1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:07,359 I've actually been wanting to familiarize myself with the current crop 2 00:00:04,319 --> 00:00:10,160 of budget smartphones for a while. So, 3 00:00:07,359 --> 00:00:18,080 when Alcatel reached out offering to send over a unit of their 3V, a phone so 4 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:21,039 basic that it boasts US warranty as one 5 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:27,680 of its noteworthy features. I couldn't resist, especially when I noticed that 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:32,000 this thing also has a 2160x 7 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:36,320 1080 18x9 aspect ratio display and costs 8 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:42,559 only 150 bucks. 9 00:00:42,559 --> 00:00:49,840 Let's start with some of the things that cheed me off about the 3V before I'd 10 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:56,640 even managed to get any apps installed on it. Number one, the glass. Now, I 11 00:00:54,480 --> 00:01:03,120 wasn't expecting Corning glass or anything, but over the entire phone, 12 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:06,080 both front and back, it is a lot more 13 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:11,360 effort than I'm accustomed to to drag my finger across the glass. Now, on the 14 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:16,400 back, it's not actually a big deal. In fact, I think other manufacturers uh 15 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:21,600 here's a Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S could learn a thing or two about making their uh super 16 00:01:19,439 --> 00:01:28,400 shiny phones a little bit less slippery to hold onto. But on the front, the 17 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:34,479 sticky feeling glass has got to be the single cheapest feeling thing about this 18 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:36,560 phone. And as an added bonus, it's 19 00:01:34,479 --> 00:01:41,520 actually harder to clean smears off of it, too. So, you'll spend more time kind 20 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:47,759 of scrubbing away at it with your shirt compared to a Gorilla Glass phone with a 21 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:50,159 better coating. Number two, the haptic 22 00:01:47,759 --> 00:01:55,040 motor on this thing is one of the worst that I've felt in a long time. Even 23 00:01:52,880 --> 00:02:00,320 ignoring the Taptic Engine, Apple's fantastic haptic motor that handles 3D 24 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:05,280 touch. It is like, oh, can you guys hear that? 25 00:02:03,119 --> 00:02:09,280 It's like going back in time to when phones could vibrate themselves off of a 26 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:12,879 table when they were ringing. And if I type too fast with the haptic feedback 27 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:21,920 enabled, it actually sounds like the phone is going to fall apart. And number 28 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:24,160 three, it has a USB microB port. 29 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:30,239 I mean, to be clear, that is not necessarily a huge functional 30 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:35,680 disadvantage. Many modern phones have type-C ports, but they still connect at 31 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:40,560 USB 2 speeds anyway, and they leave out a lot of the really handy functionality 32 00:02:37,519 --> 00:02:43,360 that is possible with a type-C port, uh, 33 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:48,400 like outputting a DisplayPort signal. It's just more fragile, which is an 34 00:02:45,920 --> 00:02:53,120 issue that's made worse by the 3V's lack of any, you know, fancy pants modern 35 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:56,959 features like wireless charging. All right, after all that though, my 36 00:02:55,120 --> 00:03:02,640 impressions started getting a lot better. The 3V is lightweight, which for 37 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:08,560 some people might contribute to the cheap feel, but I didn't really mind it. 38 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:09,920 And the buttons, check this out. 39 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:14,560 Okay, you can't really hear it, but they feel pretty clicky without being too 40 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:21,680 hard to press. Also, I noticed that they included Swift Key keyboard, which I 41 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:24,159 love, and not much else. You'll find 42 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:27,920 icons for Netflix and Facebook out of the box, but considering that I and 43 00:03:26,159 --> 00:03:32,799 probably most people would have downloaded those anyway, I don't really 44 00:03:30,239 --> 00:03:36,640 consider that to be bloat. Even the performance deficiencies aren't really 45 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:41,519 visible in the traditional places. Like it used to be that you could tell a 46 00:03:38,799 --> 00:03:47,200 quality unit from a basic one just by swiping left or right as it were. And 47 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:52,959 everything from navigating between the desktops to uh opening up folders 48 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:57,840 actually happens pretty smoothly. Even the app launch times, mind you, we're 49 00:03:55,440 --> 00:04:04,720 talking about uh web browsers and utilities here, not necessarily games, 50 00:04:00,799 --> 00:04:08,720 weren't noticeably bad. 51 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:10,959 But the MediaTek 8735A 52 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:18,400 quad core processor, which has four Cortex A53 cores at its heart, really 53 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:20,720 shows its uh well, 54 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:26,080 it shows its something. I I wanted to say age, but was this thing even fast 55 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:33,840 when it was current? Anyway, in certain tasks, like auto rotating on even a 56 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:36,639 mostly text web page or, and this one's 57 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:40,960 actually much more egregious, zooming in on a picture that you've taken to admire 58 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:48,080 your handiwork. Oh. Oh. Oh, look at that. This thing 59 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:50,560 feels noticeably 60 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:54,560 seven or eight years ago. On that note though, admiring your 61 00:04:52,080 --> 00:05:02,400 handiwork, the screen is far from terrible. It's 6 in 2160x 1080. Yes, the 62 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:07,120 fancy new 18x9 aspect ratio. And the Alcatel website even has a prominent 63 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:12,720 spot on it for the logo of their parent company, TCL, whose $400 budget TV we 64 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:16,800 actually really liked in our recent review, along with some messaging about 65 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:23,120 how they relied on TCL's screen expertise in order to develop the 3V's 66 00:05:19,280 --> 00:05:26,000 display. Now, it doesn't go as dark or 67 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:32,639 as bright, so its contrast compared to some flagship tier phones, especially 68 00:05:28,639 --> 00:05:34,160 ones with OLED displays, is not that 69 00:05:32,639 --> 00:05:39,840 impressive. But it's got a non- vivid mode, which I 70 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:45,120 really appreciate seeing. And for the vast majority of users in day-to-day 71 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:49,680 applications, it is unlikely to be a problem unless you want to use it in 72 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:54,400 direct sunlight outside or something along those lines 73 00:05:51,840 --> 00:06:00,560 or if you want to use it to watch movies on Netflix. So, I fired up the beginning 74 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:02,080 scene of Thor Ragnarok, which 75 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:05,919 speakers are on. Sorry. Sorry. Also, this isn't the beginning scene. 76 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:15,440 And it looks so dark and so low contrast and 77 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:17,919 even low res that I was kind of taken it 78 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:25,360 back and I was prompted to send an email to Netflix and they haven't gotten back 79 00:06:20,479 --> 00:06:28,639 to me. But as far as I can tell, the low 80 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:31,600 resess of it anyway seems to have to do 81 00:06:28,639 --> 00:06:38,800 with the display not being HDR certified. So, when I watch this movie 82 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:42,160 side by side with the Galaxy S9 Plus, 83 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:44,479 the S9, it looks so much better that 84 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:48,960 even through our camera, then through your screen at home, you should be able 85 00:06:46,479 --> 00:06:53,280 to pretty easily see the differences in the fine details here. So, I can't 86 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:57,039 figure out why it is that HDR certification, which is more of a 87 00:06:54,800 --> 00:07:00,639 contrast and color thing, is affecting the resolution they're serving, but it's 88 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:05,440 something that I've repeated on other phones as well. 89 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:10,000 Other things are handled reasonably well though. So aspect ratio controls are 90 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:15,039 done either through a big list in the settings menu or and this is kind of 91 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:17,440 cool on the fly app by app with this 92 00:07:15,039 --> 00:07:21,840 little button right here. So if you run into a compatibility issue with the 93 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:26,400 wider or taller aspect ratio display, you can easily fix it just by clicking 94 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:32,400 that button. And in general actually the software is not awful. Like it's not 95 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:38,479 stock Android, but whether it was a conscious decision or a costsaving one, 96 00:07:35,759 --> 00:07:43,840 the Android 8.0 Oreo on this thing is pretty bare, but pretty functional. It's 97 00:07:41,919 --> 00:07:48,800 definitely a brighter point than the camera, which is far from the worst that 98 00:07:46,319 --> 00:07:55,440 I've ever seen, even on a value device. But that brighter joke, brighter point, 99 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:57,039 was because it constantly underexposes 100 00:07:55,440 --> 00:08:02,879 my shots. And this is true of both stills and videos. Anyway, I mean, it's 101 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:07,120 usable in lots of light and it's certainly better for capturing the 102 00:08:04,319 --> 00:08:12,400 moment than absolutely nothing. And I always appreciate a double click to 103 00:08:09,919 --> 00:08:18,400 quick launch the camera gesture. But naturally, it lacks fancy features like 104 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:22,560 image stabilization. So, even though I went out of my way to grab a more modest 105 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:27,440 competitor for this thing, the Honor 10, rather than like a flagship iPhone 10 or 106 00:08:24,879 --> 00:08:32,080 something, it's clearly and noticeably inferior. But inferior doesn't mean 107 00:08:29,919 --> 00:08:36,399 complete garbage. Its charging is a little bit slow, but the 3,000 mAh 108 00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:42,240 battery combined with the low-end hardware means that over a day will be 109 00:08:39,279 --> 00:08:47,519 easy to achieve for most people, and NFC is missing. But dualband Wi-Fi, which is 110 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:52,399 far more important in my opinion, and used to be left out of value phones like 111 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:56,880 this, is present. Now, it's only got 16 gigs of storage on the $150 model, which 112 00:08:54,880 --> 00:09:02,480 means that you won't be installing a ton of heavy apps like games, but it's got 113 00:08:59,839 --> 00:09:07,279 micro SD expansion, so as long as you don't load up tons of apps, at least you 114 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:11,680 can store your Plex or your Netflix downloads somewhere rather than having 115 00:09:09,279 --> 00:09:16,480 the phone fill up all the time and start behaving really weirdly like my 116 00:09:13,279 --> 00:09:17,920 mother-in-law's old 8 gig phone. 117 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:21,360 I think we're pretty close to the end here. Let's see. Um, the speaker is 118 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:24,720 pretty quiet, which affects speaker phone calls and watching movies. 119 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:28,480 But Cooler Master appears to have kicked off a giant OEM love fest, 120 00:09:26,959 --> 00:09:33,680 but it does have a headphone jack, so there's that. And I would be floored if 121 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:36,800 you get a ton of software updates. But this was enlightening for me. I'm 122 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:42,880 actually really impressed at how much phone you can get for 150 bucks, even if 123 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:48,480 I like wouldn't want to switch to it. Like I personally I would probably go 124 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:51,519 for a contract subsidy instead, but that 125 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:52,880 is not an option for everyone. So, 126 00:09:51,519 --> 00:09:56,560 thanks for watching, guys. If this video sucked, you know what to do. But if it was awesome, get subscribed, hit that 127 00:09:55,440 --> 00:10:01,040 like button, or check out the link to where to buy the stuff we featured in the video description. Also linked down 128 00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:05,120 there is our merch store, which has cool shirts like this one. Yes, and our 129 00:10:03,279 --> 00:10:08,000 community forum, which you should totally join.