Alcatel OneTouch Pop S7 hands-on: colorful with a splash of mid-range

Going for the mid-range market this time around, the Alcatel OneTouch Pop S7 is an interesting smartphone that really pops for its eclectic variety of colored rear casings. With so many new device announcements from them, it’s just refreshing to know that they’re really aiming to hit every section of spectrum – from entry level units to high-end stuff, it’s all covered by them. Sure to please those who have a knack for personalization, it’ll be intriguing to find out whether this one can make a name for itself.

Design

Right off the bat, we’re most astounded by its interchangeable rear covers, where it’s available in a variety of colors. From the usual white and black ones we’re accustomed to seeing, it’s tastefully supplemented by yellow, pink, red, blue, and gray – so there’s enough variety to give each one a distinction. Besides that, we can honestly say that its design is pretty much straightforward and conventional.

Luckily, it’s not a handful trying to grasp the smartphone – and that’s despite featuring a formidable sized 5-inch display. Weight is balanced enough to give it a solid feel in the hand. And due to its matte plastic finish, the handset does a fantastic job of masking fingerprints and smudges, which allows it to maintain a clean look too.

Around its trim, we spot all the usual suspect of ports and buttons. They consist of its power button, volume control, 3.5mm headset jack, microphone, and microUSB port. Even though it features a removable back cover, the beefy sized 3000 mAh battery in there isn’t actually user replaceable. Nevertheless, there’s a microSD card slot nearby that's easily accessible to give its internal storage a boost.

Display

Aside from its colorful rear casing, the other standout of the Alcatel OneTouch Pop S7 is its 5-inch 540 x 960 (qHD) fully-laminated IPS display. Indeed, as much as we would’ve liked to see 720p or 1080p instead, its qHD resolution is still an effective tally that allows us visualize some details without the need to squint. Thanks to its full lamination, its viewing angles are pretty good, which minimizes any annoying distortion. Additionally, its color reproduction has a potent vibrant look that results in a little bit of saturation with colors. And lastly, there’s an oleophobic coating that enables us to easily eliminate smudges and fingerprints with a quick swipe from a piece of cloth.

Interface and functionality

Boasting Alcatel’s customized Android 4.4 KitKat experience, we’ll say that it’s a pleasant one that doesn’t try to inundate us with a whole lot of features. Rather, there’s this level of simplicity with its aesthetics and functions that results in a comforting experience where we’re not totally overwhelmed by it. And as we dive deeper into the software, it’s becomes apparent that its simplistic nature is well established in several of the core apps within the phone.

Processor and memory

Armed with a quad-core 1.3GHz processor with 1GB of RAM, we’re actually impressed that the handset is able to produce a pretty responsive rate with its performance. Navigating around the homescreen, there’s enough snappiness with its operation to make us believe that it’s more than equipped at even handling some intense tasks. For something that’s not yet finalized, we’re really looking forward to seeing how much better things will get with it final form.

4GB of internal storage is nothing really in this day and age, but despite that paltry mark, the Alcatel OneTouch Pop S7’s microSD card slot is there to supplement things to our liking.

Camera

Following its reputation for being a mid-ranger, the Alcatel OneTouch Pop S7 is donning a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera that features an LED flash, 4x digital zoom, and full HD video recording. Without a doubt, the number isn’t imposing or anything, but at least it’s not too low of a number to lose its appeal. Let’s just hope the end result isn’t going to be too bad! For the selfy loving folks out there, it's boasting a VGA front-facing camera to meet all of your needs.

Expectations

Alcatel is a name that hasn’t reached stardom status in the US, though, they have a huge presence abroad in several countries. No word yet has been announced pertaining to its pricing or availability, but if Alcatel wants to dealt a favorable hand, the OneTouch Pop S7 will need to have a broad exposure and an aggressive price point to persuade consumers that it wants to be taken seriously.