Alcatel’s long been focused on bringing premium smartphone features down from the stratosphere of flagship handset pricing into a mass-market price point, and has seen much success in the local market. Today’s announcement of their new 1S phone should see them continue to build on that tradition.
The Alcatel 1S carries a 5.5-inch notchless Full View display with an 18:9 aspect ratio and a HD+ resolution. It’s housed inside a 146g brushed metallic finish body (with a fingerprint sensor on the back) in black or blue colours and behind a 2.5D glass surface that should prove comfortable to touch.
Internally, there’s 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage with a dual-SIM / SIM+MicroSD setup supporting storage expansion up to 128GB. There’s a 3,060mAh battery running the show, and the phone charges from Micro USB. It will be running Android 9.0 Pie at launch.
The spec that stands out the most in the new 1S is its processor – created by Chinese company Spreadtrum, that we haven’t heard much about. It’s got the catchy moniker SC9863A, and is an octa-core processor consisting of only Cortex-A55 cores with a built-in dedicated processor offering AI features at a wallet-friendly price point.
There’s a dual camera array on the rear of the phone with a 13MP + 2MP arrangement, sporting f/2.0 and f/2.8 apertures and software features like HDR, bokeh and slow motion. There’s a 5MP front-facing camera with HDR, bokeh, and face beautification. It comes with Google Photos and Google Lens integration.
As with Alcatel’s other 1-series devices, the 1S looks like a good choice for an affordable smartphone or a first smartphone for some members of your family. With the product only just announced globally at MWC, we don’t have local pricing or availability details yet, but they’ll come in time as the phone nears its Australian release.
