Alcatel Shine hands-on: beauty on a budget

Every once in a while, there comes a phone that seems to be a great value for the money on paper, and the initial impressions come to confirm it. We kid, it happens quite often with Alcatel'с handsets lately, and the Shine Lite we handled today at the IFA expo is no exception. It looks very nice for a sub-$200 machine, with rounded edges, and easy to grab and handle chassis that is however exuding a premium feel from a design that is all glass framed in metal sides. 

Those metal edges are the only complaint we have with the chassis, as they go pretty sharp into the palm, but something has to give with those inhuman materials - bamboo and leather handsets rarely have such problems. 

The Alcatel's Shine Lite sports a 5-inch HD (720p) IPS display that looks fine from all angles for the price point and screen diagonal. It also has a decent 13-megapixel camera on the back, which features dual-tone flash, but that's not all that Alcatel throws in for the photo department, as there's also a 5-megapixel camera in the front... that comes with LED flash, too. The rear also houses a pretty well-situated finger scanner, no more a rarity at that price point.

The Android overlay is very light in its footprint over Marshmallow, as Alcatel leaves in almost stock and bare, which is a nice thing, and could bode well for a faster update to Android Nougat. Available in shiny black, silver and gold, the Alcatel Shine Lite carries great pricing news as it will launch in Europe for only €199, and is even coming to America this month - the land of the free, and of us cheapskates.