One of the best phones I’ve tried at MWC so far might sound like a bold claim but that is just how I feel after trying the new Alcatel Idol 4S.
Alcatel, owned by TCL, had the Idol 4S and Idol 4 phones on show at MWC where they also unveiled the devices.
Compared to previous Alcatel/TCL phones the Idol 4S is a huge step in the right direction with wonderful design and actual useful features that should make the phone much nicer to live with.
Upon picking up the phone I first noticed the dual front facing speakers, which are actually also located front and rear. By default the speaker work through the front but you also have the choice to change that and have audio coming through the rear.
Where things get really cool though is with the way the phone can adjust itself depending on which way around you have it oriented. Pick the phone up one way and the base speaker will act as the microphone and the top the receive, turn the phone upside down and that flips as does the screen orientation! A very cool and practical feature.
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On the Alcatel Idol 4S we have a centrally located 16 mega-pixel rear camera that offers slow motion, HDR and all the other usual flagship phone features. Images are snapped very fast and the quality looks to be on par with similar spec phones.
If you need to take a photo in a split second the Idol 4S has a ‘Boom’ button. Even with the phone locked just point the camera at what you want to shoot, double click and the phone will capture the photo, another very usable feature!
The 5.5-inch AMOLED display has a QHD resolution, and the phone runs a Snapdragon 652 with Android 6.0 Marshmallow as standard. Internal memory is 32GB and the build in battery is 3000mAh.
Pricing for Europe is around 450 Euros, but if that is a little too much then there is the 5.2-inch Idol 4 with slightly downgraded features but the same speaker and Boom Button for about 280 Euros.
Alcatel Idol 4S video hands on
Apart from some unique finding like this phone, it’s seems like a boring year for MWC.
Are any of the Chinese companies showcasing their front runners? Helio X20 phones? Oukitel K6000 Premium? Elephone P9000 Edge? Zopo Speed 8?
Kind of agree, not much interesting to see this year. Speed 8 will launch tomorrow but I already tired it 😉
I guess you’re waiting for the Jorge Lorenzo motorcycle champion to present the release to get some good shots.
What I’m worried about with the Speed 8 is no captive touch buttons and maybe no NFC. Other than that it’s a nice looking spec’ed out phone.
This is my first time actually being here. But it seems like last year at this time there was a lot more announcements, at least from Chinese companies. Last year we had a flood of 6752 phones being announced this week.
Lets wait and see at MWC in Shanghai:
Date: 29th Jun 2016 – 1st Jul 2016
Location: Shanghai, China
Doogee had one but it wasn’t operational. It really begs the question of when MTK is going to fix the X20 overheating issues.
easily best designed phone of the year so far also euro prices tend to be higher for phones cause of some tax thingy i believe, correct me if im wrong
Looks like all new phones have either a physical home button or -even worse- onscreen buttons …
You can kind of forgive them if the extra space is put into huge battery, but that doesn’t seem the case. It’s strange why they are moving away from captive buttons when they are so useful. A smart captive is ok for me, not none it cheap stance.
I prefer a home button, I am glad to see more phones launching with it especially if it incorporates the fingerprint.
Onscreen buttons are very good, psychical are so out.
Watching the video it’s a beautiful looking phone.
It’s just as beautiful in person. TCL was usually known for boring and bland (design) but this is a step in the right direction.
Idol 4 has an sd617.
I might actually grab one it has been a while since I used a Alcatel branded phone, my last one was an AOT Idol x which was pretty good.
we had the Idol 3 and really liked it. The Idol 4/4s was one of the things I was most excited about this year. sounds like its lived up to my expectations, but pricing is a bit of a downer. i got the Idol 3 for $200
*SIGH* Price is really expensive for an SD652.
way too expensive !
and no fingerprint sensor as well….