The alcatel 5 officially takes its place at the helm of TCL's lineup

TCL hasn't exactly been keeping a tight lip about its new lineup over the past few weeks. As expected, spearheading the bunch is the new alcatel 5. A flagship, if you will, although we don't really feel right referring to it like that, given it's mostly mid-ranger specs.

To reiterate, those include a 5.7-inch, IPS panel, in the new and trendy 18:9 aspect ratio. TCL seems to have committed to the ultra-wide concept fully, even providing it in very cheap devices. Interestingly enough, the alcatel 5 has an HD+ (1440 x 720 pixel) panel, while its 3V sibling, joining it at the Barcelona unveiling has FullHD+.

The main attraction with the alcatel 5, however, seems to be the design, featuring minimal side bezels around the display and an almost non-existent bottom chin. It looks pretty impressive, but could potentially be an issue with ergonomics, combined with on-screen navigation buttons.

The body on the alcatel 5 measures 152.3 x 71.1 x 8.4 mm and weighs in at 144 grams. It's plastic all around, but does feature a metallic finish in gold or black.

alcatel 5 in black

As for internals, the alcatel 5 is based on an octa-core MediaTek MT6750, combined with 2GB or 3GB ram and 16GB or 32GB of expandable storage. The camera setup includes a 12MP, f/2.2, 1.25 μm snapper, with a dual-tome LED flash and a few extra features, like EIS, Light Trace, Slow motion and Video story. The camera can also interpolate its photos up to 16MP, if you find the 12MP native resolution insufficient.

Two snappers handle selfies: a 13MP, f/2.0, 1.4 μm, 120-degree main one, along with a supplementary 5MP unit and an LED flash. EIS is a thing on the front side as well. The Alcated 5 also offers some interesting selfie effects to play around with, although it should be noted that both snappers are fixed focus.

alcatel 5 in gold

Other specs on the alcatel 5 include an optional Dual Nano-SIM configuration, depending on the model variant and Cat.4 LTE speeds. Bluetooth 4.2, GPS with GLONASS, Wi-Fi b/g/n, microUSB 2.0 and an FM radio are also standard on every variant, while NFC will only be available on some. There is a rear-mounted fingerprint reader. A 3,000 mAh battery keeps the lights on and a rather dated Nougat ROM is powering the show. alcatel is also marketing a face unlock feature, it calls "Face Key", which seems to be a re-brand of the standard Android Face Unlock option.

TCL is promising immediate availability for the Alcated 5 in select markets. Color options include Metallic Black and Metallic Gold and the asking price is a pretty competitive EUR230.