Alcatel 1 Is The Cheapest Android Smartphone With An 18:9 Display

TCL Communication has officially announced the Alcatel 1, a new entry-level smartphone. The Alcatel 1 is also the cheapest smartphone in the world that comes with an 18:9 display.

The Alcatel 1 comes with a 5-inch 18:9 “FullView” display with a 960 x 480 screen resolution. Despite having an 18:9 aspect ratio display, the handset still features thick bezels. This might not be such a big deal for many as it’s clearly a smartphone intended for consumers who are looking for a budget phone. The back of the handset has a brushed metallic finish, which gives it a more attractive look. It also comes in three colors: blue, black and gold, according to GSM Arena.

Inside, the Alcatel is powered by the MediaTek MT6739 quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. The handset has a microSD card slot that’s capable of supporting cards of up to 32GB. The phone also houses a 2,000 mAh battery and Alcatel claims that it will offer up to 8 hours of talk time when connected to a 4G network. When connected to a 2G network, it can last up to 17 hours. The Alcatel 1 doesn’t have fast charging of any kind and the 2,000 mAh battery takes 3 hours and 24 minutes to fully charge.

On the back, the Alcatel 1 has a single 5-megapixel camera that is able to interpolate 8-megapixel photos through software. It’s capable of shooting videos at 1080p full HD at 30fps. The built-in camera app also boasts a one-handed mode that brings all the camera controls to one corner of the screen. Up front, the Alcatel 1 has a 2MP camera (interpolated to 5MP), which is able to shoot videos at 720p HD at 30fps.

The handset is running Android Oreo Go Edition, the stripped down version of Google’s mobile operating system. The software is specifically built for devices that have 1GB of RAM or less. This also means that the phone comes with pre-installed Google “Go” apps, which have been optimized to run smoothly on the device.

The Alcatel 1 is very cheap and only costs $89. The device is also cheaper than the Alcatel 1X, which was released a few weeks ago for just $99.99. No exact release date was given for the device, but Alcatel said that it would be available in “select markets” starting in July. With the company revealing U.S. and European prices, it’s very likely that the Alcatel 1 will be available in those two markets.