Australian technology news, reviews, and guides to help you
Australian technology news, reviews, and guides to help you

Alcatel’s A3 XL brings a big smartphone screen to a low price point

Even though big phones are popular, the prices don’t always have to be equally large, and the latest from Alcatel aims to keep everything but the screen down in size.

If you’re in the market for a big phone come July, there’s a good chance Alcatel will be vying for a bit of attention, as the company has this week announced that it will have something low priced but also well sized in the market around that time.

It’s called the A3 XL, and while its design may not impress with glass or metal, Alcatel has built this device to be more about the feature set, screen size, and price, because those are the three areas Alcatel aims to gain attention with.

Let’s start with that screen size, because it’s really the big deal here, sitting at a staggering 6 inches, but opting for only a HD display, meaning you’ll find 1280×720 on this 6 inch phone and only 244 pixels per inch, below the pixel clarity on most other phones, though Alcatel is targeting screen size for the price, not screen clarity.

Inside, Alcatel says you’ll find a quad-core processor, though its variant isn’t yet known — our guess is something by MediaTek, though there’s no word here — with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, making this phone a low-end device that just happens to have a big screen.

Interestingly, there will be a fingeprint sensor on the back and two cameras, with 8 megapixels on the back and 5 megapixels on the front, making it a good little-yet-big starters phone, ideal for people who value a big screen but don’t necessarily want to pay for the privilege.

“At Alcatel, our mission is to make smartphones more affordable, accessible and fun for people everywhere,” said David Vieira, Product and Marketing Director at Alcatel Mobile.

We’ve done that with the Alcatel A3 XL,” he said, adding that “it’s a compelling option for anyone seeking a fully featured device, without blowing a hole in their budget. The added extra security fingerprint feature, expected in higher end mobile devices, provides added security and peace-of-mind.”

Availability on this one will be from Vodafone specifically, where the phone will see a price just below that of $199, making it aimed at new phone buyers keen for a big phone without necessarily big features or price.

You’ll find the Alcatel A3 XL in our Pickr Trackr, ready for your comparative needs.

Read next