Alcatel 1X Android Go Phone To Be Released Next Week For Just $99.99

Alcatel has announced that its first Android Go phone, the Alcatel 1X, will finally be available in the U.S. next week. The upcoming handset features an 18:9 aspect ratio display and has an ultra affordable price of just $99.99.

The Alcatel 1X was originally announced back in March during the Mobile World Congress 2018. The handset comes with a 5.3-inch FullView 18:9 display with a screen resolution of 960 x 480. It’s powered by a quad-core MediaTek processor with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. The handset also comes with microSD card support for up to 32GB cards and it has a 2,460mAh battery.

On the back, the Alcatel 1X has an 8-megapixel camera that’s capable of taking HDR photos and 1080p full HD videos at 30fps. Up front, the handset comes with a 5-megapixel camera that’s able to record 720p HD videos at 30fps. The phone also comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, Micro USB 2.0, NFC and VoLTE support.

The Alcatel 1X isn’t an exciting phone and it’s a low-end smartphone, which is why it’s being sold under the Android Go brand. The device will run Android 8.1 Oreo Go Edition, which is a stripped down version of Google’s operating system and is designed for devices that have 1GB of RAM or less. The phone will also arrive with pre-installed Google “Go” apps that have been optimized to run smoothly on the handset, like Google Go, YouTube Go and GMail Go.

“With the introduction of the Alcatel 1X, we are building a new definition of what ultra-affordable smartphones can and should be,” Alcatel North America general manager Eric Anderson said. “Now anyone can enjoy a high-quality mobile experience for the same price as taking your family out to dinner and a movie.”

The Alcatel 1X will be available next week through Amazon and it will be an unlocked model. This means that users should be able to use the handset with AT&T or T-Mobile.

The first Android Go phone to be sold in the U.S. was the ZTE Tempo Go, which was released in March for just $79.99. However, ZTE has since been banned in the country and the Tempo Go has been taken off the market, as pointed out by 9To5Google. This should give Alcatel 1X a chance to fill the hole left behind by ZTE — that is until the Nokia 2.1 is released in July.