Alcatel 3L (2020) Device Review - What Gadget

The Alcatel 3L (2020) is a budget handset for those looking for a phone that can provide decent performance along with an average camera and reasonable battery without breaking the bank. The Alcatel 3L (2020) costs £132 and is available in 3 colours- Black, Turquoise & Chameleon Blue. 

Now first impressions, this phone is not what you might expect from a budget phone, it’s actually above average considering the price point. This phone does not offer things like Wireless charging and is not IP rated but these things aside it will give you what you expect from a phone. 

Design

The Alcatel 3L looks decent for a budget phone with a plastic build but without feeling fragile. The phone offers nicely rounded corners and its lightweight (165g) when using the handset. On the front of the phone comes a 6.22-inch LCD display that comes with a teardrop notch. 

On the right side of the phone, you have the power and volume controls with a Google assistant button and dual sim slot on the left side of the phone.  

Google Assistant button and sim card slot

Power and volume controls

Moving to the bottom of the phone you have a single loudspeaker and micro USB charge port. You also have a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top of the phone. So the overall design is not really any more special than anything else on the market. 

Unfortunately, Alcatel use micro-USB

Moving to the back of the phone you have a fingerprint sensor in the centre making it really accessible to reach when the phone is in your hand. The rear camera lenses are located at the back of the phone in the top left corner. 

As mentioned earlier this phone comes in 3 colours and we have been testing out the Chameleon Blue version.

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Display

The display is an area on this phone that they have cut costs on. This handset comes with a 6.22-inch screen with a 720 x 1520 resolution with a 19:9 ratio LCD display. It’s noticeably duller than what you might have hoped. It’s by no means unusable. It’s fine for everyday use and when using at night you might need to increase the brightness. When testing the phone watching Youtube or sending a text the screen was acceptable to use even with some darkness in the picture. If you compare it to a more expensive model like my iPhone 12 of course you can tell the difference. However, for those looking for a budget device, you won’t be disappointed.  

Performance 

 The Alcatel 3L (2020) in regards to performance as you might expect won’t be offering any shocks. Inside the phone, you have a MediaTek MT6762 Helio P22 chipset and also comes 4GB of RAM which is the minimum you can expect considering the price point.  The Alcatel 3L does come with 64GB internal storage which will allow you to get by when using your phone. Need more storage: the dual sim card slot allows for a microSD card which can offer you up to 128GB of extra storage if required. 

When testing the Alcatel 3L (2020) the benchmarks results as expected are towards the bottom of the leaderboard. With Geekbench 5 scores 149 for single-core and 847 for the multi-core but considering the cost, we would have been more surprised with higher results. 

As mentioned with the display & benchmark results show the phone can handle everyday use but just a little slower then you might expect. In a way to prevent it from slowing right down just avoid having lots of tabs open. 

Also with this phone please don’t expect the likes of 5G, IP Rating & USB-C Charge port this is a budget phone and they are premium offerings. However, you are given Android 10 and this software as you expect it’s easy to use with some of the common apps pre-installed like Facebook & Instagram.  

Camera

When I was passed this phone to test, I really wasn’t expecting much from this budget handset BUT was I surprised when I got this out of the box. On the face of it looked like a decent phone and having read the specs I was eager to see what this little puppy could do but still wasn’t expecting too much. Alcatel has put a triple 48mp camera in the rear and an 8mp front-facing camera into this body. So, let’s talk about what this handset camera doesn’t have, a night photo function! that’s all yep you read that right that is all!! other than that, it’s all singing all dancing and packed with an array of features such as wide-angle lens, light painting, super macro, pano, Manual mode, time-lapse, filters, AR Emoji, Portrait, and high pixel! They really have managed to put a lot into this camera set up and you know what it all works! There are lots of apps available on the android play store to make your photo’s really stand out and with ease of editing the most popular among amateur photographers to really make pictures stand out on social media is Snapseed its free to use and really easy to play around with that linked to this camera will really bring out the pro side in you and make you wanting more! So how did I find the camera on this phone to use, really easy, nice point and click and the picture’s come out really sharp and pretty much true to the colour of your surroundings it’s clear to see Alcatel have really put a lot of thought and effort into this camera and its useability. I think it’s fair to say that the camera on this phone will suit all ages and all user levels. I would say this handset will suit a teenager that likes taking photos and uploading them onto social media or even the budding photographer looking to make a start in a portfolio of images on social media sites. I would defiantly rate this camera a 10/10 and is a real contender and way up there in budget handsets! it turned my head!. Wide-angle: the wide-angle lens worked well and picked up plenty of areas and bought out great colours.

Wide-Angle Shot on Alcatel 3L (2020)

Wide Angle Shot on Alcatel 3L (2020)

Light painting: Light painting is extremely popular of those that use digital DSLR camera’s and they have bought this function to this phone, you do need a steady hand thou as the slightest camera shake will ruin what you have taken BUT this is one of the best, I have seen on a camera phone to date

Light Painting Shot on an Alcatel 3L (2020)

Super Macro, again this is mainly used on DSLR camera’s and is now widely used on a number of mobile phones but on this handset, it really works well and for a mobile phone you get really good detail of a close-up.

Super Macro shot taken on an Alcatel 3L (2020)

Super Macro shot on Alcatel 3L (2020)

Auto (every day photo’s) come out really well with great attention to detail of the subject that you are taking a picture of and true colours come to life.

Auto Everyday Shots were taken on an Alcatel 3L (2020)

Auto Everyday Shots were taken on an Alcatel 3L (2020)

Auto Everyday Shots were taken on an Alcatel 3L (2020)

Selfie mode works well on this phone and again clean and crisp clear image.

Selfie Shot was taken on the Alcatel 3L (2020)

Filter, adding a filter is effortless and easy to do before you take a picture of your chosen subject with a great choice to choose from, I choose a standard black and white filter using this and again it worked really well.

Filter Shot was taken on Alcatel 3L (2020)

High Pixel, to be honest, you don’t really need this the main camera does a more than adequate enough job and you don’t really notice the difference, the only thing that lets this function down is no zoom other than that just stick to the main camera it’s self and don’t worry too much about this setting.

High Pixel shot taken on Alcatel 3L (2020)

Portrait mode works well with a nice subtle blur to give you picture effect and depth, but once again you lose the use of zoom.

Portrait mode shot on an Alcatel 3L (2020)

Overall, this is a great camera packed into this phone and this is a real heavyweight contender and could easily be mistaken for a high-end camera phone way up there with the mid-range Samsung’s or iPhones, I can’t wait to see what Alcatel can do in future models.

Battery life

With any budget phone having a strong battery to last the day is such an important feature to have. The Alcatel 3L (2020) provides a 4000mAh battery and considering this phone has a low res screen and less premium features the likelihood is your battery will last and when tested that theory is correct. If your watching videos on youtube or like me use my phone to watch TV via SkyGo. The battery lasted when others might have run out. 

Using the phone all day with the 4000mAh battery at the end of the day expect about 40% battery left so you could use this for a second day with very subtle use. I liked the fact this phone holds its charge when not in use. 

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Alcatel 3L (2020) Verdict

The Alcatel 3L (2020) is a phone idea for someone on a budget who is not expecting much and just wants the basics from a phone. Making me feel this could be ideal for your child’s first phone or even a basic handset for a senior who did not want the likes of Doro or Emporia. 

The Alcatel 3L (2020) is a decent phone if having a long-life battery is the main priority with its 4000mAh battery depending on the use you might get 2 days out of the battery. This is a great camera packed into this phone and this is a real heavyweight contender and could easily be mistaken for a high-end camera phone way up there with the mid-range Samsung’s or iPhones.

Unfortunately, that is where the positives end the Alcatel 3L (2020) does not come with an IP rating so make sure you do NOT drop this phone in water as you will kill it. The phone is also one of the few phones we see these days still using a micro-USB charging port. 

Another negative is this phone scored really low on the benchmark scores and as a result there maybe the occasional lag and switching between apps might also be a bit slower then you might be used to.  

Apart from the negative points, the Alcatel 3L (2020) does everything you expect from a budget handset. Yes, it does miss some of the features such as 5G, Wireless charging or an IP rating. Why buy this phone well its got a large battery, fantastic camera, feels nice in the hand, allows the user to unlock by face or fingerprint unlock. The most important factor is the cost it’s cheap but well worth it!

Product Rating: 

Design: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0

Speed: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars3.0

Camera: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0

Battery Life: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Value for Money: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0    

 

Overall Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0  

     

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