Note: This is the same phone as: Alcatel OneTouch Icon Pop Android Prepaid Phone with Triple Minutes (Tracfone), so this is a copy of my original review on that page. This phone has an additional 1200 minutes, 1200 texts, and 1200 mb of data included as a bundle.
Since there aren't too many details posted here, I'll try to fill in the gaps.
Phone Dimensions: 141 x 72.1 x 9.9mm
Display: 5 in. diagonally
Resolution: 480 x 854
Camera: Back: 5MP with autofocus, Front: .3MP (VGA). 720p Video Recording, Back facing Single LED Flash
Memory: 4 GB internal, with 2 GB available to the user for apps, pictures, downloads, etc. Ability to change default write location of media.
RAM: 1 GB (909MB total, about 500MB usable for apps)
OS: Android 4.4.2 KitKat
Processor: Snapdragon 200, 1.2 Ghz quadcore. ARMv7 rev 3
GPU: Adreno 305
Case Availability: Can uses cases for phones marked as A564C, Alcatel Pop Icon C7, 7040T, Alcatel Fierce 2, Tracfone Pop Icon
Networking: Wifi: 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, 3G Data (Verizon Network)
SD Card: Slot allows up to 32GB cards, SD card not included
Speakers: Front facing (for calls), Back facing (for media)
Battery: 2000 mAh
Other Features: Notification Light, FM radio, Volume rocker, backlit capacitive keys, Simple Mode (large icons, easy to use interface)
As an Android KitKat device, it has many of the recent features that other top tier phones have, such as face unlock. The notifications and quick settings pulldown menu are extremely convenient, but I wish there was some way to reduce the size of the icons in the quick settings.
One of the things I actually like was the recents menu. On Stock Android, the recents is just a screenshot that can be swiped away. With the Alcatel firmware, the recents has a built in "Kill All" feature, along with a memory gauge to see how much RAM is free/freed. Swipe up to remove the app from your recents or swipe down to pin the app to your recents. I may not even need my habitual Advanced Task Killer on my homescreen!
By default, animations are disabled on the Alcatel. This may make the phone seem choppy to some people, so to re-enable them, go to About Phone and click on Build 7 times. This will enable Developer Options. Then go into Developer Options in the settings and change the animation and Window scales to 1.0x, each. The phone will seem so much smoother after this.
The camera is decent. The back facing camera works well when there is a lot of lighting: either outdoors or under fluorescent. Really, no matter where I put the front facing camera, the 0.3 MP VGA resolution won't look that good, just because of the lack of pixels. On the phone, the front facing pictures will look fine, but if posted to social media and blown up on a laptop, they will appear pixelated. Some people have complained about choppy video coming from the camera. It doesn't seem too bad under good lighting, but if the lighting decreases, the camera will struggle to pick up the subjects and focus. Speaking of focus, autofocus works relatively well. I can focus on an item at most an two inches away (macro shots). Far focus isn't that bad either, but don't zoom too far into those photos, as the rear facing camera is only 5 MP. The flash works as expected, and will easily help the camera out in low light situations.
The screen looks clear in almost all situations. The PPI is definitely higher than my previous LG Dynamic II, and I can see the difference while web browsing. Zooming out on a page to see all the small text may look somewhat pixelated at times, but easily readable. Five inches of screen space on a tracfone is amazing! One problem with the screen is that it has a specific viewing angle range that you must use, or the colors will appear distorted and changed. Tilting the phone from left to right does not change how the displayed image looks. Tilting the phone down will make the screen much too saturated, and tilting the phone up will make it much too dark. Tilting it any angle will cause a certain degree of corner bleeding, so my suggestion is to look at the screen head-on, and there will be no problems.
The overall design of the phone looks like something that Samsung would release, which is OK by me. There is a tracfone logo on the front of the phone right under the speaker, which could become a potential eyesore. I'm going to get a case for it anyways, but using it without a case could work as well. The back of the phone is similar to the soft, rubberized material that devices such as the old Nexus 7 used. It really doesn't feel "cheap" like some other tracfones do. The button placement (the volume rocker AND power button are on the right side) is kinda weird to get used to, but we'll see what happens with time. The Alcatel definitely feels slimmer than previous tracfones, but that could also be offset by the fact that it takes up my whole hand. I'm a huge fan of that, but not everyone will be.
I'm not a big fan of their default messaging app either, but Google's Hangouts can be used as a replacement. Speaking of default apps, it comes with minimal bloatware in my opinion. There is an FM radio app, which is a welcome feature for me. Sound quality is alright, with the headphones plugged in as an antenna. The default flashlight app is functional, and useful in certain situations. There is a firmware upgrade app, but don't ever expect to use it. Tracfone does not allow firmware upgrades to their phones. All of the useful Google Apps are included, but they will all need to be updated as soon as you try to use them. The dialer is not very appealing either to someone who doesn't need the text blown up by 500%. I haven't gotten around to replacing that, but I soon will. Much of the already scant bloatware can be disable and icons removed by going into their respective app settings.
The lockscreen is customizable in Android KitKat, which means you can put widgets on it. My personal favorite is DashClock, which allows you to see app notifications from your lockscreen, without having to unlock your phone. It also displays weather information, battery information, location, and about any feed you want to put there. If music is playing on Pandora or from the storage, it will replace your lockscreen wallpaper with the album art and change the widget to a music controller. In order to change the default homescreen to another app, you have to go into settings under "Home". For some reason, you can't set the default from the other homescreen app.
The qualcomm chip has excellent WiFi performance. The phone picks up wireless networks that none of my other devices have even seen and it maintains a good connection to my router. Speed tests show that it is not afraid to use up my full bandwidth. WiFi is definitely something that a tracfone needs to be good at, because using Data is too expensive to waste. 3G data isn't the fastest thing ever, since the speeds will vary from 100kBs to 500kBs, but that is probably a good thing to limit how much data is being used. Regardless, that is not a fault of the phone.
Performance is far superior to the older generation of Android tracfones. Running a quad core Snapdragon processor makes everything so much more snappier. There is much less waiting for apps to load and the framerate on the animations seems higher than 50 fps. There will be occasional lag, but nothing worse than what you would get on an iPhone 5 running iOS8. I don't do much gaming, but 2D games will work flawlessly and 3D games will work fine as well as long as the graphics settings are turned down in the game settings. You can also use the developer options to boost the graphics performance, at the cost of battery life. The battery lasts all day, despite my constant toying with it. The percentage is not displayed in the status bar, so you will have to make do with an estimation from a visual, or enable a widget on the lockscreen. Charging will take an hour to get from 0% to about 60%, and another hour and a half to two hours to finish the job. The included charging cable was certainly made in China for 10 cents each, so I still use my charging cable from my previous phone. The charging port is a standard Micro USB.
Time to talk about some of the flaws. In Android KitKat, there is no way to move apps to the SD card. The ability to change the default write disk does not change this fact. Therefore, if you are a heavy app user, the 2.0 GB of internal storage will fill up very quickly. Most people won't care about this next flaw, since it is a niche thing. There is no way to root this device at time time. I have tried using most of the mainstream rooting methods (Kingo, vRoot, Framaroot, Towelroot, Motochopper, etc.) to no avail. This is somewhat disappointing, but I can live with it. The screen can be somewhat insensitive at times, ignoring gestures or clicks. Most of the time there is no problem, but during web browsing with Chrome, some of the clicks don't go through.
Note on Tracfone Android System:
When you buy a minutes card, you get triple minutes in all three categories. For example, if you buy a 120 minute card and apply it to your Android Tracfone, you will get 360 minutes AND 360 texts AND 360 MB of data. Note that the system is different in the way that a text now costs 1.0 units from your texts balance, not .3 units. Also, promotion codes, such as [add a 120 minute card and get 30 bonus minutes] do not work with Android tracfones. Balances can be checked from the Tracfone Android app, via text, or on the web. Transferring minutes can be a nightmare. This isn't relevant to this specific phone, per say, but make sure to do it with a representative on the phone.
Overall, I would classify this as a good middle tier phone. It won't compete against the top tier phones with much better processors, screens, and such. However, it is the most "high-end" phone Tracfone has released. I would give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
By default, animations are disabled on the Alcatel. This may make the phone seem choppy to some people, so to re-enable them, go to About Phone and click on Build 7 times. This will enable Developer Options. Then go into Developer Options in the settings and change the animation and Window scales to 1.0x, each. The phone will seem so much smoother after this.
The camera is decent. The back facing camera works well when there is a lot of lighting: either outdoors or under fluorescent. Really, no matter where I put the front facing camera, the 0.3 MP VGA resolution won't look that good, just because of the lack of pixels. On the phone, the front facing pictures will look fine, but if posted to social media and blown up on a laptop, they will appear pixelated. Some people have complained about choppy video coming from the camera. It doesn't seem too bad under good lighting, but if the lighting decreases, the camera will struggle to pick up the subjects and focus. Speaking of focus, autofocus works relatively well. I can focus on an item at most an two inches away (macro shots). Far focus isn't that bad either, but don't zoom too far into those photos, as the rear facing camera is only 5 MP. The flash works as expected, and will easily help the camera out in low light situations.
The screen looks clear in almost all situations. The PPI is definitely higher than my previous LG Dynamic II, and I can see the difference while web browsing. Zooming out on a page to see all the small text may look somewhat pixelated at times, but easily readable. Five inches of screen space on a tracfone is amazing! One problem with the screen is that it has a specific viewing angle range that you must use, or the colors will appear distorted and changed. Tilting the phone from left to right does not change how the displayed image looks. Tilting the phone down will make the screen much too saturated, and tilting the phone up will make it much too dark. Tilting it any angle will cause a certain degree of corner bleeding, so my suggestion is to look at the screen head-on, and there will be no problems.
The overall design of the phone looks like something that Samsung would release, which is OK by me. There is a tracfone logo on the front of the phone right under the speaker, which could become a potential eyesore. I'm going to get a case for it anyways, but using it without a case could work as well. The back of the phone is similar to the soft, rubberized material that devices such as the old Nexus 7 used. It really doesn't feel "cheap" like some other tracfones do. The button placement (the volume rocker AND power button are on the right side) is kinda weird to get used to, but we'll see what happens with time. The Alcatel definitely feels slimmer than previous tracfones, but that could also be offset by the fact that it takes up my whole hand. I'm a huge fan of that, but not everyone will be.
I'm not a big fan of their default messaging app either, but Google's Hangouts can be used as a replacement. Speaking of default apps, it comes with minimal bloatware in my opinion. There is an FM radio app, which is a welcome feature for me. Sound quality is alright, with the headphones plugged in as an antenna. The default flashlight app is functional, and useful in certain situations. There is a firmware upgrade app, but don't ever expect to use it. Tracfone does not allow firmware upgrades to their phones. All of the useful Google Apps are included, but they will all need to be updated as soon as you try to use them. The dialer is not very appealing either to someone who doesn't need the text blown up by 500%. I haven't gotten around to replacing that, but I soon will. Much of the already scant bloatware can be disable and icons removed by going into their respective app settings.
The lockscreen is customizable in Android KitKat, which means you can put widgets on it. My personal favorite is DashClock, which allows you to see app notifications from your lockscreen, without having to unlock your phone. It also displays weather information, battery information, location, and about any feed you want to put there. If music is playing on Pandora or from the storage, it will replace your lockscreen wallpaper with the album art and change the widget to a music controller. In order to change the default homescreen to another app, you have to go into settings under "Home". For some reason, you can't set the default from the other homescreen app.
The qualcomm chip has excellent WiFi performance. The phone picks up wireless networks that none of my other devices have even seen and it maintains a good connection to my router. Speed tests show that it is not afraid to use up my full bandwidth. WiFi is definitely something that a tracfone needs to be good at, because using Data is too expensive to waste. 3G data isn't the fastest thing ever, since the speeds will vary from 100kBs to 500kBs, but that is probably a good thing to limit how much data is being used. Regardless, that is not a fault of the phone.
Performance is far superior to the older generation of Android tracfones. Running a quad core Snapdragon processor makes everything so much more snappier. There is much less waiting for apps to load and the framerate on the animations seems higher than 50 fps. There will be occasional lag, but nothing worse than what you would get on an iPhone 5 running iOS8. I don't do much gaming, but 2D games will work flawlessly and 3D games will work fine as well as long as the graphics settings are turned down in the game settings. You can also use the developer options to boost the graphics performance, at the cost of battery life. The battery lasts all day, despite my constant toying with it. The percentage is not displayed in the status bar, so you will have to make do with an estimation from a visual, or enable a widget on the lockscreen. Charging will take an hour to get from 0% to about 60%, and another hour and a half to two hours to finish the job. The included charging cable was certainly made in China for 10 cents each, so I still use my charging cable from my previous phone. The charging port is a standard Micro USB.
Time to talk about some of the flaws. In Android KitKat, there is no way to move apps to the SD card. The ability to change the default write disk does not change this fact. Therefore, if you are a heavy app user, the 2.0 GB of internal storage will fill up very quickly. Most people won't care about this next flaw, since it is a niche thing. There is no way to root this device at time time. I have tried using most of the mainstream rooting methods (Kingo, vRoot, Framaroot, Towelroot, Motochopper, etc.) to no avail. This is somewhat disappointing, but I can live with it. The screen can be somewhat insensitive at times, ignoring gestures or clicks. Most of the time there is no problem, but during web browsing with Chrome, some of the clicks don't go through.
Note on Tracfone Android System:
When you buy a minutes card, you get triple minutes in all three categories. For example, if you buy a 120 minute card and apply it to your Android Tracfone, you will get 360 minutes AND 360 texts AND 360 MB of data. Note that the system is different in the way that a text now costs 1.0 units from your texts balance, not .3 units. Also, promotion codes, such as [add a 120 minute card and get 30 bonus minutes] do not work with Android tracfones. Balances can be checked from the Tracfone Android app, via text, or on the web. Transferring minutes can be a nightmare. This isn't relevant to this specific phone, per say, but make sure to do it with a representative on the phone.
Overall, I would classify this as a good middle tier phone. It won't compete against the top tier phones with much better processors, screens, and such. However, it is the most "high-end" phone Tracfone has released. I would give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Thank you for reading article Alcatel OneTouch Pop Icon Android Prepaid Phone with 1200
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