Alcatel Plus 10: the new budget hybrid king?

It’s tough to find decent Windows laptop/tablet hybrids at the sub-R5000 price point, but TCL’s new Alcatel device might just pack the goods.

At a suggested price of R3559, you get a budget-minded Intel Cherry Trail X5 processor (T3 Z8350), 2GB of RAM, 10.1-inch 1280×800 display, dual front speakers and 32GB of expandable storage. In the camera department, we’ve got a 5MP main camera and a 2MP shooter with flash for video calling and selfies.

However, TCL has also spiced things up with the addition of a keyboard dock, featuring an extra 2580mAh battery over and above the tablet’s 5830mAh pack. The keyboard dock comes equipped with LTE hotspot capabilities and USB/microUSB/microHDMI ports.

The Alcatel Plus 10 offers a decent experience for the price – at least on paper

Looking to get your hands on this device? There’s only one outlet stocking them at the moment.

“The Alcatel Plus 10, 2-in-1 LTE device is available in silver from Vodacom at the recommended retail price of R3559.00. Alcatel Plus 10 is also available with a free 1 Year Office 365 licence for R329 pm x 36 on 5GB Data Price Plan or R429 pm x 36 on 10GB Data Price Plan,” the company wrote in a press statement.

In other words, it won’t hold a candle to high-end convertibles from the likes of Asus and Lenovo. But it’s not supposed to. The Plus 10 is aimed squarely at the sub-R5000 market, going toe-to-toe against the likes of the Nextbook range and other cheap hybrid devices.