A new entry-level smartphone from Alcatel is now available on Sprint’s prepaid brands, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile. According to press releases from both carriers, the Alcatel Dawn is priced at $69.99 and is already available for purchase online. The device, as mentioned already, is an entry-level smartphone that comes with fairly modest hardware, as is to be expected at that price point. The handset comes with a 4.5-inch TFT display panel with FWVGA resolution (854×480). The device is powered by a quad-core processor clocked at a frequency of 1.1GHz, although the exact SoC remains undisclosed. The handset comes with 1GB of RAM and just 8GB of internal storage, but it does have a micro SD card slot that’s capable of supporting cards of up to 32GB in capacity.
As for the imaging options, the Alcatel Dawn sports a 5-megapixel rear-facing primary camera, while the front-facing selfie cam comes with a 0.3-megapixel sensor. The handset carries a removable 1,780mAh Li-Ion battery and comes with pre-installed Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The Dawn is a rather compact device by today’s standards, which can be gauged by the fact that it comes with a 4.5-inch screen. The device is 5.2-inches long, 2.56-inches wide and 0.39-inches thick, while weighing just 5.0 ounces. The phone supports 4G LTE and 3G HSPA networks, but aside from cellular connectivity, the phone also comes with support for Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi and microUSB 2.0.
Taking a quick look at some of the plans on offer at the two prepaid carriers, Virgin customers can get 500 MB of high speed data along with unlimited talk and text for just $30 per month, while $40 gets you 4GB of LTE data along with the obligatory unlimited talk and text. Both plans come with unlimited streaming music from Pandora, iHeartRadio, Slacker, 8tracks and Milk Music. Meanwhile, Boost subscribers can get 2GB of high speed data for $35 per month, while 5GB LTE data costs $45 per month. The zero-rated unlimited music streaming offer is valid on Boost as well. With prepaid connections becoming more popular in the country and around the world with every passing day, devices like the Alcatel Dawn certainly reduces the entry-barrier for people on a budget who’re just looking for a no-frills device that can access high-speed data.
