First impressions of Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5) – a phablet with no apparent downsides

LaptopMedia.com Kiemelések First impressions of Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 (5.5) – a phablet with no apparent downsides

Ettől: Hristiyan Tsutsev 21 Július 2015 / 08:03 0

We’re going to put Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 through our tests, the results of which you’ll be able to see in its upcoming review. We have the model in our lab, so it is time to share our first impressions of it.

The device definitely offers a lot of options, but the very first thing that we noticed was the design, specifically the thickness and weight. When you think of a 5.5-inch smartphone, you probably think of a bulky and heavy device, but that’s certainly not the case with Idol 3. It is 7.4 mm thick and weighs only 141 grams. Even quite a few smaller 5-inch phones are heavier!

Although we expected strong sound from the two JBL speakers, they still managed to impress us. Going by our initial appraisal, this smartphones is one of the loudest and clearest sounding devices we’ve come across, not only in its price range, but on the entire market. You’ll be able to read more on the subject in the upcoming review.

One Touch Idol 3 features a 2910 mAh battery. So far we haven’t experienced rapid battery drain even though it has to provide power to a 5.5-inch Full HD screen. Our 5 durability tests are still to come. After we’re done with them, we’ll have more clarity, but based on our experiences, we’re expecting slightly above-average results.

We’re interested in the processor as well. It is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM8939 (4-core, 1.00GHz, Cortex-A53 & 4-core, 1.50GHz, Cortex-A53). Besides its performance levels, we’re curious to see whether it will cause overheating, because we know from experience that Snapdragon 615 doesn’t always handle temperatures very well. The truth is, we’ve experienced a mild heating, but the tests are still to be done.

Software-wise we can’t complain. Along with the Android 5.0 Lollipop OS, you’ll find many pre-installed apps and games. The settings menu also has some additional functionality to offer.

It is common practice, yet somehow not suitable, for a device from this price range to have only 8GB internal memory, even if there is an available microSD slot. Idol 3 doesn’t have a slot for additional an microSD memory card, but thanks to the 32 GBs of memory available, you probably won’t be needing one. The OS and the pre-installed apps occupy a small part of that, and the common user will find the 32GB to be sufficient.

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Specs sheet

OS	Android 5.0 (Lollipop)
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM8939 (4-core, 1.00GHz, Cortex-A53 & 4-core,1.50GHz, Cortex-A53)
RAM	2GB RAM
Internal memory	32GB
GPU	Adreno 405
Display	5.5-inch IPS LCD capacitive multitouch screen with resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels
Connectivity	Bluetooth v4.1, A2DP, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, GPS, A-GPS
Camera	13-MP with autofocus and LED flash (rear), 8-MP (front)
Additional	dual SIM microUSB v2.0, USB Host JBL stereo speakers 3.5 mm audio jack FM radio with RDS noise-cancelling microphone accelerometer proximity sensor
Battery	2910 mAh
Dimensions	75.1 x 152.7 x 7.4 mm
Weight	141 grams