Alcatel 3L

The Alcatel 3L is a very affordable Android phone with over 5.5 inch screen, thin screen edges, premium rounded glass, a hypnotic rear and face unlock. It is not the largest of the Alcatel 3 series, does not have the most cameras and is certainly not the most expensive. To understand what it is then, you read here.

Not really powerful, but decent screen

Let's start by summing up some dry numbers. The Alcatel 3L has a large 5.5 inch IPS screen with an HD+ resolution. The rear camera is 13 megapixels, the front camera has a resolution of 5 megapixels. The memory is 16 GB large, expandable and the processor comes from MediaTek. The RAM memory is 2 GB and the battery has a capacity of 3000 mAh. Maybe you don't say all that much but it teaches us that the 3L is a very affordable starter. That's because of the processor choice with the available RAM memory, which is not exaggeratedly powerful. You won't be able to play graphic-intensive games with it. What's nice is that Alcatel delivers an IPS screen of such a large size for this low amount of money. Although the HD+ resolution is not exaggeratedly high, do not expect flawless images, but it is not low either.

No fingerprint reader, no fast charging

A pity is that the Alcatel 3L is the only one in the 3 series without a fingerprint scanner. Instead, you'll have to work with Face Key; Alcatel's own face release. In half a second it scans 106 different points of your face. Because it doesn't use infrared, it won't work in the dark. Instead, you can always enter a pin code or pattern as an access code. Very neat is that the built-in battery is 3000 mAh. That gives a long battery life of over a day. Charging takes quite a long time, almost 4 hours. So there is no quick charging.

Main Alcatel 3L specifications

• 5.5 inch FullView 18:9 screen
• 13 megapixel camera with Full HD video and f/2.0 lens
• 5 megapixel selfie camera with Face Beauty and Social Mode function
• 2x nanoSIM Dual-SIM (Dual Standby)
• 16GB memory, supports up to 128GB microSD memory card
• Quad-core processor (MediaTek MT6739) at 1.3GHz + 2GB RAM memory

Support for fast 4G Internet LTE

Quad-core processor (MediaTek MT6739) at 1.3GHz + 2GB RAM memory

Camera appears better

As far as cameras are concerned, the choice was made for a 13 megapixel one on the back. Thanks to interpolation, it shoots photos in 16 megapixels. Personally, we don't like this technique very much because pixels are made up. Our advice would therefore be to choose a lower resolution; everything around 12 megapixels is more than enough. The lens has an aperture of f/2.0 which means it can let in a lot of light even in the dark. The selfie camera is 5 megapixels which is interpolated to 8 megapixels. There is a Face Beauty mode to shoot more beautiful selfies. Apart from all functions, the Alcatel 3L is neatly finished with 2.5D glass that is nicely rounded at the edge. The back has a circular pattern which is very hypnotic, especially when light shines on it. Nobody will suspect that you've bought a cheap phone. An additional advantage of this backside is that fingerprints have no grip on it.

Pro and cons Alcatel 3L

• Large screen, thin edges
• Not prone for fingerprints
• Face Key unlock
• Large battery = long battery life

• No fingerprint recognition