Alcatel A5 LED Hands-On, Initial Review: Mid-Ranged Spectacle?

Alcatel A5 LED Hands-On, Initial Review: Mid-Ranged Spectacle?

Despite the hustle and bustle of Hall 3 of the Fira Barcelona Gran Via, it would be hard to miss Alcatel’s booth at Mobile World Congress. All the pomp is, of course, due to their introduction of their newest mobile device the Alcatel A5 LED; their modular entrant into the mid-ranged segment. We were able to book some time with the device to size it up for an initial review.

Alcatel A5 LED Specifications

  • 1.5GHz  MediaTek MT6753 octa-core processor
  • 2GB RAM
  • 5.2-inch HD IPS display, 1280 x 720 resolution
  • 16GB internal storage, expandable via microSD
  • 8-megapixel rear caemra,  AF, aperture f/2.0, dual tone flash
  • 5-megapixel fixed focus camera, LED flash
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE
  • WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, fingerprint sensor
  • 2,800mAh Battery
  • Android 6.0 Marshmallow

The Mullet of Mobile Devices?

Let us begin this part of this initial review by saying we were not allowed to remove the mods from the Alcatel A5 LED for security reasons. With that disclaimer out of the way, there’s nothing really spectacularly dazzling about the A5 LED when you look at it from the front. It’s kind of like the mullet of smartphones; business in front, party at the back!

There’s a certain beefiness to the phone, but it’s surprisingly easy to hold with one hand. This is due to the fact that the rear, whether you’ve got the flashy light show of a back plate or the plain one that’s also included in the packaging, that has gentle curves so you can easily rest the device in the palm of your hand.

You’ll see it volume rocker and power button on the right side with the left side of the device left completely void of buttons or SIM trays. You’ve got the 3.5mm up on top and on the bottom, you’ll find the microUSB port and its speaker grilles.

You’ve got its 8-megapixel camera on its rear, along with the flashy LED back cover that can be customized to interact with your notifications. In front is the 5.2-inch HD IPS display with the 5-megapixel selfie camera on its forehead; navigation buttons for the A5 LED are on-screen

Under the hood of the Alcatel A5 LED is a 1.5Ghz MediaTek MT6753 octa-processor, that’s paired up with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. The MT6753 has been around for quite some time now and it’s really beginning to show signs of its age and it isn’t helped along with the amount of RAM available on the A5 either. While navigation was smooth, there was a bit of delay when launching the camera app.

The Alcatel A5 LED is powered by a 2800mAh battery, which should be a concern if you intend to use the LED backplate, and runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.

It’s hard to judge what the Alcatel A5 LED really has got given our limited time with the device, but it really doesn’t bode well that there’s already noticeable delay in launching  certain apps. We do have to applaud the brand’s efforts at modularity and, even though we were asked not to remove the mods, it looks to be incorporated seamlessly. Right now there are two other mods we saw on display, excluding the plain cover — that really doesn’t count, a speaker for sharing your tunes and a power pack to extend battery life.

The device is set to be released, in Europe at least, in a couple of weeks though they haven’t disclosed its pricing just yet. Given its internals, we can’t imagine it costing an arm and a leg though.

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