Alcatel One Touch Evolve (T-Mobile)

A svelte, all-black handset, the Evolve measures 4.78 by 2.52 by 0.46 inches (HWD). A chrome band runs around the phone, and it has an angled bottom edge that looks slick and even makes it a little easier to slide the phone in your pocket.

The phone runs on an 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 single-core processor and 512MB of RAM. There's 4GB of onboard storage, but only 1.03GB is available for the user. More than a couple of apps or music albums will quickly fill that, so a microSD card is strongly recommended.

The removable plastic (T-Mobile-branded) back panel has a matte black finish with a cutout for the speaker and a minuscule rim that protects the 5-megapixel camera from scratches. Underneath, there's a removable 1400mAh battery covering the full-size SIM card and a microSD slot that supports cards up to 64GB.

The One Touch Evolve integrates 802.11 b/g/n dual-band Wi-Fi, A-GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, but there's no LTE. You'll get 3G speeds with HSPA on the GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS 850/1900/AWS bands.

Opposite the rocker on the right side of the phone is the micro USB port, no doubt there because of the angled bottom. It's an inconvenient placement if you're right-handed and use the Evolve in landscape mode, as the cable when plugged into the phone is in the way of your fingers underneath it as it tries to naturally handle the phone.

The Evolve's 4-inch, 480-by-800 TFT LCD is bright enough to be used outdoors, and images looked vibrant and well-saturated. At 233 pixels per inch, the screen serves up easily readable text. Letters look clear and crisp.