'Droid On A Budget! Alcatel OT-983 1GHz Android PAYG Phone, £39.99 At O2 Shop

LouLou

(Thanks to rejector1 on Hotukdeals).

Tried searching for this phone and can't see it talked about here. This is a 1GHz Android phone, running Android 2.3, 3.5" screen, with a 3MP camera (no flash, unfortunately). MicroSD (up to 32GB), 1300 mAh battery, 2GB MicroSD card.

At a silly price of £39.99!! Find it here: https://www.o2.co.uk/shop/phones/alcatel/ot-983/ -£5.55 possible cashback could make it £34.44.

Full specs here: http://www.gsmarena.com/alcatel_ot_983-5139.php



Obviously, as it's on O2, it will work with GiffGaff. Takes an ordinary SIM, rather than the Mini-SIM stated on gsmarena.

Edit: This phone *doesn't* support Adobe Flash, which may be a dealbreaker for some people.

LouLou

Hm, one site lists it as having a camera flash, but unsure. http://mob.org/phone/alcatel/alcatel_one_touch_983.html

sillygoose

That is cheap! screen is lacking resolution and memory is low but it has an SD slot and seems to have everything else built in. Agree, on GiffGaff £10 (with topup disabled) this would be an ideal young person first phone for peanuts.

Just depends if it actually works properly!

LouLou

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/alcatel-ot-983-android-payg-39-99-shop-o2-1366627?page=25#comments

On the HUKD thread (25 pages so far) they really like it, seems to work well. I've seen some reviewers compare the processor to the original Desire. Info about rooting, covers etc on there too.

Only downside is no camera flash, confirmed by me asking on HUKD last night.

Guys_Dad

I'm sure I saw a sub-£30 Alcatel Android in CPW with no sim to buy if you were entitled to a PAYG upgrade. earlier this week.

LouLou

Guys_Dad wrote: »

I'm sure I saw a sub-£30 Alcatel Android in CPW with no sim to buy if you were entitled to a PAYG upgrade. earlier this week.

I'm pretty sure that's a lesser powered model and a different model number; someone on HUKD made a similar comment.

Edit: Had a look now I'm on my desktop PC:

It's not this Alcatel OT-983, according to one HUKDer (stuart9787) anyway. Instead, CPW are selling the OT-903, which is a different phone.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/alcatel-ot-983-android-payg-39-99-shop-o2-1366627?page=2#post16049396

"Are you sure it was this model you bought from CPW (ie, Alcatel OT-983) as I think this model is an exclusive to O2 at the moment. The one that CPW have is the lower spec Alcatel OT-903 and has a 2.8 inch screen as opposed to 3.5 and also a slower processor."

Guys_Dad

LouLou wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that's a lesser powered model and a different model number; someone on HUKD made a similar comment.

You could be right. I was responding to the "Droid on a Budget" part of the heading. In fact,m CPW have about 5 budget Droids with £10 off for PAYG upgrades. For Droids, they all seem pretty cheap as a first timer.

The LG L3 is also on offer, with a decent reported battery life.

LouLou

As my first Android phone was a Desire HD (though it is quite a bit faster than this phone according to the Quadrant readings given on HUKD), I would only consider a 1GHz processor as the very minimum, though there's other variables that make a phone zippy.

My mum has a Huawei G300 (another 1GHz phone, bought by me for her) and it's excellent. Not sure what the price for that is now, probably around £70-ish from Very/IsMe as often talked about on HUKD. Though they often have warnings that Very claws back any monies deducted by discount codes, sometimes even months later, so I'd be wary. The dual-core G330 is coming out any day now too, prices go down all the time.

I didn't buy it there, anyway. I was lucky to get an ebay seller offering it new, Buy It Now for a decent price.

The LG L3 is a tenner more, on the O2 site at least, http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobile-phones/lg-optimus-l3-review-50007109/ and CNET really don't seem to like it. LG don't get a good rep for their various Android phones, think it's something to do with lack of software updates, but there must be other reasons.

The Alcatel just got released in November, which probably accounts for the lack of online reviews so far.

Another pic from the HUKD thread (taken by got3nn):

Rusty!

LouLou wrote: »

Takes an ordinary SIM, rather than the Mini-SIM stated on gsmarena.

No, it takes a mini SIM. A SIM is credit card sized.

LouLou

Okay, I just looked up my old phone on gsmarena (Desire HD), and it's listed as taking a "Mini-SIM". So that's something I didn't know. Good to know this phone doesn't require cutting or sending off for another SIM, anyway.

Nobody called me out on Hotukdeals forums either when I asked, so maybe it's not widely known.

Kernel_Sanders

So, has anyone ordered and received? If so, is there any kind of torch on it and can it be used to wirelessly tether to another device?