Thank you Alcatel for sending a sample for my holiday gift guide. All opinions are my own.
I remember asking for a cell phone when I was in 7th grade. That would have been about 2003. I didn’t have any particular phone in mind, I just wanted one that had the snake game on it. Still, I remember many adults finding it laughable that kids my age wanted phones then.
Of course, times have changed pretty rapidly, these days five-year-olds are asking for smartphones. Nobody laughs at preteens or teens wanting phones anymore! However, with teenagers being rougher on phones it can be hard to justify high-end phones or costly phone plans. Most of the kids in my life use prepaid phone plans. If you’re looking for an affordable yet high-quality phone for a teen in your life, I’d suggest the Alcatel 1X. It’s an unlocked smartphone that retails for just under $100.
I’ve been using the Alcatel 1X for the last month or so. As a blogger, I use my laptop at home for most of my content creation and editing. So I mostly just use a phone when out and about for more common uses like social media, texting and web browsing and the Alcatel 1X does everything I need it to do, and it does it with ease.
The 1X Has a 5.3″ display and is powered by Android OREO go edition which is built lean with smaller app sizes and more storage space. It has a 2460 mAh battery which can give you up to roughly 14 hours of talk time in a single charge. Charge time can vary depending on coverage, use and more. As a full-time blogger who works from home and uses the internet from my laptop while home, I don’t’ use my phone much. However, my old phone would die every day even if it wasn’t in use at all, the entire day. This phone lasts 3-4 days on a charge if not in use. It has a 8mp rear camera and 5mp front camera, with some fun photo editing features too. It even has secure access with a fingerprint sensor if you choose to activate it.
I’ve really enjoyed using this phone and have had no issues with it. The only downside for me, is Alcatel doesn’t make a case specifically for this phone. There are some cases available on Amazon that say they work with this phone, but they are the wallet-style cases that are more generic and fit many phones instead of being customized to have cutouts for the buttons and so on. I personally don’t care for the wallet-style cases and I’d feel more protected with a case that was custom designed for this phone model.
Overall I think it’s a nice little affordable smartphone. It can be purchased at BestBuy or Walmart.
Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.
This post currently has 8 responses.
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ellen beck
Alcatel is also a very good phone if an adult is ‘hard’ on phones! They are affordable, and easy to use. Hubby carries a phone due to medical issues, I do not use one. Heis tough on phones it seems the screens get broken or some such thing. He is currently using one of these.
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Peggy Nunn
This would be great for my husband. He need a phone when he is out without me. I think he might get one of these for Christmas. Thank you for the review.
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gala
Thank you for the review. We are looking for the Christmas gift first phone for our teen and now would seriously consider Alcatel 1X
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Dandi D
I need a new phone and this looks like a great one to try!
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Julie Waldron
This sounds like a great phone. I like that it’s affordable, it would be great for an adult who is new to smart phones.
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Dana Rodriguez
This sounds like a great phone for teens. Too bad there are not a variety of cases for it.
This would be a gift gift for any teen! I can’t think of any teen that wouldn’t love to own this. Santa is very generous.