Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD - How does it stack up against the other low cost 5-inch 720p smartphones?

Alcatel has released its own 5-inch 720p phone. These large 5-inch Android handsets with their sharp 720 x 1280 displays being offered at a low cost these days are very compelling. 

Picking the diamonds in the rough. Now we have two generations of these phones in the market right now. The earlier releases were the Cherry Mobile Omega HD and the Starmobile Diamond. These are pretty impressive phones for the asking price, with the Omega HD being the cheaper of the two at Php7,999. 

The Omega HD and Diamond are powered by the MediaTek MT6577 chipset with combines a dual core ARM Cortex-A9 processor with a PowerVR SGX531 graphics chip. This is enough to run the high resolution 720 displays smoothly, but 720p video playback will lag a bit and this may not be  3D game performance is not too good.

The second generation of these new 5-inch 720p phones are represented by the MyPhone A919i Duo, the O+ 8.15 and the Alcatel Scribe One Touch HD. These phones use the more powerful MediaTek MT6589 chipset which combines a quad core ARM Cortex A7 processor with PowerVR SGX544 graphics. This chipset is twice as powerful as the MediaTek MT6577 chipset, and has enough power to run the 720p display without any hick-ups.

The Cherry Omega HD priced at Php7,999, is still a nice deal. Still,  I would recommend at getting one of these newer MediaTek MT6589 based phones. 

These newer MediaTek MT6589 do cost more. The MyPhone A919i Duo will set you back Php9,590. That is 1.6K more the the Omega HD. The O+ 8.15 is the most expensive at Php12,990. The additional price gives you more internal storage and a sleeker and slimmer 8.4 mm case as against the thicker 10.7 mm case of the A919i Duo. Between these two, the A919i is the bang for the buck choice. The O+ 8.15 is the more premium offering.

Now comes the Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD. Priced at Php12,550, this one is more of a competitor to the O+ 8.15.

The Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD are nearly identical in specifications. The main advantage of the O+ 8.15 has 8 GB of internal storage as against the 4 GB in the Scribe HD. The Scribe HD on the other hand has a larger 2500 mAh battery as against the 2000 mAh battery in the O+ 8.15.

Too big? The Omega HD is a nice and handy size for a 5-inch phone at 143.5 x 70.8 x 8.8 mm. The O+ 8.15 is the next at 142.5 x 72.9 x 8.4 mm.  The Scribe HD is larger at 144 x 75 x 8.5 mm. The bulkiest is the A919i at 144 x 10.7 mm and weighs in at a hefty 156 grams. 

In list form for easier comparison: 

Omega HD - 143.5 x 70.8 x 8.8 mm

O+ 8.15 - 142.5 x 72.9 x 8.4 mm

Scribe HD - 144 x 75 x 8.5 mm

A919i - 144 x 74 x 10.7 mm

So, all things considered, the Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD hits a crowded market and offers the largest battery in the field. With little to distinguish it and the O+ 8.15 that alone may be enough to make it the favored choice among the two. 

The MyPhone A919i Duo is still the "bang-for-the-buck" choice. The Cherry Mobile Omega HD still it the cheapest 5-inch 720p phone in the local market.