Alcatel is keeping the Android tablet market going with some affordable slates for different needs
If you’re looking for a new tablet that you can toss around the house, Alcatel has lobbed a couple of options your way: the Alcatel 1T 10 and 1T 7.
The larger of the slates is, predictably, the most impressive, coming with a 10-inch HD display, 4000mAh battery and (surprisingly) the latest Android 8.1 Oreo operating system.
The larger tablet is also offered with an optional Bluetooth keyboard and cover, to make it useful as a PC replacement for basic tasks — that’s pretty much where the similarities end with the iPad Pro, as the 1.3GHz quad core chipset and 1GB of RAM are going to creak under pressure.
The display is also pretty low-resolution, coming at a 1280 x 800 pixel count, but there is a ‘Eye Care’ mode that drops the blue-ish tinge at night so it’s easier to fall asleep if you’re using it in bed.
The specs might sound poor, but when you’re getting this tablet for €100 (around £90 / $120 / AU$155) you probably won’t care as much.
Both tablets offer a kids’ mode, where there’s a dedicated camera, apps and drawing game that means you can leave them to enjoy it on the odd occasion knowing there’s relevant content for them. A smaller option — if you like that sort of thing
The Alcatel 1T 7 is the smaller tablet, and offers similar specs to its larger brother — although given it’s a cheaper model, there are some compromises.
The first is to the screen — the 7-inch display only offers a 1280 x 600 pixel count, which will appear about as sharp given it’s squished in a little, and it doesn’t offer the Eye Care feature.
The CPU has the same amount of cores and clockspeed, and 1GB of RAM… but you’re only getting 8GB of onboard storage, which is pretty much useless in this day and age of larger apps. You can add in a 128GB card, but that won’t work if you’re downloading a lot of titles.
With that in mind, it’s hard to say that the €70 price tag (around £60 / $85 / AU$60) is really worth it if all you can really do is download the odd app and browse the web. Streaming is unlikely to be too crisp, but we’ll reserve judgement until we check it out.
Both tablets will be available before June this year across Europe, Latin America and Asia, so mark that on your calendar if you’re desperate for a cheap tablet and don’t know what to do with those Euros you have left over from holidays.
MWC (Mobile World Congress) is the world’s largest exhibition for the mobile industry, stuffed full of the newest phones, tablets, wearables and more. TechRadar is reporting live from Barcelona all week to bring you the very latest from the show floor. Head to our dedicated MWC 2018 hub to see all the new releases, along with TechRadar’s world-class analysis and buying advice about your next phone.
