Reviews

Alcatel One Touch Insight 993D Review

 

When I first held and inspected the Alcatel One Touch Insight 993D, I was immediately impressed by the build and construction of the handset as well as the quality of the materials used.  Alcatel has certainly earned a name, however slowly, for creating interesting products.  My first Alcatel review was about the Blaze Glory 918N, which went on to be one of the bestsellers of Alcatel in the Philippines.  It was a good mix of quality and price.  Can I say the same about the Alcatel One Touch Insight 993D? Read the rest of the review to find out.

Design

If there is one thing going for the Alcatel One Touch 993D, it’s the design.  The Blaze Glory 918N was one solidly built device but the Insight 993D takes it further.  Alcatel has certainly come a long way in terms of design and construction and the improvements are apparent in the Insight 993D.  Even the packaging has improved and I can honestly say it now matches Samsung phones in this respect.

The design of the Insight 993D evokes class and sophistication.  This is even more apparent in the white version of the phone which happens to be the color of the unit I reviewed.  The front of the phone is all white, but the border is pearl white in color. The 4-inch display is slightly recessed, which means that when you do swiping gestures on the screen, your thumb or finger does not go beyond the edge of the phone.

The design highlight of the Insight 993D is the silver band on that surrounds the side of phone.  Thankfully it is matte silver, not the glossy one which easily scratches.  The phone’s back cover is textured, making the phone look really good especially with the black camera and flash area.

For buttons and ports, there is a volume rocker on the right side of the phone, a power button and a 3.5mm headphone jack on top, and a micro USB slot at the bottom.  At the back is a 5-megapixel autofocus camera paired with LED flash.  On top of the display is a VGA camera and at the bottom are the capacitive control buttons.

Display and Hardware

I said the design of the Insight 993D is one of its noteworthy features.  If there is any other feature that’s worth mentioning, it’s the display.  The 4-inch 800×480 display of the Insight 993D is surprisingly sharp and bright, with just the right contrast and good color reproduction.  When placed side by side with the Samsung Galaxy Note, the Insight 993D appears almost as bright, although not as sharp as the Galaxy Note’s display.   If there’s one thing I don’t particularly like about the display, it’s the fact that the viewing angle is not too ideal.  It’s sometimes difficult to view the display from angles.  Overall, the display of the Insight 993D is good.

The innards of the Alcatel One Touch Insight 993D are not too impressive but it’s the right mix if you are not looking for a phone with too much computing power.  For the price of P9,990, the Insight 993D proves to be a very capable phone.   The phone packs a 1GHz processor paired with 512MB of RAM.  It’s not really a potent combination if you compare it to current phones.  The Insight 993D has a 4GB internal storage that’s expandable up to 32GB via microSD and there’s even a free 4GB micro SD card in the box.  The rest of the specs include HSPA, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, A-GPS, E-compass, G-sensor and 1500 mAh battery.  There’s of course the aforementioned 5-megapixel rear camera and VGA front camera.   The Insight 993D is also a dual-SIM, dual standby phone so this is good for multi-SIM users.

Here are the main specs of the Alcatel One Touch Insight 993D.

Alcatel One Touch Insight 993D Specifications

  • 4-inch WVGA 480 x 800 Display
  • 1GHz Qualcomm MSM 7227A processor
  • 512MB RAM
  • 4GB internal memory with microSD expansion
  • Android 4.0 ICS
  • Dual SIM, Dual Stand by
  • Battery lithium 1500 mAh
  • 5.0 megapixel camera  with Autofocus and LED Flash
  • VGA front camera
  • HSPA
  • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 3.0  with A2DP
  • Micro USB 2.0
  • A-GPS, E-compass, G-sensor
  • FM Radio

Performance

The Insight 993D is not a superphone by any means so don’t expect a performance similar to flagship quad-core phones from Samsung, HTC or Sony.  It is, after all, just a mid-range phone with mid-range specs.  But as a mid-range Android phone with a modest set of specs, the Insight 993D has proven to be quite fast and capable.   Apps don’t take long to load and games run okay.  The Insight 993D uses a Qualcomm MSM 7227A chipset which is actually fast enough even if the clock speed is only 1GHz.   However, when you load too many apps, you can feel the performance suffering a bit.  It’s good that the Insight 993D runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box so you are treated to a fast overall performance.  What I like about the OS on the Insight 993D is that it’s not skinned heavily.  In fact, it’s almost stock.  That means there’s no heavy overlay that weighs the OS down.

As to battery life, the Insight 993D lasts more than 12 hours with internet on and longer if you are not a heavy user.  Battery life is of course shorter when you run apps and games more often than the average user.   Calls on the Insight 993D are clear enough and the dual-SIM performance is dependable.

Camera

The camera on the Alcatel One Touch Insight 993D should be sufficient for most uses.  The camera software is stock, so you’d know the features if you are familiar with Ice Cream Sandwich.  The Insight 993D is fine if your camera needs only include uploading to Instagram or Facebook or Twitter or the occasional snaps for immortalizing special moments.  The Insight 993D takes sharp photos especially when there is sufficient light available.  Contrast is fine, so is color reproduction.  It’s not so good when it comes with low light shots but the LED flash should do the trick.

Here are sample shots I took using the Insight 993D.

  

Wrap-Up

The Alcatel One Touch Insight 993D is a solidly built and beautifully designed Android phone.   Alcatel has really come a long way since the Blaze Glory 918N.  The Insight 993D can even compete with high end phones when it comes to design and build quality.  For the price of P9,990, the Insight 993D makes for a compelling buy considering that it’s a dual-SIM phone.   There are of course other alternative options in the market, especially when you are looking for an Android device.  With the number of available Android phones right now, it just really boils down to taste and price.  If you’re looking for a tough dual-SIM Android phone with a premium looking design that will not break the bank, the Insight 993D should be included in your list.

Rating: 8.2/10

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23 Comments

  1. frens plz help i bought this phone recently..it suddenly became hang and then i switched it off..i again switched it on it displayed alcatel one touched and didnt open…plz plz plz help me

  2. Mas mukhang matibay nga ito compared sa other phones. Medyo mahal nga pero sure naman sa quality. Compared sa camera na same 5 mp lang to other CM/MP/SM phones, mas okay ang quality niya, very clear talaga, talo pa siguro mga 8 mp which shows na sulit lang talaga ang bayad mo dito. Opinion lang. No hard feelings.

  3. I bought this phone recently. I can play temple run on it with no lags. I love the design too. :)

  4. I bought this phone recently. I can play temple run on it with no lags. I love the design too.

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