Month: December 2014

It’s been nearly three weeks since I put my Nexus 4 in the repair shop and began using the Alcatel C1.  Somebody somewhere was failing to deliver the goods and my Nexus languished for want of a replacement screen until yesterday.  What went wrong?  You never really know who might be lying to whom in order to cover their mistakes, but I was told that the supplier was out of stock.

It wasn’t a problem, really.  I’ve continued to explore the little Alcatel, add Christmas wallpapers, modify the settings, add ringtones, and learn generally how to get along with it.

In my earlier post, I stated that the Alcatel’s graphics and call quality were sketchy.  As it turns out, those problems were specific to the individual handset I was using.  I returned it to Best Buy, thinking that my Nexus would be ready that day.  When I found out that another week was yet to transpire, I bought another Alcatel C1.  Interestingly, the price had dropped from $50 to $40.  There are no problems with the new one.

I don’t know what version of Android my handset started with, but it immediately upgraded itself to 4.4.2.  It restored most of my apps and settings from the Google backup.  I’m actually quite satisfied with this little phone except for one thing: the small screen makes it hard to use a map.

When I got my Nexus 4 back, the first thing I noticed was its angular edges.  The Alcatel has smooth, rounded edges.  Combined with its size, it’s much more comfortable in the hand.

I’m struck now by the elegance of the Nexus running 5.0.1.  The difference is strikingly beautiful.  But theres nothing unattractive about the Alcatel’s appearance or behavior.

I’m almost sorry to retire the C1, but such is progress.  If we have only two hands, we have to set something down in order to pick up something better.  If I’d had my way fifteen years ago, I’d still be running TRS-80s, which I liked much better than the Windows PCs I adopted in order to create and maintain a web site.

I will restate something from my earlier post.  My friend Will McClendon can show you in this article how to to leverage the power of VoIP and Wi-Fi to get talk, text, and data on a mobile phone for as little as $2/month.  Combine that with a $40 smartphone and one of the greatest of modern technological miracles is within the reach of nearly every American.

On Thursday I bought an Alcatel C1, technically known as a 4015T.

 

My Nexus 4 is at a repair shop, having sustained a small crack in the touchscreen.  I picked this up at Best Buy for $50, which compares favorably to the $300 I originally spent on the Nexus.  One might expect the C1 to offer 1/6th of the value; I instead place it at about 3/4ths.

To be sure, this is a $50 smartphone.  The graphics tend to be grainy and the audio (both directions) is inferior.  It has less memory, storage, and speed.  The screen only looks good if you’re looking squarely at it.  It has fewer ringtones, notification tones, and menu options.  It’s running Android 4.2.2 and seems uninterested in snagging an upgrade.  Perhaps it is incapable of running a higher version?

And yet, for all that, I like it.  I like its smallness.  The 3.5″ screen is tiny compared to the Nexus’s 4.7″, but I have to admit that I don’t mind the smallness very much.  I used to think that acreage was king when it came to smartphones and I always wondered why the iPhone, Cadillac Of Them All, didn’t grow like the others.  Now I see that the small screen has its own appeal.  Overall, the little phone is more comfortable.

It also has its problems.  Google Maps is much harder to use.  Many websites can’t get their content small enough to fit, requiring the viewer (moi) to scroll horizontally.  The poorer resolution makes the little I.D. pictures beside Facebook posts pretty much worthless, and this problem persists anywhere small graphics are displayed.

I’ll be glad to get my real phone back.  It’s a central tool in my business and daily life and, as with my other tools, quality makes me money.  Even still, it makes me happy to see a little gizmo like this Alcatel available for $50.  Its something close to a miracle.  With free wi-fi all around us and VoIP cloud numbers available for free from Google Voice (questionable quality) or for $3/month from a provider like Voipo (which I use), a person could get a $10/month plan from an MVNO and an app like CSipSimple on his $50 phone and be running with the big dogs for very little money.  (For more info, check out my friend’s essays on the topic.)