Alcatel's IDOL 3 smartphone is packed with best-in-class components and software, designed with partners who are leaders in their fields. Award-winning JBL audio with two front-facing speakers and Clari-Fi technology. Technicolor Color Enhance technology. And a 13-Mpxl rear camera with a next-generation sensor. Plus, an IDOL 3 exclusive feature: it is 100 percent reversible, so users can grab their phone upside down and the IDOL 3 user interface automatically adjusts.
Idol 3 smartphone series, which lets users quickly pick up phone calls without having to check whether they are holding the device -- either the 4.7-inch version or the larger 5.5-inch model -- the right way up. The trick? It's all down to the symmetrical design consisting of a speaker and a mic at each end of the phone; and yes, you do get to use the two front-facing speakers in stereo mode for entertainment purposes.
As opposed to just squeezing in the best possible specs into a phone -- while brainstorming for what would eventually become the Idol 3. They decided to focus on one pain point: the clumsiness of picking up the phone out of the pocket or handbag, especially when your hands are already occupied while, say, cycling or carrying groceries.
"When I pick up my phone out of the pocket, chances are more like a 50-50 in terms of the orientation of the device," said CW Park, Global Design Director at Alcatel. "If you get the right orientation of the device, then you're lucky enough to receive the call directly; otherwise you take risk to fix the orientation with your hand. It's kind of like juggling on your hand. By doing that process, you have a certain level of risk of dropping your phone.
In terms of specs, the 5.5-inch Idol 3 is clearly a lot more powerful than its little sister. It comes with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615, a 64-bit octa-core chipset (1.5GHz x 4 + 1GHz x 4), to drive the high-luminosity 1080p IPS screen, LTE connectivity (Bands 1/3/7/8/20), 13-megapixel main camera (with a single LED flash), 8-megapixel front-facing camera and Android 5.0. You'll also find a 2,910mAh battery (not bad for a 7.4mm-thick phone), 16GB of internal storage, microSD expansion of up to 128GB (some regions may feature a second micro-SIM slot instead), dedicated audio DAC (AK4375) and audio amplifier (NXP's TFA9897), plus NFC to boot. This isn't quite in the same league as the upcoming Snapdragon 810 devices, but given the expected €249 (about $280) base price, contract-free price point, we won't be complaining too much. Oh, and the phone will come with a pair of JBL earphones as well.
