Initial Review: Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD
Alcatel took the local tech spotlight yesterday when they unveiled their new One Touch line-up of devices. While the focus of most people is on the super slim Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra, what got our attention was their phablet offering, the Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD. The device actually packed very competitive internals and had quality hardware to boot. To top it all off it was selling at a very aggressive price point.
Here’s a quick rundown of the specifications:
Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD Spec Sheet
- 1.2GHz Quad-core CPU (Mediatek)
- 1GB RAM
- 4GB Internal Storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD Card
- 5.0-inch IPS Screen, Dragontrail Glass, Oleophobic coating
- HD Display, 1280 x 720 pixels
- 8.0-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus and LED Flash
- 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera
- WiFi b/g/n, WiFI Hotspot, HSPA+, GPS with AGPS, Bluetooth 4.0
- Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
- 2,500mAh Battery
- Dual SIM, Dual Standby
- SRP: Php13,490
Yes, you read that correctly. 5-inches of quad-core power, HD display, 1GB RAM, Dual-SIM capabilities, HSPA+ connectivity, and Android Jelly Bean out of the box for just Php13,490. Boom. Pow. Welcome back to the game Alcatel.
Dressed to impress
The Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD is definitely dressed to the nines. When it comes to form factor it keeps a slim and sleek profile, measuring just 8.5mm thick. For a phablet with these specs and at this price point that’s very competitive. It feels good to hold in the hand thanks to the smooth back plate finish and the curved edges.
Other than the aesthetics, Alcatel made sure to pack this with quality materials. The front glass display is made from scratch-resistant Asahi Dragontrail, which is the direct competitor of Corning Gorilla Glass. To add more functionality to the display, Alcatel also made sure that it had Oleophobic coating. This minimizes and reduces the amount of finger prints that get left behind on the glass.
Display quality is also amazing. With screen resolution for 1280 x 720 pixels you get stunning images, crisp text, and sharp colors. Definitely ideal for watching movies, social networking, or just browsing the web.
Lastly let me just emphasize that this phone isn’t stuck to just 3G. It actually can connect to HSPA+, which is faster than 3G and notch lower than LTE. It might not be as fast as LTE but most people will be very happy with the speeds of an HSPA+ modem.
This is how the Starmobile Diamond and Omega HD should perform
Based on our first encounter with the Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD, we can say that real life user experience is far superior than a lot of other local brands that have 5-inch screens with HD display and Android Jelly Bean. Unlike the Starmobile Diamond and the Cherry Mobile Omega HD which had stutter and lag issues, the One Touch Idol Ultra gave us a pleasant and fluid Jelly Bean experience. We only had a few minutes with it but we didn’t encounter major slow downs. The reason for the difference is mainly due to the quad-core processor and graphics that the Scribe HD packs compared to the dual-core (and not optimized for HD) processors that other two devices had in them.
Animations and transitions were fluid while apps launched quite fast without long delays. We also tried playing Temple Run 2 on it and it ran well on medium graphics and was only a little jittery on high.
Definitely tons of potential, we’d love to review it
After trying out the device we were definitely amazed at how much value you get out of it. This is just Php13,490 and it works beautifully. If ever we have one worry it’s the battery life. The 2,500mAh pack isn’t assuring especially since this one has a quad-core processor in it. We’ll test that one once we do the full review.
Watch out for our hands-on and initial reviews of the other devices in the Alcatel One Touch line-up in the next few days.
PS: It has a younger brother – Alcatel One Touch Scribe Easy
If you’re looking for a budget phablet, Alcatel also came up with a watered down version of the Scribe HD and called it the Scribe Easy. Priced at Php8,990, the One Touch Scribe Easy has a dual-core processor, WVGA resolution, 5.0-megapixel shooter, dual SIM capabilities, 512MB RAM and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Battery is at 2,500mAh.
