The brand Alcatel has been a little forgotten although the brand used to be one of the major global manufacturers of mobile phones a few years back. Its presence on the phone market is hardly noticeable but after the merger of the French Alcatel with the American Lucent Technologies in 2006 its strategy focused mainly innovations in IP and cloud networking.
Basically it drew our attention not only with its off-contract $300 price but also with what it has in store
However, the company is still determined to provide mobile devices for its customers under the name Alcatel One Touch. Today we are laying our hands on Alcatel One Touch Idol.
This is so to day the brand’s debut on the competitive smartphone market and the customers seem to be quite interested in the device. Basically it drew our attention not only with its off-contract $300 price but also with what it has in store.
The Alcatel One Touch Idol comes in a very pretty shell and despite its low cost, it definitely looks much better then most smartphone devices in that price category. The plastic back panel has a nice brushed texture that comes in a variety of vibrant colors.
The Alcatel One Touch Idol definitely looks much better then most smartphone devices in that price category
You can choose between Silver, Red, Slate, Cranberry Pink, Magic Blue and Mint Green – all of them a beautiful addition to your style. It has an extremely thin profile at only 7.9mm and is one of the lightest smartphones out there – only 109 grams.
There are two different versions of the Alcatel One Touch Idol out there – a single SIM and a dual SIM version. Today we are testing the second one, it has a model number 6030D.
This is maybe one of the best offers for a 4.66-inch smartphone out there. Besides from being that big, the LCD screen also impressed us with its IPS technology and very wide viewing angles. Holding it up horizontally the contents were clearly visible until the could see the display itself. We had no difficulties seeing the display outside in a bright sunny day.
There are two different versions of the Alcatel One Touch Idol out there – a single SIM and a dual SIM version
The IPS technology is partly what makes up for the lower screen resolution of 540×960 px. The pixel density is 236ppi. For smooth touch experience Alcatel has used the Zero-gap technology between the touch screen and the display. Despite the low price the screen is not left without protection, there is a Dragon Trail Glass layer on top.
The smartphone comes with Andoird Jelly Bean 4.1. The handset locks itself in a pretty interesting way, reminding us of the Air View function of the Galaxy S4. Just lay your palm on the display in order to lock it.
The hardware features are the best you can get for the money. The dual-core MTK 6577+ CPU works at 1GHz frequency and is backed by 1GB of system memory. The dual SIM One Touch Idol offers 13.3GB of built-in internal storage with no SD card slot.
. The dual SIM One Touch Idol offers 13.3GB of built-in internal storage with no SD card slot
The single SIM version has 4GB of built-in memory and an option for expanding it through a microSD card slot. Maybe the biggest disappointment about this device is the lack of 4G support and therefore lower data transfer speeds. But if you are ok with 3G then you will appreciate one of your best smartphone bargains.
The One Touch Idol continued to surprise us good when we tried out the camera. The base one is placed centrally on the back and provides 8MP quality. Focusing is fast and sharp. It is also capable of recording videos in HD format. The camera software offers plenty of ground to experiment with your photos.
The base 8MP camera captures pretty decent quality images
It has an HDR mode as well as a manual white balance, ISO and exposure compensation settings. For landscape photography lovers it offers two panorama modes – the one of them being 360-degree panorama. There is a strong LED flash facilitating the camera in low-light conditions. The output image quality is 3264×2448 pixels. The second – front camera works at 2MP.
The dual SIM Idol comes loaded with Li-Ion 1800mAh battery piece which is not removable. Spending a few days with the device I didn’t have any trouble with dead battery. With average talk and browse the battery easily holds on for two full days.
