Hands On: Alcatel's Intriguing New Premium Idol 4, 4S
BARCELONA—The Alcatel brand is commonly associated with midrange and budget smartphones and tablets, but that's fix to change with the Idol iv serial—just announced here at MWC 2022.
Alcatel is dropping the Onetouch from its name, simplifying the make, and irresolute its logo. The Alcatel Idol 4 and Idol 4S are the two main representatives of this brand revamp, and both are unaplogetically premium. They boast metallic-and-drinking glass builds, with dual front- and rear-facing JBL speakers, and Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
Their internals aren't necessarily up to par with anticipated flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S7 or LG G5; the hardware is more similar to devices like the Huawei Honor 5X. But the Idol 4 and 4S are two of the most intriguing phones nosotros've seen at MWC so far, offering solid hardware, with a great blueprint, and a number of innovative features that heave audio, photographic camera functioning, and integrate a VR experience.
There's a lot to sink into in terms of features, then lets commencement with the nitty grittty.
Idol 4 Design and Hardware
The Idol 4 is the smaller and more minor of the two devices appear today, though that doesn't hateful at that place's any compromise in the build quality. It has an attractive metal frame, belongings together ii contoured pieces of glass on its front and back.
The design is reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and OnePlus Ten in aesthetics and feel. The glass is slick, though non slippery and a bit prone to picking up fingerprints. That said, it is very calorie-free and sparse at 0.27 inches.
Information technology has a crisp 5.ii-inch, Full HD (1,920-by-i,080) InAeroplane Switching brandish with adept viewing angles, Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz, 3GB of RAM, and a 2,610mAh battery. I didn't get to test out its performance or bombardment much (at that place were nigh 5 meg people backed in behind me), but the display seems to have adept colour reproduction.
The camera is a respectable 13-megapixel rearfacing sensor with 1080p video at 30fps—the standard midrange offer. The front-facing photographic camera is an viii-megapixel shooter with front flash.
The device ships with 16GB of internal storage; Alcatel claims that 10GB should be bachelor. In that location'south a microSD carte du jour slot capable of taking a card up to 512GB. There's also some dainty bells and whistles you wouldn't unremarkably look from a device similar this, including dual-band Wi-Fi, NFC, quick charging (1 hour to total), and Bluetooth 4.2. The device comes unlocked, with LTE bands i/3/7/8/20/29/38/xl.
Idol 4S Blueprint and Hardware
The larger, more powerful Alcatel offering is the Idol 4S. The design isn't fundamentally different from the Idol iv, except when it comes to size. It has a 5.5-inch Quad HD (2,560-by-1,440) AMOLED display that looked quite rich in the dimly lit showroom. It has a Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz, 3GB of RAM, and a iii,000mAh battery. Over again, it wasn't really possible to examination any of these in the showroom, so we'll reserve judgment until our full review.
The camera seems to be no slouch; there'due south a 16-megapixel rear-facing sensor, an 8-megapixel front-facing sensor with front wink and a wide angle lens. From the cursory moments I had with information technology, it did well in low-light settings and took some crisp shots, merely a more than thorough analysis in our photo studio will requite u.s. a improve idea of how it performs.
The device is capable of 2K video capture at 30fps and 1080p video at 60fps. Information technology comes with 32GB of internal storage, which should leave 25GB bachelor, and supports a microSD card up to 512GB. Similar the Idol 4, the 4S besides has dual-ring Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth four.2, and quick charging (a petty over 1.5 hours). It volition come unlocked, supporting LTE bands ane/3/seven/viii/20/28.
Shared Features
For starters, the four and 4S have dual front- and rear-facing speakers. Stereo sound is reversible left to correct, and so is the display, significant you tin can employ the phone upside down and the interface quickly rights itself. Camera and audio functioning have gotten a heavier focus, the devices accept ultra-fast autofocus, better low-light shooting and 360-degree photo and selfie capability. The speakers are three.6 watts and Hi-Fi environment sound is supported for headsets (JBL audio earphones are included with the Idol four and Idol 4S).
Alcatel is also getting into VR, past having the packaging of the Idol 4 and 4S transform into a pair of Google Cardboard-way VR goggles. The Idol 4 and 4S will include a VR launcher and diverse pre-loaded VR games and apps. Hopefully that doesn't hateful bloatware, but I did see a few more pre-installed apps than the Idol three.
Boom Key
More interesting is the improver of a hardware key called "Boom Key," which offers a range of photo, video, and music functionality. Substantially, it's a context-enlightened, physical button that performs different tasks depending on what y'all are doing on the phone at the time. If you are in the photographic camera is will have an instant shot, doubling equally a shutter button. If you are in a phone telephone call, it volition boost call volume. If y'all are listening to music, it will boost audio and bass. If you are playing Cobblestone eight, it will requite yous a literal in-game nitrous boost. If yous use the included VR headset, then yous can apply it to take you from standby mode straight to VR.
This is by far one of the virtually innovative implementations of a hardware push I've seen, and serves to testify that a phone doesn't necessarily have to check off all the spec boxes if it has an intriguing selling signal. The inclusion of touchless interaction, with a 3D dynamic homescreen that modifies itself every bit your finger approaches and withdraws seems like icing on the block, though how functional it is outside of demos volition be the real exam.
Release Date, Launch, and Availability
Alcatel plans to launch the Idol 4 is 50 countries over the next three months and send as early every bit April as it eyes more than market place share in the U.S., Western Europe, Korea, and Nihon. 50 retail, carrier, and online partners have signed up to launch the Idol four. Both the Idol 4 and 4S will be bachelor with Gilt, Nighttime Greyness, Rose Aureate, and Metal Silver-colored metallic frames.
The company plans to offer 4 different configurations globally, including all color variants. Price is expected to range betwixt 279 euros to 449 euros. North American toll isn't known yet and we advise against directly converting from euros since in that location are a lot of different factors that can affect phone pricing in different market place.
Overall, Alcatel sought to distinguish itself at MWC with a thorough rebrand and my preliminary thoughts are that information technology really succeeded in that. I've never seen this much interest, let lonely excitement in an Alcatel device. Alcatel hopes to become the 5th-largest smartphone and tablet manufacturer in market this yr, and how well the Idol 4 and 4S practice volition determine that. Stay tuned for our total review of both devices.
This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.
Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/mobile-phones/10452/hands-on-alcatels-intriguing-new-premium-idol-4-4s
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