Telstra adds Alcatel 1X, Telstra Superior and Telstra Essential Plus to its prepaid range
Telstra has worked out its own-brand phone issues with a range of affordable Alcatel handsets.
Telstra was put in the awkward position earlier in the year of having to remove all but one of its own-brand handsets from the market, following the collapse of original manufacturer ZTE. At the time, Telstra said that it would work to source new "alternative models as quickly as possible to help meet the needs of customers".
Alcatel appears to have scored the gig via the handsets it announced back at MWC 2018, with Telstra today announcing three new handsets joining its premium range.
Available right now, the $199 Telstra Superior is essentially a rebadged Alcatel 3V. As with all of Alcatel's 2018 phone families, that means you get an 18:9 display, in this case measuring in at 6 inches. Unlike most budget phones you're not looking at a particularly low resolution, either, with an impressive 2160 x 1080 LCD panel on the Superior. However, you're still looking at a Mediatek Quad Core 1.45Ghz processor and just 2GB of memory. We're testing out a Telstra Superior here at finder right now, so stay tuned for our full review.
Coming on 4 September will be two new Telstra phones, both running on the highly optimised Android Oreo Go platform. To date, we've seen the Nokia 1 running Oreo Go (you can read our full review here), so it's great to see more Oreo Go options emerge.
At the budget end $99 will score you the Telstra Essential Plus, a 4.95 inch 18:9 handset. It's 4GX capable, and will cost only $10 more than the Alcatel 1C (also a Telstra-locked phone) we reviewed recently. Given the recently reviewed Alcatel 1C is 3G-only, that extra $10 could be a very smart investment.
For $129, you could opt for the Alcatel 1X. Like the Telstra Essential Plus, it's an Android Oreo Go phone, but that extra $30 scores you a 5.34 inch 18:9 display to play with.
Telstra's own-branded phones are locked to the Telstra network and work with Telstra's prepaid plans, which you can browse below:
