This new super-cheap Android phone is absolutely tiny
Alcatel 1 with a 5-inch display

If you look for a new Android phone to buy, you're generally going to be bumping heads with a big problem - most modern phones are big. You'll be hard-pressed to find a device with a display less than 6 inches across, with most hitting 6.7-inches or more.
TCL's new phone, the Alcatel 1, is far from that. With a display of only 5 inches diagonally, it's more of an iPhone SE than a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. It's just been launched as TCL's only smartphone unveiled at annual tech event MWC 2021.
The Alcatel 1 is a super-budget phone, costing only €59 (roughly $70, £50, AU$90) - it's launching in Europe in August (presumably that includes the UK too, but we don't have a price for it yet).
- These are the best cheap phones
- Check out our TCL 20 Pro 5G review
- What are TCL phones? Our guide to the brand
What's the Alcatel 1 like?
We don't actually know too much about this phone just yet, as Alcatel has only provided limited information on it. It'll run Android 11 Go, a stripped-back version of Android 11, and you can see the design in the above images.
So we don't know the processor, cameras or battery capacity, three of the key specs of the device, but judging by other Alcatel phones and the general budget device market, we'd expect the chipset to be pretty weak, the camera to have an 8MP or 12MP resolution, and the battery to be around 4,000mAh.
Since we haven't tested this budget smartphone, we can't say if it's worth the money or not - but at such a low price, it'd be to be pretty awful to not get a thumbs up. Stay tuned for more coverage on Alcatel's newest phone, and everything else out of MWC 2021.
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Tom Bedford joined TechRadar in early 2019 as a staff writer, and left the team as deputy phones editor in late 2022 to work for entertainment site (and TR sister-site) What To Watch. He continues to contribute on a freelance basis for several sections including phones, audio and fitness.

















