Alcatel, a brand of Hong Kong-based TCL Communication, has announced the A5 LED at Mobile World Congress, which it claims is "the world’s first interactive LED-covered smartphone."
This comes at a time when Android based phone vendors are struggling to differentiate their brands and be unique.
The 5.2 inch A5 LED has an illuminated back panel which can be used for notifications, setting different patterns for each type of message, and for creating one's own pulsating light show in time with music playback.
Powered by a MediaTek MT6753 8-core, 1.5GHz processor, and running Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the A5 LED will be available in May for around €199.
"The new A5 LED handset is targeted at young and energetic people," the company said.
Also at MWC, Alcatel has also launched a new Idol 4 Pro Windows 10 Mobile handset, which also has business users in mind.
The 5.5" (1080x1920 pixels) handset runs a Qualcomm quad-core Snapdragon 820 and supports Microsoft's Continuum feature, where you can dock to an external keyboard and screen for a PC-like experience, albeit restricted to Universal Windows Apps.
The spec is reasonable, with a 21MP rear camera and 8MP front, fingerprint reader, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and MicroSD support. It will be available in Europe "by June", according to Alcatel, and will cost around €599.
Continuum is a neat trick, but Windows 10 Mobile users have to live with a limited range of apps compared to iOS or Android. Windows 10 Mobile is not quite dead then; though we suspect it will be a hard sell.
The company is also showcasing the Idol Plus 12 2-in-1 tablet, billed to go commercial in July at around €499.
The 11.6" device runs an Intel Celeron N3350 and has a detachable keyboard in which the user can install a SIM to create a mobile hotspot.
The critics are, however, wondering why the Idol Plus 12 tablet comes with Windows 10 Home, whereas most business users run Pro or Enterprise, which are higher versions.
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