Alcatel was a household name back in the days when phones were only used to store contacts and messages. The company has incredible budget brands that have relatively fair features. However, the company would like to hit the mid range market with their ideal Alcatel One Touch Idol Alpha. The phone houses some of the best features, well, somehow. I presume the phone is a teaser and will definitely give Samsung and Microsoft a run for their money. Three months ago, the company made an announcement that they are working on a phone that runs on Windows 10 and it will be released before the end of the year.
Design
Firstly, the phone covered with a metallic cylinder making it different from other devices. It has an aluminum body with amazing curved edges. It measures 138 x 66.6 x 7.5 mm and weighs in at 117.4g so you can comfortably operate using one hand. The metallic touch gives it an expensive feel that iPhone users enjoy. It also comes with a 4.7-inch IPS LCD screen that has a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels which gives it a pixel density of 312ppi. However, the resolution is not perfect because it’s lower than 1080p that is in the market right now.
The phone’s selling point is the aluminium frame and translucent strips at the top and bottom.
Battery life
The phone has a non-removable battery of 2,000mAh. Permanently fixed batteries are now used by almost every tech company. The Alcatel can not match Samsung flagship smartphones – Samsung Galaxy J5 and J7 that come with a battery capacity of 2600mAh a standby time of 342 hours and 3000mAh allowing 354 hours of standby time respectively.
Important specs
Alcatel One Touch Idol Alpha runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The phone’s operating system is killing the phone’s relevance in the current market because people are now using Android 5.0 Lollipop. The company needs to update the operating system so that it can compete with other mid range smartphones.
I think the phone has a relatively dumb platform because it uses the MediaTek chipset. Although, the quad-core processor is rated at 1.2GHz and backed up by an average 1GB of RAM which is good. The phone has a good internal memory of 16GB which means you can store your favorite songs and photos.
To complement on the features, the phone has a good camera. It comes with a 13 MP, 4128 x 3096 pixels, autofocus and an LED flash. The primary camera is good given that it has high pixels and can take incredible photos. The secondary camera is 1.3 MP, 720p@30fps which is lower compared with other mid range smartphones.
Alcatel One Touch Idol Alpha is currently sold in Orange shops in Nairobi. My verdict – the phone does not live up to the standard that other mid range smartphones have set. The phone’s hardware and software are still low compared with other phones in the market. However, the phone has a good design and the camera compensates the phone’s downside.
