Saving money is always something to appreciate. There are some smartphones that are actually quite cheap, considering their performance and build quality, and there's a good reason why. The same seems to be true for the Alcatel 1C, which was announced during CES 2019, along with another budget model, the Alcatel 1X. However, the 1C goes much lower in terms of pricing, at $80.
As mentioned, this is a really cheap phone, and it won't be released in the US and other major markets. Instead, the Alcatel 1C is aimed at emerging markets, so the low price and overall build of the phone make sense. With a plastic body, it's immediately apparent that it's not the most aesthetically pleasing smartphone out there – nor is its build particularly impressive. Obviously, for emerging markets, Alcatel has created a phone that will be more accessible to people.
Moreover, being such a budget smartphone, we can’t expect anything more than the basics from it. We’re talking about phone calls, text messages, checking emails, and browsing the web. And while it sports a 5-inch FullView display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, the distortion and washed-out colors don’t make it the most pleasing to the eye. Moreover, the overall performance from a smartphone that features a quad-core Spreadtrum SC7731E processor coupled with 1GB of RAM is rather sluggish. Patience is definitely something you’ll need if you plan on using this smartphone, but for basic usage, it will be satisfactory.
There are some really nice smartphones that perform very well near the $250 price point, but when the price is below the $100 mark, there's a huge difference in what they can offer. The Alcatel 1C is exactly that kind of phone, offering the basics with Android Oreo Go Edition. At a similar price of $80, the Alcatel 1C is suitable for emerging markets that pride themselves on saving money more than anything else - but at the expense of design and performance.
