Test report and technical data Alcatel One Touch 500
Alcatel One Touch 500 - the little powerful one
A user-report
Plus of the Alcatel One Touch 500: lightweight, strong reception, very user-friendly
Minus of the Alcatel One Touch 500: internal clock runs late
Hello everybody!
I was one of the few proud owners of the Alcatel One Touch 500 even before the Alcatel One Touch 311 was officially launched in Germany.
The Alcatel One Touch 500 for Germany is not the final version yet. The Alcatel One Touch 500 has following specifications: ca. 45 mm wide, ca. 102 mm long (120mm with antenna) and ca. 25 mm high and the Alcatel One Touch 500 weighs less than 100 g. However these figures only apply to the NiMH-battery version, which isn't first choice. The Alcatel One Touch 500 will be sold with a Li-Polymer-battery, which is a lot slimmer and lighter. With this battery the specifications will be similar to those of the Nokia 8210.
The Alcatel One Touch 500 shows that Alcatel made a big leap in engineering and developed an amazing phone. In addition to the standard features a phone book was included which can be divided into several folders, according to the user's needs.
Ten of the stored numbers can be dialed by voice-control.
But don't worry! The Alcatel One Touch 500 has nothing in common with the older One Touch models and is pretty much self-explanatory. But in case anyone still has trouble navigating the menu of the Alcatel One Touch 500 there is an easy solution in the manual. Which aren't little info-flyers anymore but evolved into a ca. 80-page-strong informative instruction manual.
As it is always the case with Alcatel, the reception quality of the Alcatel One Touch 500 is very good. Where other manufacturer's models can't get a connection, calling and writing SMS with the Alcatel One Touch 500 is no problem for me.
I found the hands-free function of the Alcatel One Touch 500 very helpful, especially when calling the (free) Alcatel-hotline and being stuck in the waiting loop, or to have your hands free for writing. Unfortunately the hands-free function of the Alcatel One Touch 500 can't be used while driving due to the strong surround noise. But that's a problem for many companies.
Of course the Alcatel One Touch 500 is equipped with a connection for an antenna of a car's hands-free set. This sadly isn’t a standard feature with other mobile phone companies anymore.
The only disadvantage of the Alcatel One Touch 500 I noticed until now is the internal clock. I have to re-set the clock to the correct time every two days. I can only hope that this problem occurs only in this early version of the Alcatel One Touch 500. Although there is an option called "Net time" in the menu of the Alcatel One Touch 500, I can't use it because of my provider T-D1.
After testing the Alcatel One Touch 500 for 7 days now I have become a real fan of the Alcatel One Touch 500. I can absolutely recommend the Alcatel One Touch 500 to everyone when it will be launched in Germany in November / December.
And by the way, Alcatel has given the accessories of the Alcatel One Touch 500 a lot of thought. You can use the headset as well as the car charging set of the old "db"-series, except for the holders of the old boxy models.
Technical specifications of the Alcatel One Touch 500 (as stated by the manufacturer):
- NiMH-battery (German version with extremely lightweight Li-polymer-battery)
- Standby time ca. 280 hours
- Talk time ca. 4,5 hours
- Weight: ca. 103 g
- Length: ca. 102 mm (additional 17mm with antenna)
- Width: ca. 44 mm
- Height: ca. 24 mm
- Colors: green, yellow, blue, brown, silver
Functions of the Alcatel One Touch 500:
- Phone book dividable into several folders
- Vibratory alarm
- Hands-free function (not recommended in cars)
- Voice-control dialing (10 numbers)
- Organizer
- Voice-memo (3 x 15 seconds)
- Text-input assistance software T9 (only English in pre-release version, but still useful)
- W@P-browser (not included in pre-release version)
- 8-line full graphic display
- Extra-key, individually programmable with two features
Test report:
Technical features: ++++
User-friendliness: ++++
Quality of reception: ++++
Standby time: +++
Design: +++
Instructions manual: ++++
Value for money: +++
Overall result: +++
++++/excellent, +++/good, ++/satisfactory, +/unsatisfactory
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