Alcatel 5V Hands On, Quick Review: Budget Mid-Range Challenger?

Alcatel 5V Hands On, Quick Review: Budget Mid-Range Challenger?

We check out the Alcatel 5V!

After releasing several smartphones during MWC 2018, Alcatel launched the 5V last June 2018 to strengthen its revamped portfolio. Thanks to its mid-year announcement date, the 5V looks quite different from its brothers launched earlier in the year, sporting a glossy rear panel, dual rear cameras, and a notched display.

Paired with a generous battery and updated processor, the Alcatel 5V is the brand’s best effort in going against the saturated budget mid-range market.

What’s in the box?

Like the Alcatel 5, the Alcatel 5V comes in a white and blue box with the photo of the phone in front. Inside the box, you have the phone itself, along with a MicroUSB cable, 10W charger, headset, extra silicone tips for the headset, documentation, SIM ejector pin, and a transparent hard case.

The design looks familiar.

It definitely looks familiar, as Alcatel gave the Alcatel 5V all the trendy features: curved glossy polycarbonate back, camera bumps for the dual rear camera setup, and a circular rear camera setup. Truth be told, one can mistake the Alcatel 5V for the Honor 8X since they have a near-similar design layout: aside from the branding, the only other obvious difference is that the Honor 8X uses a glass back.

As for the Alcatel 5V’s polycarbonate back, it is both prone to scratches and smudges so we strongly advise you to use the supplied case to keep it pristine.

The port layout on the Alcatel 5V is similar to the Alcatel 5, with the only difference being the MicroUSB port. It is disappointing to see this old port considering the Alcatel 5 had a USB-C port.

That notch looks big.

It definitely is compared to recently-released phones that come with a teardrop notch. Honestly, we find the rather huge notch as a waste of space since you only have one front camera to worry about.

Going to the display, you have a generous 6.2-inch display with HD+ resolution. Compared to the one used on the Alcatel 5, the Alcatel 5V has a brighter display, though we find the HD+ resolution limiting as well.

A better MediaTek processor, you say?

Alcatel remedied the processor problem of the Alcatel 5 by equipping the Alcatel 5V with a newer MediaTek Helio P22 processor. The 12nm-based mid-range processor is a choice of most budget mid-range phones, and it shows: compared to the sub-53k score we got with the MT6750-equipped Alcatel 5, the Alcatel 5V scored a respectable sub-77k score. Both phones come with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage, and the Alcatel 5V is better software-wise as it comes with Android Oreo out of the box.

The new processor gets work done beyond benchmarks: on our initial use, the Alcatel 5V feels snappier than the Alcatel 5. Multi-tasking on the Alcatel 5V is much faster than the Alcatel 5. We will do several tests (including gaming performance tests) to see if there’s any other difference.

Keeping the lights on is a 4000mAh battery, which is bigger than the batteries found on similarly-specced phones.

What tricks do the cameras have?

Unlike the Alcatel 5, the Alcatel 5V has a dual rear camera setup consisting of a 12-megapixel f/2.0 main camera and 2-megapixel f/2.4 depth-sensing camera. Paired with a newer Helio P22 chip, the Alcatel 5V comes with AI scene detection to enhance photos according to the scene. Check out some of the photos we took:

Other features include light trace mode, Google Lens, micro-video, and social—the latter being similar to Nokia’s Dual Shot feature. Both front and rear cameras can shoot up to Full HD video, and have EIS on board.

 

How much does it cost?

With updated features like AI-assisted dual rear cameras, a bigger battery, and a better processor, the Alcatel 5V is priced at Php 9,990. While it is facing a lot of competition, the Alcatel 5V has a better fighting chance compared to the Alcatel 5 with its modern and power-efficient processor, generous battery, and several camera tricks.

Alcatel 5V specs

  • MediaTek Helio P22 octa-core processor
  • 3GB of RAM
  • 6.2-inch HD+ IPS display
  • 32GB of internal storage, expandable via microSD
  • 12-megapixel f/2.0 and 2-megapixel f/2.4 rear cameras with PDAF, AI Scene Detection, LED flash
  • 8-megapixel f/2.0 front camera
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE
  • WiFi, Bluetooth
  • GPS, A-GPS
  • NFC, Fingerprint Scanner, face unlock
  • 4000mAh battery
  • Android 8.1 Oreo

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