Alcatel Pixi 4 ~ My Review.

[BandOfBrothers]

Alcatel Pixi 4" Android Smartphone. 

While my Samsung Galaxy s7 edge phone is having a new display fitted due to a pink vertical line appearing on it I needed a phone to use in the interim.

Not wanting to spend a huge amount of funds on a Back Up phone I set about hunting.

Eventually I came across the Alcatel Pixi 4 Smartphone which was released in 2016.

It's specs seemed pretty impressive for the actual cost and the phone accepts two Micro-SIM Cards.

Android 6.0 Marshmallow comes pre installed and a pretty good core chipset Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7.

The RAM is 512mb but seems to handle general use just fine.

It has 4gb of internal storage so great care should be considered in relation to your intention of amount of Apps you may wish to download you use now and allow for more in the future. Also taking into account future Firmware Updates which may take up further internal space.

Music etc can be stored on a Sd Card Micro up to 32GB.

Full specs courtesy of gsmarena in -> Alcatel_pixi_4.

It is a 3G phone so no 4G connection which I did notice in my usage. But not so detrimental to spoil my actual user experience.

The Removable Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery gave me a days usage with juice left over.

The phone build is pretty solid and the display and touchscreen adequate.

The front facing camera unfortunately produces low resolution images and the rear facing camera is Ok but not brilliant. 

Quality of phone calls were clear for both parties.

All of the above for £35 !

Conclusion. 

This phone is fantastic for a first time smartphone owner or a person who isn't a Power User , on a limited budget and or in my case as a Band Aid 'back up phone'

[Carly]

@BandOfBrothers

Thanks for your review Lee Seems great for a back up phone, always handy to have one to use when you're in need.

[BandOfBrothers]

You're Welcome. 

Also this would be a phone I'd take on holiday / night out instead of a smartphone costing hundreds of pounds. 

[Carly]

@BandOfBrothers

Never thought of that Lee What a great idea.

[Annie_N]

The capacity to take two SIM cards certainly appeals to me! If i'm doing any serious walking on my own around here, I try to remember to pack three different phones, so that I have a reasonable chance of connecting to some network if I get into any sort of difficulty. So the prospect of being able to cut it down to two phones is attractive.

Have you formed any impression of how well the phone connects to a poor signal @BandOfBrothers? It's something that seems to vary a lot between phones, and the more expensive phones aren't necessarily the best at making and holding a connection.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @Annie_N

I've not yet come across anywhere that's given me a No Service in the phones status bar. 

In fact its pretty much at full bars or maybe just under. That said as we all know the signal indicators are not 100% accurate on all phones. 

As you rightly point out its not always a flagship model that out performs lower end models in everything. 

Its took me a little while to adjust to the 4" screen size.

[Annie_N]

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@BandOfBrothers wrote:

Its took me a little while to adjust to the 4" screen size.

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Yes, the smaller screens are a bit of a shock these days! I'm a bit startled now to realise that the vast bulk of my input to the Forum was done on a Huawei Ascend G300 (running Gingerbread, no less!), also 4" screen size, and I have no recollection of finding it difficult, apart from it not really liking it when I had 10 browser pages open at once. The G300 is still running quite sweetly, but my more complicated contributions to the Forum are generally produced off a larger screen and rather more fire power.

[Annie_N]

Another use for a "lesser" back-up phone - without too much of your personal data on it, it may be a preferable option for negotiating entry formalities at borders. For some time it has been known that it's best not to take any confidential business information to China, but it seems that the list of official nosey parkers is growing.