Alcatel’s Hero 2+ will run Cyanogen OS, and sell unlocked for $300 this spring

By Jason Hahn March 2, 2015

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Alcatel OneTouch HERO 2+ — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Alcatel is treading into OnePlus territory (minus the invite system) with the OneTouch Hero 2+, an unlocked 6-inch phablet that will run Cyanogen OS and be available to consumers in the U.S. and Canada for $300 in the second quarter of 2015. The OneTouch Hero 2+ is a refreshed OneTouch Hero 2, a phone Alcatel announced in September at IFA 2014.

The Hero 2+, announced at Mobile World Congress 2015, will sport a six-inch 1080p display with stylus support It will also feature a MT6592 2GHz octa-core processor, a 13-megapixel rear camera, 5-megapixel front camera, 1080p video capture, 2 gigabytes of RAM and 16GB of storage (expandable to 32GB via MicroSD). The LTE-enabled smartphone will measure in at 160.5mm x 81.6mm x 7.9mm (6.3” x 3.2” x 0.3”).

The intriguing part of the Hero 2+ is Alcatel’s partnership with Cyanogen to bring Cyanogen OS 11 to the phablet. The brief partnership with Cyanogen to bring CyanogenMod to the OnePlus One, another budget-friendly phone, met an unfortunate demise, which led to OnePlus building OxygenOS.

“We’ve joined forces with Alcatel OneTouch to push the limits of what a great user experience looks like, beginning with their latest phablet for North America, the Hero 2+,” said Vikram Natarajan, senior vice president of Global Partnerships and Distribution for Cyanogen. “Our partnership is reflective of our deep commitment to driving innovation and meaningful differentiation for users; with enhanced privacy and security features.”

Alcatel notes that the Hero 2+ marks the first device brought to North America as part of its partnership with Cyanogen, and it has plans to bring more devices to the market together this year and beyond.

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Jason Hahn is a part-time freelance writer based in New Jersey. He earned his master's degree in journalism at Northwestern…

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