Looks like my phone is broken.

[Philip Hamm]

I have a T-Mobile version of this phone.

Sunday I had a strange issue where the phone gave me full LTE connection in the icons at the top, but had no connection for any apps (Facebook, etc.). I rebooted multiple times and eventually it started working. Yesterday it started showing the "T-Mobile" logo then powering off. A hard reboot (hold power and volume down) yielded a reboot, but many apps won't come up. They show fine in the menu, but report "Application can't be opened" when I try to open them. If I uninstall and install them they work, but I think this phone may be hosed.

Has this happened to anyone else? Should I expect to be able to do a factory reset and recover from backup (I turned off my backup so that the backup on OneDrive will be good).

It's been a nice run. I really like this phone and this was my last blast at this great OS. I used Continuum and loved it. I'm seriously considering buying a Blackberry DTEK60 to replace this because I like the form factor so much and trust Blackberry to provide security updates (and security is my main concern with Android).

 

[pkcable]

You might try a factory reset before giving up on it. That being said if you DO decide to go for another phone, the DTEK 60 is a good choice, OR perhaps another value priced Android? Moto G line? Or a OnePlus phone? Rumor has it the upcoming OnePlus 6T will actually have an official T-Mobile release so you should be able to finance it. I LOVE my OnePlus 6 on T-Mobile (well Mint).

 

[Philip Hamm]

I've kind of made it my mantra to live with older phones. Last year's flagship phone (the DTEK) can be had for the same price as this year's midrange phone, and has better specs in every way. Kind of like buying an older high end laptop versus a newer cheap one.

The mistake I made with the Alcatel was in buying a "seller refurbished" phone from a seller who apparently re-sold returns in either the assumption that the phone was returned for reason other than a true defect or the hope that the new owner would not find/notice the defect. Both phones I got from that seller were defective (this one has had issues with the headphone jack since day 1, I can't recall what was wrong with the first one).

I will try to reset the phone once I get the new one, and I'll have it as a backup / secondary phone if it works after a reset. It will be nice to not have to buy new cases, screen protectors, etc.

Also I am looking forward to seeing how the DTEK will work with the alcatel VR headset thingy. It has higher resolution screen so it should be better.

 

[pkcable]

I suspect the DTEK will be fine in the VR headset, as it shares DNA with the Alcatel Idol line.