Alcatel announces the One Touch 983

[Guest hecatae]

With a 1GHz processor, backed by 512MB RAM, the One Touch 983 is extremely quick to use, and multitasking comes naturally.

So why is it being offered for £39.99 Pay as You Go?

The One Touch 983 (OT 983) features:

• 3.5” HVGA, 480x320 pixels display
  
• BCM 21552G Chipset with a CPU speed of 1GHz
  
• 3.0 megapixel fixed focus camera with Digital zoom and Video capture at 640x480 @ 15fps
  
• Internal Memory EMMC 512MB, with 150MB end user memory
  
• 512MB RAM
  
• HSDPA 7.2Mbps download and 5.76Mbps upload
  
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
  
• Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
  
• Android 2.3

The list above is not exhaustive, I was unaware Broadcom were producing a smartphone chipset until I read this press release.

The chipset is ARM11 aka ARMv6, the same as the ZTE Blade, Crescent, Racer, Skate. This also explains Android 2.3 as the operating system, as ARMv6 support was officially discontinued with Android 4.0.

The chipset is capable of NFC and the GPU is capable of providing video support up to D1/VGA quality, support for an 8 megapixel camera, and the ability to encode and decode H.264 video at 30 fps. None of this explains why Alcatel / TCL have only included a 3.0MP camera with a 15fps video capture at VGA quality, but when you are building to a budget you have to make compromises.

"The ability to offer 1GHz processing and integrated graphics in an advanced 3G baseband enables our new smartphone platform to satisfy the user experience requirements handset makers are targeting at price points that mainstream phone buyers can afford. Broadcom is the first company to bring a 1GHz processor, GNSS and NFC to smartphones that retail for under $100.00, establishing itself as a leader in the growing low-cost smartphone market segment."

The Alcatel OT 983 is available for £39.99 @ O2, a bit of a bargain... Alcatel claim the OT 983 features NFC on it's press release, but O2 do not mention it.

Are any of you guys interested? Good specs for the price I think.

[Via: Alcatel Onetouch]

Click here to view the item

[Guest pagggy]

any info about rooting & unlock?

[Guest RaoulTeeuwen]

The chipset is ARM11 aka ARMv6, the same as the ZTE Blade ... . This also explains Android 2.3 as the operating system, as ARMv6 support was officially discontinued with Android 4.0

There is an ICS version for the ZTE Blade, if i'm correct? So there is a chance you can run ICS on this Alcatel as well?

[Guest xondrax]

You can find JellyBean 4.1.2 (CM10) for ZTE Blade here on MoDaCo. and one guy on XDA is porting CM10 for Vodafone Smart II(Alcatel V860 with Broadcom chipset to,it is a pre-alpha,it boot but nothing working)..But unlock and root is the first step needed to be done.

[Guest hecatae]

Completely agree there are several aftermarket custom roms available, but stock roms for ARMv6 devices ended with Android Gingerbread.

any info about rooting & unlock?

no info found so far

[Guest xondrax]

Guys from GB-KEY http://www.gb-key.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=142 post video on YT with unlocking OT-983

[Guest hecatae]

thanks for the video, it confirms the unlocked code is in plain sight in a partition in the hex code and you can over write in bootloader mode

[Guest vadiro]

I just bought one for a nepfew. If you need any information about it just ask.

[Guest]

I must say this is terrific value! I wonder how many months until alcatel launch another phone with a chip that supports 4.0 or 4.1, it would be great for cheap phones with a recent o.s and with usable performance to come on the market.

[Guest ephaedrus]

Well I took a stab and have paid for an unlock code from these guys (http://simlock24.pl/) as the price was only £5.83. Will let you now how it goes after I get my code tomorrow.

Been trying out different versions of SuperOneClick and another rooting program but no joy so far. The drivers seem to be a bit of an issue and it hangs on step #7 of SOC. I have seen 2 automated and one manual method of rooting ... just have not had time to do too much so far.

As far as the phone goes, it is a perky little thing for the price and works much faster than my OSF I. I am interested to see whether there will be some custom ROM's available as it seems to have lots of potential.

FWIW

[Guest ephaedrus]

So far nothing from the Unlockers but they have a note saying it may take up to 48 hours :' P

I also have thought that perhaps the problem with the ADB interface might be related to problems with not having the ADB daemon needing also the USB device vendor ID (VID)? I am not sure if this is what it might be but since it is a fairly new phone it seems possible that this might been to be manually added?

Still plugging away :' S

[Guest metal.mickey]

ive just bagged 2 for me and the missus. is there a dedicated forum for the 983?

[Guest kaizoku_san]

So far nothing from the Unlockers but they have a note saying it may take up to 48 hours :' P

I also have thought that perhaps the problem with the ADB interface might be related to problems with not having the ADB daemon needing also the USB device vendor ID (VID)? I am not sure if this is what it might be but since it is a fairly new phone it seems possible that this might been to be manually added?

Still plugging away :' S

it'll be good to know if you do.

i got this phone for a relative and i'm trying to see if it can be unlocked (for free ;-)), but as of yet, no luck.

i also tried the SOC method to root, but no luck

[Guest ephaedrus]

No luck with the unlocker I tried. They refunded my money yesterday. Can only see that someone with that GB key can do these so far.

Have to believe that someone will find a way to unlock these soon.

[Guest kaizoku_san]

i was looking around for alcatel unlock codes, and came across gsmlover.com. ppl were asking for unlock codes (i'm presuming sim unlock) on the forum, and getting responses with NCK and SPCK numbers...? would that be enough to sim unlock the 983?

and i just came across this link on hukd:

https://www.o2.co.uk/apps/help/help?qid=1&q1=2&route=unlocking&case=Handset%20Unlocking%20Form

but some ppl are saying that it costs £15 for payg, and it will get taken off your credit!!

[Guest kaizoku_san]

there's a root for this phone...linky: http://forum.xda-dev...d.php?t=2006237

just did it and root works, yay... now to try some unlocking methods :-p

[Guest Alpha09]

Did you folks back up before messing around with the files?

Is it possible to get a copy of the files please?

Trying to fix some problems that I've got because of taking stuff off without doing a back up :P

[Guest metal.mickey]

http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f272/30-11-2012-alcatel-ot-983-auto-update-unlock-supported-1576065/

can someone check this out? is it a USB app that BKey

[Guest kaizoku_san]

http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f272/30-11-2012-alcatel-ot-983-auto-update-unlock-supported-1576065/

can someone check this out? is it a USB app that BKey

no idea what i've been doing but i now know that i have 1 attempt left to unlock using a code :(

wont be trying codes again!!

[Guest xzyk]

I ordered one of these which O2 says will be arriving this Tues (04-12). I shall be attempting to dump all partitions before rooting.

'hecatae', above, gave you a nice hint of how unlocking may be possible on this device, wish he went a bit further and suggested which of the partitions may be worth looking at. We may be able to hexedit it and decode where the SIM lock resides, then, in bootloader mode, we may be able to overwrite it with any codes we want. The video appears to be doing just that where they've overwritten it with four nines (9999).

BTW, the GBKey is professional tool (I think currently retailing for around 50pounds) which plugs into your USB and in turn allows local or server-based unlocking. It won't be worth purchasing for unlocking just one phone.

Also note, this is a broadcom based device and appears similar (for unlocking purposes) to the ZTE v768 and Alcatel v860.

Edited December 2, 2012 by xzyk

[Guest metal.mickey]

ive just req'd a unlock from 02 and theyre saying i gotta use it for 12month before thye sell me an unlock

[Guest metal.mickey]

Theyve agreed that i can send em back

mm

[Guest xzyk]

Unfortunately it doesn't look like this is going to be a supported phone, either here at modaco or at the other popular site. The only thing we have for it is root.

CWM is missing, and no sign of ever showing up and even unlocking is proving hard to come by, or expensive; whoever is charging 10pounds for the unlock should note this is 30percent of the cost price, that's like asking for 150pounds to unlock a 500pounds Iphone !

It's a pity really because it's quite a snippy little phone and more than adequate as a second android handset. I have various other android devices to compare it to and it's not half bad, especially considering the 34.95 pounds I paid for it (after cashback).

Will be keeping an eye out in case the dev scene changes on the OT983, but as things stand I'm not seeing any evidence anywhere of that happening.

Edited December 11, 2012 by xzyk

[Guest accyuklad]

i got one but downsides are

screen isnt brill its not that colourfull and when you look at pictures you can see like dots and it not super clear to look at them

but so for the sound is decent but installed volume+ and it makes it more louder

touchscreen works as it should and works well

phone loads apps and files fast

phone design is very good and battery life is decent depending on your usage

shame about having no flash and no ics rom

for £39.99 you get what you paid for having a cheap screen and no flash but still decent

[Guest accyuklad]

downside im using o2 contract sim and i cant send mms at all i checked settings and used tweaker apn still not working