on its Kindles.
The discount means the Blu R1 HD will cost you $50, which is half off the original price. The Moto G4 can be had for $150, also $50 less. Both phones are unlocked for use on any carrier, though you’ll also get preloaded Amazon apps and a home screen widget that displays Amazon’s daily deals.
It’s unclear if you’ll be able to delete the preinstalled apps, though don’t count on it since you usually can’t when carriers pack in such extras. Although given that these phones are only available for Prime members, you’ll probably put those Amazon apps to good use with lots of impulse buys.
The Blu R1 HD offers a 5-inch, curved Gorilla Glass display, a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, LTE, and an 8MP camera. The storage is tight, with 8GB or 16GB options, each paired up with either 1GB or 2GB of RAM.
The fourth-generation Moto G has a 5.5-inch HD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 chipset with an octa-core, 1.5GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, LTE connectivity, a 13MP camera with dual LED flash, a 3,000 mAh battery with fast charging capabilities, and 16 or 32GB storage configurations with microSD support for an additional 128GB of space.
The story behind the story: Amazon’s new strategy in smartphones appears to be partnering up with other handset makers to get its apps, services, and advertisements baked right into the phone. The price cuts in exchange for ads is an arrangement that has worked well with the Kindle, so it’ll be interesting to see if buyers are willing to make the same deal for a cheaper smartphone. These two phones may be just the first of many.