Alcatel one touch idol phones. Alcatel One Touch Idol X: specifications, reviews, photos. Comparison with competitors. Specifications and performance

Introduction

At the international exhibition Mobile World Congress (MWC) in 2013, Alcatel, which produces products in China under the TCL Communication brand, introduced two original smartphones: Alcatel One Touch Idol and Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra. The originality lies in the fact that they have a very thin body and low weight. For example, the thickness of the younger Idol model is 7.9 mm, and the older one is only 6.45 mm, which makes the Idol Ultra the thinnest smartphone in the world. Both gadgets weigh less than 110 grams, provided that the size of the diagonals is more than 4.5 inches.

As for the technical characteristics, from my point of view, they are quite ordinary at the moment: they are equipped with a dual-core processor and a MediaTek MT6577 chipset, Idol and Idol Ultra have one gigabyte of RAM each; both devices have 8 MP cameras and two microphones. The essential difference is that in Ultra the screen is made using SuperAMOLED technology and the resolution is 720x1280 pixels (HD), while in the simplified version it is IPS and the screen resolution is 540x960 pixels (qHD).

The cost of the devices is already known. Smartphone Alcatel Idol will be sold for 10,000 rubles, Alcatel Idol Ultra for 13,000 rubles. They will go on sale at the end of the first quarter of this year.

Since I had non-commercial models on my hands, I decided to write this text in the style of a first acquaintance. As soon as it becomes possible to take sales samples and there will be more time for research, then I will try to write a full review.

Design, dimensions, controls

Both devices are made of different types of plastic. For example, the edging and the back side of Idol are made of semi-gloss plastic (in my case, gray), while the Idol Ultra has a thin chrome edging around the perimeter of the front panel, the sides and back side are plastic (in my case, black), covered with “soft -touch".

Dimensions "idol" - 133x67.5x7.9 mm, weight - 109 grams. The dimensions of "Idol Ultra" are 134.4x68.5x6.45 mm, the weight, unfortunately, is not indicated, but it feels about the same as in Idol. In the hand, the devices lie equally well, the difference in thickness, frankly, is leveled. The screens are probably protected by glass, as not a single scratch appeared after a couple of days of active use.

Since the cases of gadgets are monolithic, and the assembly is good, there are no backlashes or creaks. The back panels do not flex to the battery.

Top on the front panel: front cameras, light and proximity sensors, speakers. Below the screens are touch buttons. If they are barely visible on Idol, they are not visible on Idol Ultra. Next, I will write the arrangement of the elements separately, because in each of the devices it is different.

Alcatel Idol. At the bottom are microUSB and a microphone, at the top there is a standard 3.5 mm audio jack and an on/off button almost recessed into the case. On the left under the retractable cover is a slot for a microSD memory card, on the right is the same type of micro-SIM card slot and a thin volume rocker key. On the back side there is a slightly raised camera module, framed by a chrome ring, a second microphone and a flash.

Idol and iPhone 4s

Idol and Samsung S III

Alcatel Idol Ultra. The microphone is on the bottom end, on the top there is an on / off button for the phone and microUSM under a plastic cap. A thin and long rocker key is on the left, and on the right is the same type of micro-SIM card slot as on Idol. The camera module, microphone and LED light are located on the back of the smartphone.

Idol and Idol Ultra (left)

Displays

The Alcatel Idol smartphone has a 4.7-inch screen diagonal, the resolution is 540x960 pixels, the density is 234 pixels per inch. The matrix is ​​made using IPS technology and is capable of displaying 16 million shades of color. The quality of the screen, in my opinion, is very good: large viewing angles, no purple and yellow tints at certain display tilts. At the corners, the brightness of the picture slightly decreases. The touch layer is of a capacitive type, supports "multi-touch" up to 5 simultaneous touches.

The Alcatel Idol Ultra device uses a higher quality screen: diagonal - 4.65 inches, resolution 720x1280 (HD), density - 315 pixels per inch. If the first Idol has an IPS matrix, then the Ultra has SuperAMOLED with the notorious PenTile.

Matrix Idol Ultra

Naturally, such a matrix gives the maximum black color, but slightly distorts other colors due to higher saturation, which cannot be set here, unlike Samsung smartphones. As a fan of SuperAMOLED, I would choose Idol Ultra. The touch layer is also capacitive, but supports 6 simultaneous touches.

Idol Screen Viewing Angles

Idol Ultra screen viewing angles

Battery

Both devices have the same lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery with a capacity of 1820 mAh. It is worth paying tribute to the developers who were able to fit such batteries into the body thickness of 7.9 and 6.45 mm.

The official numbers are as follows:

• Idol - 7 hours of talk time, 415 hours of standby time, 45 hours of music and 2.5 hours of charging
• Idol Ultra - 16 hours of talk time, 700 hours of standby time, 20 hours of music and 4 hours of charging

I wonder where such sickly results from "Ultra" came from? Is it really such a non-gluttonous SuperAMOLED screen? Unfortunately, I could not test it, but I received data from Idol: video (HD at maximum brightness and at maximum volume in headphones) - about 3 hours, music - just over 30 hours. The average time for most Android smartphones is about 9-10 hours.

Communication options

The phones work in cellular networks 2G (GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and 3G (850/900/2100 MHz). Available Bluetooth version 4.0 for file and voice transfer. There is wireless Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n. The devices, of course, can be used as an access point (Wi-Fi Hotspot) or a modem. USB 2.0 (High-Speed) is used for file transfer and data synchronization.

Settings

Memory and memory card

Both the older and younger models have 1 GB of RAM (it was previously said that Idol has 512 MB of RAM). About 600 MB free. Since Idol Ultra does not have a memory card slot, it uses a 16 GB flash, about 13 GB is available. From my point of view, for this class of devices, 16 GB should be enough for most purposes. Idol has a 4 GB flash drive, 2.5 GB is free, plus there is a microSDHC slot.

cameras

Both smartphones are equipped with two camera modules: 8 MP main and front - 2 MP for Idol and 1.3 MP for Idol Ultra. The quality of the cameras is the same: good detail, natural colors, a fairly wide dynamic range, relatively fast focus. In the light, the photos come out cool, indoors the small matrix of the camera makes itself felt - color noise comes out. At night, the camera performs even better outdoors than indoors with lighting. By the way, the lens aperture in both gadgets is f2.2!

Video smartphones record mediocre - almost like all devices on the MTK6577: low detail, poor sound.

Sample photos on Idol:

Photo examples on Idol Ultra:

Performance

When I found out that these new products contain the outdated MediaTek MT6577 chipset, I was overwhelmed with sadness... There is no point in talking about it in detail, since every second review on our website for the past six months has been dedicated to smartphones based on this particular chip. I refer you to the following texts:

In the middle price category, you rarely see a device with a record in any sense. But Alcatel One Touch Ultra at the time of release was the thinnest smartphone: its thickness is some six and a half millimeters, which is less than that of the Apple iPhone 5. At the same time, it costs about 2,700 hryvnias (10,800 rubles) in domestic stores.

Specifications Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra

Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra
operating system	Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
Display	720x1280 pixels, 4.65 inches (~316 ppi), AMOLED, 7-finger multi-touch, Dragon Trail Glass protection
CPU	dual core Cortex-A9 1.2GHz, MTK 6577 chipset, PowerVR SXG531T graphics
RAM	1 GB
Storage device	16 GB, external memory cards not supported
Camera	rear: 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, geotagging, click focus, 720p video, front: 1.3 MP
Wireless technologies	Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 A2DP
Battery	lithium-ion, 1800 mAh, non-removable
Dimensions and weight	134.4x68.5x6.5 mm, 115 grams

Design and construction

The thickness is really comfortable: the smartphone can easily fit into the cramped pocket of women's jeans and doesn't really stick out from there. In the same way, it can be located in the pocket of a light summer T-shirt or shirt: with the exception of the main camera module that rises above the surface, the phone is really very elegant.

And thanks to this, it looks more beautiful than the average Android “remnant”. Although here it all depends on taste. Compared to the huge devices with screen sizes of 5.5 and above, which flooded our editorial office this summer (that is, most likely, the market too), OneTouch looks small. It fits perfectly in the female hand, while the second hand is not required to control the main actions.

Although, say, reaching the off button located on the upper edge is not so easy with my type of grip. However, "my type" was developed by a year of work with the iPhone 4s, which is still much smaller in thickness and height.

The back of the device is made of dark gray plastic, Android-buttons are visible only when the screen is active, bordered by a medium-thick bezel.

The cover is fixed, the slot for a SIM card (micro format) can be found under a tight plug on the right sidewall. On the left there is a volume rocker, and on top, next to the power button, there is a microUSB connector also hidden under a flap.

"Where's the audio jack?" - you will surely ask. But he is not here. I suspect that the smartphone is also bundled with a headset connected to the device via an audio output adapter, but I can’t confirm this: we got an engineering sample for testing. Most likely, the presence of a light strip translucent at the point of articulation of the screen with the case is connected with the "presale", it is unlikely that such a specific decoration will appear in the versions for sale. But there will be no slot for a memory card: you will have to be content with those 16 gigabytes that the manufacturer has endowed OneTouch Ultra with.

The assembly of the smartphone is normal, the only thing I didn’t like was this dubious line of light, and even a small gap between the screen and the upper edge, and even uncomfortable plugs. However, with a high degree of probability, these may be shortcomings of a particular industrial design. In general, the gadget seems monolithic, and the subtlety gives it a certain beauty.

Display

The display here is on the level, I must say. It is made using Super Amoled technology and has wide viewing angles. On the street on a sunny day, you can not see it very well, but you can see something at maximum brightness, fortunately, it is high here.

Contrast measurements showed near-perfect blacks, resulting in a very good 10394:1. Not infinity, like some of the new Samsung devices, but in a certain approximation not far from it.

The measurements also showed that the color gamut of the screen is adequate, the screen produces a good green color, but it is not calibrated in the best way. A resolution of 720x1280 pixels for a 4.65-inch screen is a clear picture with a high pixel density (315 ppi). Feel - the colors are very juicy, but somewhat unnatural. But, thanks to the contrast, textual information looks good on the display. And the bright picture is interesting, many users will like it.

System and Performance

MTK6577 Cortex-A9 1.2 GHz with two cores was average a year ago, but today it is, if not yet a budget processor, then close to it in terms of speed. Equipped with a gigabyte of RAM, the smartphone, as expected, lacks stars: the results of performance measurements are very average. Let's say Dead Trigger and Real Racing 3 slows down. So fans of playing 3D games on smartphones should look at other solutions. True, casual players may well be satisfied: angry birds look very attractive on a contrasting, bright and large enough screen with deep black color, and their flight is not hindered by the weakness of the processor. The Android 4.1.1 interface is somehow in no hurry. More precisely, it does not slow down, but it does not fly either. The interface here, by the way, is standard in terms of capabilities, but somewhat different in the picture. They slightly reminded me of the rendering of iOS, Meego and modern non-smartphone Nokia at the same time. In general, a nice drawing, pleasant. I was surprised by the main screen: you can open a smartphone from the main desktop, but for some reason the camera is drawn (it’s not clear without trying!), Or you can immediately launch the call menu, SMS or camera.

In addition, the smartphone supports gestures. Which? But such as in the screenshots below.

As a multimedia combine, the device is also imperfect. The first reason is the lack of a normal headphone jack. The second is that the smartphone does not pull movies in HD quality. However, this is it, it is unlikely that anyone will lose much if they compress the videos to an acceptable format. Finally, the third reason is 13 GB available to the user from 16 GB storage. Those who are used to carrying a lot of information in their smartphone will not be enough. By the way, One Touch Ultra is equipped with a radio, but due to the lack of a headset, we were unable to test its operation. For the same reason, it is difficult to say how the built-in player sounds. On an external speaker - tolerable, as for such a thin device, but who will listen to music on an external speaker?

Camera

An eight-megapixel camera clearly requires perfect lighting. The slightest deviation from it - and the photos are very grainy. The color rendition here is pleasant, the module copes well with macro photography (in good light, of course). Focusing is fast, and you can choose the part of the picture on which, in fact, the camera will focus on. But overall, average.

An example of video recording with a built-in camera

And another example of video shooting (in the evening)

Autonomy and heating

With an average load of a smartphone (20 minutes of telephone conversations, SMS, periodic Internet), it was enough just until the evening, but if you watch videos and play more often, the 1800 mAh battery runs out a little faster. However, for the class "very thin," it is quite normal.

The phone heats up quite noticeably at the top, especially when running benchmarks or playing games. At rest, it is quite cool.

Competitors

Among the competitors, there are several "oldies" who are still on the move. For example, Sony Xperia S or Huawei Ascend P1, Samsung Galaxy Nexus. And also - the expected novelty, also distinguished by a very thin camp. But it will be more expensive, at least at the start of sales.

In the dry matter

I doubt that Alcatel has managed to create an idol in the face of this smartphone, despite its name. However, for a user who appreciates thinness and a nice design coupled with a good screen, the Alcatel OneTouch Idol Ultra may be to their liking. Naturally, you should remember about its average performance and the absence of a slot for memory cards and (a real annoyance!) minijack.

3 reasons to buy Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra:

• Very thin and light body;
• good screen;
• cute design.

3 reasons not to buy Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra:

• Lack of audio output;
• mediocre hardware stuffing;
• lack of a slot for a memory card.

All the enthusiasm of users about the appearance of Alcatel OneTouch IDOL X has already subsided, now new impressions are needed. They are promptly provided by the Chinese company TCL, which produces devices under the Alcatel brand. In January 2014, it announced the release of a new flagship - Alcatel OneTouch IDOL X +, which received high marks at an exhibition in Los Angeles.

Since this model has not yet appeared in stores in Russia, it is difficult to say exactly what its packaging will be. However, with a high degree of probability, we can assume that it will not differ from the packages of its older brothers: a white box that shows the device and modest inscriptions.

Options, most likely, also will not surprise. But in addition to the standard set, the manufacturers decided to offer a special Boom Band fitness bracelet, which is designed to track the wearer's physical activity and sleep phases. All this (by data transmission via Bluetooth) is analyzed using a special application in the smartphone. In addition, the bracelet will record the removal of the user from the device, as well as report new notifications.

Outwardly, Alcatel One Touch Idol X +, of course, looks like a popular predecessor, but due to the fact that X + has a more capacious battery, its thickness is somewhat larger than that of X. The back cover is glossy, the ends are made of metal.

What body colors will be presented on the Russian market, time will tell, but we can already say that there should be more than 2.

operating system	Android Jelly Bean 4.2
	5” Full HD IPS 1080 x 1920 pixels, Black Crystal touch panel, Corning Gorilla glass 2
Front-camera
CPU	8-core MediaTek MT6592, 2 GHz CPU
Battery
	140.4x69.1x8.1mm
Communications	Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth: 4.0
Official price	from 11 700 rubles

The device lies pleasantly in the hand, as its body has a streamlined shape, the corners are rounded. At the bottom there is a micro-USB slot and 2 earpieces, at the top there is a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack and a power button. This device supports 2 SIM-cards, the slot for one of them is on the left, for the second - on the right, in the same place as the volume.

In general, when they saw the smartphone at an exhibition in Los Angeles, everyone noted the absolute similarity of TCL Idol X + and Alcatel One Touch Idol X +. The characteristics of its screen are the same - 5 inches, Full HD IPS. The display occupies almost the entire front panel of the smartphone, the thickness of the frames is only 1.3 mm. It also has an anti-scratch coating, making it easy to remove fingerprints.

Brightness, contrast and viewing angles (over 170 degrees) are as good as any device that has such a display.

Its android nature (Android Jelly Bean 4.2) is visible throughout its interface. 5 desktops that scroll horizontally, just like the application menu; below - 4 main icons; on desktops - the necessary widgets that can be installed at your discretion.

It will be possible to assess how fast applications work very soon, but disappointments can hardly be expected, since at the heart of the device is an 8-core MediaTek processor with a frequency of 2 GHz. Yes, and 2 GB of RAM promise good performance.

The 13 megapixel camera with optical stabilizer is launched through the application menu, there is no separate button to turn it on. Her settings are the same as in Idol X, and the test shots showed how good she is.

It will probably be a little longer to enjoy the process of shooting photos and videos than when using Alcatel One Touch Idol X, simply because the battery capacity of the novelty is 2500 mAh, which is significantly larger than that of the previous model. True, this led to a heavier and thicker device, but these few grams and centimeters are unlikely to be noticed by those whom the phone will truly delight.

Surprisingly, the price of the Alcatel One Touch IDOL X+, whose review shows it shouldn't be cheap, is now around $330 in China. And this is only 12,000 rubles. And if everything is really as the manufacturers promise, then this model will sell like hot cakes!

TFT IPS- High-quality liquid crystal matrix. It has wide viewing angles, one of the best indicators of color reproduction quality and contrast among all those used in the production of displays for portable equipment.
Super AMOLED- if a conventional AMOLED screen uses several layers, between which there is an air gap, then in Super AMOLED there is only one such touch layer without air gaps. This allows you to achieve greater screen brightness with the same power consumption.
Super AMOLED HD- differs from Super AMOLED in a higher resolution, thanks to which it is possible to achieve 1280x720 pixels on a mobile phone screen.
Super AMOLED plus- this is a new generation of Super AMOLED displays, differs from the previous one by using more sub-pixels in a conventional RGB matrix. The new displays are 18% thinner and 18% brighter than the older PenTile displays.
AMOLED- an improved version of OLED technology. The main advantages of the technology are significantly reduced power consumption, the ability to display a large color gamut, a smaller thickness and the ability of the display to bend a little without the risk of breaking.
retina- display with a high pixel density, designed specifically for Apple technology. The pixel density on Retina displays is such that individual pixels are indistinguishable to the eye at a normal distance from the screen. This provides the highest image detail and greatly improves the overall viewing experience.
Super Retina HD- The display is made using OLED technology. The pixel density is 458 PPI, the contrast ratio reaches 1,000,000:1. The display has an extended color gamut and unrivaled color accuracy. Pixels in the corners of the display are anti-aliased at the sub-pixel level, so borders don't distort and look smooth. Super Retina HD reinforcement layer is 50% thicker. Breaking the screen will be harder.
Super LCD is the next generation of LCD technology and features improved features compared to earlier LCD displays. Screens have not only wide viewing angles and better color reproduction, but also reduced power consumption.
TFT- A common type of liquid crystal displays. With the help of an active matrix, controlled by thin-film transistors, it is possible to significantly increase the speed of the display, as well as the contrast and clarity of the image.
OLED- organic electroluminescent display. Consists of a special thin-film polymer that emits light under the influence of an electric field. This type of display has a large margin of brightness and consumes very little power.

Most readers probably know that under the once European brand of Alcatel smartphones, all the same ubiquitous Chinese are now hiding - in this case, it is TCL, which bought the trademark several years ago and continues to manufacture and sell devices under this brand. So when buying mobile equipment with an Alcatel label, you need to understand that now you are buying not a French appart, as it was once before, but a Chinese one. However, this does not detract from the merits of Chinese products of this class - modern factory China is quite ready to oppose HTC, Samsung and Sony, which have established themselves as leaders, and our latest reviews of fresh products of high-quality Chinese production can serve as an example of this (in the list of such companies we can mention , primarily Oppo, Meizu, Xiaomi, as well as the ubiquitous Huawei). However, TCL also sells smartphones under its own name, but usually in its home market. By the way, you can also find the “original” model on it, related to the hero of today's review, and even with a similar name: TCL One Touch Idol X. However, the devices are not exactly copies of each other, there are minor differences between them. However, we are interested today in the European version, which is officially presented on our market, and it is called Alcatel One Touch Idol X.

If we talk about the prerequisites for writing this review, it is worth recalling that recently we have repeatedly addressed the topic of high-quality Chinese mobile products of a high level of performance (Oppo Mirror, Oppo Find 5, Jiayu G4, Meizu MX2, Meizu MX3 and others). More recently, we reviewed another advanced Chinese smartphone sold under the Fly brand (Fly Luminor IQ453), which turned out to be quite high-quality, interesting, but expensive for a “Chinese” smartphone. Users themselves on numerous forums compare this model primarily with Alcatel One Touch Idol X - the devices have very similar characteristics, so the comparison of these two models on the pages of this review will be quite natural and not accidental. It is also worth noting right away that today's testing involves a model with support for two SIM cards - 6040D (in nature, there is still exactly the same device, with only one SIM card - OT Idol X 6040, but it supports microSD memory cards) .

Key Features of Alcatel One Touch Idol X (Model 6040D)

	Alcatel OT Idol X	Fly Luminor IQ453	Oppo Mirror R819	LG Optimus G	Google Nexus 4	Sony Xperia ZR
Screen	5" IPS	5" IPS	4.7" IPS	4.7" IPS	4.7" IPS	4.55" IPS
Permission	1920×1080, 440ppi	1920×1080, 440ppi	1280×720, 312 ppi	1280×768, 317 ppi	1280×768, 317 ppi	1280×720, 322 ppi
SoC		MediaTek MT6589T (4x ARM Cortex-A7) @1.5GHz	MediaTek MT6589 (4x ARM Cortex-A7) @1.2GHz		Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) @1.5 GHz (4 Krait cores)	Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) @1.5GHz (4 cores, ARMv7 Krait)
GPU	PowerVR SGX 544MP	PowerVR SGX 544MP	PowerVR SGX 544MP	Adreno 320	Adreno 320	Adreno 320
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	1 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB
Flash memory	16 GB	32 GB	16 GB	32 GB	8/16 GB	8 GB
Memory card support	—	—	—	—	—	microSD
operating system	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.1	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.1
Battery	non-removable, 2000 mAh	non-removable, 2000 mAh	non-removable, 2000 mAh	non-removable, 2100 mAh	non-removable, 2100 mAh	removable, 2300 mAh
cameras	rear (13 MP; video - 1080p), front (2 MP)	rear (13 MP; video - 1080p), front (5 MP)	rear (8 MP; video - 1080p), front (2 MP)	rear (13 MP; video - 1080p), front (1.3 MP)	rear (8 MP; video - 1080p), front (1.3 MP)	rear (13 MP), front (0.3 MP)
Dimensions	140×68×6.9mm, 120g	144×69×7.7mm, 131g	137×68×7.3mm, 110g	132×69×8.5mm, 145g	134×69×9.1mm, 139g	131×67×10.4mm, 138g
average price	T-10467810	T-10533924	T-10470422	T-8461088	T-8490976	T-9383887
Offers Alcatel One Touch Idol X	L-10467810-10

• SoC MediaTek MT6589T, 1.5 GHz, 4 cores, ARM Cortex-A7
• PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU
• Operating system Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
• Touch IPS-display, 5″, 1920×1080, 440 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB, internal memory 16 GB
• GSM communication 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Communication 3G WCDMA 850/1900/2100 MHz
• SIM card format: micro
• Bluetooth 4.0 A2DP
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display
• GPS, A-GPS
• Dual SIM support
• Position, proximity, lighting sensors, electronic compass
• Camera 13 MP, auto and manual focus
• Camera 2 MP (front), video recording 720p
• Li-ion battery 2000 mAh
• Dimensions 140.4×67.5×6.9 mm
• Weight 120 g

Contents of delivery

The smartphone goes on sale in a small cardboard box. A rectangular box made of plain, unvarnished cardboard cannot be called chic, but it does not cause rejection either. There is no clumsy coloring, there is no overload of information either, everything is quite neat and concise.

The box contained: a charger, a Micro-USB cable, a wired headset and some papers. The headphones are equipped with in-ear gel ear cushions and a regular, non-noodle-shaped wire that constantly tends to get tangled up. No additional accessories in the form of covers and the like were included in the flagship smartphone kit at the factory, which is a pity - for the Chinese, this device is not so cheap, one could take care of additional “goodies”.

Appearance and usability

According to its external data, the smartphone is very good: comfortable dimensions, balanced weight, neat appearance, bright but non-irritating multi-colored back covers, reliable assembly, high-quality materials - all this is Alcatel One Touch Idol X. Honestly, the smartphone liked much more, rather than the recently reviewed Fly Luminor IQ453 : it was clearly made with a twist to the already popular products of such brands as Apple and Sony, while Alcatel One Touch Idol X has no claims to someone else's account - the design is simple, cheerful, easy-looking, direct and original, and it is this independence from the opinions of others that he commands respect.

In addition, the device, in terms of the technical arrangement of the case, is not devoid of its own "opinion": I really liked the way the developers implemented the method of installing a SIM card. More precisely, even two SIM-cards: the Alcatel One Touch Idol X 6040D monoblock case has one slit-like slot embedded on both side faces, but the way to open their covers is non-standard. There are no secret buttons and keys that set the teeth on edge, and a paper clip is not needed. The covers of both slots open perfectly even without special master keys, just press on one of the edges of the cover with a magnetic latch, and it immediately opens unhindered access to the SIM card - a very convenient solution, reminiscent of the first Nokia Lumia devices.

The smartphone lies comfortably in the hand: due to the small width of the case, achieved by thin frames around the screen (no more than 3 mm), very small thickness (7.7 mm) and, most importantly, non-glossy, matte, rough back cover, the device fits well in the palm of your hand and it stays in there very well. If we take into account the recently increased standards for the dimensions of mobile devices that have become the norm, then the Alcatel One Touch Idol X model can even be called neat and not too big. For a female hand, it is definitely also quite suitable, and the design of this line of smartphones can definitely be classified as unisex.

The materials of manufacture are plastic, there is no metal here. There are two types of plastic: matte, but hard (no soft-touch effect) on the back cover and glossy lacquered on the sides. The plastic on the sides has the texture of a roughly sanded material, but it is still smooth to the touch and looks shiny due to the varnish layer.

The back cover is non-removable here, you can't get access to the battery by regular means, and there is no slot for a memory card at all. More precisely, the microSD slot is provided, as we have already said, in the 6040 version of the smartphone, and in this one (6040D) it is replaced by an additional slot for a second SIM card. By the way, it would be appropriate to immediately note that one of the slots can only work with SIM cards from the MTS operator - such a slight injustice. But in the second slot you can insert any card.

In addition to two SIM-card slots covered with magnetic covers, there is also a paired volume rocker on the side faces, as well as connectors: Micro-USB at the bottom, and a 3.5 mm audio jack at the top.

There, at the top, there is also a power button, which is a noticeable minus of the device - the case itself is too big already in order to comfortably reach up to the power button with the fingers of the hand that holds the smartphone. Probably, it would still be possible to fit the lock key on one of the side faces.

The landscape of the rear surface is made up of a camera window slightly protruding from the plane, a single-section LED flash and a number of small holes in the lower part, which makes up the speaker grille.

The front panel is entirely covered with scratch-resistant protective glass. It is stated that here, as in Oppo smartphones, not the familiar Corning Gorilla is used, but a Japanese competing solution called Asahi Glass Dragontrail. We repeat that the thickness of the side frames from the edge of the screen to the edge of the body is just under 3 mm, which is a very good indicator. Most users who first picked up the Alcatel One Touch Idol X immediately note this moment.

Below the screen is a block of buttons for controlling the system and applications. The buttons, of course, are touch-sensitive, have a bright whitish backlight, the duration of which cannot be changed in any way.

There are no rubber pads, protective bumpers, or at least a hook for a hand strap here - we have a typical pampered city dweller, designed for operation in "greenhouse" conditions.

And finally, traditionally, about color options: this smartphone, unlike Fly Luminor IQ453, presented in only one black color, has a much more diverse range of body colors. At foreign exhibitions, there are samples of almost all the colors of the rainbow, but in our market, apparently, only three main ones are officially represented: red, black and yellow. There are no functional differences between models of different colors, and the front panel under the glass is the same black for all.

Screen

The Alcatel One Touch Idol X is equipped with a 62×110 mm IPS touch matrix with a diagonal of 127 mm (5 inches), with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels (which gives a very high pixel density of 440 ppi).

The brightness of the display has both manual and automatic adjustment, the latter based on the operation of the light sensor. The multi-touch technology here allows you to simultaneously process up to 10 simultaneous touches - it seems to be not very popular, but, nevertheless, a noticeable difference from the Fly Luminor IQ453, which, for some reason, has only a five-finger control. The smartphone also has a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, there is a very effective anti-glare filter, surpassing the Google Nexus 7 2013 screen filter in reducing reflection brightness. The doubling of the reflected objects is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, but slightly worse than Google Nexus 7 2013), so fingerprints are removed much more easily, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

When displaying a white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 470 cd/m², the minimum was 80 cd/m². The maximum brightness is quite high, which, given the high efficiency of the anti-glare filter, will provide excellent readability even on a sunny day outdoors. True, in complete darkness, the minimum brightness may seem excessive. There is an automatic brightness control according to the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front camera). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. In total darkness, auto mode reduces the brightness to 108 cd/m² (a little too much), in an artificially lit office, the brightness is set to 206 cd/m² (acceptable), in a brightly lit environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight light) rises to 470 cd/m² (which is to be expected). As a result, this function works adequately, although in the dark the brightness could be lower. At reduced brightness, there is some brightness modulation, but its amplitude is small, and the frequency is tens of kilohertz, so the screen flicker cannot be visually seen, and the presence of such modulation cannot affect the comfort of working with this smartphone.

This smartphone uses an IPS type matrix. Micrographs show a typical IPS sub-pixel structure:

The screen has good viewing angles without hue inversion and without significant color shift even at large deviations of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen. For comparison, here are photos at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen, in which the same images are displayed on the screens of Alcatel One Touch Idol X and LG G Pro Lite Dual D686 (it is larger), while the brightness of both screens is set to about 200 cd / m².

Black and white box:

This photo shows that the color balance of the Alcatel smartphone is preserved and that its brightness drop is slightly less than that of the LG D686.

It can be seen that at this angle the colors are better preserved in Alcatel.

The black field, when deviated diagonally, is highlighted quite a bit and acquires a red-violet hue. A photo from the LG D686 for comparison shows this (the set brightness of the white areas is the same for both screens!):

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is acceptable. The contrast is high - about 935:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 19 ms (10 ms on + 9 ms off). The transition between 25% and 75% grayscale (according to the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 27 ms. The gamma curve constructed from 32 points did not reveal a blockage either in highlights or in shadows, and the exponent of the approximating power function is 2.05, which is lower than the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma curve deviates noticeably from the power dependence:

Due to the aggressive dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image (brightness increases on light images, and decreases on dark images), the obtained dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential full screen grayscale output. For this reason, a number of tests - determining the contrast and response time, comparing black light at angles - we carried out when displaying special patterns, rather than solid fields in full screen. For example, here is a graph of the transition from a black field to a white field and vice versa for the case of displaying fields in full screen (100%) and when black and white fields are alternately displayed on half the screen (50/50% line, average brightness does not change and dynamic adjustment does not work ):

It can be seen how the brightness is adjusted in steps and that in 0.5 s it does not reach the maximum value.

The color gamut is sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components to each other. As a result, visually the colors have a natural saturation.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is not bad, since the color temperature is even higher than the standard 6500 K, but the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (delta E) is significantly less than 3, which is considered an excellent indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, the color temperature and delta E change little from hue to hue, which has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The dark areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance does not matter much there, and the measurement error of color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

The screen has a high maximum brightness and an effective anti-glare filter, so the smartphone can be used without much difficulty even on a clear sunny day. But in complete darkness, the minimum brightness may seem excessive, for example, for comfortable reading from the screen. Also, automatic brightness adjustment, although it changes the brightness in accordance with external conditions, however, in a not very bright environment, it sets the brightness slightly above a sufficient level, which will lead to some overexpenditure of energy for the screen backlight. The advantages of the screen include a very good oleophobic coating, the absence of flicker and air gap in the layers of the screen, high contrast, excellent black color stability to deviation of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen, sRGB coverage and a fairly good color balance. In sum, and at the moment, this gives a top-level screen.

Sound

In terms of sound, the smartphone is average. Both speakers emit a fairly clear, but without a noticeable presence of low frequencies, a sound that is mixed with some barely noticeable metallic notes. However, this does not particularly affect the perception of sound during a conversation - the voice of a familiar interlocutor, timbre and intonation remain recognizable. At this point, I would like to especially note one point: in their reviews on the forums, users who have already managed to buy Alcatel One Touch Idol X often complain about some extraneous clicks during telephone conversations. Moreover, it is the interlocutors on the other side of the wire who hear them. We diligently checked our copy many times for such clicks: as a result, none of the interlocutors listening on the other side could find any extraneous sounds. The sound is clear, maybe a little reminiscent of ringing metal, but completely without extraneous "impurities". Obviously, here we are talking about a flaw in the software: perhaps users who have discovered such a problem should take care of updating the firmware or taking the device for repair, because this problem is not, as it turned out, widespread.

By the way, the Alcatel smartphone offers the ability to record a conversation with a line with regular built-in tools, which is now extremely rare. Both talking parties are recorded, the recording of the conversation can be listened to by clicking on the magnetic tape icon right in the call list next to a specific call with time and date - everything is organized extremely conveniently, really worthy of praise. In fact, such functionality should be an integral part of any intercom, and even more so a modern smartphone. Surprisingly, such rich functionality is found in Chinese flagship solutions much more often than in generally recognized A-class brands. To be fair, it should be noted that Fly Luminor IQ453 can also record telephone conversations of both parties. Alcatel One Touch Idol X also has a separate ordinary voice recorder, which serves only to create audio notes, and there is also an FM radio.

Camera

Alcatel One Touch Idol X comes standard with two digital camera modules. The front camera here has a 2 megapixel sensor, it takes photos with a maximum resolution of 1792 × 1008, the video can be shot at a maximum resolution of 720p (Fly Luminor IQ453 also has 720p).

The main, rear camera is equipped with a 13-megapixel module. By default, the camera shoots with a wide aspect ratio, and the maximum resolution (13 MP) should be switched manually, then the pictures are obtained with a resolution of 4224 × 3168. Examples of photos taken in automatic mode out of the box are given below with comments.

	Sharpness is generally good, dropping slightly towards the left edge of the frame.
	Grass and leaves worked out quite well. The number of the nearest car is clearly distinguishable.
	The branches are quite clear, albeit due to sharping.
	In the center of the frame, small details are worked out well, although sharpness decreases towards the edges.
	The number plate of the nearest car is clearly distinguishable. Noises are processed quite moderately.
	Macro photography is quite acceptable if you know where the focus is.

	Lighting ≈1300 lux. The camera works well.
	Lighting ≈460 lux. When the lighting deteriorates, everything is still good.
	Lighting ≈240 lux. With a further decrease in illumination, the situation worsens significantly.
	Lighting ≈240 lux, flash. Flash almost does not change the situation.
	Lighting<1 люкс. В темноте камера не справляется, но контуры различимы.
	Lighting<1 люкс, вспышка. В данном случае вспышка работает относительно неплохо.

The image quality of this camera is not flagship, but quite decent. Quite standard flaws for cameras of inexpensive smartphones are noticeable: aggressive noise reduction in places, noticeable sharpening, drop in sharpness towards the edges of the frame. The flash is also not particularly debugged and does not allow you to reduce the shutter speed, but nevertheless, in the absence of lighting, it helps. The sharpness in the center of the camera is very good.

Perhaps one of the obvious and few advantages of this camera allows us to record it in the category of documentaries. Still, I would like to note that the camera shoots quite well, has good sharpness and moderate noise - but only in the central part of the frame, while towards the edges all these advantages are gradually lost.

The camera can shoot video, does it without visible delays or artifacts in the image, there is only one mode and resolution for shooting. An example test video is shown below. The clips are saved in a 3GP container (video - MPEG-4 Visual ( [email protected]), sound - AAC LC, 128 Kbps, 48 ​​kHz, 2 channels).

• Movie #1 (75.9 MB, 1920×1080)

There are very few settings for shooting control - basically the possibilities are at the mercy of automation. Shooting can be done either by clicking on the virtual icon on the screen, or by using the hardware volume rocker - at this moment it works as a photo button. You can't take photos while recording video.

Telephone part and communications

The smartphone works standardly in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks; support for fourth generation networks (LTE) is not. In general, the network capabilities of a smartphone today are minimal: the 5 GHz Wi-Fi range is not supported, and there is no support for NFC technology either. You can organize a wireless point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels, there is a Wi-Fi Direct mode.

There were no freezes or spontaneous reboots / shutdowns during testing. The screen is large, so the drawing of letters and numbers on virtual keyboards is quite comfortable to control. The layout and layout of the keys are standard: switching languages ​​here is done by pressing the button with the image of a globe, there is no separate top row with numbers, you need to switch the layout from letters to numbers and back all the time.

Implementation of work with two SIM-cards is standard for the platform: there can be only one active conversation, any of the cards can work both in 3G and 2G modes. In a separate settings section, you can assign default conditions to each of the SIM cards, so that, for example, voice communication is always carried out using the first one, and data transfer - through the second SIM card. In the case of a device officially sold on the Russian market, the first slot is locked to work only with MTS SIM cards, but users have already learned how to bypass this restriction at the software level, just google the topic.

OS and software

The system uses the Google Android software platform version 4.2.2 and a third-party graphical user interface that significantly changes the appearance of the video and introduces noticeable changes in the internal structure and the entire organization of working with the system as a whole. Here, like many Chinese products, the application menu as such is completely absent, and all installed application icons are simply placed on desktops, like the unforgettable MIUI. Naturally, it is possible to create folders, and the developer himself, in principle, has already “combed” the appearance of the workspace as best he could: most programs are carefully arranged by subject. There is also a whole set of colorful functional widgets - the interface is full of colors, but now it is already becoming fashionable.

A section on gesture control has been added to the settings menu. With the help of familiar manipulations, you can, for example, reduce the volume of the call, turn off the alarm, or shuffle tracks in the media player. There are a lot of pre-installed programs, there is a full-fledged office suite, a file manager, an antivirus, and even several pre-installed games. In general, the interface is nice and quite flexibly customizable.

Performance

The hardware platform of Alcatel One Touch Idol X is based on a single-chip system (SoC) MediaTek MT6589T. The CPU here has 4 Cortex-A7 cores running at 1.5GHz. Assistance in graphics processing is provided by the PowerVR SGX 544MP video processor. The device has 2 GB of RAM, which is quite modern. With built-in memory, the smartphone does not have a lot - 16 GB of internal memory is nominal and only about 12.7 GB of free flash array in reality. The smartphone does not support memory expansion using microSD cards (the model 6040 has such support). The problem is partly solved by the ability to connect external devices to the USB port (USB Host, USB OTG). By the way, this is the essential difference between Alcatel One Touch Idol X and its main competitor: Fly Luminor IQ453 does not have the ability to connect external devices.

According to the results of the data received during the testing, the Alcatel OT Idol X system showed quite expected average performance indicators, at the level of other devices we have previously tested, which are organized on the same platform. In nature, there is also a regular version of MediaTek MT6589 with an operating core frequency of not 1.5 but 1.2 GHz (for example, Oppo Mirror R819 is based on it), and a comparison of the results of these platforms showed a natural advantage of the MT6589T version. Well, a comparison with the closest competitor, Fly Luminor IQ453, revealed an almost absolute match of the results, which is logical, since both devices are built on the same platform.

Test results in MobileXPRT, as well as the latest versions of AnTuTu 4.x and GeekBench 3:

As for benchmarks for evaluating the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them depend significantly on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always.

Video playback

To test the "omnivorous" when playing video (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also, do not expect everything from a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it.

Format	container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Regular video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280x720 3000Kbps, AC3	Hardware+
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280x720 4000Kbps, AC3	plays fine with decoder Hardware+	Video plays fine, no sound¹
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920x1080 8000Kbps, AC3	plays fine with decoder Hardware+	Video plays fine, no sound¹

¹ Audio in MX Video Player only played after switching to software decoding or Hardware+; The regular player does not have such a setting.

We did not find the MHL interface, as well as Mobility DisplayPort in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Methodology for testing video signal playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped to determine the nature of the output frames of video files with various parameters: resolution (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps) varied. With). In tests, we used the MX Player video player in mode hardware. The test results are summarized in the table:

File	Uniformity	Passes
Screen
watch-1920x1080-60p.mp4	Fine	a lot of
watch-1920x1080-50p.mp4	Fine	a lot of
watch-1920x1080-30p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1920x1080-25p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1920x1080-24p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1280x720-60p.mp4	Fine	a lot of
watch-1280x720-50p.mp4	Fine	a lot of
watch-1280x720-30p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1280x720-25p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1280x720-24p.mp4	Fine	No

Note: If both columns Uniformity And Passes“green” ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven interleaving and dropping frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect viewing comfort. "Red" marks indicate possible problems associated with the playback of the corresponding files.

The intervals between frames (or groups of frames) alternate slightly unevenly, and in the case of files with 50 and 60 fps, some of the frames are skipped. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p), the image of the video file itself is displayed one-on-one, exactly along the border of the screen. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the extended range (that is, the range 0-255). And since most video files are encoded in the video brightness range of 16-235, the white color of such video files on the screen of this smartphone is displayed as light light gray, and the black color as dark dark gray, which clearly does not improve the image quality.

Battery life

The capacity of the lithium-ion battery installed in the Alcatel OT Idol X is small by today's standards of 2000 mAh. However, all the ultra-thin Chinese models we have tested lately are equipped with the same energy reserve - this applies to both Fly Luminor IQ453 and Oppo Mirror. The battery here, as already mentioned, is non-removable, so you can’t remove it, replace it, or take a spare with you on the road.

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at the minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness was set to 100 cd / m²) lasted about 10 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching YouTube videos in high quality (HQ) with the device lasted less than 7 hours with the same brightness level through the home Wi-Fi network - these are average figures. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone lasted just over 4 hours.

Outcome

At the moment, the official cost of Alcatel OT Idol X is set in our market within 14 thousand rubles. The competitor's price is slightly higher: Fly Luminor IQ453 now costs 15 thousand rubles, but it's hard to find anything that would make it more preferable in comparison with the hero of today's review. Is that a larger amount of internal memory. Otherwise, it turns out that Alcatel OT Idol X looks better in all respects, and even costs less. Of course, the list of competitors is not limited to these two models, however, most of them are characterized by either much worse characteristics (most often the screen is not Full HD), or a significantly higher price - 20 thousand or more.

• cute design
• comfortable dimensions
• great screen
• OTG support

• average performance
• weak graphics subsystem
• low battery life
• lack of expandable memory
• inconvenient location of the power button