• Friday, February 14, 2025

Introduction


It is very obvious that Alcatel falls behind in the race with other premium manufacturers. The thing that could definitely represent a winning combination for good sales and a general success of a particular model is definitely being unique. One thing that makes the Alcatel Idol 4 unique is virtuel reality and the goggles which are included in the box, and front facing stereo speakers. In the factory box of an Idol 4 you can find fully prepared VR goggles, high quality JBL 3.5mm in ear headphones, hard plastic case, screen protection, charging adapter and a microUSB cable. This is a very rich box, which is very generous from Alcatel. Qualcomm chipset is also present, as well as a spatious screen we'll talk about a bit later. This device comes in several colors : Gold, Dark Grey, Rose Gold and Metal Silver. Let's now see how the Alcatel's VR device performed in our tests.
 

Unboxing

Display


Good VR experience demands a good display with a high number of PPI. Alcatel opted for a FullHD 5.2“ IPS LCD display, which has ideal measures for VR. FullHD resoulution ona 5.2“ display translates to 424 PPI. It can show up to 16 million colors, and color reproduction is about average, not nearly as good as AMOLED panels. Blacks are nicely shown, but the visibility of the sunlight could definitely be better. Viewing angles are typically good. This screen is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

 

Hardware and OS


The weakest link in the setup of the Alcatel Idol 4 is – its chipset. It is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 chipset which is an octacore CPU (4 x 1.7 + 4 x 1.2 GHz). All cores are the standard Cortex A53 cores. Adreno 405 is in charge of the graphics. This chipset has never been among the best in terms of performances, and it is definitely not capable of delivering a pleasant VR experience.  The chipset has a tendency to overheat even during not too demanding use, and it's also noticeable after only 3 minutes of using the device for the VR. This can result in FPS dropdown, and the phone in general slows down, which makes both the normal and VR experience questionable. We think that the ideal chipset for this device would be the Snapdragon 810, but of course, the price dictates the performances. In our tests we have the 6055K version of the Idol 4, which is equipped with 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM (versions 2GB of RAM are also available) and 16GB storage (versions with 32GB storage are also available). Storage is expandable via microSD card up to 256GB. When it comes to sensors, the Idol 4 is equipped with an accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor i compass. A big plus for the Alcatel Idol 4 are its front facing stereo speakers. Each speaker has the power of 3.6W and provides excellent, crystal clear sound with very deep bass. WavesMaxxAudio is preinstalled, which is an application which will let you manually adjust these wonderful speakers. Props to Alcatel! Android 6.0 Marshmallow comes preinstalled on this device. Without a ton of bloatware and almost stock Android, the general impression about the firmware and the simplicity of use of the system is very good. Everything works fluently, until the Qualcomm’s chipset is put under heavy load. That’s when you notice the drop in performance and navigating through the menu becomes slower, as well as the animations between the screens.

 

Camera


One pleasant surprise we found on the Alcatel Idol 4, taking into account the price range, is definitely the camera setup. 13MP rear facing camera provides great results. Photos are sharp with low levels of noise and very well managed post-processing system which doesn't lose any important details. Some of the camera options regarding the main camera of the Idol 4 are Phase Detection Auto-Focus (PDAF), Geo-tagging, Touch-Focus, Face Detection, Panorama and HDR mode. Manual mode is also present and offers manual ISO, shutter speed, white balance and distance focus settings. Video is also pretty decent. Since 4K video is not supported on this device, video is captured in FullHD 1080p. Continuous auto-focus works very well and is sufficiently precise. Alongside the classic video capturing, the camera is also capable of taking Slow-Motion videos captured in WVGA resolution (800×480) at 120 FPS. The front facing camera is also a treat. With its 8MP, this camera provides very good results when taking photos in a well-lit environment. An LED flash, nest to the front facing camera will come in handy when shooting photos at night. Details are great and colors are very nicely reproduced, without oversaturation. Video is also captured in FullHD 1080p resolution.

Connectivity


All modern connections are supported. Alongside the 2G, 3G and 4G networks, we will remind you that this is a DualSIM device with a hybrid slot, which means that if you are going to use microSD card, you will have to “sacrifice“ one nanoSIM card slot. MicroUSB cable is used for charging and data transfer. This device is equipped with fast charging (Quick Charge 2.0), meaning that it will take around half an hour for a 60% charge.

When it comes with wireless connections, we have:

  • WiFi 802.11 with hotspot mode
  • Bluetooth v4.2
  • NFC
  • Assisted GPS (A-GPS)
  • FM radio
 

Battery


Another area where the Idol 4 failed is the battery life. With one full charge you'll barely be able to complete a day of average use (3G, browser and camera). This device comes with a non-removable Li-Ion battery with the capacity of 2610 mAh. Very quick battery consumption is especially noticeable when the device is pressured with demanding tasks which brings to overheating and energy wasting. The only thing that will definitely be of help is the fast charging, which will somewhat mitigate the weak battery.

Final words


The Alcatel Idol 4 definitely is an interesting device. We likes its design, stereo speakers blasted us away, much the same as great camera setup. Fast charging is also a very welcome addition brought from the higher class. The flaws of this device which could really be dealbreakers are poor CPU and battery performances. Poor chipset consequently brings only average, or even bad VR experience. The thing which should represent one of the key selling points and advantages of the Idol 4 is simply poorly implemented. Our advice? If you're not a passionate gamer who definitely likes great design and excellent stereo sound, the Idol 4 is a device for you. Otherwise, you'll most probably be left disappointed.

Do you like the Alcatel One Touch Idol 4? We’d like to see your opinion in the comment section below. If you have any ideas or you would like to see a specific device being reviewed soon, feel free to let us know here or on our Facebook page. If you liked this review, subscribe to our Youtube channel, like us on Facebook, and sit back and relax while we make more of the same for you.

Alcatel One Touch Idol 4 Full Specifications

Video review

Advantages and disadvantages

Reasons for and against it

great cameras
front stereo speakers with Waves MaxxAudio software
rich factory box
the device overheats
weak battery
poorly implemented VR functionality (i.e. unsuitable hardware)