When looking for a budget phone, this product might steal your attention. Find the phone’s pros and cons here in this Alcatel Apprise review.
Alcatel Apprise is a smartphone released in September 2020. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a working smartphone at a low price. This phone is one of the products that could suit such a purpose.
The highlight about this phone, undoubtedly, is its price. It’s very cheap and it costs almost like a feature phone. However, this model offers sophistication a smartphone has, such as the ability to download apps.
You’ll get a 5.5-inch display, Android OS, and cameras on the front and the back. We also got a decent battery here at 3,000mAh. At first impression, it looks like a decent phone to use every day.
Let’s dig more into this Alcatel Apprise review. Find out what surprises this phone hides behind its low price. Whether it’s a good or bad surprise, make sure you are well informed before deciding to buy.
Page Contents:
Key Specs
Alcatel Apprise specifications:
- Weight: 168g
- Dimensions: 146 x 72 x 9.9mm
- OS: Android 10 Go
- Screen size: 5.5-Inch
- Resolution: 960 x 480
- CPU: 1.5GHz Quad-core, MediaTek MT6739WW
- RAM: 2GB
- Storage: 16GB
- Battery: 3,000mAh, Removable
- Rear camera: 5MP
- Front camera: 5MP
Design
The body of this phone measures 146 x 72 x 9.9mm. It’s quite small compared to many smartphones nowadays. The weight, at 168g, is also light. It signals the low-grade material the phone is using and reveals the fact that there are not so many peripherals inside.
Alcatel Apprise’s design looks like flagship phone designs from a couple of years ago. Today, however, many would consider this design outdated.
It features a square display with relatively thin bezels. Nowadays, almost every phone has curved edges on its display. But it’s not the case with Alcatel Apprise’s display. The frame, however, does have rounded corners for easy handling.
There’s no notch here, making this phone perfect for anyone who thinks notches are ridiculous. On the back, the camera is located at the top left corner. The casing is grayish-black. Apart from the camera, you will only see logos here.
Overall, there’s not much to hype about in terms of design. We also had nothing to complain about. This phone is perfectly sized, using materials that fit its price, and is pretty ergonomic. We liked how it feels nice to hold.
Read also: Alcatel Apprise User Manual
Display
The 5.5-inch display of Alcatel Apprise is not something you would boast to your friends. The size is alright albeit small when compared to today’s phones. However, we’re not a fan of its 960 x 480 resolution.
This is definitely not an HD screen, not even close. The pixel density, according to the specs sheet is only 195 ppi. In our eyes, it translates into a viewing expectation that reminds you of early 2010s phones. It’s not the best and certainly lacking.
Colors are accurate in images and other UI graphics. However, don’t expect exquisite sharpness and the level of vibrancy you can find in HD screens above. Not to mention, this phone also struggles when used outdoors on a sunny day. You will need to cover it with your hand so the screen becomes readable.
On the other hand, we don’t have a problem with the size. It is the right one for the price. It’s also wide enough to allow users a comfortable browsing experience. The display touch response is also intuitive and there’s no delay.
The display is certainly not the strength of this phone. For potential buyers, you need to keep in mind the low display quality. It’s something that you will need to compromise when you decide to own this phone.
Camera
The camera on Alcatel Apprise consists of a 5MP back camera and a 5MP front-facing one. Like many things about this phone, the camera also comes with a simple setup. Buyers can only dream of things like a dual-camera at this price.
The good thing about the camera is that it’s not entirely bad. Pictures taken with it still look good on social media. The resolution is low, but you can get a decent picture of it. Make sure to take photos in bright weather to ensure the best results.
The camera struggles when it’s dark around you, as expected. In this situation, you can utilize the LED flash that comes with the camera. It can improve the photos you take to be somewhat acceptable.
The back camera comes with a panorama shooting mode. It lets users take a wide-eyed picture of an object. However, panorama photos will have a lower resolution than standard photos.
For video, the camera is able to take 1080p videos. To get a good result, make sure to keep your hand steady because a stabilization feature is not available.
The front-facing camera has the same megapixels as the rear camera. However, this one comes without an LED flash. So far, it proved to be a decent camera setup for occasional selfies.
Read also:
- Cricket Icon Smartphone Review: A 5.5-Inch Affordable Phone
- Alcatel Insight Review: Basic Android Phone With A Low Price
Storage
Alcatel Apprise only packs a 16GB of internal storage on its system. Out of that number, 10GB is what’s available for users. However, this amount proves enough for a phone like Alcatel Apprise. Despite the small capacity, this phone benefits from its light OS.
Therefore, there’s actually plenty of room for apps. Keep in mind that we strictly mean light apps that are curated for Android Go phones. If you’d like to upgrade, the phone has an SD card slot, capable of handling a 128GB SD Card.
Performance
At its core, Alcatel Apprise’s system consists of a 1.5GHz MediaTek processor and 2GB RAM. The phone uses a version of Android OS called Android 10 Go.
The choice of processor is not surprising for us. As a budget model, focusing on performance is never a priority. Instead, Alcatel Apprise aims to give its users the latest technology, like 4G.
The processor also focuses on running daily tasks with ease. We like the manufacturer’s choice of RAM. At 2GB, we find the RAM to be generous on a cheap phone. The phone relatively handles multitasking well because of it.
Of course, you can only squeeze out the performance so much with this phone. Moving onto heavier tasks, we started detecting lags. In general, launching an app can take a bit longer than on a better phone. It won’t be noticeable for first-time phone owners. However, people who downgrade may notice the difference.
The software choice in this phone is pretty unique. Android 10 Go is based on Android 10, which is a recent version. The difference is, the Go version is a stripped-down version of Android. It is designed to be lightweight on entry-level devices.
The downside is, you won’t get a full feature of Android. When downloading an app, you’ll get a lite version of it. Casual users might not have a problem with it. However, this phone is definitely not for someone who wants complete functionalities.
Thankfully, Android didn’t get rid of the Google Assistant feature on the Go version. On this phone, you’ll even get a dedicated button to activate Google Assistant. Giving voice commands in this phone is easy since specs don’t influence the performance.
There’s no fingerprint reader on this phone. Instead, buyers will have the option to activate Face Unlock. We think it’s a hit and miss. Face Unlock depends on the camera quality too. And as we mentioned earlier, the camera on this phone is not the best.
We’d like to mention the Hearing Aid compatibility in this Alcatel Apprise review. For buyers who need it, you don’t have to worry. This phone has a rating of M3 and T3.
Connectivity
Alcatel Apprise is a 4G LTE compatible phone. The availability of 4G ensures you to have a speedy network throughout the country. Network problems rarely happen, but you might not like the speaker quality when calling.
When used for the internet, webpages load quite fast. Social media lags a bit when loading images. But other than that, this is a comfortable phone for surfing the internet.
With this phone, you can also browse the internet using Wi-Fi. Bluetooth is also available for pairing with a headphone. Meanwhile, the port used here is still the older MicroUSB.
Battery
Alcatel Apprise packs a 3,000mAh battery to fuel its system. We found it a perfect size for a phone with a spec like Alcatel Apprise. Due to its light Android Go, performance can be power-efficient. The phone’s hardware, such as the processor and display, are also not demanding.
A 3,000 capacity can take you through one full day. Charging time is just average, knowing that no quick charging feature is available. The battery itself is removable.
Is the Alcatel Apprise a good phone?
Priced at $19.99, you can’t deny how cheap this phone is. There will be so many things you would sacrifice in terms of specs. Some would not mind that, especially if they just need a communication device with the occasional smartphone experience.
Therefore, this phone is a good choice for them. It has a sizable display, a lightweight Android, and cameras on the front and back. It even has a face unlock feature. For $19.99, our Alcatel Apprise review thinks that it’s a good deal.
Alcatel Apprise Pros
- A relatively big RAM
- Light Android Go OS
- Google Assistant button
- Very cheap price
Alcatel Apprise Cons
- Low-quality display
- Low-resolution camera
