Alcatel mid-range POP 4 series joins the MWC 2016 party
A few days ago we saw Alcatel unveil its IDOL 4 and IDOL 4S smartphones, practically the company's flagship models for this year. The party, however, isn't over yet. Joining Alcatel's early 2016 team are three new mid-range smartphones, all from the company's POP line. These days, "mid-range" no longer means "cheap", with more and more of these smartphones sporting decent hardware and features, giving budget-tight consumers with the best bang for their buck. And here, the Alcatel POP 4, POP 4+, and POP 4S aim to please.
Let's start from the smallest, the Alcatel POP 4. This smartphone bears a 5-inch HD screen and is powered by an unnamed 1.1 GHz quad-core processor. There's 1 GB of RAM inside and 8 GB of storage, expandable up to 32 GB with a microSD card slot. The 8 megapixel rear camera and 5 megapixel front camera, with its own flash mind you, make for a palatable photography pair on a budget.
The Alcatel POP 4+ doesn't stray too far from this mold. Though larger, the 5.5-inch screen is still locked at 1280x720 resolution. Memory has been bumped up a bit, now at 1.5 GB RAM and 16 GB storage, still expandable. It has the same camera features as its smaller sibling, and even the same 1.1 GHz quad-core processor, making the POP 4+ really more of a larger POP 4.
In contrast, the Alcatel POP 4S could be considered the cream of the crop. At least as far as these three mid-tier devices are concerned. For one, It gets an octa-core processor to push a more pixel dense 5.5-inch Full HD screen. RAM is now a full 2 GB though internal storage is still capped at 16 GB. The rear camera not only gets a megapixel count boost at 13 megapixels, it also gets Phase Detection AF or PDAF. The front camera, however, doesn't change. Other features not found in the other two include fingerprint security and 4G LTE connectivity, making the POP 4S even more enticing.
In terms of design, the Alcatel POP 4 series might not exactly wow, but one of the advantages of a less than premium build is customization. The POP 4 smartphones offer a variety of covers, grouped into four collections of Hairline-Brushed, Leather, Wood, and Baby Skin. All three run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow right from the start. Availability and pricing have yet to be announced.
Alcatel is also taking the opportunity to give notice about a change in its branding strategy. It is now dropping the previous "Alcatel ONETOUCH" for a simpler "Alcatel", a name that is perhaps more familiar even to more seasoned consumers. It also saves up on typing and speaking, which could help better market the devices in its own small way.
