Alcatel Idol 5S, A50, and A30 Plus offer decent features at accessible prices

Alcatel today announced three new smartphones that run Android Nougat: Alcatel Idol 5S, Alcatel A50, and Alcatel A30 Plus. In addition to being available as Amazon Prime phones (with adds on the home screen), all tree handsets are also offered add-free in the US, though they're a bit more expensive this way.

Succeeding the Alcatel Idol 4 from 2016, the Idol 5S is built around an aluminum frame, and seems to be a nice mid-range smartphone. Running Android 7.1 Nougat, the device features a 5.2-inch 1080p display, dual front-facing speakers for stereo sound, fingerprint sensor, an 8 MP front-facing camera, and a 12 MP rear camera. The Idol 5S is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, further offering 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of expandable internal memory, and a 2620 mAh battery.

At launch, the Alcatel Idol 5S will be compatible only with GSM/LTE carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. However, Alcatel says that a future update (coming "later this summer") will enable the handset to also work on CDMA/LTE carriers like Verizon and Sprint. The new phone can be pre-ordered as of today for $279.99 (unlocked). 


Next on the list, the Alcatel A50 runs Android 7.0 Nougat, and is offered unlocked for $149.99 (being compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile). The handset sports a 5.2-inch 720p display, and is powered by a quad-core MediaTek MTK6738 processor clocked at 1.5 GHz. Also on board are LTE, 5 MP and 13 MP cameras (front and rear), 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of expandable storage space, and a 2800 mAh battery.