Alcatel One Touch POP S3

“The Alcatel One Touch Pop S3 feels like a phone made with one aim in mind – to become the cheapest 4G phone around. However, it hasn’t been made with quite the attention to the core experience that you get with some alternatives, especially non-4G ones.The elephant in the room is the Motorola Moto E. It doesn’t have 4G, it doesn’t have half the camera features of the Pop S3, it even has a lesser processor, but the screen is so much better that we feel it is a much better option for the majority of people.4G is great, but it is still a secondary concern. As much as it may speed up video streaming and web browsing, it’s not much good if the screen reduces much of the enjoyment you can get from these activities. The Alcatel One Touch Pop S3 is an interesting proof of concept, but the balance feels a little off with this one.”

“There was a place for cheap phones like the Pop S3, once upon a time. Now though they’ve been replaced by affordable ones like the Moto G, and what spectacular substitutes they are. We’ll take Motorola’s build quality, bang up to date software and vivid screens any day over this, with or without 4G - what good are super speed downloads without a top notch phone to make use of them?”

“The Alcatel One Touch POP S3 has its merits, especially taking into account the sub-£100 price of the device.The problem here is that by making room for 4G LTE capability Alcatel has been forced to make cutbacks in crucial areas. However, if you are simply after the option to access faster web browsing and app speeds on the go, then the POP S3 offers you that at the cheapest price possible.What it won’t give you is fast and detailed gaming, decent video playback and a quality camera. That’s not to say that other entry-level devices offer anything far more superior. They just do all their basic tasks better and, at this price point, that’s the most you can ask for.”

“Considering it’s the cheapest 4G phone around, the Alcatel One Touch Pop S3 offers pretty decent value for money. It’s a colourful and usable 4-inch wee blighter, with a good camera for the cost. It’s a shame the screen is rather lacklustre.If you really need 4G and have no cash left after the expensive contracts, this is one option. We’d personally be more tempted to lay down another 20 quid for the EE Kestrel/Huawei Ascend G6 4G instead.”