Alcatel One Touch 501 Review

Overall Rating

Small, sleek looking.

Loose fitting battery, not particularly loud ringer and it's almost impossible to hear the pathetic beep (outside) when you receive an SMS. Poor sound quality during conversation which you can't turn up means that you frequently have to switch on the loudspeaker function to have your conversation. Battery life nothing special and the phone gives you no warning before battery is due to run flat (the phone simply stays switched on with no bars and then the second you receive a call switches itself off). Not especially logical menu, models are frequently faulty (see review under general comments)

When I took this Alcatel One Touch 501 mobile phone to be repaired, before i could even explain what the problem was, the lady in the shop said "Don't tell me...it keeps switching itself off and the joystick doesn't work...every model we've sold has been brought back with the same problems", which really begs the question why is this model STILL being sold?

From day one the battery was extremely loose fitting and inevitably became looser 'til the phone began switching itself off (even when I was holding it in my hands sometimes) if the battery was moved even slightly. Within a month of purchase the phone developed a fault whereby whenever I received a call, 50% of the time I couldn't hear what the other person was saying, or even if it was a man or a woman.

Worse still after a while if i pressed the red, green or clear buttons the phone had a tendency to switch itself off.Fortunately the joystick always worked perfectly(!) but rest assured I'll be changing ASAP and it won't be for another Alcatel. AVOID

Members' Comments onRob.'s Review

• tmfarid on 14th Nov 2003

  I agree regarding the battery, but there are solutions for it;
  1. as regard the loose batteries, it's also a problem with my old Nokia 7110 slim battery, you should insert a piece of paper at one edge, thick enough to exert a pressure that maintains the batteries in place after closure.
  
  2. My 501 also looses many calls, why? I finally came out with the answers: the battery moves and the calls end immediately (solved as in #1), and the set runs wild on its own mind when the battery is running low. So, you have to keep your battery charged.
  
  One radical solution is to buy a Lithium battery that will solve both problems; it grips very well and it stays charged for 3 days. The original Nickle battery dies after one day, and stops working if you attempt to use the speaker after mid-day.
  
  Regarding the joystick; I had this problem two, but the local repairs man fixed it with minimum charges, it only needed cleaning.