Alcatel Idol Alpha Review

Alcatel has brought us a very fresh model. It's name is Idol Alpha. The first thing that comes to our mind is why Alpha? Probably because of design. It comes with remarkable outfit marked with transparent plastic surfaces at the top and bottom of the phone. Alcatel Idol Alpha is one of the most pleasant phones to see these days. Frankly speaking, it's his best quality. Beside the charming look, the Idol Alpha is a mid range handset with a mid to high price.

Alcatel Idol Alpha Design

The look is interesting combination of aluminum body shell with plastic made sides. Top and bottom sides are transparent with cool feature. Beside the cool visual effect it also comes as a big LED notification light. It's useful and great to see. This interesting surface is a place for three standard capacitive buttons, which now have a new place to stay.

Alcatel Idol Alpha is a very thin phone. It measure just 7.7mm in waist, so it gives a great feel in hands. Also, the combination of materials gave just 117g in weight. Alcatel done a great design job here, and they should be proud of it. But, the thickness isn't the only thing you should consider before buying the new phone. Alcatel Idol Alpha has 4.7-inch screen, so it's pretty much asking for two-hand use. Phone alone isn't that big, so it fits almost every pocket.

Alcatel Idol Alpha Display and Interface

The 4.7-inch IPS LCD comes with 720x1280 pixels with a quite decent 312ppi. The display is not bad at all. It hides very successful pixels, which can be seen only when you try to read small fonts. That's the main difference between HD and this kind of display. The colors are vivid and very strong. Sometimes you'll have a feel they aren't much natural, and you'll probably be right. If you skip this part, the rest is ok. The brightness is fine, but due to reflection of the daylight the readability can be issue at the outdoor use.

Alcatel has loosened so much with design and has forgotten to update the installed software.The Jelly Bean (Android 4.2) isn't something we expected here. This is the mid of 2014 and the KitKit is a "must have". But, at least the UI is nice. It looks modern and minimalistic. For some it might be the right theme. For others it can look outdated. UI is easy to use and lightweight, so it doesn't make any trouble to operating of system.

Alcatel Idol Alpha Specs and Performance

This is a mid range member for sure. It's a shame that such a design hasn't paired with better hardware. Under the hood is not so speedy 1.2GHz Quad-core Mediatek processor. Honestly, it works fine. Most of the apps we use on the daily basis are peace of cake for it. But, the more demanding software can be an issue for it. This isn't true gaming beast. Most of the basic and little more advanced games are compatible with Alcatel Idol Alpha, but you will have to say goodbye to new and heavy gaming headlines.

Alcatel Idol Alpha is offering 16GB of internal storage, which is solid base for most of us. If you aren't within us, you can fill up microSD card for up to 32GB max. The phone is lacking LTE, so the potential buyers will have to settle with 3G and Wi-Fi.

Alcatel thought2.000mAh battery is sufficient for 4.7-inch. The answer is correct, but only if you are strict moderate user. More demanding users should rely on the charger, which they should carry with themselves before the bedtime.

Alcatel Idol Alpha Camera

The 13MP sensor has became a standard for any better smartphone. Alcatel Idol Alpha has one, also the front-facing 1.3MP camera. The camera interface is good and it offers a lot of shooting modes and scenes. HDR is one of them.

The photo quality is, choosing right words, very average. The colors are not equal to those from nature. They are often washed out and gray. Usually the cameras are having better performances outside, but in this case the results are almost identical. The indoors shooting is mix of not so adequate flash and a lot of noise if you turn the flash off.

The video is one step ahead. It's fluid and enriched with good colors and brightness. The HD quality isn't bad in real life and the sound recording is decent.

Alcatel Idol Alpha Verdict

This is June 2014. The Alcatel Idol Alpha costs about 370 euros. It doesn't have KitKat Android. The camera gives average results. The processor too. Something isn't just like it should be. Well, the price doesn't reflect the phone performances. I think Alcatel overpriced this phone. Why? Because for few euros more you can grab Galaxy S4 or LG G2, which are remarkably better than this interesting Alcatel's new liner. It's too bad, because Alcatel invested a lot of efforts to create such a beautiful device. Its design hasn't been accompanied by more hardware power. But, if you like this phone don't be disappointed. I'm sure the price will go down, so if you feel overpricing here too, wait few months and the Idol Alpha will be more affordable.

Photos:alcatelonetouch.com