I've been looking at the Alcatel 1X for a few days. Any smartphone that checks in at a cool $100 has my attention, and when it's said to be a pretty darn good one I just have to check it out. I get fascinated when minimal hardware is made to run something as convoluted as Android. I've seen Google and other companies try to do it several times before and only Motorola was able to get it right, but this is a new beast: the legendary $100 smartphone. Quick hit before a fuller review — the Alcatel 1X is the best way to spend $100. Not because of the display or the camera or even the suede finish; it's because of Android Go. The software on it works and you can have a solid smartphone experience complete with the apps and services you need. You can even add a few that you don't need but want to have for a little bit of fun. I was happily surprised at how well Android Oreo could run on hardware that sells for less than a good calculator. Verizon is offering the Pixel 4a for just $10/mo on new Unlimited lines

A quick refresher on Android Go is in order here. It's Android Oreo, complete with all the same Google apps you would find on any Android phone, but everything has been trimmed of every ounce of fat. Everything that needs to work still works. You can search the web, send a message or email, use Google Maps Go for navigation or anything else you've come accustomed to doing on your phone. The apps are just trimmed of extra details and "chrome" (the decorations and borders of controls) so that they all load fast and can run on 1GB of RAM. Android itself has been stripped of anything it doesn't need for this particular set of hardware and that also cuts extra overhead and makes for a better experience.