Alcatel OT-E227 Butterflies review

Covered in butterflies, it’s the perfect first phone for six-year-old girls.

Not everyone wants an iPhone. Some people just want a phone that makes calls and sends texts. And that’s the market Alcatel and Orange are going for with the OT-E227 Butterflies – simple to use but cute looking.

No camera, no web browsing, no music player – it might sound hard to imagine, but it has none of these now-standard features. This most basic of phones does just that: the basics, like making calls. It has none of the features found on standard mobile handsets in these technologically advanced times.

It does, however, come in pink with a butterfly-flower-heart exterior, making it the perfect first phone for six-year-old little girls – and even their harassed mums who can’t be bothered to get into gadgets. (I don’t mean to suggest men aren’t harassed and all like gadgets, but you’d have to be pretty secure with yourself to pull this pink device out in front of the guys.)

This cheap-and-cheerful clamshell is designed for people not wanting any extras – and those not wanting such extras for their kids.  It’s only available on prepay, and it comes in at just £10, when you buy £10 credit on top. And you’re definitely getting what you pay for in this instance.

The 70g clamshell comes in soft pink with a hearts, flowers and butterfly motif – hence the name. The sides and hinge are a soft grey and the overall affect is actually cute rather than horrifyingly garish. One side features a LED lights for call alerts, and a light is built into the top of the case, blinking through the butterflies when a message comes in.

It also features a USB socket for charging. While an icon suggests USB-jack headphone use, it has no music player, which is a shame when you consider other, highly budget devices feature even a simple java application to cater for this. It is a relief though if you're on the bus and the unruly teenager sitting next to you has one of these - there's no way they can play muic through the speaker at full volume.

Flipped open, the interior is the same soft grey with a basic keypad – just numbers, navigation and a great big ‘ok’ button. The keypad lights up red at the touch of any button and it’s nice and simple to tap out a quick SMS on the wide keys, which emit a satisfying beep reminiscent of old-school portable phones.

The 1.5-inch TFT 65K colour screen is nice and bright, and the white-rimmed black text easy to read, if a bit retro. There’s a setting for the phone’s own number to pop up on the screen, just in case you want to circulate it quickly round friends.

The main menu screen features three icons down the side, offering easy access to the usual suspects – contacts, messages… and a strange squiggle, which sets the alarm, diary events and ring tone to silent.

Otherwise, access to calls and other tools require flipping through the standard icon-based menu system. The phone offers limited tools, just an alarm, calculator and very basic diary. Display settings are also basic, with a choice of two wallpapers and seven colour-based profiles – the green is particularly alarming.

The OT-E227 also comes equipped with two games, the Tetris-style Russia and the Pong-style Bricks, so you can pass your time with some entertainment.

According to the Orange site, it’s dual band meaning you can use it in Europe, but nowhere further afield. It also promises ten hours of talk time, with 12 hours on standby.

And that’s… pretty much it. No camera, MP3 player, storage, web browser – but it makes calls and looks kinda cute, if you’re six and you like ponies. You’re getting what you pay for, but then you probably already knew that.

All in, it’s designed for first-time mobile users. With the pink-theme, it’s great for little girls but it’s slick enough that it’s an okay choice for women who aren’t into gadgets.