Alcatel 3L 2019 Sim Free Unlocked UK Smartphone 5.9" Display 16GB Dual Sim- Black

I have used many Android phones over the years and in the price range this one seems to be pretty good.I don't think it is robust as more expensive ones so best used by someone who takes care of their possessions.My one shipped with Android 8.1 but without asking it downloads the 1Gb sized Android 9 update (over WiFi).I also have the Alcatel 3 non 'L' version and if you may also wish to consider that model for the extra features (it is the same size).My first observations of the phone.No Auto screen brightness control.Under 7Gb of free storage space so I installed a 64Gb MicroSD card.I don't think this model supports dual sims as the tray takes one sim and a microsd card.2Gb of RAM which is okay with 1.13Gb free with no apps running.Micro USB connection. USB-C is so much easier to useOnly 2G WiFi support.No finger print unlock but has face unlock which seems a little unreliable / not secure.Battery is not removable.Other than the BT Sport app (which can be completely removed) and Netflix (which cannot be completely removed) it only has two non Google apps, the Smart Launcher and enjoy now which an Alcatel app.In operation it all works pretty well even with Facebook and spilt screen and two app running.It only has a single speaker but the sound is pretty good and does come with corded headphones (and UK plug charger).I think because it upgrades from Android 8 to 9 you don't get the true Android 9 interface (but I may be wrong) but it all seems to work and the only real change I note is notifications have to be swiped to the right to clear them.No crashes or other unexpected issues and the launcher desktop allows you to make some tweaks including the number of desktop icons (Home screen grid) which defaults to 4*5.The screen pixel count is a little low, the battery life I would say is normal and the camera is not bad for the price range.

Beautiful Bezeless display:The 5.9 inch HD screen is beautiful, it's clear and crisp, the screen covers practically all of the screen and with the 88.4% screen to body ratio it's on par with the latest Samsung phones. When I first opened the box the screen size and bezel blew me away.Front Camera flush into the screen:The front camera is great, it takes crisp photos but doesn't expect to be taking 4k images with insane detail. The camera sits comfortably in the middle with the screen wrapped around it with the time and notifications displaying next to it.The rear camera takes great photos:The rear camera takes nice clear photos and works great in dark areas. The modes are as follows:Auto, - Takes all around clear and crisp photos, the image stabilization isn't amazing so try to keep still.AR Emoji, - Allows you to place emojis IRL through the camera.Filter, - Allows you to place colour filters over the camera.Light Trace, - Allows you to capture movement and light through the camera.Portrait, - Allows you to easily take group pictures.Manual, - Allows you to tweak the image for a more customised look.Time-Lapse, - Allows you to take a few images every so often so you can make a long video showing the passage if time.Panorama, - Takes a wide shot of a landscapeSlo-Mo, - Takes a slow-motion video with reduced resolution.Super fast and smooth:From using the phone it's smooth and quick, I've had little lag when moving between apps and playing games.Speakers are decent but not amazing, they are loud just enough to listen to music with your friends.Overall a great looking phone, the cameras are good, the speakers are decent and the Bezeless design makes it stand out and look great.

I’ve used budget Android smartphones for a few years now and they seem like a sensible option to me (because I don’t particularly want to watch as my £1000+ iPhone slips out of my jacket pocket and down the loo) and this Alcatel 3L 2019 is the best one yet. It’s still definitely a budget device and you don’t get the finish or finesse of the flagship models but it’s capable and nippy and for most people most of the time is all they’re ever going to need. It arrives with Android 8.1 installed but there’s a firmware update waiting to be downloaded which replaces that with Android 9, so I’m reviewing it as an Android 9 device.It’s an appealing shape, slightly taller than most smartphone, quite slim and lighter than some too. The back panel is a textured metallic-frosted plastic that looks and feels a bit cheap but works and is punctuated by the the camera array (two lenses and a flash LED). Note this UK model does not have the fingerprint sensor some versions have, which is a shame. On the front the display has a quality oleophobic coating which means fingerprints are easy to resist and remove. The display has a notch, for the front camera, at the top making it look a bit like those flagship smartphones. This is ultimately pointless and a bit silly because there’s a blank area at the bottom of the display which is unused (there are no functioning hardware navigation buttons) and could easily accommodate the display rendering the top notch unnecessary - so the notch is just a fashionable affectation really.The display is slightly disappointing because it’s dimmer than many and I have to turn up the brightness quite high for daylight use, which probably reduces the battery life. It’s also lower contrast than many and looks flat and dull compared to some. Despite that the colour rendition is quite good and colours are quite rich and saturated (although there’s a pronounced blue cast) and it’s reasonably sharp too, although the resolution isn’t that high.As mentioned there are no navigation buttons on the phone, which is an Android initiative, so you’re dependent on onscreen Home, Back and Recents buttons. However you can also disable the onscreen buttons, freeing up screen space, and use invisible gestures instead. I assume this is an Android 9 option (you’ll find it in Settings/Display/Navigation Bar) and it’s worth checking out - I got used to it in seconds and it’s a UI change I actually really prefer.The inbuilt speaker at the bottom of the phone is particularly tinny but since you only really need it for ringtones and alarms I can live with that. For listening to music or watching videos there’s a good old-fashioned headphone socket and of course Bluetooth. Audio quality on phone calls is surprisingly good through the ear-speaker and predictably less good handsfree through that tinny bottom speaker.If you want to load up the phone with music or videos you’ll probably need more storage space, there’s 16GB onboard which isn’t bad but you can also add a micro-SD card and that can be formatted to act as internal storage (almost) seamlessly. Note that the smartphone is dual-SIM capable but the SD card and second SIM use the same space so you’ll have to choose one or the other, can’t have both.If you like playing games this smartphone’s more capable than you might expect, although it’s hardly cutting edge. I installed Asphalt 9 as an experiment and it was almost playable - the frame-rate was slightly terrible but I’m slightly amazed this phone could play it at all. Less demanding games shouldn’t be an issue, though they might play at the lower graphics settings.As mentioned before there’s no fingerprint sensor and I really miss it because my previous smartphone had one and it’s really handy as a way to login to apps without having to memorise ninety different passwords. As a substitute this phone offers a face recognition lock and while that works pretty well for unlocking the phone it can’t be used for logging into app’s so it’s not quite as useful. It takes about one second to recognise you and unlock the phone, so it’s perfectly usable, but of course you need good light and it’s not as secure as fingerprints or passcodes.There are a couple of other features missing in action, notably NFC so that contactless GooglePay transactions aren’t an option and Bluetooth pairing has to be setup the manual way. Apart from that the 3L is quite a nippy performer for most day to day tasks and doesn’t keep you waiting long for anything. It’s hardly cutting edge performance but for most people is probably as good as they’ll ever need. Of course being a lesser-known model means you don’t get the choice of cases or screen protectors that the big brands have, but I managed to find something basic but workable. The smartphone itself doesn’t excel in any particular area but it’s good at most things and for the current price is great value.