BERLIN—Yet another new phablet has made an appearance at IFA, this time in the form of the Hero 2 from Alcatel OneTouch. I got to take a look at it, along with the company's new Hero 8 tablet, an 8-inch tablet you can use to make calls.
Like the Huawei Ascend Mate7, the Hero 2 has a 6-inch screen. It's a 1080p IPS display that looks nice in person, though nothing really stands out about it. The phone is reasonably thin for its size, measuring just 0.31 inches thick, but it's hefty at 6.17 ounces. The aluminum body looks nice, and feels good in the hand.
The phone is powered by a 2GHz octa-core MediaTek processor, along with 2GB of RAM. You get 16GB of internal storage, along with a microSD card slot that's only expandable to 32GB. It has a 13.1 megapixel camera on the back and a 5-megapixel camera on the front, which seems to be a trend amongst most phones announced at the show. The phone also comes with a built-in stylus, which is a good way to take advantage of the 6-inch screen.
While the Hero 2 itself isn't all that remarkable, Alcatel is hoping to generate interest with some new accessories, like an array of MagicFlip covers for the phone. MagicFlip DJ, for instance, gives you a set of mixing decks for music, while the MagicFlip LED lights up with the time, calls, and notifications. It reminds me of the HTC Dot View case. The phone is available in Europe this month for 350 Euros. Like many of the phones I've seen at the show, I don't expect this one to land in the U.S.
The tablet is extremely thin, measuring just 0.28 inches, and weighs a reasonable 10.9 ounces. The specs are pretty average: It has the same processor as the Hero 2, along with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which can be augmented with a 32GB microSD card. At 4,060mAh, the battery inside the tablet seems small, so battery life might be a bit of a concern here. One interesting feature is that the tablet will feature an option for an LTE modem, which allows you to make voice calls. And it too works with a MagicFlip LED case that displays notifications when the cover is closed.
The Hero 8 is expected to hit the market this month, but again, a U.S. release doesn't look likely. For the right price, however, it could be a reasonable midrange option for buyers overseas.