TCL Communications-owned Alcatel became the first brand to launch an Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphone in India. The Alcatel 1x, which was launched at the MWC 2018 event a couple of weeks ago has now made its way to the Indian market. However, Alcatel chose not to reveal the price today, but going by the specifications of the smartphone, it will be priced aggressively, maybe below Rs 5,000 itself. The Alcatel 1x features an 18:9 display to the front, runs the much-hyped and stripped version of Android, packs entry-level hardware and is backed by a decent battery.
The Alcatel 1x sports a 5.34-inch 18:9 display to the front with small bezels on top and bottom, but there are not as small as the ones present on the Galaxy S9 though. The display features a resolution of 480×960 pixels. Running the device is an octa-core MediaTek MT6739 processor, coupled with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
There's a microSD card slot as well for storage expansion. Optics wise, the Alcatel 1x rocks a single 13MP camera at the back, followed by a decent 8MP selfie camera. This entire package is backed by a 2460mAh battery, and the phone offers all the connectivity options such as 4G LTE, VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPS, and a micro USB port for data transfer and charging. The phone lacks a fingerprint sensor.
The highlight of the Alcatel 1x is the presence of Android Oreo (Go Edition) inside the smartphone. Google has optimised the operating system to make it run on smartphones with 1GB of RAM or less than that. And to offer hassle-free performance, Google has released all the Go applications, which uses less RAM and storage compared to the standard versions. For example, the Alcatel 1x comes preloaded with apps such as Google Go, YouTube Go, Gmail Go and so on. Google is also inviting third-party developers to make light apps for the Android Go interface.
Speaking of the Alcatel 1x, it runs a customised version of Android Oreo (Go Edition), and the software updates will be provided by Alcatel itself.
The Chinese company did not reveal the price of the Alcatel 1x but said that it would be arriving very soon to the Indian market. The Alcatel 1x will compete with other Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphones such as the Micromax Bharat Go and Lava Z25, which were showcased at the MWC 2018 event last month. Also, the Nokia 1 is expected to reach Indian shores in mid-April, which is also an Android Go smartphone. What should be the price of Alcatel 1x according to you?
