Budget-friendly smartphones have come a long way over the past few years, with as little as $200 being enough to score you more than decent hardware and modern software these days in devices like the Moto G6 Play, Honor 7X, or Nokia 6.
Even $100 can get you a robust unlocked handset like the Nokia 2 with a 1280 x 720 screen in tow, as well as a massive 4,100 mAh battery. But if you only have $39.99 to spend, you’ll need to settle for the Alcatel Tetra’s much smaller cell and pretty cringeworthy display resolution.
This is the latest low-profile addition to the AT&T Prepaid handset lineup, with online sales already underway, and physical stores to follow on Friday, September 14.
The number one compromise you’ll have to learn to live with if you purchase the Alcatel Tetra is a 5-inch screen teleported straight out of 2011. That’s not even a joke, as the brand-new Tetra reminds us of Samsung’s ancient Galaxy S II with its painfully outdated 854 x 480 display pixel count. Worse still, the S II was significantly smaller, thus boasting a higher ppi density than the AT&T-exclusive Alcatel Tetra.
Fortunately, the rest of the specifications are not quite as bad. Okay, the 2,050 mAh battery is pretty bad. And the quad-core MediaTek MT6739WM processor is not great either. But at $39.99, you could do a lot worse than the 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage space, and Android 8.1, yes, 8.1 Oreo software offered by the Tetra out the box.
Marketed as “sleek and durable”, the phone looks pretty generic and bland in its official renders, although some cash-strapped buyers might be able to appreciate the “unique twill-textured back” providing “comfort and style.” You also get unsurprisingly mediocre 5MP rear-facing and 2MP front-facing cameras. No fingerprint sensor, obviously, and no trendy AI functionality.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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