Meet the budget-minded LTE capable Alcatel One Touch Pop S7, powered by MediaTek’s
Meet the Alcatel OneTouch Pop S7, Alcatel’s budget friendly LTE equipped smartphone. While it looks relatively unremarkable compared to all the flagship devices that’s been launching left and right at MWC, it’s one of the most important smartphones for emerging markets that are looking for low cost LTE devices, simply because it’s the first device powered by a MediaTek LTE modem.
Alcatel One Touch Pop S7
- 1.3GHz quad-core processor by MediaTek, MT6290 LTE modem
- 1GB RAM
- 5-inch IPS LCD display, 540 x 960 resolution
- 4GB internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 32GB
- 5-megapixel camera with autofocus
- VGA secondary camera
- GPS, AGPS, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0
- 3G, HSPA, LTE CAT 4
- 3000mAh battery
According to the Taiwanese chipmaker, the One Touch Pop S7 carries their 1.3GHz quad-core processor and multi-mode 4G LTE modem MT6290, a first for the chipmaker that’s known for offering budget SoCs to local brands like Cherry Mobile, Starmobile and MyPhone. MediaTek says that the MT6290 modem inside the OneTouch Pop S7 is capable of data rates as high as 150Mbit/s downlink, as well as carrying all the usual radio technologies like EDGE/GSM/GPRS.
Other specs of the Alcatel OneTouch Pop S7 is a 5-inch capacitive IPS touchscreen (540 x 960 resolution), 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and Android 4.4 KitKat.
Priced at 189 euros or Php 11573 before taxes and duties, the device is very competitive, especially considering the specs. If we would have to compare it to another local device in the Philippines that has LTE (which is coincidentally, powered by Qualcomm’s budget LTE solution), the Cherry Mobile W900, it’d still come out on top because of value for money, even considering the price creep that usually happens when a product from overseas arrives here (taxes and duties + shipping). Hopefully this device is just the beginning of affordable LTE offerings from manufacturers, both local and international.
