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Alcatel Onyx for Cricket Wireless is even cheaper than we hoped: $120

The prepaid phone comes with a 5.5-inch display, two rear cameras and 32GB of internal storage.

Abrar Al-Heeti Technology Reporter
Abrar Al-Heeti is a technology reporter for CNET, with an interest in phones, streaming, internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. She's also worked for CNET's video, culture and news teams. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
Expertise Abrar has spent her career at CNET analyzing tech trends while also writing news, reviews and commentaries across mobile, streaming and online culture. Credentials
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Alcatel-Onyx-Cricket-3

Cricket Wireless, AT&T's prepaid arm, will sell the Alcatel Onyx for $120.

 Angela Lang/CNET

The cost-conscious Alcatel Onyx is coming to Cricket Wireless for $120. Going on sale Friday, the budget phone has a 5.5-inch HD+ display, dual rear cameras with portrait mode, and 32GB of internal storage. That's double the 16GB you might find in comparison devices. 

Alcatel-Onyx-Cricket-1

The Alcatel Onyx can take portrait shots from both front and rear cameras.

 Angela Lang/CNET

While Cricket is calling the phone an exclusive, the Alcatel Onyx is a variant of the Alcatel 1X  budget device that we saw at CES. We were initially quoted about $130 for that handset, so it's nice to see Cricket knocking off 10 bucks. 

Along with BlackBerry Mobile and Palm, Alcatel is a brand within the China-based TCL empire, which is best known for affordable TVs.

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For Alcatel, the Onyx's crowning achievement is its dual camera setup, a rarity in this class of phone. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel depth-sensing lens for portrait shots. 

Its 5-megapixel front-facing camera also includes portrait mode. The Onyx's camera comes with features such as HDR and auto light-sensing night mode, which let you take brighter and clearer pictures, the company says. The latter two features are standard for pricier handsets, but not a given when you get to the lower end of the price spectrum.

Watch this: Alcatel 1X, 1C bring you Android 8 for cheap at CES 2019

Alcatel Onyx specs

  • 5.5-inch 1,440x720-pixel display
  • Dual 13-megapixel and 2-megapixel rear cameras with portrait mode
  • 5-megapixel front-facing camera
  • 1.5GHz MediaTek quad-core processor
  • 32GB onboard storage
  • 2GB of RAM
  • Up to 128GB microSD storage
  • 3,000mAh battery
  • Android 8.1 Oreo
  • Fingerprint reader

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