Alcatel has announced what we like to think is the first RGB-equipped smartphone. The Alcatel A5 LED doesn’t only put LED on the front for the display, but also completely covers the back of the device in lights.
According to the press release, the LED covered back is capable of displaying different light shows as notifications for incoming calls, messages, alarms, and social media alerts. Users can also use built in app to change the colour patterns of the back panel to put on their own lightshow.
Interestingly, this LED backcover is only one of several covers that Alcatel is making for the A5. Taking a line similar to that of Moto Mods, there is also dual-speaker equipped cover and a battery pack cover.
Moving away from the LED display on the back, the 5.2-inch Alcatel A5 LED has a proper HD IPS display on the front. The Alcatel A5 LED runs on an unspecified Octa-core processor, 3GB RAM, and 32GB internal storage. There’s support for microSD card expansion as well, although we don’t know what the maximum capacity is. It will also run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.
Two other smartphones were also announced alongside the mobile lightshow. The Alcatel U5 and the A3 both promise to be the most affordable phones for their respective features.
The Alcatel U5 is an entry level phone that claims to be the most affordable 4G capable phone in the market. While no price has been provided, the hardware really does underscore this point. The display is a 5-inch FWVGA panel, and it runs on a quad-core processor. The built in memory happens to be a very budget minded 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage. There is no microSD card expansion support.
The Alcatel A3, on the other hand, is a small step up from the U5. It has a 5-inch IPS HD display backed by an octa-core processor. Memory stands at 1.5GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. MicroSD card support only goes up to 32GB. The A3 also packs a fingerprint reader for additional securtity.
No price range has been provided for any of these three devices. Which makes it a little difficult to confirm the affordability of the A3 and U5. There’s no telling when they will be released to the public either.
