Alcatel OT-995 User Reviews

This phone is OK. It might have some problems, but it's OK. Some people think that this phone is cheap, but I think it's cheap or expensive. It's a lot better than the complete crap Motorola Brute i680/i686.

the best but the bottons [home back menu and search ] are crazy and the power botton is hard to press good battery and looks a lot like htc hd2 and the same like htc desire hd on and yes alcatel ot 995 can be upgraded to ics while htc desire hd will not

I owned my Alcatel OT 995 Ultra for less than a month, during which time I encountered a number of major issues. I have the Office of Fair Trading (Queensland government) to thank for a refund, after my vendor (Allphones Cairns Central) refused to refund me.

Within 48 hours, the battery cooked itself. Allphones' initial response was that it would need to be sent away for assessment, taking 2-3 weeks, but I persuaded them to switch in a battery from another OT995 they had in stock.

All seemed good for a few days until I noticed that when the phone autolocked during calls (all good) it didn't unlock when I took it from my ear. This meant I couldn't use the keypad during a call - "press 3 to play your messages ..." - and there was no way to end a call. No input was registered, not even to power off the phone.

There was also an issue that sometimes when I plugged in to charge, the phone would shut down.

I emailed Alcatel Customer Service, but have never received a response. I called Alcatel Customer Service and only ever got a recorded message listing their hours or operation, even when I was calling within those hours of operation!

When I took the phone back to Allphones, they agreed there was a significant problem (and reproduced the autolock problem a number of times) but refused a refund, even though I wanted to return the phone within 30 days of purchase. The best they could offer was to send it away for assessment for 2-3 weeks.

I contacted the Office of Fair Trading and Allphones finally agreed to a refund.

I will not trust Alcatel or Allphones with my business again.

Upgraded from Acer Liquid Mini which was a nice little phone, but wanted a bigger screen. Really expected to pick up a Samsung or Motorola - noticed the 995 at what seemed a bargain basement price for the size and specs. Was immediately impressed by look and feel of the phone; nice minimal style and good rigid frame, with nice heft and tidy no-smudge back. Really did think at the time it was too good to be true and was well aware of Alcatel's track record (did have one of their early touch-screens). But the price and initial impression were too hard to ignore. Glad I didn't - has proven to be a brilliant phone with non of the issues mentioned in other reviews (so far...) Now have 80 apps loaded on and every single one runs well, with very little lag except when mutlitasking - general usage goes without a hitch. Have also loaded on GoLauncher which runs beautifully (proprietary ui is flashy but impractical). Particularly like the gps-glonass hardware for hiking as it is very accurate and reliable; battery down to 40% after a ten hour hike with chartplotter and gps continuous, plus camera use (takes very good photos and hd video with exc audio). And that big 4.3in screen is just awesome - might not match retina or amoled but at half the cost who cares. Could go on...

It's ok, but I'd rather have a non-Alcatel. HTC and Samsung are head and shoulders above this phone. The phone feels like it's missing the battery. I think Alcatel is moving the right direction, but right now, it's still got some work to do.