Quick Review: Alcatel One Touch Tab 7 HD

Alcatel recently has been stepping up its game by delivering quality Android devices to the market. Their current lineup looks solid especially their One Touch Idol handsets but slightly in the background might be another good find in the form of their One Touch Tab 7HD.

From the name itself, you can safely guess that it’s a 7-inch tablet with an HD display. Looking at the front, it doesn’t look that appealing with its well-rounded corners and thick bezels. It just look like any other cheap China tablets out there.

However, flipping it on its back you will be greeted by a pleasant smooth matte finish with a glossy portion on top to house the camera. This alone immediately added class to this device in my opinion. Nice design that you don’t want to hide with a case.

Looking at the ports and buttons, there’s the tiny Power button on the right side beside the volume rocker. While on top you’ll find the microUSB port and the 3.5mm audio jack. That’s it basically.

You might be wondering, is there a microSD slot? Yes there is. It’s located underneath the glossy plastic covering of the 2-megapixel rear camera at the back. Peel it off to see the microSD slot. Sadly, it would be nice if this phone has a microHDMI port so you can project contents to a larger screen.

Turning it on you will appreciate the beauty of its 1280 x 800 IPS display giving you a somewhat decent 216 ppi pixel density. That’s more than the iPad mini and same as the Google Nexus 7. Although the display is not too bright, the screen looks sharp enough from a comfortable viewing distance and you also get some nice viewing angles with it.

Powering this device is a relatively unknown chip called the Rockchip RK3066 which has a 1.6GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 processor and a Mali 400 MP4 GPU. For comparison, that Mali 400 MP4 GPU is also being used by Samsung’s Exynos 4 SOC which in turn is being used by the Galaxy S II and the first Galaxy Note. This WiFi-only device is also equipped with 1GB RAM and 4GB internal storage.

The One Touch Tab 7HD runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean which seemed to be unaltered as you can find other Google apps that are not available in our region such as Play Books, Play Music, Play Magazines, and Play Movies & TV.

There’s a 2-megapixel camera at the back which you probably won’t use much as the quality is not that fabulous and focusing is a bit slow. Still, it’s there when you need it. A VGA front cam lies on the front so it’s possible for you to video chat with this tablet.

There’s a 3300mAh battery giving life to this tablet which is a bit sub-par considering most 7-inch tablets have at least 4000mAh battery intsalled. Using it with WiFi always on, random surfing, a few YouTube videos here and there, and downloading apps,  I was able to get about 4-6 hours from it which is so-so for a WiFi-only tablet.

Verdict

The Alcatel One Touch Tab 7HD is a solid WiFi-only tablet for its price of Php7,490. Design is simple yet classy (I’m talking about the back) and the display is something you would appreciate for the price you paid it for. It’s direct competitor would probably be Starmobile’s Engage 7HD which costs just a little bit higher but with an HDMI and a 4000mAh battery. But if you’re after simplicity in design on an affordable package, the Alcatel One touch Tab 7HD should be considered.

Alcatel One Touch Tab 7HD Specs:
7-inch WXGA 1280 x 800 capacitive touchscreen IPS display
1.6GHz dual-core Rockchip RK3066 Cortex A9 processor
Mali 400 MP4 GPU
1GB RAM, 4GB internal storage, microSD up to 32GB
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi hotspot
2-megapixel rear camera
0.3-megapixel front camrea
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
Bluetooth 2.0
3300mAh Li-ion battery
191 x 125 x 9.1 mm
350g
SRP: Php7,490

Quick Review: Alcatel One Touch Tab 7 HD originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog – The Philippines" Longest-running Technology Blog on June 9, 2013.

Quick Review: Alcatel One Touch Tab 7 HD

Unbox/Review: Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N

Dual-SIM phones are fairly popular in the bar phone category, but would the introduction of the concept in the smartphone market prove successful? That said, the good folks at Alcatel Philippines loaned us one of their latest Android dual-SIM smartphones, the One Touch Glory 918N, for a test run. Let’s see if this dual-SIM Android is worth its price in the market.

The Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N is an entry-level Android running Gingerbread 2.3.5 powered by a 650MHz MTK 6573 chipset. And as “old” as it looks, would this be the solution to your network provider dilemma?

Design

The Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N looks somewhere pulled out of the premium line and put onto the affordable class. It’s available in both black and white colors, but its design pattern would be more visible in the latter. Nothing extravagant here: Simple yet elegant as they say.

The face of the phone shows the rather small (by today’s standards) 3.2-inch screen, three standard Android buttons (haptic-feedback capable), and Alcatel’s trademark home button. Aside from the well-put brand logo on the screen, the lower part of the phone shows the diamond pattern which doubles as a grip improver.

At the left side of the phone is the USB charging port. The other side meanwhile carries the volume buttons and power/sleep/wake button, so well-placed that it flows with the chrome plastic lining perfectly, not to mention the ease of access when trying to increase or decrease your phone’s volume or waking it up.

The back panel of the Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N is where the 3.0MP camera (no flash) and the speaker grill are located. The camera portion is raised by a few millimeters from the body of the phone and has the words “3.0 MPXL” written next to the lens itself, which of course the phone would be better off without design-wise. The One Touch section of the back panel is bare and is, like the camera portion, raised by a few millimeters. Constant putting down of this phone on all types of surfaces will inevitably wear the logo out.

The headphone input is located at the top center of the phone. The bottom portion of the Glory 918N is totally void of any input mechanism.

As for the feel, this small thing weighs enough, the right kind of heavy.It also doesn’t feel as plasticky as it looks, and the diamond pattern of the phone really feels great on the hand.

Display

The Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N sports a 3.2-inch HVGA touch capacitive LCD panel with a 320×480 resolution. For its price range, there are phones out there that offer larger screens and better display specs on paper. In contrast, the Glory 918N offers less on paper but more once you turn the phone on.

The 3.2-inch hands down is small, but the display is amazing for its price. Regardless of the screen protector you’ll put on the display (one is already included in the box by the way), you’ll enjoy decent colors and decent viewing angles.

The home Android UI of the Glory 918N is the straightforward no nonsense type. Its app icons are of the circlish square category, imagine Nokia’s MeeGo (now called Tizen) on the N9, but on Android. More on games and videos later.

The only problem with the display is its seeming lack of sensitivity to touch. This problem seems to be prevalent in entry level Android phones. Typing messages on the Glory 918N proves to be a challenge with the small screen coupled with sensitivity problems. Otherwise, the phone display is passable. 

Performance

Running the Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N is a 650MHz MTK 6573 processor coupled with a 256MB RAM. What seems to be an underpowered phone initially would impress even the toughest of critics (to be fair, it really is an underpowered phone when compared to high-tier smartphones, but a tough competitor in its bracket).

The single-core Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N scores a last-place but respectable 876 on the Quadrant Standard. But don’t let the numbers fool you.

Screen transitions, even at full animation enabled, brings no trouble to the Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N. Standard must-download games such as Angry Birds Space, Fruit Ninja, and Basketball Shoot doesn’t show any sign of slowing down or lagging, albeit a longer initial loading time. Websites render quick and fast (website loading time also depends on your internet connection speed). And unlike my experience with the Cherry Mobile Stellar, videos being watched at the Glory 918N get streamed flawlessly, even if you let the phone sleep. No hangs, no force stops.

Audio and Video

For a smartphone its size, the One Touch Glory 918N sure packs a punch with its well-made loudspeaker. Located just beside the camera, the sound waves go around your hearing range and not towards where it is pointed. It doesn’t lose its integrity and doesn’t degrade quickly. Even with something blocking the loudspeaker, it still plays at an audible manner.

For a more personal space in music, the Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N provides stock headphones. Don’t expect too much from it though.  It’s stock.

The videos meanwhile, render wonderfully in the 3.2-inch screen. YouTube videos, those of Flash, and most video formats, especially in HD, play flawlessly. No lags. And as previously mentioned, games look awesome on the tiny screen.

The Glory 918N is microSD expandable up to 32GB, so if you have plans of filling up this device with pictures, HD videos, audio files, and games, you’ll have no problem.

Camera

As previously mentioned, this phone carries a 3.0MP rear camera. Lacking a flash LED, the Glory 918N is a no-performer in low light conditions. But give it some light and it produces one of the most brilliant photos in the low-tier phone market. See samples below:

As seen above, photo quality is excellent even with just a 3.0MP camera thanks to the enhancing technology on Alcatel’s cameras. And that’s without autofocus lens. This dwarf of a smartphone can definitely go head to head with high-tier smartphones in the photography department.

Filters are non-existent in the Glory 918N, obviously because of limited computing power. This is why you should move all apps immediately to a microSD.

Battery Life

Something smaller doesn’t necessarily use lesser power. Moderate use of Twitter or Facebook probably, plus texts and a couple of minutes of casual gaming, all on medium brightness, would give you 16 hours of juice before recharging the phone’s 1300mAh battery. Playing, surfing, and doing activities on the Glory 918N continuously i.e. nonstop would give you 6 hours tops before going for the plug.

Turning off automated fetch requests from apps, setting the brightness on medium, turning off the WiFi when not in use, and putting the sound on an enough audible level would help extend battery life.

Battery is replaceable and is accessible through the removable plastic back panel.

Verdict

It is what it is: The Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N is truly an entry level dual-SIM Android to watch out for. Running an old configuration of the Android leaves you with limited possibilities, but if you’re after that then you’d better go fetch something else because what the Glory 918N ultimately offers you is your ability to be at two networks at the same time. That plus its power points, such as its display and camera makes this Android smartphone a total buy.

Davids still exist in this era of Goliaths.

The Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N sells for PHP5,999.00 but might be lower by a few hundred bucks depending on the store you’re buying from.

So there you go. Share this Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N review on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, especially if you have friends looking for entry-level phones.

‘Till my next installment.

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Unbox/Review: Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N

Alcatel One Touch Blaze 985N Review

Let’s face it. The Alcatel One Touch 918N Glory, although a spectacular Android for its price range, has a small display. Too small in fact that people with big digits would find it difficult navigating throughout the UI, even simply making messages. Don’t you wish something exactly like the 918N Glory, but with a bigger screen?

Enter the Alcatel One Touch Blaze 985N. Considered the big brother of the 918N Glory, the Blaze 985N sports a 3.5″ capacitive touch screen paired with the Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread OS. It totally owns the display department and is also dual-SIM. Would its bigger screen attract you and your pocket? Let’s find that out with this Alcatel One Touch Blaze 985N review.

Design

The Alcatel One Touch Blaze 985N looks like something only Alcatel would produce; you can’t mistake it for any other smartphone even a mile away.

On its face, the OT Blaze 985N features the typical clean Alcatel look: A 3.5″ HVGA capacitive touch display, three haptic-capable soft touch buttons, and its iconic home button.

Body-wise, the Alcatel One Touch Blaze 985N looks like its little brother the Glory 918N. The smartphone comes in a horizontal pattern (perhaps for improving grip or just pure aesthetics) and comes in red, black, and white colors.

(Related: Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N Review)

The front camera of this smartphone is discreetly located at the right of the Alcatel logo. Top of it is the earpiece, which looks anything but a simple rectangular hole in the front. You won’t find any metal mesh here.

The plastic rear of the OT Blaze 985N, save for the 5MP camera and the One Touch logo, is totally clean and simple. This clean design principle could be found throughout the One Touch series of smartphones. The back panel is easily removable with a snap. Just slip your nail to the little slit at the bottom of the phone and pull.

The camera area of the phone is made of a clear material (glass or hard plastic) that is easily smudged by fingerprints. Be sure to wipe this area clean as smudges can drastically reduce the quality of an image before processing. This area is also where the phone’s loudspeaker is found, neatly blended between the black rectangle.

Located at the top of the OT Blaze 985N is a 3.5mm headphone jack and the power/sleep/wake button. The sides meanwhile carry the standard volume rocker and the 5-pin USB terminal. The body is wrapped with a chromed bezel that adds to the simple elegance of the smartphone.

It’s worth mentioning that the weight of the phone is notable. The Blaze 985N weighs like an iPhone, only that it’s 1 gram lighter. Holding the phone with one hand at extended periods proves uncomfortable.

Included in the box is its stock headphones, a wall charger with a removable cable, a 1300 mAh battery, and warranties, manuals and other supplemental information.

Display

The Alcatel OT Blaze 985N, as mentioned earlier, sports a 3.5″ HVGA TFT capacitive touch screen set at 320×480 resolution, the same as the 3.2″ Glory 918N. With a bigger display you’d want a higher resolution, but if you hold this in person you’d be blown away at how crisp the screen looks.

The UI of the Alcatel OT Blaze 985N remains unchanged like the other One Touch Androids: It features the Alcatel swipe-down-to-unlock lock screen and rounded square app icons. The mentioned aside, nothing much is happening here.

Touch sensitivity could be a problem to some users. About 90% of your use of the Blaze 985N would prove easy with a responsive display. What’s challenging though—and I have observed this numerous times now—is messaging or just plainly typing text. One could even go as far as saying that there are blind areas at the display, especially at the landscape orientation.

Performance

Running on Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread and powered by a 650MHz MediaTek MTK6573 processor (also found in the DTC GT3 Astroid), the Alcatel OT Blaze 985N—when compared even to mid-tier phones—surely lacks the firepower power users are expecting. To its defense, the Blaze 985N can handle most games and services at the Google Play store. Besides, the highlight of this smartphone is its dual-SIM dual-standby capability.

For formality’s sake, here are the photos of the Alcatel One Touch Blaze 985N‘s benchmarks:

As expected, it hits the floor marks for its overall power. The funny thing is, the Glory 918N received higher marks than the Blaze 985N. Why? I don’t know. But for a smartphone that’s expected to outperform its cheaper relative, it will be a nagging question for some time to come.

(Related: Alcatel Android Smartphones 2012 Price List Philippines)

Usage-wise, the Alcatel One Touch 985N doesn’t slow down as much as you would expect it to. Websites render quickly and beautifully, apps run smoothly, and there are not much force-close errors from unresponsive programs. Then again, if you download lots of apps that actively consume memory without use and you don’t force-stop it or free memory, you would definitely suffer from lag. There would be no missing UI icon errors after heavy computing usage though, unlike other more affordable smartphones.

Two things that a power user can find wonderful with the Alcatel OT Blaze 985N is: 1) It supports Skype video chat and; 2) One SIM slot is 3G capable.

Audio and Video

Remember the said above on how amazing the display of the Alcatel Blaze 985N is? Here’s where it comes into play: HD videos.

Let’s put things in perspective first: The display of the Alcatel OT Blaze 985N, when pitted against 4″ Gorilla Glass 2 AMOLED display monsters, won’t even try to hold a candle. It would be silly to compare a flagship phone to the humble Blaze. Compare it to something more closer to home though, now you have a contest.

From the UI to the home screen to playing games and videos, this smartphone really does spit out crisp images. It may not be retina, but it’s something that passes wonderfully.

It’s worth noting that applying any sort of screen protector, clear or matte, no matter how magnificent the resolution is, would ruin the display quality of the smartphone. If only GG2 were equipped on all smartphones.

At the sound department, the Alcatel One Touch Blaze 985N is in the clear. It has no problems on loudspeaker: Sound integrity doesn’t degrade easily, sound direction travels around, and sound clarity is cool, not canny.

The Alcatel OT Blaze 985N is microSD expandable up to 32GB.

Camera

Inasmuch as this smartphone’s capabilities are concerned, its 5MP camera is a huge downer. You’d expect that, as good as its display is, it would pack a punch. But frankly, no it doesn’t.

Adding insult to injury, the Blaze 985N‘s camera has no flash. And that’s just half of the problem: Its smaller sibling the Alcatel OT Glory 918N, as far as this review is concerned, takes better photos with its 3MP camera (no flash).

Sample photos of the Blaze 985N below (close, outdoor lighting/close, indoor lighting/wide, outdoor lighting).

(Click to enlarge)

Poorness of photo quality is very pronounced with the given sample. Then again, the Blaze 985N can produce wonderful images with the right amount of angle, timing, and lighting.

For casual, fun photos, the Alcatel One Touch Blaze 985N is good enough.

Battery Life

This Android’s battery life would last at least 6 hours on maximum usage, including videos, gaming, sounds, and browsing. Unfortunately 3G wasn’t included in the tests ran on the smartphone. WiFi was used instead.

Battery is replaceable through the back panel.

Verdict

If a small-screened dual-SIM smartphone won’t suffice your daily needs, you’ve got a winner in the Alcatel One Touch Blaze 985N. Not only is it affordable, it also offers the minimum standard on OS, on cameras, on display size, and on display quality.

If you’re looking for another notch higher than the Blaze 985N however, be prepared to shell out at least P10,000 or more. But if you think this smartphone is the perfect one for you, it retails for around P7,999 or cheaper (Alcatel PH might’ve implemented a price cut we aren’t aware of).

Alcatel One Touch Blaze 985N Specifications

• OS: Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread


• CPU:650 MHz Media Tek MT6573 processor


• Memory: 256MB RAM, 512MB ROM, 150MB internal, microSD expandable up to 32GB


• Display: 3.5” 320×480 capacitive touch screen


• Dual-SIM, Dual-standby


• Camera: 5MP rear camera, VGA front camera


• Connectivity: 3G+HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hot spot, Bluetooth 3.0, A2DP


• Battery: 1300 mAh


• Dimensions: 61.84 x 116 x 12.15 mm


• Weight: 136 grams

So there you have it. Share this Alcatel One Touch Blaze 985N review on your Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus accounts, especially if you have a friend searching for a starter Android phone capable of handling two networks at any given time.

‘Till my next installment.

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Alcatel One Touch Blaze 985N Review

Alcatel Launches One Touch Jelly Bean Devices, Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Alcatel, one of the longest running global mobile brands, is celebrating their 20th anniversary in the market this year. And what better way to celebrate their anniversary than to flaunt their latest devices in the Philippines!

Previously announced in CES 2013, the Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD, One Touch Idol, and One Touch Idol Ultra, are all now officially available in the Philippines. These devices all sport fantasic displays, multi-core processors, and fantastic cameras. More information after the jump.

Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra

The Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra is one of the world’s thinnest mobile devices. It’s apparently also a hot item today since it appeared in the movie Iron Man 3.

Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra Specifications

OS: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
Processor: 1.2GHz dual-core Mediatek CPU
Memory: 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, microSD expandable up to 32GB
Display: 4.7” HD 720p (720 x 1280 pixels), AMOLED display, Corning Glass, Oleophobic coating
Camera: 8-megapixel main camera with autofocus & LED flash, 1.3-megapixel front camera
Connectivity: GSM Quadband (850/900/1800/1900), EAP, UMTS 900/2100 and 850/1900, 850/2100, 3G data up to 7.2Mbps DL and 5.76Mbps UL, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS with AGPS, Bluetooth 4.0 A2DP
Battery: 1800mAh
Dimensions: 134.4 x 68.5 x 6.45mm
Features: Micro SIM
Price: P14,990
Alcatel One Touch Idol

The Alcatel One Touch Idol is one of the two devices to have a dual-SIM configuration in their latest lineup. It also has a sleek metallic finish and a clean qHD display.

Alcatel One Touch Idol Specifications

OS: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
Processor: 1GHz dual-core MTK 6577+ processor
Memory: 1GB RAM, 4GB internal storage, microSD expandable up to 32GB (single-SIM version only)
Display: 4.7-inch qHD display (540 x 960 resolution), black crystal lens, Dragontrail Glass technology, oleophobic coating feature
Camera: 8-megapixel camera with autofocus & LED flash, 2-megapixel front camera
Connectivity: GSM Quadband (850/900/1800/1900), EAP, UMTS 900/2100 and 850/1900/2100, 3G data up to 7.2Mbps DL and 5.76Mbps UL
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS with AGPS, Bluetooth 4.0 A2DP
Battery: 1800mAh
Dimensions: 133 x 67.5 x 7.9 mm
Features: MicroSIM and dual-SIM versions available
Price: P11,990

Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD

The Scribe HD is Alcatel’s answer to the current market’s phablets. Personally for me it’s their answer to the Samsung Galaxy Note II (it has S Note-ish features, sans the built-in S Pen), and cheaper too. It’s also the company’s only quad-core device that appeared in this launch.

Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD Specifications

OS: Android Jelly Bean 4.1
Processor: 1.2GHz quad-core Mediatek processor
Memory: 1GB RAM, 4GB internal storage, microSD expandable up to 32GB
Display: 5-inch IPS HD display (720×1280 resolution), black crystal lens, Dragontrail Glass technology, oleophobic coating feature
Camera: 8-megapixel main camera with autofocus & LED flash, 1.3-megapixel camera, FHD video 1080p recording
Connectivity:GSM Quadband (850/900/1800/1900), EAP, UMTS 900/2100 and 850/1900/2100
3G data up to 42Mbps DL and 11Mbps UL, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi display, GPS with AGPS, Bluetooth 4.0 A2DP
Battery: 2500mAh
Dimensions: 144 x 75 x 8.5mm
Features: MicroSIM and dual-SIM versions available
Price: P13,490

Other devices launched in the event include the One Touch Scribe Easy, the Glory 2, the Inspire 2, the Sapphire 2, and the One Touch Tab 7 HD.

With everything that we saw in this event considered, Alcatel is definitely doing things right: They’re producing quality devices at very competitive prices (their most  expensive device is hovering at the P15k mark; other local brands with the same specs but with lower build quality more or less sport the same price) and has promised to consistently keep their products’ quality.

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Alcatel Launches One Touch Jelly Bean Devices, Celebrates 20th Anniversary