Alcatel Mandarina Duck

release date: November 2007

colours:

green

cherry red

lilac

Review
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RATING

Pros

Cheap
Looks cute - duck branding
MicroSD card slot
Battery life

Cons

Basic features
Small screen - 1.8-inch
Dual-band
0.3 MP camera
No FM radio

SUMMARY

Cheap lightweight fashion phone in 3 bright funky colours. Minimal feature set, but at just £29.99, it's a pretty good deal. This phone would easily win a "cute phone of the year" award.

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Review

If there was a "cute phone of the year award", the Alcatel Mandarina Duck phone would win. Easily. Cute brand name too - Mandarina Duck.

The Duck phone is not very impressive feature-wise, dual-band, small screen, 0.3 MP camera, WAP browser. However, it does look sort of groovy (target market is teenage girls / young women), and there is a big duck logo/emblem on the back. That must be the clincher.

Possibly the cheapest fashion phone in the UK (April 2008) - just £29.99 on PAYG. Bargain.

Mandarina Duck?

Mandarina Duck is the Italian fashion brand selling bags, handbags, wallets, travel luggage and other accessories. Not just a lady brand, Mandarina Duck sell manly goods too. Mandarina Duck was founded in 1976. The company name comes from the Mandarin Duck. You can see these cute colourful ducks in the Snowdon Aviary at London Zoo.

Mandarin Duck

Design

Alcatel say the design is inspired by a duck bill. Yes, it opens and closes like a duck bill. Genius. The rubberised texture and ridges on the front panel perhaps make the design more duck-like. The ridge-nosed duck?

The casing is part rubberised, part glossy. Flip the phone open to reveal the flat keypad and 1.8-inch screen.

Trendy Phone Charm and Clip: A ball (charm) is attached to the phone with string. Attach the charm to the provided bag clip, and your duck phone will "easily be in reach" when you put the phone in a bag. Mmm...

Mandarin Duck

Front: Thin vertical display (blue letters) - shows time, battery status, signal strength, song name, visualisation bars (music player), caller name. There's also the VGA (0.3 MP camera) and 3 music playback buttons. The top half is glossy, the bottom half is rubberised.

Right: microSD memory card slot (protected by plastic flap). 1 GB card is included in the box.

Mini USB: Connect the charger, headset, USB and other accessories.

Keypad: Flat keys. The alphanumeric keys are separated by ridges. There's little tactile feel horizontally between the flat keys.

The keys above the pad are OK. The 'up' navigation key and OK key are a little squashed - they have to accommodate the camera key at the top.

Mandarin Duck

Menus: 3 x 4 icon screen, animated icons and themes.

Features

0.3 MP camera, video capture, WAP browser, Bluetooth (with A2DP support) and music player. Simple camera, simple music player. You could store perhaps 200 songs on a 1 GB memory card. Earphones are supplied in the box.

Summary

Cheap fashion phone with a duck logo on the back of the phone. Feature-wise it's simple, but for just £29.99 on PAYG, the Alcatel Mandarina Duck is an excellent deal for a fashionable girl.