Alcatel 1 (2021)

The Alcatel 1 (2021) is an entry-level smartphone that you can buy for little money. Yet its price only tells one side of the story. Is it also a good phone, one you can do everyday tasks with? That is exactly what we are trying to find out for you here.

Smartphone with ifs and buts

Alcatel may not be the first brand you think of when you want a new mobile. However, the company makes very decent phones at an affordable price. This Alcatel 1 (2021) is a good example of that as far as we are concerned. It is an entry-level model with a correspondingly low price tag. This has advantages and disadvantages. It is not very powerful and that makes gaming, for example, not very suitable. We also have our doubts about the size of the battery. With 2000 mAh, it is not very spacious, although Alcatel does promise a standby time of 300 hours, which is more than 12 days. Take it from us that you are not going to make it. If longer battery life is your priority, you should consider the Alcatel 1S (2021) with its twice as large battery.

The basics are there

The Alcatel 1 2021 is equipped with a 5-inch screen, which is quite usable in practice. Alcatel gives as resolution FWVGA+ which comes down to 480 by 960 pixels. We also know this resolution as qHD, although that term is not used much anymore. And not without reason, because we rarely see it anymore, as it is not very sharp. On the back, we find a single 5 megapixel camera with which you can shoot HD videos in addition to photos. On the front there is a simple 2MP camera for selfies. It will be clear by now that we are talking about a simple phone with basic features. But one with 4G internet, Dual SIM and space for a memory card (max 32GB).

Main Alcatel 1 (2021) specifications

• Compact 5 inch screen with modern 18:9 ratio
• 5MP camera with face recognition and HD video
• 2MP front camera with various selfie functions
• Clean version of Android 11 (Go Edition) ensures smooth performance
• Simple MediaTek MT6739 up to 1,28 GHz + 1GB of RAM memory
• 8 or 16GB of storage memory (expandable by up to 32GB)
• Modest 2000mAh battery fully charges in 3.4 hours
• 4G support for fast mobile internet

With Android Go Edition

This Alcatel 1 2021 edition is powered by a MediaTek MT6739 processor. It will not surprise you by now that this is a simple processor but still, that should not be a problem. The device does not use the standard version of Android, but Android Go Edition. This version is much more economical with memory and processor so that you still have a smooth user experience. Apps start faster and it also saves battery life. Google imposes fairly strict rules on manufacturers that use it, but it does ensure that you have a clean Android version without unnecessary apps that only take up space. It is just unclear for a while whether Alcatel ever plans to release software updates again.

Pro and cons Alcatel 1 (2021)

• Spot on price
• Full-fledged smartphone
• Smooth Android Go Edition
• Compact design

• Very basic in everything else