- Analysis by KJ David
Pitched by Alcatel as a budget flagship (if that's even a term), the Alcatel 5 is a wide-screen smartphone that apparently put a lot of effort into its imaging capabilities, especially in terms of selfies. Don't fall off your seat just yet, though, since this MWC 2018 entry is not purely about pros, with cons like a mediocre (by flagship standards) 1440 x 720 HD+ definition 
, which is rather distasteful for a phone with a 5.7-inch screen and an 18:9 aspect ratio 
, trying to ruin the party. As a consequence of its modest screen resolution, you probably won't be seeing the Alcatel 5 among the best phablets anytime soon.
Its MediaTek MT6750 1.5GHz + 1GHz dual-cluster eight-core processor ends up as a slight drawback as well, at least compared to the processors used by most of the best octa-core smartphones out there, but it is an octa-core engine nevertheless. Also, its 3GB RAM sounds respectable relative to its aforementioned inauspicious screen.
As for its strongest specs, the Alcatel 5 is home to a dual selfie camera that tries to squeeze it into our list of the best smartphones for selfies. Its dual front cam is composed of a 13-megapixel primary cam interpolated to 16 megapixels (in other words, infused with software enhancements to mimic an actual 16-megapixel camera) and a 5-megapixel 6P-lens sub-cam interpolated to 8 megapixels. Its key features include wide-angle shots of up to 120 degrees and low-light detection. This dual front cam is also used for the phone's Face Key user facial authentication system , which works hand-in-hand with its rear-mounted fingerprint scanner in the security department.
At the back, it sports a 12-megapixel camera interpolated to 16 megapixels accompanied by a dual-tone LED flash and electronic image stabilization (EIS) -- a full-blown high-resolution camera would have been more welcome, though. Also part of its pros and cons is a 32GB internal memory that's neither impressive nor too disappointing for an overall mid-level wide-screen Android. Accompanying it is a 128GB maximum external memory allowance.
This 5.7-incher is powered by a 3000mAh battery whose self-attributed scores, which are led by a 30-hour talk time (1800 minutes) and a little over 19 days of standby time (470 hours) , surpassed the corresponding average marks as we were reviewing the Alcatel 5's pros and cons. It dons a curved unibody coated in a matte and hairline brushed-metal finish .
In the end, the Alcatel 5 blends some middle-class hardware with a couple of upmarket cameras, probably making it a solid purchase for mobile photographers who don't mind working with unambitious processing components.
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