Every now and then, phone manufacturers come up with phones catered toward those who prioritize battery life more than anything else. One such phone is the Alcatel Pixi Plus Power.
Design
The Alcatel Pixi Plus Power wouldn’t turn any heads, that’s for sure. It was designed not so much focusing on the looks but more on how to pack a generous 5000-mAh battery inside its shell. That, however, shouldn’t be an excuse as there are also newer phones out in the market that pack the same ampere rating.
The design language feels it’s 2013 all over again. The phone is as plain as it can be.
It’s made of mostly plastic but to be fair, the build is pretty solid with no apparent creaking sound when pressure is applied. Up top, you can find the LED notification, front-firing LED flash, the earpiece, a 5MP shooter as well as a battery icon with “5000 mAh” text on it, which is the main strength of this phone. Below users will find the large non-lit capacitive keys.
Flip it over to find the textured back, the 8 megapixel camera with LED flash, Alcatel logo, and “Pixi” marking as well as a single grille speaker.
The back cover is removable to reveal the non-replaceable 5000-mAh battery, two SIM Slots (supports 3G only), as well as a microSD Slot.
The 3.5mm jack is located at the top edge, while a standard micro-USB port is located at the bottom edge. The power button and volume buttons are located at the right side.
Display
The Pixi Plus Power has a 5.5-inch HD IPS display with a screen resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels. Due to its size, the screen looks “flushed out”. There is no ambient sensor so you would have to manually adjust the screen brightness.
Performance
The Pixi Plus Power has a modest specification for an entry-level device. It comes with a 1GB of RAM and an 8GB of built-in storage but supports memory expansion via a microSD slot up to 32GB.
The Pixi Plus Power is a capable phone ideal for not too intensive tasks. Everyday tasks like texting, making phone calls, watching videos, and using social media apps can be handled by the device.
Heavy gamers who yearn for high-definition games would have to look the other way as this device won’t be able to exploit the generous battery for gaming. What’s got it going for this device is it ships out with an almost pure Android Marshmallow 6.0, helping quite a bit in terms of performance.
Camera
The 13MP rear camera is pretty basic and won’t really blow you away. It has some of the usual camera modes like HDR and Panorama. On low-light conditions, it struggles to take good photos.
The 5MP front camera is also very basic but is accompanied by a front-firing LED flash for the occasional selfies in the dark. It also supports beautification mode. Below are sample unedited shots from the Pixi Plus Power:
Battery life
As the name suggest, the Pixi Plus Power packs a generous battery life of 5000 mAh. For normal usage, this device will last you up to three days. On my test, the standby time was impressive and can reach more than two weeks even if connected to a WiFi network with no SIM inserted.
The phone also supports quick charging and is able to get enough power fast to last you a day in a couple of minutes. The phone can also act as a powerbank of sorts as it can do reverse charging and share power to yours or your friends’ other devices.
The verdict
Alcatel released the Pixi Plus Power with a target audience in mind — those who are searching and willing to compromise other aspects of a smartphone except battery life. It’s a phone and a powerbank at the same time and runs Android Marshmallow out of the box.
It should be a very good backup phone for those who are always on the go. The Pixi Plus Power is priced at P5,999.
