Alcatel is a brand licensed by
Alcatel-Lucent (now owned by Nokia) to TCL. The Chinese electronics company has
been launching handsets, tablets, and other related products under this brand
for years. However, lately, new launches under the Alcatel brand has decreased
since TCL has now begun to launch self-branded phones. Anyway, even if they do,
they are mostly exclusive to a particular carrier like the newly launched
APPRISE budget smartphone.
The Alcatel APPRISE is a US$ 69.99 Android Go
smartphone for Cricket Wireless in the US. In a nutshell, it is an entry-level
smartphone for basic stuff and well-suitable for seniors. The device sports a
5.5-inch 18:9 LCD panel with qHD resolution and a 5MP selfie camera above it
protected by Asahi Dragontail Glass. Since there’s no notch or punch-hole, the
phone has noticeable bezels but that’s fine for its asking price.
Further, the handset is powered by
MediaTek MT6739WW SoC paired with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. It also
has support for microSD card up to 128GB. The smartphone is even compatible
with hearing aids M3 and T3.
The entire external body of the device in
Suede Gray color is plastic hosting volume rockers + power key on the right
side and a dedicated Google Assistant key on the left side. Whereas, the back
of the phone includes a 5MP primary camera accompanied by an LED flash and
Alcatel as well as Cricket branding.
The handset’s top also features a 3.5mm
headphone jack while a MicroUSB port sits at the bottom to charge the phone’s
3,000mAh battery, On the connectivity front, the device comes with support for
4G LTE, single-band (2.4GHz) WiFi, and Bluetooth 4.2. As for software, the
Alcatel APPRISE runs Android 10 Go Edition and last but not least, it measures
5.76″ x 2.82″ x 0.39mm in dimensions.