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Alcatel A3 XL battles Huawei Honor 6X to be your $200 phone

And both want to topple the reigning Moto G4 champ.

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Headshot of Jessica Dolcourt
Jessica Dolcourt VP, Content Operations and Commerce, CNET Group and CNET Labs
Jessica is a passionate content strategist and team leader across the CNET family of brands. She leads a number of teams, including commerce, performance optimization and the copy desk. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on the iPhone and Samsung devices. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began her leadership role managing CNET's How To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones to home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick in the UK.
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Phonemakers, put up your fists! Because there's a serious rumble starting over which phone gets to be the best entry-level contender in 2017. After an early start to unseat the reigning champion, Lenovo's Moto G4, both Huawei and now Alcatel have introduced budget models.

The Alcatel A3 XL here comes in at $200, which converts to about £164 and AU$277. Its specs:

  • Huge 6-inch display with 1,080x720-pixel resolution (that's low for a screen this big)
  • 8-megapixel rear camera, 5-megapixel front-facing camera
  • Android 7.0 Nougat (up to date; good!)
  • 8GB internal storage with 1GB ROM (very low) and up to 32GB external storage
  • 3,000mAh battery (good)
  • 1.1GHz quad-core MediaTek processor (slower speeds)
  • Fingerprint reader

The Alcatel A3 XL is a big phone on a budget

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Comparatively, the new Honor 6X costs about the same ($200/£225/not selling in Australia), but it gives you two rear cameras, a larger battery, much more storage and a more promising processor. The Honor phone lacks the A3 XL's current Android version and has a smaller screen -- but hey, it's still 5.5 inches.

We have yet to see Samsung's Galaxy A7 in the flesh, or to hear about its refreshed J series for 2017. Plus, Lenovo has yet to respond with its Moto G5, or whatever the G4 successor turns out to be. While it's no doubt that these phones all skimp somewhere to save you money, it's clear that the budget-minded are in for another year of plenty.