Alcatel 1X 2019 review: Features | Specifications | Pricing

Where to buy

Alcatel as a brand is heavily identified with affordable budget phones. The Alcatel 1x 2019 is exactly that. It's not an expensive phone, and for your very little money, you get a very basic experience, regardless of whether you're talking software performance, camera quality or battery life.

Design

• 16:9 LCD with no notch
• Nice and light in the hand
• Feels very cheap

• Read more about the Alcatel 1X (2019)'s design

  The first time I took the Alcatel 1x 2019 out of its box, I was left wondering if Alcatel had reverted back to a phone model with a removable battery. At just 130 grams, and with only a 5.5-inch display, it's a small and very light phone in the hand, which could have plenty of appeal for folks who reject the modern trend towards ever larger screens and phones.

  It doesn't have a removable battery, just in case you were getting excited. Indeed, in design terms, there's really not that much to get excited about at all with the Alcatel 1x 2019.

  The 5.5-inch 1440x720 pixel LCD display is on the low-resolution side, even for a budget handset. If you don't like notches, there's none to be found here, but that means it has noticeable top and bottom bezels. From the front, the Alcatel 1x 2019 almost looks like it could be the stand-in for just about any generic smartphone visual design.

  At the back, it has one interesting point of note. Alcatel's opted for what it calls a "pebble-painted" finish on the back of the phone, which comes in blue, pink or black.

  Pebble-painted doesn't mean that it's been daubed by Fred Flintstone's infant daughter, or for that matter that it's been smashed against rocks. Instead, what you get is a slightly soft, almost fabric-like feel to the back of the phone that does give it more grip than you'd find on a glass or straight plastic-backed phone.

  Still, while it's a somewhat pleasant surprise, you'll still realise very quickly that the Alcatel 1x 2019 has been built to a budget, and that budget wasn't high. Buttons click cheaply, the back is soft but taps with an echo, and there's just nothing here that doesn't stretch beyond "basic" in build or design terms.

Camera

• Dual lens, but it's slow to capture
• Portrait mode available for selfies – except it isn't

• Read more about the Alcatel 1X 2019's camera

  It's a sign of how far we've come in the mobile phone camera space that a phone that retails for under $200 comes with a dual-lens camera on board. In the Alcatel 1x 2019's case, it features a 13MP primary rear lens, backed with a secondary 2MP lens for bokeh effects only. That's a very common play in lower-end smartphone cameras, so again it's not surprising to see it in play here.

  At the front, there's a 5MP selfie camera that uses interpolation to boost itself up to 8MP. I was a little surprised when testing the Alcatel 1x 2019 to see that when you flip the camera software around, it still offers a "portrait" mode.

  Sadly, it's a bit of very poor software design because if you do opt for the portrait mode, it simply reverts to the rear cameras, meaning that depth mode selfies are entirely out of the picture.

  Even with a portrait subject, the Alcatel 1x 2019 struggled to deliver a convincing focus effect, all too often blurring out part of the subject rather than the background or delivering a fake-looking blur effect. Again, that's not shocking for a cheap phone, but it's not exactly desirable either.

  The Alcatel 1x 2019 is a budget phone, and it's not fair to assess it against anything but other budget phones. The problem here is that while nothing in that category is exceptional in camera terms, almost everything outshines the Alcatel 1x 2019. Focus is slow and often shifts, and you're just never going to get a decent low light shot or one from any kind of moving subject.

  Alcatel 1x 2019 sample photos

  

  

  

  

Performance

• Slow MediaTek processor
• Why is Alcatel selling an Android 8 phone in 2019?

• Read more about the Alcatel 1X 2019's performance

  The Alcatel 1x 2019 runs on a low-cost MediaTek MT6739WW processor with just 2GB of RAM, which is well in line with its budget aspirations. What's notably disappointing here is that it's running on Android 8, which means it's already a full Android release behind – and before long that'll be two full Android releases behind.

  This isn't so much a story of losing out on features as it is on security and productivity upgrades. Alcatel doesn't have a great track record for updating phones. It's a little baffling as to why the Alcatel 1x 2019 isn't running Android Go as that would allow it to make a lot more out of its meagre resources. It's especially odd because last year's Alcatel 1x was an Android Go phone.

  As it is, the Alcatel 1x 2019 is cheaper than many of the other phones we've run through our standard benchmark suite – and it certainly shows when you compare it, even against other budget range handsets. Here's how it compares using Geekbench 4's CPU test:

  And here's how it stacks up using 3DMark's Slingshot Extreme Test:

  Alcatel's range of preinstalled applications, beyond the Google services apps, is predictably ordinary. You've only got 16GB of onboard storage to play with in any case, although you can at least boost that with microSD cards by up to 128GB if you feel so inclined.

Battery life

• 3,000mAh battery delivers fair, but not great endurance
• Slow micro-USB charging

• Read more about the Alcatel 1X 2019's battery life

  2019 has been the year of the big battery packed into budget phones, headlined of course by the mighty Motorola Moto G7 Power.

  It seems nobody told Alcatel this. The Alcatel 1x 2019 has a 3,000mAh battery, which is fair for its price point, but not a capacity that's going to lead to easy multi-day battery life.

  Using Geekbench 4's linear battery test, here's how the Alcatel 1x 2019 compared against a range of 2019 budget phones:

  In less scientifically rigorous testing, I found I could get the Alcatel 1x 2019 through a day's battery life, but to be honest at least part of that was simply because I wasn't using it all that much. It's slow, and the camera isn't great, so I was much less inclined to do so.

  Recharging is via microUSB, which again isn't a shock for a budget phone. Again, though, it feels like at this point in 2019, we should be seeing the last of the older microUSB standard for charging.

Verdict

• Not an exciting phone, but entirely fairly priced

• Read our Alcatel 1X 2019 verdict

  The Alcatel 1x 2019 isn't an expensive phone, and that's its primary selling point. Indeed, it's basically its only selling point because if you can shift your budget just a little more northwards, you're looking at more attractive devices from the likes of Oppo, Nokia or Motorola to contend with.

  We're seeing a real fight in the budget space with better cameras and battery capacities leading the charge, and in this case, it feels like Alcatel's resting on its "affordable" image more than anything.

Pricing and availability

• The Alcatel 1x 2019 sells outright for $199 through Amazon and Officeworks.

Alcatel 1X (2019)

Alcatel's budget 1X

Cover your essential needs with the Alcatel 1X 2019, including dual-lens camera and 3,000mAh battery.

Alcatel 1x 2019: Alternatives

If what you're after is a phone with more battery life, and your budget can jump up a little, consider the Motorola Moto G7 Power.

If you're after a phone that's going to be more up-to-date, the Nokia 3.2 retails for just a touch more than the Alcatel 1x 2019, but you get a much larger display and better battery life for your money.

Alcatel 1X 2019 specifications

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