The alcatel 5 officially takes its place at the helm of TCL's lineup

TCL hasn't exactly been keeping a tight lip about its new lineup over the past few weeks. As expected, spearheading the bunch is the new alcatel 5. A flagship, if you will, although we don't really feel right referring to it like that, given it's mostly mid-ranger specs.

To reiterate, those include a 5.7-inch, IPS panel, in the new and trendy 18:9 aspect ratio. TCL seems to have committed to the ultra-wide concept fully, even providing it in very cheap devices. Interestingly enough, the alcatel 5 has an HD+ (1440 x 720 pixel) panel, while its 3V sibling, joining it at the Barcelona unveiling has FullHD+.

The main attraction with the alcatel 5, however, seems to be the design, featuring minimal side bezels around the display and an almost non-existent bottom chin. It looks pretty impressive, but could potentially be an issue with ergonomics, combined with on-screen navigation buttons.

The body on the alcatel 5 measures 152.3 x 71.1 x 8.4 mm and weighs in at 144 grams. It's plastic all around, but does feature a metallic finish in gold or black.

      
alcatel 5 in black

As for internals, the alcatel 5 is based on an octa-core MediaTek MT6750, combined with 2GB or 3GB ram and 16GB or 32GB of expandable storage. The camera setup includes a 12MP, f/2.2, 1.25 μm snapper, with a dual-tome LED flash and a few extra features, like EIS, Light Trace, Slow motion and Video story. The camera can also interpolate its photos up to 16MP, if you find the 12MP native resolution insufficient.

Two snappers handle selfies: a 13MP, f/2.0, 1.4 μm, 120-degree main one, along with a supplementary 5MP unit and an LED flash. EIS is a thing on the front side as well. The Alcated 5 also offers some interesting selfie effects to play around with, although it should be noted that both snappers are fixed focus.

      
alcatel 5 in gold

Other specs on the alcatel 5 include an optional Dual Nano-SIM configuration, depending on the model variant and Cat.4 LTE speeds. Bluetooth 4.2, GPS with GLONASS, Wi-Fi b/g/n, microUSB 2.0 and an FM radio are also standard on every variant, while NFC will only be available on some. There is a rear-mounted fingerprint reader. A 3,000 mAh battery keeps the lights on and a rather dated Nougat ROM is powering the show. alcatel is also marketing a face unlock feature, it calls "Face Key", which seems to be a re-brand of the standard Android Face Unlock option.

TCL is promising immediate availability for the Alcated 5 in select markets. Color options include Metallic Black and Metallic Gold and the asking price is a pretty competitive EUR230.

Alcatel makes four phones official - Idol 5S, Idol 5, A7, A7 XL

Alcatel took its sweet time with the unveiling of its latest smartphones. Today the maker unwrapped the Idol 5S, Idol 5, A7 XL and A7. 

Alcatel Idol 5S

Let's begin with the Alcatel Idol 5S - Alcatel's top offer from today's announcement. This Idol 5S is not to be mistaken with the USA-based Idol 5S - while mostly the same the Idol 5S announced today ships with a Mediatek Helio P20 and has a different design to the Snapdragon 625-powered US model.

Outside of the Helio chipset the Idol 5S provides a 5.2-inch 1080p IPS LCD, a 12MP camera with f/2.0 aperture and a semi-large 1/2.8" sensor (that's good for larger than average 1.25µm-sized pixels). The selfie camera is an 8MP one.

There's 3GB of RAM and a 2,850mAh battery to finalize the Idol 5S package.

      
Alcatel Idol 5S

The Idol 5S is available right now in Europe in Dark Gray priced €399.99.

Alcatel Idol 5

The Alcatel Idol 5 differs from the 5S mainly in the camera department. It has a 13MP main snapper and a 5MP front-facing one. The chipset is a little different too - it's a quad-core Mediatek MT6753 instead of the octa-core Helio P20.

      
Alcatel Idol 5

The Idol 5 is available now in Metal Silver and Metal Black for €239.99.

Alcatel A7 XL

The Alcatel A7 XL has a 6.0-inch 1080p IPS LCD and a potent 4,000mAh battery.It makes use of an octa-core Mediatek MT6750S and 3GB of RAM.

What's interesting about the A7 XL is the camera, well cameras. There's a main 12MP unit that is complemented by a 2MP camera that provides a software blur effect for portrait shots.

   
Alcatel A7 XL

Alcatel A7

The Alcatel A7 loses the dual camera but gains a 16MP main one and can bolster its battery life by using the same 4,000mAh power plant with a smaller 5.5-inch 1080p display.

   
Alcatel A7

The Alcatel A7 XL will be available in Black and Gold this November starting at €279.99, the Alcatel A7 is available now 

Alcatel U5 HD now official

Alcatel presented the U5 back in February at MWC. Now, just days before the next big tech event IFA an upgrade of the device debuted.

The Alcatel U5 HD retains the 5” IPS LCD, but ups the resolution to 720 x 1280 pixels. The Alcatel A3 XL on the other hand improves on the A3 with a larger screen and a more powerful battery.

The Alcatel U5 HD comes with an 8MP primary camera (instead of the 5MP of its predecessor) while the selfie cam is 5 MP, upgraded from 2 MP. The battery is also slightly larger - 2,200 mAh vs. 2,050 mAh.

The specs that haven’t changed are the MediaTek MT6737 chipset, the 1 GB RAM and 8 GB internal storage with a microSD slot for up to 32 GB more and the textured plastic back.

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alcatel Idol 5 images appear on FCC

The alcatel Idol 5S is now official, which made us suspect that the company might be skipping number 5, but the phone is apparently still being developed. The phone appeared on the FCC website, and its design was leaked in full glory. We also know this is the actual name since the manual was also updated.

    

Looking at the device, we see some differences from the alcatel Idol 5S. It does not have the front-facing speakers, while on the back the dual-LED flash is positioned on the right side of the camera instead of being below it.

    

The FCC listing also reveals the aluminium-body phone has a model number 6058. From docs we see the alcatel Idol 5 will run on MediaTek MT6753V chipset. A similar SoC can be found in the alcatel A5 LED, launched back at MWC.

 

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Nougat-powered alcatel A30 tablet now available in Canada

The Alcatel A30 tablet is now available for purchase in Canada through Telus. The carrier is selling the tablet for zero-down on a regular, two year contract. Alternatively, you can grab a unit for CAD 180 ($135) outright.

To quickly refresh, the device packs in a Qualcomm SoC with quad-core processor, and features an 8-inch 1280 x 800px display. RAM is 2GB, while storage is 16GB. The tablet features a 4,000mAh battery, and runs Android 7.1 Nougat.

Source | Via

New Alcatel Pixi 5 tablet spotted in FCC certification

A mysterious new Alcatel device recently made its way into the FCC database. Its official designation is the "Alcatel 9024O", but documentation also features a reference to the "PIXI5-8" moniker. We know enough about Pixi devices to safely assume this is either a 7 or 8-inch tablet (the Pixi naming convention isn't known to be particularly descriptive or clear). The cited dimensions of 100mm by 180mm paint a pretty clear "small tablet" picture as well.

Speaking of measurements, the FCC file contains a pretty detailed sketch of the alleged "PIXI5-8". It offers a few tips on basic hardware, like the single rear-facing camera and what we can only assume is a speaker, near the bottom left corner of the device. The tablet also features a microSD memory expansion slot, as well as a SIM one. The documentation mentions both CDMA and GSM band support, as well as LTE.

The only other hardware info the FCC notes beyond that is a 4,000 mAh Li-polymer battery pack, which, judging by the small writing on the sketch label, will apparently charge at 5V@2A. The still current generation Pixi 4 (7) tablet is an entry-level offer, with its Mediatek MT8321 chipset, 1GB of RAM and 7-inch, 600 x 1024 pixels LCD. We can only assume the "PIXI5-8" will be a low end device as well, but still hopefully a significantly more powerful one.

Source | Via

alcatel Idol 4 Pro with Windows 10 to be available in Germany starting next month

Back in February this year, there were reports thatthe alcatel Idol 4S will be available in Europe as the Idol 4 Pro. Now, it has been revealed that the phone will land in Germany next month - July 1 to be precise.

The revelation has been made by a German website Windows United, which says they've received this information from "the responsible PR agency." Pricing information isn't yet confirmed, but it is expected to be €599.

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