The Alcatel Glimpse review contains all information about the device. It is a resource to determine whether this on-budget smartphone is perfect for you.
The Alcatel Glimpse smartphone was launched in 2020. For the past few years, we’ve seen many smartphones compete to offer their best features. Advanced camera, long-lasting battery, unique design and everything you name it. The Alcatel Glimpse comes into the battlefield with its own selling points.
This phone is not the latest smartphone, indeed, but we want to give a review about it since it has an affordable price. This phone has the standard requirements of smartphones. It isn’t as fancy as any notable smartphones out there, but still worth looking at.
It will be a nice consideration for those planning to change their old smartphone into a new one but have a tight budget. Let’s look at this Alcatel Glimpse review to discover the intriguing points of this affordable smartphone.
Key Specs
Alcatel Glimpse specifications:
| Weight | 168g |
| Dimensions | 146.2 x 71.7 x 9.95mm |
| OS | Android 10 Go Edition |
| Screen size | 5.5-inch |
| Resolution | 480 x 960 |
| Processor | MediaTek MT6739WW |
| CPU | Quad-core (4×1.5 GHz Cortex-A53) |
| RAM | 2GB |
| Storage | 16GB |
| Battery | 3,000mAh, Non-removable |
| Rear camera | 5MP |
| Front camera | 2MP |
| Features | Facial Recognition |
Design
A typical entry-level smartphone design could be seen on the Alcatel Glimpse. The phone looks very ordinary, with the phone dimensions 146.2 x 71.7 x 9.95mm and a weight of 168g. It makes the device feel small yet still ergonomically fits an adult’s hands.
It has a rectangular shape with bezels around it, in which the up and bottom bezels are thicker than the other side. It’s eaten up some space, and it would be better if the bottom bezels were pulled out a little longer to make the screen bigger. Especially since the main buttons are already placed on the screen.
The back area has nothing much to talk about. It comes minimalist, with the only sight of a single rear camera with the LED flash and the brand’s name on the center. Unfortunately, this phone doesn’t have a fingerprint reader available.
Read also: Alcatel Glimpse User Manual
Display
The Alcatel Glimpse comes with a 5.5-inch display screen. This screen size is very small; it’s not required for today’s smartphones. The small screen will be uncomfortable for some people since it is barely readable and hard to navigate.
Even worse, the Alcatel Glimpse has low screen resolutions; it is only 480 x 960. The screen still equips with FW+ (Full Wide Plus) quality; it doesn’t even have HD (High Definition) quality. With this quality, we notice some texts and icons are still pixelated, but the colors are quite good. But in pictures, the colors are lacking.
For screen protection, the Alcatel Glimpse uses 2D Dragontrail Glass. It makes the screen more resistant yet still intuitive enough. But the problem is that the screen will become less responsive when your hand gets wet.
Camera
Next is about the camera on the Alcatel Glimpse. It only features a single rear camera which is below the bare minimum since, at least, a duo camera would be better today.
This phone is equipped with a 5MP rear camera. It is not the best quality, but it is commonly found in entry-level smartphones. The camera is decent for taking occasional pictures, but it would not be good for social media quality. It has an LED flash to boost the camera’s quality while taking it in dark-light situations.
The 2MP front camera is also available on the Alcatel Glimpse. We doubt it can be a good choice for taking selfies, but it is still usable for video-calling. In the front, you will also get an LED flash screen.
Storage
The internal storage of the Alcatel Glimpse is not a lot. It only has 16GB under the hood. But in total, users only have 10GB available for their usage. This is because the system and preloaded apps already equipped the phone storage. We advise you to buy a MicroSD card once you have this device.
The MicroSD card is the external storage to expand your phone’s capacity. How to do this? You only need to put the MicroSD card into the phone’s slot. This phone supports up to 128GB of external storage. After doing this, you can have more space in the device to save more content and add more apps.
Read also: Schok Freedom Turbo XL (2022) Review: Triple Camera and Wireless Charging
Performance
The Alcatel Glimpse’s performance depends on Quad-core MediaTek MT6739WW processors. This processor is specifically designed for an entry-level smartphone, so it can run smoothly with minimal battery usage. Yes, this CPU is focused on efficiency rather than blazing speed performance.
This phone runs at a 1.5GHz clock rate speed. It can boost the performance while running lightweight apps, but it becomes more struggling when we open a more intense app. Opening many apps back and forth also underperformed. Multitasking is not really their thing.
The Alcatel Glimpse CPU performance is combined with 2GB RAM. Again, it is a decent size for a budget smartphone. Even though it is not large enough, it can still improve performance.
With this RAM specification, we can expect the device to not show any lags or delays while using some lightweight apps. But it may be different if you navigate some larger apps, such as browsing social media or playing heavy games. The phone will start juggling here and there.
The Alcatel Glimpse uses Android 10 Go Edition as its operating system. As a low-spec smartphone, it is a good choice for this Android OS version. Android 10 Go Edition supports lighter performance really well. It removes some of the unnecessary features of the OS, which it won’t need for this phone at all.
Because of this, the Android 10 Go Edition has more limited features and a more minimalist user interface than the original versions. The beginner should, thanks to this since it would be much easier to navigate and have less bloatware too.
As for the sensor aspects, the Alcatel Glimpse has several features available such as the Accelerometer, GPS, Proximity, and Light sensors. Security-wise, this phone doesn’t have a fingerprint reader like other smartphones. Meanwhile, they use a fingerprint reader to unlock the device easily.
Connectivity
The Alcatel Glimpse is a 4G LTE network-based smartphone. Besides this, it also still supports 3G and 2G network connectivity. But still, we recommend you use the 4G LTE for a more stable and wide coverage area. With 4G LTE connectivity, users can also experience a crystal clear voice call using VoLTE.
Another option for network connectivity is by using Wi-Fi connectivity. It saves your data connection and battery usage as well. Bluetooth is also available here. Suppose you have other Bluetooth devices, such as earbuds, speakers, or other home appliances. In that case, you can connect those devices to your phone for easy access.
Battery
The Alcatel Glimpse powers up with 3,000mAh non-removable battery all day long. With this battery capacity, you can expect the device to last up to 17 hours in talk time and 12.5 days in standby time. This claim seems very promising, but it will be much different in real time. The battery life will depend on users’ daily activities and behaviors.
There are no advanced features like fast or wireless charging in the Alcatel Glimpse smartphones. But their charging time is short, only consuming around 3.5 hours to fully charge the battery.
Verdict
Before we talked about the pros and cons. What price should you pay to get this Alcatel Glimpse smartphone? This phone only cost $40. It is considered affordable for a smartphone. But as an entry-level smartphone that was launched a few years back. Are the features worth buying?
The Alcatel Glimpse’s main selling point is its price. Besides that, we’ve found it just an average specification. The camera’s spec does not fulfill today’s standards, either with their display, storage, or battery quality; it doesn’t match current needs. But if it is your first smartphone and you choose practicality over quality, it is good for you.
Alcatel Glimpse Pros:
- Affordable price
- Simple and practical
Alcatel Glimpse Cons:
- Low spec performance
- Low camera quality
Alternatives
There are many options similar to the Alcatel Glimpse smartphone. Here we will give you the two closest alternatives for your consideration. The first one is Cricket Icon 3. This smartphone release date is later than the Glimpse. So, it has several advanced features such as the Android 11 and fingerprint reader.
The other alternative is the TCL 30 Z. This device is the latest of the two mentioned above. It has more interesting features, and even better, it has a lower price than Android 12.
