Overview of the Alcatel 3L (2020) smartphone with key features

A smartphone in 2020 is perhaps the most necessary electronic device. With it, you can pay bills, make purchases, evaluate the possibilities of virtual entertainment and many other things that are often quite important in modern life. Therefore, it is not surprising that more and more people are beginning to study the mobile device market in detail before buying, and not just focus on the price and advice of sales consultants. And if earlier many users were wary of a not too popular brand, then the rapid growth in the popularity of Chinese smartphones convinced many that a good one does not have to have a big name. A review of the Alcatel 3L (2020) smartphone with the main characteristics will help you understand the advantages of the new product and help you find the main disadvantages.

It should be said right away that the new product has nothing in common with Alcatel 3L (2019) or even more so with the 2018 model.The company is not too fond of coming up with new names, however, the quality of their smartphones has increased significantly in recent years and most owners of Alcatel equipment today are satisfied with their purchase.

And in order to quickly evaluate all the capabilities of the phone without reading the article, you can use the table below with the main characteristics, price and technological capabilities of the device:

Design

Undoubtedly, today, what would attract the attention of buyers? the product must have at least an attractive appearance or amazing performance at a reasonable price. And if it is quite difficult to implement the second one even for the giants of the industry, then with the first one everything is quite real. Alcatel, it seems, also realized that its offspring has little chance of attracting attention with purely hardware, and therefore created a really interesting solution.

What immediately catches the eye in Alcatel 3L is a large elongated screen. Also, the phone has a nice shape with rounded edges, and the stylish and popular in 2020 waterdrop-shaped camera cutout only completes the picture.Interestingly, the device has fairly wide bezels, but this is not too noticeable and does not spoil the overall impression. There is also a fairly noticeable “chin”, but it also looks quite natural without disfiguring the screen. In general, the appearance of the novelty cannot be called unique - it is a copy of many popular models, however, we must admit that it looks no worse than its competitors and certainly more expensive than it really costs.

But what really worth paying attention to aesthetes and fans of bright design is the back cover of the smartphone. The model has three color variations - the official names are Chameleon Blue, Dark Chrome, Agate Green. And if green and black look just fine, with interesting shades and color transitions, then the blue version already has a gradient transition to purple and black, which looks really impressive and unusual.

In addition, the rear panel has a triple vertical camera in the upper left corner - one of the main trends of 2019, a neat elongated LED flash is located under the sensors. A fingerprint scanner is expectedly located a little lower and to the right - maybe this is not the most convenient place in 2020, but the model is budget (price is about $ 145), so this decision is quite justified. Below the fingerprint scanner is a large campaign logo (looks surprisingly good), under it is the inscription "alcatel", even lower in small print it reads "TCL Communication Ltd". The presence of the inscription is not too striking and does not spoil the impression, like the crossed out ballot box icon on some Huawei smartphones (which also abandoned this idea in their new Y6s (2019)).

On the top edge, the device has a 3.5 mm mini-jack socket.On the bottom, there is a dual microphone and speaker. Between them is a microUSB 2.0 charging port. As for the controls, they are located on both sides of the device. On the right are the volume rockers and the SIM card slot, on the left is the power button.

Summing up the appearance of the device, we can safely say that the model turned out to be very bright and attractive, which, together with fashionable features like a triple camera, a drop-cutout and an elongated screen, makes the novelty interesting for young people. And the attractive price only enhances this effect.

cameras

In general, the budget segment and good cameras are stories from different chapters, however, it seems that Alcatel is serious about breaking this stereotype. So, in the official commercials of the company, special emphasis is placed not even on the design of the device, but on the cameras. Of course, the decision to hype on the trend of triple cameras with a resolution of 48 megapixels looks very logical, especially since they promise to shove all this into a state employee. So far, the smartphone is just getting ready for sale, but here is what is known about its triple sensor:

• The main camera is equipped with a 48 MP module with a good f/1.8 aperture, (wide);
• The next module is already more modest - 5MP (used as a depth sensor), but this is enough for an ultra-wide-angle camera. Using the sensor, you can easily take a selfie with a large company or photograph large objects at close range - it is able to accommodate more than the main one due to the wide viewing angle. By the way, this module has an excellent f / 2.4 aperture;
• And finally, the third 2 MP sensor with f / 2.4 aperture is called a macro camera - its feature is the ability to take photos from very close distances (starting from two centimeters).It can also be used as a depth sensor.

In addition to all of the above, the cameras support shooting 1080p at 30fps, there is support for LED flash, HDR and panorama. By the way, all sensors are intelligent, which the company does not hesitate to mention in official trailers. It is also worth saying that the demonstrated capabilities of the camera are at a high level - the photos are bright and detailed, even with the use of the macro function.

The front camera of the device is already simpler. It is single and has an 8 MP sensor with aperture of f/2.0, (wide). There is support for HDR, face unlock and the ability to shoot video in 1080p quality at 30 fps.

Summing up, we can only wish the company good luck in realizing its plans, because the decision to insert a high-quality triple camera into a budget phone looks very attractive. In addition, the first presentations showed that the smartphone really has every chance of getting high-quality optics, and therefore recognition from buyers. Unfortunately, it remains unknown how the phone takes pictures at night, however, the first tests should dot the i's, while the model looks as attractive as possible for fans of photography.

Power, artificial intelligence and an attractive price

Alcatel has chosen a rather interesting variant of the MediaTek Helio P22 MT6762 as a budget chipset, which is usually used in mid-range devices. However, if you take a closer look at the company's latest smartphones, it becomes clear that this is not the first time it has used the 2018 chipset in its developments.Of the features of Helio P22, one can single out the ability to work with RAM up to 6 GB, the beginnings of artificial intelligence, which is used in the Face ID function, which can unlock the phone by a person’s face, as well as in support of modern navigation and wireless technologies.

Smartphones based on this processor are well suited for active games (giving out more than 75,000 points in the popular AnTuTu benchmark), because for a small price, the user gets the opportunity to play almost all new games, including PUBG at low graphics settings.

Performance

Despite the fact that Alcatel 3L (2020) is positioned as a smartphone with a cool camera for moderate money, its performance is also in order. However, it is quite difficult to win competition in the mobile device market today due to just a good camera, especially if it is not Apple / Samsung branded equipment or Huawei and Xiaomi. By the way, a series of skillful decisions and successful models allowed Alcatel to increase its share in the smartphone market and acquire a lot of fans, so the company is on the right track, creating good quality equipment.

The 12nm Mediatek MT6762 Helio P22 chipset is used, which is equipped with eight-core Cortex-A53 processors with a frequency of 2.0 GHz. For those who are not too fond of Mediatek chipsets, the company has changed its approach to development and focused on mid-range SoCs. The results are already evident - MT6762 Helio P22 outperforms popular SoCs such as Snapdragon 625 and Exynos 7870.

The mid-sized PowerVR GE8320 SoC belonging to the Series8XE series is used as a graphics processor.Despite the fact that it was announced back in 2014, the graphics core supports OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 1.2, Android NN HAL API and Vulkan 1.0. As for performance, it is at a good level for the price of the device - even PUBG Mobile runs at low graphics settings with a frame rate of up to 30 fps. For comparison, the fighting game Shadow Fight 3 shows a frame rate of 40-45 frames, and in the online game Arena of Valor at low settings, 40fps is issued with a drawdown of up to 30 fps during a long game.

Technologically, the phone cannot be called super advanced either - except for the current version of Bluetooth 5.0, it cannot boast of either an advanced Wi-Fi module using Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, or the presence of NFC.

The phone will be delivered in one version - 64 GB of ROM and 4 GB of RAM. Today, such indicators do not surprise anyone, but given the democratic cost of the device in the region of 140 euros, everything does not look so bad.

As a result, Alcatel 3L (2020) is a rather interesting smartphone for those who are looking for an inexpensive working machine for gaming at medium and low graphics settings. The model is perfect for children due to its cost and good features, as well as a second phone, where you can sometimes play games and watch movies on the big screen.

storage

What manufacturers just don’t come up with in order to attract the attention of buyers - they make internal memory with a capacity of 256 GB, add slots with support for external cards per terabyte, or even offer users a fantastic 12 GB of RAM.

Alcatel seems to have decided not to come up with anything new and simply made a model in the most popular frames now - 4/64 GB.Many may not like this solution, but objectively it looks justified - the phone is budget and it simply does not make sense to “shove” a large internal ROM into it (plus there is a slot for external memory, so anyone can increase the storage capacity by an additional 256 GB) . Making a version with more than 4 GB of RAM is simply pointless, because the overall level of the smartphone will not allow this potential to be revealed, and therefore the company's decision cannot be called interesting, but it is fully justified.

Operating system

It is rare that a state employee can surprise in this section, but 3L seems to have succeeded. The smartphone will be sold pre-installed with Android 10.0, which so far only a few flagship devices can boast of. By the way, the company does not say anything about the shell, and therefore there is every reason to believe that it will be a “pure” Android without any add-ons. The decision looks quite interesting, because many users are looking forward to the release of the new operating system and at the same time do not like shells, so the company has every chance to get some of the attention of buyers.

Screen

It is difficult to please everyone because someone likes thin frames, and someone is completely calm about the chin and hates the drop neckline. However, there are trends, and it is simply stupid to ignore them. That is why, as it was written above, the company opted for an elongated IPS LCD screen measuring 6.22 inches. The screen-to-surface ratio is 81.6%, which is clearly not the best indicator on the market (the area was 96.6 cm2). Separately, it is worth mentioning the resolution of 720 x 1520 pixels, which, of course, is not enough with a ratio of 19:9 and display sizes. The density of 270 ppi is also much less than established standards.However, the phone shows a surprisingly good and smooth picture, and also pleases with the color rendering temperature, which is well adjusted in the settings for the individual characteristics of a person.

The smartphone is well suited for watching movies due to the large screen, but you should not count on viewing in high quality - 3L is simply not able to fully process 4k video.

autonomy

One of the weak points of most inexpensive phones is the battery, because users will be able to fix its capabilities only after purchase, which cannot be said about the processor or cameras.

But here Alcatel engineers did everything right - the device is equipped with a 4000 mAh non-removable Li-Po battery, which is very good for a budget employee, given the energy-efficient processor on board. It is also worth noting that the device supports fast charging 10W.

Of the minuses (quite expected) - the use of microUSB 2.0, no matter how much type-c fans say that the old USB has already outlived its manufacturers, while there is a different opinion on this matter. However, I don’t want to find fault with the novelty about this at all, because, as for its class, everything is just fine.

Technologies, communication standards, dimensions

Technologies cost money and therefore manufacturers like to save money in cheap smartphones or not to complete the device at all with some kind of sensor. Below you can get acquainted with all the characteristics of the device and evaluate its capabilities:

• Wireless technologies: Wi-Fi11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE;
• Network and Internet: 2G, CDMA, 3G, 4G;
• Navigation: A-GPS;
• Sensors: Fingerprint (rear), accelerometer, proximity, compass;
• Dimensions: 7 x 74.6 x 8.5mm;
• Optional: microUSB0, Jack 3.5, FM radio.

As expected, there is no NFC, the Wi-Fi module was a little disappointing, but there is a 3.5 mm Jack and the current Bluetooth 5.0.

Summing up

Alcatel is not a market leader and it is obvious that the company does not expect serious sales. However, the chosen strategy - to gradually raise the bar for the quality of their devices, endowing them with popular features, good hardware, and at the same time, setting an affordable price tag, is already bearing fruit. By the way, L3 turned out to be a really interesting smartphone. At a price of $140, it has an attractive appearance, an excellent camera, energy-efficient filling and good autonomy. Whether it was a state employee Huawei or Xiaomi, a line would have already lined up for him, however, even in such conditions, Alcatel will definitely be able to impose competition on dominant brands.

Based on the characteristics of the smartphone, it is perfect for both selfie fans and all young people in general, because the bright colors, large screen and “drop”, combined with average performance, make it a truly multifunctional device, which is rare in the budget segment . Yes, there were some disappointments, but it is simply pointless to consider them seriously, given the advantages of the novelty (do not forget about the clean 10th Android out of the box).

• Availability;
• Attractive design and interesting color options;
• Energy efficient processor;
• Triple camera with 48 MP main sensor;
• Possibility to install an external flash card;
• Battery life;
• There is a mini jack 3.5 mm;
• Fast charging 10W;
• Android 10;
• Big screen;
• Bluetooth 5.0.

• The usable area of ​​the screen does not reach modern standards (as well as the pixel density, you can see the frames);
• Screen resolution;
• No NFC module;
• Legacy microUSB0;
• One version of RAM and ROM.

Conclusion: for its price, the smartphone looks very attractive, and given the popularity of past Alcatel models, we can assume that the new product will also be successful. A great budget option for gaming, watching movies and selfie fans.