Alcatel has had it rather rough over the years, lacking popularity in the smartphone world, but with its newest flagship, the OneTouch Idol 3, it seems that the company has redeemed itself. The Idol 3 gets a very beautiful case, an attractive display, rather good performance and a low price tag. All these make the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 one of the best mid-range smartphones on the market.
Design and Display
Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 attempts to be the most elegant budget smartphone and accomplishes this task with ease. The case, although made of plastic, doesn’t come out as cheap, on the contrary, thanks to its dark grey brushed finish, thin bezels and soft rounded corners, you could easily mistake it for a high-end flagship. Also, we took great pleasure into seeing the level of detail Alcatel has put in the construction and the assembly process, everything is precise and the phone gives the same vibe as a high-quality phone should.
Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 attempts to be the most elegant budget smartphone and accomplishes this task with ease. The case, although made of plastic, doesn’t come out as cheap, on the contrary, thanks to its dark grey brushed finish, thin bezels and soft rounded corners, you could easily mistake it for a high-end flagship. Also, we took great pleasure into seeing the level of detail Alcatel has put in the construction and the assembly process, everything is precise and the phone gives the same vibe as a high-quality phone should.
The Idol3 isn’t a bulky, nor heavy phone, it measures 6.01 x 2.96 x 0.29 inches and weighs 4.96 oz. Because the back panel is rather flat, it may not feel as comfortable in the palm of your hand as it would if you held a handset with a curved back. Thinking that its size may be an inconvenience for people with smaller hands (like women), Alcatel created a 4.7-inch variant, that unfortunately is not on par with the 5.5-inch variant in terms of performance. Anyway, we enjoyed the seamless feel and how the buttons were placed, they were easy to reach, but if you want to operate it with one hand, you may want to go with the smaller OneTouch Idol3.
On the left side of the Alcatel OneTouch Idol3 rests the Power button and a SIM card slot and on the right side there’s the volume controller. Because the Idol 3 has a dual microphone setup, the call quality will remain the same no matter how you hold the phone. The top of the handset is home to a microphone and a 3.5mm headphone jack and on the bottom, there’s the microUSB port. Alcatel has also equipped the Idol 3 with a microSD card slot which is incorporated into the SIM card slot.
Between the two high-quality JBL speakers, there is the 5.5-inches IPS LCD display, which has a resolution of 1920x1080p, a pixel density of 401ppi and uses the Technicolor Colour Enhance Technology that renders more impactful colours. The viewing angles are really great, the images being sharp and highly detailed. Also, in direct sunlight, the Alcatel Idol3’s display was clearly visible (yes, even on the beach).
Between the two high-quality JBL speakers, there is the 5.5-inches IPS LCD display, which has a resolution of 1920x1080p, a pixel density of 401ppi and uses the Technicolor Colour Enhance Technology that renders more impactful colours. The viewing angles are really great, the images being sharp and highly detailed. Also, in direct sunlight, the Alcatel Idol3’s display was clearly visible (yes, even on the beach).
Performance and Software
Inside the case you will find a 64-bit Qualcomm octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor (1.5GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 and 1.0GHz quad-core Cortex-A53), backed by an Adreno 405 GPU and 2GB DDR RAM. The base model has 16GB of storage available (you can add 128GB using the card slot).
The processing power is acceptable, as you would expect from a mid-range smartphone. Most of the games will run without stuttering or lag, but openning up multiple demanding apps will slow down the system a lot. So, for light to medium use, it will be fine, but try something more demanding and you will feel the phone’s limitations.
Inside the case you will find a 64-bit Qualcomm octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor (1.5GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 and 1.0GHz quad-core Cortex-A53), backed by an Adreno 405 GPU and 2GB DDR RAM. The base model has 16GB of storage available (you can add 128GB using the card slot).
The processing power is acceptable, as you would expect from a mid-range smartphone. Most of the games will run without stuttering or lag, but openning up multiple demanding apps will slow down the system a lot. So, for light to medium use, it will be fine, but try something more demanding and you will feel the phone’s limitations.
Alcatel OneTouch idol 3 comes with it’s own custom skin, but changes very little from the original Android 5.0.2 Lollipop. The most relevant feature, which is also a key selling point is the reversible interface. It means that even if you hold the phone at 180-degree the interface will fully rotate. Other than that, there can be seen a lot of influence from the Material Design in its native apps and because the interface is stock-like it will satisfy a lot of ‘purists’.
Camera and Battery Life
The OneTouch Idol 3 features a 13-megapixel rear camera, with a Sony IMX214 sensor, f/2.0 aperture, LED flash, 1.12µm pixel size, face detection, HDR and Panorama. There’s also a 8-megapixel front camera. By default, the rear camera only generates 10-megapixel and in order to have 13-megapixel photos, you have to manually upgrade the camera.
The OneTouch Idol 3 features a 13-megapixel rear camera, with a Sony IMX214 sensor, f/2.0 aperture, LED flash, 1.12µm pixel size, face detection, HDR and Panorama. There’s also a 8-megapixel front camera. By default, the rear camera only generates 10-megapixel and in order to have 13-megapixel photos, you have to manually upgrade the camera.
In good light, you will be able to get some good shots, pictures being colourful and clear, with a good amount of detail and satisfying colour accuracy. In low-lit scenarios, the camera did reasonably well, especially thanks to the electronic image stabilization, but it sometimes struggled with darker shots, rendering really noisy pictures. But, even though it’s not outstanding, the camera will satisfy if used for casual photos.
The camera interface is heavily inspired by the stock Android app and you get some useful options like HDR, Panoramic, Time-Lapse or Face-Beauty.
In terms of battery life, the Idol 3 has a non-removable 2910 mAh battery that will get you through a full day before you have to recharge on medium use. On heavy use, the phone only got up to 5 hours. You also get the Quick Charge feature.
The camera interface is heavily inspired by the stock Android app and you get some useful options like HDR, Panoramic, Time-Lapse or Face-Beauty.
In terms of battery life, the Idol 3 has a non-removable 2910 mAh battery that will get you through a full day before you have to recharge on medium use. On heavy use, the phone only got up to 5 hours. You also get the Quick Charge feature.
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