Alcatel OT-995 User Reviews

yousef8824 posted on 28 Jul 2012, 12:29

8

big screen not expensive

yousef8824 has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

the best but the bottons [home back menu and search ] are crazy and the power botton is hard to press good battery and looks a lot like htc hd2 and the same like htc desire hd on and yes alcatel ot 995 can be upgraded to ics while htc desire hd will not

Build quality 8/10

Reception 8/10

Call quality 8/10

Internet 9/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 9/10

UI speed 5/10

Everyday usage 9/10

Text input 9/10

Display 9/10

Battery 7/10

Pros

• big
• not too expensive
• front camera
• fast
• fm radio
• arm v7 cpu
• great adobe flash support

Cons

• the ui is bad for the eyes
• the bottons [home back menu and search ] are crazy

yousef8824 alternatives:

LG Optimus L7

ZTE Tania

HTC HD2

HTC Desire HD

HTC HD7

Samsung Galaxy SL

KiwiDan posted on 27 Jul 2012, 21:16

2

Alcatel OT 995 - Returned and eventually refunded

KiwiDan has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

I owned my Alcatel OT 995 Ultra for less than a month, during which time I encountered a number of major issues. I have the Office of Fair Trading (Queensland government) to thank for a refund, after my vendor (Allphones Cairns Central) refused to refund me.

Within 48 hours, the battery cooked itself. Allphones' initial response was that it would need to be sent away for assessment, taking 2-3 weeks, but I persuaded them to switch in a battery from another OT995 they had in stock.

All seemed good for a few days until I noticed that when the phone autolocked during calls (all good) it didn't unlock when I took it from my ear. This meant I couldn't use the keypad during a call - "press 3 to play your messages ..." - and there was no way to end a call. No input was registered, not even to power off the phone.

There was also an issue that sometimes when I plugged in to charge, the phone would shut down.

I emailed Alcatel Customer Service, but have never received a response. I called Alcatel Customer Service and only ever got a recorded message listing their hours or operation, even when I was calling within those hours of operation!

When I took the phone back to Allphones, they agreed there was a significant problem (and reproduced the autolock problem a number of times) but refused a refund, even though I wanted to return the phone within 30 days of purchase. The best they could offer was to send it away for assessment for 2-3 weeks.

I contacted the Office of Fair Trading...  

I owned my Alcatel OT 995 Ultra for less than a month, during which time I encountered a number of major issues. I have the Office of Fair Trading (Queensland government) to thank for a refund, after my vendor (Allphones Cairns Central) refused to refund me.

Within 48 hours, the battery cooked itself. Allphones' initial response was that it would need to be sent away for assessment, taking 2-3 weeks, but I persuaded them to switch in a battery from another OT995 they had in stock.

All seemed good for a few days until I noticed that when the phone autolocked during calls (all good) it didn't unlock when I took it from my ear. This meant I couldn't use the keypad during a call - "press 3 to play your messages ..." - and there was no way to end a call. No input was registered, not even to power off the phone.

There was also an issue that sometimes when I plugged in to charge, the phone would shut down.

I emailed Alcatel Customer Service, but have never received a response. I called Alcatel Customer Service and only ever got a recorded message listing their hours or operation, even when I was calling within those hours of operation!

When I took the phone back to Allphones, they agreed there was a significant problem (and reproduced the autolock problem a number of times) but refused a refund, even though I wanted to return the phone within 30 days of purchase. The best they could offer was to send it away for assessment for 2-3 weeks.

I contacted the Office of Fair Trading and Allphones finally agreed to a refund.

I will not trust Alcatel or Allphones with my business again.

Build quality 1/10 Failed a number of times in the first 30 days.

Reception 7/10 Seemed fine, but only tested in the city.

Call quality 8/10 No issues (until the end of the call).

Internet 5/10 Not tested much.

Multimedia 1/10 Poor connectivity in the headphone jack. otherwise not tested.

Camera 5/10 No chance to test.

UI speed 2/10 Sometimes slow and clunky - with nothing running and no extra apps added!

Everyday usage 1/10 Phonecall failures. Charging failures.

Text input 9/10 Swype is great. Large screen.

Display 8/10 Seemed very good.

Battery 1/10 Cooked itself.

Pros

• Screen size
• Price
• Office of Fair Trading eventually arranged a refund

Cons

• Battery cooked itself
• Phone stayed locked after calls
• Intermittent shutdown on charging
• Unable to raise a pulse from customer service
• Allphones Cairns Central refused a refund

snakecharmer posted on 16 Jun 2012, 06:11

8

Alcatel ot995 Ultra Awesome Budget Bigscreen

snakecharmer has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

Upgraded from Acer Liquid Mini which was a nice little phone, but wanted a bigger screen. Really expected to pick up a Samsung or Motorola - noticed the 995 at what seemed a bargain basement price for the size and specs. Was immediately impressed by look and feel of the phone; nice minimal style and good rigid frame, with nice heft and tidy no-smudge back. Really did think at the time it was too good to be true and was well aware of Alcatel's track record (did have one of their early touch-screens). But the price and initial impression were too hard to ignore. Glad I didn't - has proven to be a brilliant phone with non of the issues mentioned in other reviews (so far...) Now have 80 apps loaded on and every single one runs well, with very little lag except when mutlitasking - general usage goes without a hitch. Have also loaded on GoLauncher which runs beautifully (proprietary ui is flashy but impractical). Particularly like the gps-glonass hardware for hiking as it is very accurate and reliable; battery down to 40% after a ten hour hike with chartplotter and gps continuous, plus camera use (takes very good photos and hd video with exc audio). And that big 4.3in screen is just awesome - might not match retina or amoled but at half the cost who cares. Could go on...

Build quality 9/10 Please someone correct me if Im wrong but the body surround seems to be alloy (check the port edges) not plastic as described elsewhere. Very rigid chassis and nice weight in the hand.

Reception 8/10 Never have any trouble with wifi, mobile data or phone, even in backcountry. Acceptable wifi through whole house.

Call quality 8/10 Have used speakerphone in the truck (diesel) on the highway no problem.

Internet 9/10 Not lightning fast but that screen is brilliant for surfing all kinds of media - checkout asdf.

Multimedia 7/10 Slight crackle through headphones at low volume. HDMI output to tv is awesome. Camera and video perfectly adequate.

Camera 8/10 Only 5mp but autofocus and flash. Photos have good colour.

UI speed 8/10 Much prefer Golauncher or Gingerbread to proprietary launcher, prob less memory hungry also.

Everyday usage 9/10 Have thrashed this phone for almost a month now and it hasn't missed a beat. Most issues are simply a case of the wrong app - with a bit of tweaking and a little commonsense this phone makes an excellent daily workhorse.

Text input 9/10 Just load a good app...

Display 9/10 Awesome!

Battery 8/10 Better than average battery life - that big screen can chew through the power but standby is very efficient.

Pros

• Big screen
• Solid build and feel
• Fast processer
• Large rom + sd expandability
• Autofocus
• HDMI output
• GPS/Glonass

Cons

• Brand
• Power button exposed.

snakecharmer alternatives:

LG Optimus Black

Archie posted on 14 May 2012, 14:10

5

Iz ok

Archie has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

It's ok, but I'd rather have a non-Alcatel. HTC and Samsung are head and shoulders above this phone. The phone feels like it's missing the battery. I think Alcatel is moving the right direction, but right now, it's still got some work to do.

Build quality 5/10 Feels cheap. While it's nice to have a light phone, it feels like you didn't get your money's worth.

Reception 2/10 Places where my previous phone had 2 bars, this one has 0. Wifi signal is not at 3 "bars" unless sitting on top of my router.

Call quality 6/10 Speaker has to be right on your ear and volume button doesn't seem to work while on the call.

Internet 7/10 Nice to have the 4.3" screen

Multimedia 3/10 Video recording is choppy, blurry and most times, my finger/hand is over the mic. When taking a video in portriat mode, the playback doesn't fill the screen. It stays portrait, but you have to view it with the phone in the landscape position. Dumb!

Camera 2/10 Slow shutter speed, causing you to miss the moment, or get a very blurry version of the moment.

UI speed 8/10 Fast processor, though, not dual/quad core

Everyday usage 5/10 Frustrating at times. Much happier with my HTC phones of the past.

Text input 7/10 Not much to say. It enters text fine.

Display 7/10 Nice, but doesn't knock your socks off.

Battery 6/10 Better than average for usage, but when you charge it to 100% and unplug it, it drops to 57-62% until you plug in the charger again for 5 min...then it jumps to 100%.