Would you buy Bell’s ‘designed in Canada’ Ahlo 1 smartphone?

With the ongoing U.S.-Canada trade war, people are trying to buy Canadian products and avoid U.S. products. Unfortunately, you can’t do that with smartphones, most of which are made in Asia by U.S.-based companies, like Google’s Pixel brand and the ever-beloved Apple iPhone handsets — at least, not until now with Bell’s new Ahlo brand. It’s worth noting that Bell says this device is specifically “designed in Canada,” not necessarily “made” in the country.

If you purchase the Ahlo 1 smartphone on a two-year contract with Bell or Virgin Plus, it costs only $1 per month over 24 months or $24 outright, or you can buy the phone outright for $270.

Our Brad Bennett went hands-on with the Bell Ahlo 1 handset, and this is what he said about the device.

Overall, this phone is fine for its price. People in this price range are often left with few good options, but you might be better off if you can wait for a sale or buy a used phone from a more reputable brand. 

And even though the handset itself is pretty affordable, he noted that:

Bell and Virgin are advertising this phone as $1 per month, the plans you need to get are a bit more expensive than if you got a used phone and a cheap plan.

He also says the phone’s camera performance could be better but slightly laggy. However, it also has a sizeable 5,000mAh battery, a microSD card slot, and a headphone jack. It’s lovely to buy Canadian, but it’s not the phone for me. Would you buy the Ahlo 1 smartphone? Let us know in the comments below.