Alcatel One Touch Idol X: characteristics, reviews, photos. Comparison with competitors. Alcatel OneTouch Idol X - Technical specifications Alcatel OneTouch Idol X

In 2004, the French telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent, or rather its division that dealt with mobile devices, merged with a similar division of the Chinese company TCL Communication, creating the common enterprise TCL & Alcatel Mobile Phones Limited (TAMP), where 55% of the shares belonged to TCL and 45% to Alcatel-Lucent. All phone manufacturing factories were moved to China. And already in 2005, TCL completely bought out the shares of TAMP and renamed the company TCT Mobile, concluding a licensing agreement that allows it to produce phones under the Alcatel brand. The company is currently developing smartphones under the TCL and ALCATEL ONETOUCH brands for the markets of Asia, Latin America, Europe and other regions. It actively cooperates with large operators and distributors. TCL Communication is one of the top ten fastest growing mobile phone manufacturing companies.

We are testing a smartphone that rightfully bears the title of flagship and meets all the canons of the market. The new product can boast the latest platform MediaTek MT6592, a 5-inch Full HD IPS display, a progressive Hi-Fi ES9018 audio decoder and a number of other equally interesting features, which we will consider in detail below. We suggest starting the review of the new product with technical characteristics:

Appearance, arrangement of elements

Generally speaking, the ALCATEL ONETOUCH IDOL X+ smartphone has a rather pleasant, well-remembered appearance. First of all, this impression is due to the extremely small frames around the display, the size of which is less than 2 mm on the sides and 14 mm on the top and bottom. In fact, they are a little thicker, given the black frame, which is only visible when the screen is active, but this still does not change the essence. The smartphone is dominated by angular shapes with curves at the extreme points.

A visual complement to the strict style is a solid plastic edging “metal-like” (the lower half is chrome-plated, the upper half is polished), encircling the body along the contour and thereby adding sophistication to the new product. The concentric pattern on the back side, diverging from the camera module, looks no less interesting.

In addition, the smartphone came out quite thin (7.9 mm) and quite light (only 125 g), although slightly longer than the LG Nexus 5. Therefore, despite the rather large diagonal of the display, it fits well in the average hand and does not feel bulky at all. The new product is available in black and white color variations.

The entire front part of the smartphone is covered with tempered glass. Manufacturer on official page indicates Corning Gorilla Glass 2 / NEG, but there is also mention of Asahi DragonTrail on the Internet. Along its contour there is a thin frame matching the color of the case, slightly rising above the glass.

Above the display are: a speaker grid, a round LED event indicator, proximity/light sensors and a front camera. Below the display - three touch buttons, which are mirrored relative to the “stock” Android design: Back, Home (holding opens Google Now) and Menu (holding opens the Manager running applications). They have a uniform white backlight and are displayed only when the screen is active. There is no way to adjust the brightness or duration of the backlight, but you can turn it off.

At the top end there is a power/lock button and a universal audio jack (mini-jack 3.5 mm). The bottom edge contains a micro-USB connector and two rather large perforated areas, under which there appear to be stereo speakers. However, there is only one speaker, and it is hidden under the left grille, while the main microphone is located under the right one.

On the side edges there are symmetrically located slots for Micro-SIM cards, covered with metal plugs. They are fixed using magnets and are quite reliable. To open the plug, you need to click on the area with a special rounded bulge. On the right side, next to the SIM card slot, there is a double volume rocker, easy to find blindly.

By the way, the smartphone is available in two versions: with one SIM card and support for microSD memory cards (model index 6043) and with two SIM cards, but without support for memory cards (model index 6043D). In addition, the differences lie in the amount of internal memory: 16 GB for the first option and 32 GB for the second. Note that we received an engineering sample for testing, so the memory in it, despite supporting two SIM cards, is only 16 GB.

On the rear non-separable side there are: a peephole for the main camera, which barely rises above the body and has a chrome-plated edging; single-section LED flash (flashlight software is present) and a mirrored ALCATEL ONETOUCH logo. The rest of the place is empty. Only at the bottom there are subtle technical and certification logos (white on a white background).

It should be noted that rear end the previous model (ALCATEL ONETOUCH IDOL X) was made of matte plastic that is resistant to fingerprints and scratches and is more pleasant to the touch. The new product is made of a less practical and somewhat slippery gloss, which actively collects fingerprints and abrasions during active use (in the white model this is not as noticeable as in the black one).

In general, the smartphone has a pleasant appearance and fits well in the hand, but the location of the power/lock button on the top end is somewhat inconvenient with such a diagonal display. It would be more successful, in our opinion, to place it on the right side, and the volume rockers on the left. And so every time you have to reach for this button or use another hand.

In general, ALCATEL ONETOUCH IDOL X+ is assembled very well: without any gaps or backlash. And thanks to the non-separable body, the new product feels monolithic, does not bend or change its geometry under moderate torsion. Smudges appear on the display, but to do this you need to press quite hard on the glass.

The ALCATEL ONETOUCH IDOL X+ smartphone is equipped with an IPS touch matrix (manufactured by Sharp), made using OGS technology (without an air gap between the components), thanks to which the image appears to be on the surface itself. The display is protected by tempered glass, which has a relatively good oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating. Additionally, this ensures fairly good and easy sliding of fingers and no accumulation of fingerprints, and those that appear are easily removed.

The resolution of the 5-inch screen is 1920 × 1080 (Full HD). At the same time, the pixel density is 440 ppi, which is more than enough to display very smooth fonts and produce a fairly detailed image overall. It is hardly possible to examine individual pixels, even with a strong desire.

The display brightness can be adjusted manually, or automatic adjustment can be enabled. The proximity sensor locks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology here allows you to process up to 10 simultaneous touches. In general, it shows very good sensitivity even to light touches (it does not respond to pressure with gloves).

In general, the ALCATEL ONETOUCH IDOL X+ display is very bright, quite contrasty, with maximum viewing angles and pleasant color reproduction. It should be noted that in the settings you can adjust the color temperature and saturation according to personal tastes. The maximum brightness is more than enough to view information on a bright sunny day, and the minimum brightness is enough for comfortable work in the dark, although the latter is somewhat higher than we would like. To summarize all of the above, we note that the display leaves a very pleasant impression and is an indisputable advantage of the new product.

As already mentioned, the smartphone is equipped with only one speaker, which is located at the bottom end. Thanks to this placement, the sound is not muffled if the gadget lies on a horizontal surface.

The multimedia speaker is quite loud and produces clear sound over almost the entire frequency range. Only when approaching maximum volume is there a slight distortion of the sound. In general, its capabilities are quite sufficient for games, watching videos, calls and notifications. In principle, it is enough for listening to music. However, it is much more pleasant to do this with headphones. The fact is that the use of a progressive Hi-Fi decoder ES9018 and a headphone amplifier Maxim9720 with support for playback in SACD 24 bit/192 kHz mode significantly improves the sound.

Activation of the Hi-Fi mode is only possible when headphones are connected and using the installed application Music. The latter has a number of useful settings, including an equalizer. The playback experience really gets better: the sound of compositions (of any genre) becomes more voluminous and rich, and the detail of individual instruments in the sound part improves.

The smartphone has a built-in radio module that allows you to listen to and record FM radio stations operating in the frequency range from 87.5 to 108 MHz. Traditionally, to turn on the radio, you must connect a headset, which is used as an antenna. A standard voice recorder is useful not only for creating audio notes, but can also record telephone conversations.

By the way, the retail version of the smartphone comes with a pretty good JBL stereo headset with in-ear headphones.

The new product supports connecting wireless audio systems via Wi-Fi, which is quite convenient and eliminates the need to get tangled in wires.

During testing of the earpiece speaker, no shortcomings were found: the quality of speech transmission is clear, moderately loud (depending on the operator and the interlocutor’s phone) and with a fairly pleasant sound transmission.

Camera

ALCATEL ONETOUCH IDOL X+, as befits a flagship, is equipped with two digital cameras. The front module has a 2 MP sensor (Sony IMX132) and a lens with an F2.2 aperture. It is capable of creating photos and videos with a resolution of 1792 × 1008 and Full HD, respectively. However, you cannot take photos while shooting video here.

The camera produces images of fairly high quality, which is useful for self-portraits and video calls, but its main drawback is the lack of autofocus (it is fixed here). The image detail is quite good. The viewing angle is quite sufficient and does not cause complaints. The modes include Auto Retouch, Collage (makes one from 4 photos, like in Photo Booths) and a set of filters.

The main camera received a 13-megapixel module (Sony IMX135) and a fairly fast lens with an F2.0 aperture. Also available is a single-section flash, autofocus, face detection, geotagging and HDR (Dynamic mode). When shooting EIS video, digital image stabilization is activated. Photos have a resolution of 4096 × 2304. Videos are shot at 1920 × 1080 (30 FPS) and are in 3gp format.

In general, the quality of the photo is pleasantly pleasing. Good detail (although sometimes slight blurring appears even under very good shooting conditions), natural color rendition, correct white balance. However, night and evening photographs without using a flash come out dark and with a fairly high amount of noise: the camera’s automatic system simply does not raise the ISO above 1096 units. IN manual mode you can set the ISO value to 1600 units, but then there is a greater likelihood of getting a blurry frame, since the smartphone processes the image from the camera with a slight delay.

As for video recording, under favorable conditions it can boast of very good quality, both in terms of detail and color reproduction. However, it’s hardly possible to shoot something acceptable in low light without using backlighting, and you can’t manually raise the ISO when shooting video. In general, the video quality is sufficient and does not cause any particular complaints: focusing is fast; details at an average level; stereo sound. However, the camera is somewhat lacking in dynamic range.

The camera software is proprietary and has a very simple and laconic appearance, made in the same style as the entire OS shell. There are few functions compared to A-brand smartphones. But the application itself works quite quickly.

Examples of photography

Video examples

Example of daytime shooting from the ALCATEL ONETOUCH IDOL X+ smartphone at 1080p resolution with basic settings

User interface

ALCATEL ONETOUCH IDOL X+ comes with a pre-installed Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 operating system, on top of which a proprietary shell is installed, which has not yet received its own name. Visually, it is very pleasant, and thanks to the use of rather stylish translucent graphic elements under “frosted glass” it brings a certain lightness to the interface. Unfortunately, nothing is known for sure about future OS updates to version 4.4 or at least 4.3.

It should be noted that not only the visual component has undergone significant changes, but also a certain number of functions. So, on the lock screen, except quick call camera and direct unlocking, you can view the weather. The solution with dividing desktops also looks quite interesting. On the left of home screen- a desktop for widgets, equipped with vertical scrolling and making it possible to place quite a lot of elements (in principle, they can be moved to other screens, but the free space there is fixed and there is no scrolling). To the right of the start screen are program icons, some of which have been carefully placed into folders by the manufacturer. The leftmost desktop is reserved for the Gallery, where pictures and photographs are displayed. New desktops are added automatically when others are no longer available free space. When you swipe up from the bottom on the initial desktop and desktops with applications, a menu opens with icons of all applications installed on the smartphone.

As we already wrote at the beginning of the review, to call the Running Application Manager, you use the Menu button, not the Home button. It can be a little confusing at first, but over time you get used to it. To close running applications that have preview, just waving from bottom to top on the corresponding program is enough.

It should be noted that there are a large number of pre-installed applications and games. For more experienced users who are used to installing everything they need on their own, this is a rather controversial decision. But for beginners and novices who are just getting acquainted with the Android OS, this is an advantage. In any case, you can easily remove most of it using the standard method. unnecessary programs and games.

The settings menu has a sufficient number of intuitive items. We can’t help but rejoice at the updated and more pleasant white design, which should appeal to most users. So, in the SIM Management item, you can assign a SIM card that will be used for the Internet, calls or SMS. It is possible to customize the type and volume of various types of signals: from input signals to alert signals, turning on and blocking the smartphone, which is much more than in the “stock” version of the OS.

Note that the new product recognizes gesture controls quite well. IN standard application You can switch tracks by simply shaking off your smartphone, and to mute the input signal, just turn it face down. Rotating the ALCATEL ONETOUCH IDOL X+ also snoozes the alarm.

Once again, we note the possibility of activating the Hi-Fi mode only in headphones and when using the Music application, as well as support for connecting a smartphone to wireless speakers via Wi-Fi channel. Additionally, there is the possibility of over-the-air software updates (FOTA) and updates from USB drives, fortunately there is support for the OTG specification.

Generally user interface subjectively has a pleasant and colorful appearance. It works quite quickly and quite smoothly.

Hardware platform and performance

ALCATEL ONETOUCH IDOL X+ is based on a powerful 8-core MediaTek MT6592 processor, created on the basis of a 28-nm HPM process using ARM Cortex-A7 design. The maximum clock speed of its processor cores is 2 GHz, and the L2 cache reaches 1 MB. The ARM Mali-450MP solution is used as integrated graphics - four clusters (cores) with a maximum clock frequency of 700 MHz. It received support for OpenGL ES 2.0 and OpenVG 1.1.

The amount of RAM is 2 GB, and the permanent memory is 16 GB (this is only true for the test sample, since the retail version with two SIM cards will have 32 GB of internal memory). It is noticeable that 12.3 GB of them are available to the user. And in the retail version with 32 GB of memory, the user has access to as much as 26.3 GB, which in both cases is one of the largest values ​​among Android smartphones. This platform supports OTG mode, which makes it possible to connect an external USB drive, keyboard and mouse when using the appropriate adapter.

Thanks to the increased clock speed of the processor cores (2.0 GHz versus 1.7 GHz), the new product was able to outperform the recently tested Impression ImSmart 2.50, built on an identical platform. Moreover, it is very close to last year’s flagships, created based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800. Note that this is only possible in applications optimized for multi-threading. In other cases, the higher-performing ARM Cortex-A9 and Cortex-A15 cores show a noticeable lead. Taking into account all of the above, we can safely say that this smartphone is one of fastest solutions on the MediaTek MT6592 platform.

In general, its performance is more than enough for almost all mobile tasks, including quite demanding resource-intensive applications and games. Dead Trigger 2 and Asphalt 8: Airborne on maximum settings work without any complaints.

Note that with prolonged active use, unpleasant heating of the case becomes noticeable, although according to subjective sensations it cannot be called critical.

Communications

The smartphone works in modern mobile networks GSM, WCDMA / HSPA+ (LTE is not available in this MediaTek platform). Work with two SIM cards is implemented according to the Dual standard SIM Dual Standby. There is only one radio module, so when talking from one SIM card, the second one will be temporarily unavailable. It should be noted that both SIM card slots are equivalent and can work in 3G networks, but not simultaneously. That is, when one SIM card works in 3G, the other is transferred to 2G. The quality of calls is at a high level: there are no interruptions or independent drops, and voice transmission is clear, although it depends on the user’s location.

A set of communication capabilities is presented Bluetooth modules 4.0 and Wi-Fi. The latter has support for 802.11 b/g/n protocols and Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Hotspot and Wi-Fi Display functions, but is only capable of operating in the 2.4 GHz band. There is also DLNA support.

Wi-Fi data transfer speed ( wired connection 100 Mbps router supporting the 802.11 n standard) reaches 50 Mbps for receiving and up to 47 Mbps for sending. Operation of modules wireless networks pretty standard: everything connects quickly and holds the connection well.

The smartphone has GPS module with A-GPS support. The quality of its work is not satisfactory: in an open area it quickly identifies about 9 satellites, or even more. Connecting to them takes a little more than half a minute, and the connection is stable with most of them.

Autonomous operation

ALCATEL ONETOUCH IDOL X+ is powered by a non-replaceable lithium-ion battery of fairly good capacity - 2500 mAh. At an average load, such a charge should be enough for a day or a day and a half of work without recharging. According to the manufacturer, the smartphone is capable of operating in music player(headset) up to 36 hours. And the talk time is up to 20 hours on a 2G network and up to 12 hours on 3G.

As a result of watching HD video using the MX Player (50% display brightness, Wi-Fi and GPS modules turned on), the device was discharged in a little more than 5.5 hours (to be precise, in 5 hours and 38 minutes). A gaming simulation using the Epic Citadel application (Guided Tour mode) with 100% display brightness and Wi-Fi and GPS modules turned on was repeated for almost 3 hours until the battery charge was exhausted. The estimated operating time of the smartphone according to the GFXBench benchmark is 171 minutes, that is, almost 3 hours.

The charging time of the battery from the supplied power supply is unknown (since our test unit arrived without the delivery kit). Charging from USB port with a base current of 1 A is about 2.5 hours.

emerged as a classic representative of the “top” segment with a pleasant and sophisticated appearance combined with high build quality. The new product can offer an excellent Full HD IPS display with maximum viewing angles and natural color reproduction, high quality sound (which was made possible thanks to the use of a progressive Hi-Fi decoder ES9018 and a Maxim9720 headphone amplifier with support for playback in SACD 24 bit/192 kHz mode), good battery life (considering the platform used), as well as a bright and quite functional proprietary OS shell. In addition, as befits a flagship, the new product boasts a fairly powerful 8-core MediaTek MT6592 processor and 2 GB of RAM. Thanks to this, the smartphone is one of the fastest on this platform and in terms of performance is very close to last year’s flagships based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 800. We should not forget about the support for two SIM cards in Dual SIM Dual Standby mode and the USB OTG specification, which makes it possible to connect an external flash drive, keyboard and mouse.

With all this, you will have to put up with the use of glossy plastic in the case with its inherent disadvantages and not the latest version of the Android OS. In addition, this smartphone is not cheap, which should be noted, but for fans of the brand and true geeks this will not be an obstacle.

Advantages:

• interesting and stylish design;
• high-quality body assembly;
• excellent Full HD IPS display with narrow side frames, protective glass and oleophobic coating;
• productive hardware platform;
• pretty good autonomy;

• the ability to choose a model with one or two SIM cards;
• high-quality sound subsystem;
• USB OTG specification support;

• bright and quite functional proprietary OS shell.

Flaws:

• easily soiled glossy body;
• lack of microSD support in the version with two SIM cards;
• not the best a new version Android OS.

We would like to thank TCL Communication for providing us with the smartphone for testing.

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Most readers probably know that the same ubiquitous Chinese are now hiding under the once European brand of Alcatel smartphones - in this case, it is the TCL company, which bought the trademark several years ago and continues to produce and sell devices under this brand. So when buying mobile equipment with the Alcatel label, you need to understand that you are no longer buying a French device, as it was once before, but a Chinese one. However, this in no way detracts from the advantages of Chinese products of this class - modern factory China is quite ready to oppose itself to HTC, Samsung and Sony, which have established themselves as leaders, and ours can serve as an example of this latest reviews fresh products of high-quality Chinese production (the list of such companies includes, first of all, 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 an “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 entirely exact copies of each other; there are also minor differences between them. However, today we are interested 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, then it is worth recalling that we have recently 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). Quite recently we reviewed another advanced chinese smartphone, sold here under the Fly brand (Fly Luminor IQ453), which turned out to be quite high-quality, interesting, but for the “Chinese” - an expensive smartphone. Users themselves on numerous forums compare this model primarily with the Alcatel One Touch Idol X - the devices have very similar characteristics, so the occasional comparison of these two models on the pages of this review will be quite natural and not accidental. It is also worth immediately noting that today’s testing involves a model with support for two SIM cards - 6040D (there is still exactly the same device in nature, only with one SIM card - OT Idol X 6040, but it supports microSD memory cards) .

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

• SoC MediaTek MT6589T, 1.5 GHz, 4 cores, ARM Cortex-A7
• GPU PowerVR SGX 544MP
• operating room Android system 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
• Touch IPS display, 5″, 1920×1080, 440 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB, inner memory 16 GB
• Communication GSM 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, point Wi-Fi access, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Dispay
• GPS, A-GPS
• Dual SIM support
• Position, proximity, lighting sensors, electronic compass
• 13 MP camera, automatic and manual focusing
• 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 package. A rectangular box made of simple, unvarnished cardboard cannot be called chic, but it does not cause rejection either. There is no lurid variety of colors, there is no overload of information either, everything is quite neat and concise.

The box contained: Charger, Micro-USB cable, wired headset and some papers. The headphones are equipped with in-ear gel ear pads and a regular, non-noodle-shaped wire that constantly tends to get tangled into a ball. No additional accessories in the form of cases or the like included in the kit flagship smartphone They didn’t invest in it at the factory, but it’s a pity - for a Chinese this device is not so cheap, it would be possible to take care of additional “goodies”.

Appearance and ease of use

In terms of its external characteristics, 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. To be honest, I liked the smartphone much more than the recently reviewed Fly Luminor IQ453: it was clearly made with a bias towards the already popular products of brands such as Apple and Sony, and the Alcatel One Touch Idol X has no claims to anyone else’s account - the design is simple, cheerful, easy to look at, direct and original, and it is precisely this independence from other people’s opinions that inspires respect.

In addition, the device, in terms of the technical arrangement of the case, is not without its own “opinion”: I really liked the way the developers implemented the method of installing the SIM card. More precisely, even two SIM cards: the monoblock case of the Alcatel One Touch Idol X 6040D has one slot-like slot embedded on both side faces, but the method of opening their covers is non-standard. There are no annoying secret buttons and keys here, and you don’t even need a paper clip. The covers of both slots open perfectly without special master keys; you just need to press on one of the edges of the cover, which has 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 fits 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, the non-glossy, matte, rough back cover, the device fits well in the palm and it stays there perfectly. Considering the recently increased standards for dimensions mobile devices, have become the norm, then the Alcatel One Touch Idol X model can even be called neat and not too big. It is definitely also quite suitable for a woman’s hand, and the design of this line of smartphones can definitely be classified as unisex.

The materials used are plastic, there is no metal here. There are two types of plastic: matte, but hard (without the soft-touch effect) on back cover and shiny lacquered on the sides. The plastic on the sides has the texture of a rough sanded material, but it still feels smooth to the touch and appears shiny due to the layer of varnish.

The back cover is non-removable, you cannot access the battery using standard 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 (6040D) it is replaced with 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 you can insert any card into the second slot.

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

There, at the top, there is also a power button, which is a noticeable disadvantage of the device - the body itself is too big for you 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 place the lock key on one of the side faces.

The landscape of the rear surface consists of a camera window that protrudes slightly from the plane, a single-section LED flash and a number of small holes in the lower part that make up the speaker grille.

The front panel is entirely covered with scratch-resistant protective glass. It is stated that here, as in Oppo smartphones, it uses not the familiar Corning Gorilla, but a Japanese competing solution called Asahi Glass Dragontrail. Let us 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 pick up the Alcatel One Touch Idol X for the first time immediately note this point.

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

There are no rubber pads, protective edges or even a hook for a wrist strap here - we are looking at a typical pampered city dweller, designed for use in “greenhouse” conditions.

And finally, traditionally, about color options: this smartphone, unlike the Fly Luminor IQ453, presented in only one color, black, has a much more diverse range of body colors. At foreign exhibitions there are samples of almost all the colors of the rainbow, but on our market, apparently, only three main ones are officially presented: 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.

Screen

The Alcatel One Touch Idol X smartphone is equipped with an IPS touch matrix measuring 62x110 mm with a diagonal of 127 mm (5 inches), a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels (which gives a very high pixel density of 440 ppi).

The display brightness 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 not very popular, but, nevertheless, a noticeable difference from the Fly Luminor IQ453, which, for some reason, only has five-finger control. The smartphone also has a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear.

Detailed examination using measuring instruments conducted by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

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

When displaying a white field in full screen maximum value brightness 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 ensure excellent readability even on a sunny day outdoors. True, in complete darkness, the minimum brightness may seem excessive. Eat automatic adjustment brightness by the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front camera). IN automatic mode When external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness is reduced to 108 cd/m² (too much), in an artificially lit office, the brightness is set to 206 cd/m² (acceptable), in a brightly lit environment (corresponding to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight light) increases 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. On reduced brightness There is some brightness modulation, but its amplitude is small, and the frequency is tens of kilohertz, so the flickering of the screen cannot be visually seen, and the presence of such modulation cannot in any way affect the comfort of working with this smartphone.

IN this smartphone An IPS type matrix is ​​used. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

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

Black and white field:

From this photo we can judge that the Alcatel smartphone maintains color balance and that its brightness drop is slightly less than that of the LG D686.

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

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

When viewed from a perpendicular perspective, 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 halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 27 ms. The gamma curve constructed using 32 points did not reveal a blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows, and the index of the approximating power function is 2.05, which is lower than the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma curve noticeably deviates from the power-law dependence:

Due to the aggressive dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image (in light images the brightness increases, in dark images it decreases), the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out in sequential displaying shades of gray on the entire screen. For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining contrast and response time, comparing black illumination at angles - when displaying special templates, and not single-color fields in the entire screen. As an example, we present a graph of the transition from a black field to a white field and back for the case of displaying fields in full screen (100%) and when alternating display of black and white fields on half the screen (50/50% line, average brightness does not change and dynamic adjustment does not work ):

You can see how the brightness is adjusted stepwise and that within 0.5 s it does not reach the maximum value.

Color gamut is sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters mix the components with each other to a moderate extent. 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, although higher than the standard 6500 K, but the deviation from the spectrum of a completely black body (delta E) is significantly less than 3, which is considered an excellent indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and delta E change little from hue to hue, which has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (Dark areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since there the color balance does not have of great importance, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

The screen has a high maximum brightness and an effective anti-glare filter, so you can use the smartphone 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, although automatic brightness adjustment changes the brightness in accordance with external conditions, in a not very bright environment it sets the brightness slightly higher than a sufficient level, which will lead to some waste of energy on 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 stability of black color to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen, sRGB coverage and a fairly good color balance. In total, and at the moment, this gives a top-level screen.

Sound

In terms of sound, the smartphone is average. Both speakers produce a fairly clean sound, but without noticeable presence. low frequencies a sound 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 an 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 line who hear them. We carefully checked our copy many times for such clicks: as a result, none of the interlocutors listening on the other side were able to detect any extraneous sounds. The sound is clear, maybe slightly reminiscent of ringing metal, but completely free of foreign “impurities”. Obviously, this is due to a software flaw: perhaps users who discover such a problem should bother updating the firmware or take the device for repair, because this problem, as it turned out, is not widespread.

By the way, Alcatel smartphone offers the ability to record a conversation from a line using standard 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 icon with the image of a magnetic tape right in the call list opposite 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 is worth noting that Fly Luminor IQ453 can also record telephone conversations of both parties. Alcatel One Touch Idol X also has a separate regular voice recorder, which is used only for creating audio notes, and there is also an FM radio.

Camera

Alcatel One Touch Idol X comes standard with two modules digital cameras. Front-camera it has a 2 megapixel sensor, takes photos with a maximum resolution of 1792×1008, and can shoot video at a maximum resolution of 720p (the 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 you must switch to the maximum resolution (13 megapixels) 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, falling slightly towards the left edge of the frame.
	The grass and leaves are worked out quite well. The number plate of the nearest car is clearly visible.
	The branches are quite clear, albeit due to sharpening.
	In the center of the frame, small details are worked out well, although sharpness decreases towards the edges.
	The license plate of the car that is not closest is clearly visible. Noise is processed quite moderately.
	Macro photography is quite acceptable if you know where the focus is.

	Lighting ≈1300 lux. The camera does a good job.
	Lighting ≈460 lux. When the lighting deteriorates, everything is still not bad.
	Lighting ≈240 lux. With a further decrease in lighting, the situation worsens significantly.
	Lighting ≈240 lux, flash. The outbreak hardly changes 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 shortcomings for cameras on inexpensive smartphones are noticeable: aggressive noise reduction in places, noticeable sharpening, a drop in sharpness towards the edges of the frame. The flash is also not very well adjusted and does not allow you to shorten the shutter speed, but nevertheless, it helps in the absence of lighting. The center sharpness of the camera is very good.

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

The camera can shoot video, does it without visible delays or artifacts in the image, and there is only one shooting mode and resolution to choose from. An example of a test video is presented below. Videos are saved in a 3GP container (video - MPEG-4 Visual (Main@L4), sound - AAC LC, 128 Kbps, 48 ​​kHz, 2 channels).

• Video No. 1 (75.9 MB, 1920×1080)

There are very few settings for controlling shooting - mostly the capabilities are left to automation. Shooting can be done either by clicking on a virtual icon on the screen or by using the hardware volume rocker - at this moment it works as a photo button. You cannot take photos while recording video here.

Telephone and communications

The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks; There is no support for fourth generation networks (LTE). In general, the network capabilities of the smartphone today are minimal: the 5 GHz Wi-Fi band 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 observed during testing. The screen is large, so drawing letters and numbers on virtual keyboards is quite comfortable to control. The layout and location 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 constantly switch the layout from letters to numbers and back.

The implementation of working with two SIM cards is standard for the platform: there can be only one active conversation, any of the cards can work in both 3G and 2G modes. In a separate settings section, you can assign default conditions to each SIM card so that, for example, voice communication is always carried out using the first one, and data transmission is always carried out through the second SIM card. In the case of the device officially sold on the Russian market, the first slot is locked to work only with MTS SIM cards, however, users have already learned to bypass this limitation 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 interface, which significantly changes the appearance and introduces noticeable changes to the internal structure and the entire organization of work with the system as a whole. Here, like many Chinese products, there is no application menu as such, and all the icons of installed applications are simply placed on the desktop, 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 topic. 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 for managing gestures has been added to the settings menu. Using familiar manipulations, you can, for example, reduce the ringer volume, turn off the alarm clock, 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 flexible in customization.

Performance

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

Based on the data obtained during testing, the Alcatel OT Idol X system demonstrated quite expected average performance indicators, at the level of other devices we have previously tested, which operate 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 (on which, for example, the Oppo Mirror R819 is based), and a comparison of the results of these platforms showed a natural advantage of the MT6589T version. Well, a comparison with its closest competitor, Fly Luminor IQ453, revealed an almost absolute coincidence of 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 assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (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 Internet. 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 options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it.

¹ MX Video Player only played sound after switching to software decoding or Hardware+; The standard player does not have this setting

We did not find the MHL interface, like 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 “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames/ With). In tests we used the MX Player video player in Hardware. The test results are summarized in the table:

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes“green” ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the 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 50 and 60 fps files, some 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-to-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 luminance range of 16-235, the white color of such video files appears as light light gray on the screen of this smartphone, and the black color appears as dark dark gray, which obviously 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 ultra-thin Chinese models that we have tested recently are equipped with the same amount of energy - this applies to both the Fly Luminor IQ453 and the Oppo Mirror. The battery here, as already mentioned, is non-removable, so you cannot remove it, replace it, or take a spare one with you on the road.

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

Bottom line

Currently, the official price of Alcatel OT Idol X is set in our market at around 14 thousand rubles. The competitor's price is slightly higher: Fly Luminor IQ453 now costs 15 thousand rubles, but it is difficult to find anything that would make it more preferable in comparison with the hero of today's review. Perhaps a larger amount of built-in memory. Otherwise, it turns out that Alcatel OT Idol X looks better in all respects and is even cheaper. Of course, the list of competitors is not exhausted by 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 and above.

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

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

Mobile phones sold under the Alcatel brand have long been familiar to domestic buyers. Recently, quite decent smartphones have appeared in their line, which can compete with devices from well-known manufacturers. For example, Alcatel One Touch Idol X.

It's no secret that these gadgets are produced by the Chinese company TCL. Whether this is an advantage or a disadvantage is a moot point. Currently, many smartphones produced in the Middle Kingdom are excellent, balanced devices running Android. Surprisingly, it is the gadgets of this manufacturer that can easily compete with brands such as HTC, Sony, Samsung.

Alcatel One Touch Idol X has a prototype that is being produced only for the domestic market. The Chinese sell it under their own name - TCL. However, within the framework of this article, we will consider the European version of the device, which is officially sold in Russia.

Equipment

The first impression of a gadget is formed by its packaging. Here the manufacturer did not skimp on advertising. The front panel of the box shows the smartphone from a favorable angle. Above it is the model name. Naturally, the manufacturer mentioned the brand affiliation.

When disassembling a set of accessories, the buyer will not encounter any unusual elements. Currently, all manufacturers use approximately the same configuration. Alcatel One Touch Idol X is no exception. Along with the device, a wired stereo headset, an AC adapter, a USB cable, and a 2000 mAh battery are sold. Looking at these elements, you can notice that they correspond to the entry-level segment. Of course, there is documentation in which the user will find an instruction manual and a warranty card.

Those who have already purchased a smartphone noticed that the manufacturer did not include a case. Alcatel One Touch Idol X has a completely plastic body, so purchasing protective accessories is quite important. The use of impact-resistant glass - Dragontrail - was a bonus. Although it will protect the screen, it is still recommended to use a special film. It is not included in the kit, so you must purchase it additionally. Devices with integrated memory of 8 GB have a slot for a flash drive. However, the external storage does not come with the phone.

Design Features

Externally, the Alcatel One Touch Idol X smartphone looks solid and presentable. Its body consists of straight, clear lines with barely rounded corners. 80% of the front panel is occupied by the screen. The frame around it is quite narrow - 2.4 mm. The only thing is that there are black stripes at the top and bottom, which serve as a place to place important elements. For example, above the screen there is a front camera “eye”, a standard earpiece hole, and sensors. There are three control buttons at the bottom. They are sensory. And most importantly, the developers used backlighting, thanks to which the keys can be easily recognized even in the dark.

On the back cover at the top there is a main camera lens. Below it there is a single-position LED flash. The output speaker grille is located in the lower right corner.

As mentioned above, the body of the Alcatel One Touch Idol X is entirely made of plastic. Thanks to this, the weight of the gadget is only 130 g with dimensions of 141 × 68 × 6.9 mm.

As for the connectors and mechanical buttons, they are located on the side faces and ends. The USB port and microphone are on the bottom, and the headphone/speaker jack is on the top. The audio jack is standard; most equipment does not require an adapter. The lock and volume keys are located on the right side.

Hardware "stuffing"

What do most buyers pay attention to when buying Alcatel One Touch Idol X? Processor characteristics. This criterion is quite important, since the phone is a kind of mini-computer. The device is equipped with a MediaTek brand chipset that is quite good by modern standards. It is based on four cores.

The computing modules use the basic Cortex-A7 architecture. The MT-6589T processor provides high performance, during which the core can be overclocked to 1500 MHz. At the moment, in this segment, such indicators are considered quite high.

Considering that the gadget was released in 2013, it easily coped with the most complex tasks, running any resource-intensive applications and games. However, at the moment, the only thing it cannot do is software that is developed for 64-bit platforms. In this smartphone, the chipset is configured only for 32-bit computing. If the buyer sets tasks such as high-quality video display, music playback, surfing the Internet, then all of them are performed flawlessly by the device.

Graphics accelerator

An equally important indicator of the high functionality of a gadget is the video card. In this device, the developers used the Power VR SGX544MP model. Just three years ago she could cope with any task. But when it comes to modern games that require high performance, the graphics accelerator is simply not enough to run them. According to many users, nowadays a video card allows you to easily solve most tasks. The restrictions only apply to games, so you will have to be content with mid-level applications.

Memory

When reviewing the Alcatel One Touch Idol X, it is imperative to pay attention to the memory characteristics. Despite the fact that there are several modifications of this model, the developers used the same amount of RAM in all of them. It is 2 GB. Initially, system processes occupy about 700 MB. The rest of the storage can be used to work with additional software.

As for the integrated memory, in the version with one SIM card its volume is only 8 GB. The developers have included a slot for a memory card. The device supports 32 GB flash drives. Models that work with two SIM cards have 16 gigabytes of built-in memory. This modification does not provide a slot for an external drive.

Screen Features

What kind of image will Alcatel One Touch Idol X please? The display is made using modern OGS technology. Thanks to it, the picture is displayed on the screen in maximum quality. There are no complaints about the viewing angles, since the image is practically not distorted when tilted 180 degrees. Currently, such displays can rarely be found in mid-range devices, not to mention the budget segment.

The main element of the smartphone is its 5-inch screen. The display resolution is still relevant today. Even now there are few smartphones that can boast of 1920x1080 px.

To protect the screen, the manufacturer used an analogue of Gorilla Glass - Dragontrail. This is a protective glass that is not afraid of impacts and can withstand mechanical loads of various levels. You will also be pleased with the presence of an oleophobic coating. Thanks to it, owners will not have to constantly deal with fingerprints.

Alcatel One Touch Idol X: camera specifications

The Idol X gadget from Alcatel does not deserve any comments in matters with optics. The main chamber was manufactured using modern technologies. It is based on a 13-megapixel sensor. Its manufacturer is a leader in this field. We are talking about Sony. Most buyers have already dealt with its products, leaving only positive reviews. Additional features such as flash and autofocus have been used to increase quality. This camera can be used to record movies. The speed per second does not exceed 30 frames. The maximum resolution is 1080p.

Buyers did not have much interest in the front camera, since it is equipped with a 2-megapixel matrix. It can be used mainly only for video calls. For a high-quality selfie, this resolution is no longer enough.

Battery specifications

All the characteristics described above can only be considered advantages. However, it is worth talking about the weaknesses of the Alcatel One Touch Idol X. The battery installed by the developers will not please the owners. Its capacity is scanty according to modern requirements - only 2000 mAh. It is based on lithium-ion technology. If you study the battery indicators declared by the manufacturer, then according to them, when working with second-generation networks, the device will be discharged after 320 hours, and when connected to 3G, the time will decrease by 80 hours.

Users in their reviews claim that with maximum savings, the gadget can work for up to 2 days. If you use all its functionality to the maximum, then the battery life will only last for daylight hours. All owners are recommended to purchase an external battery. Thanks to it, you can avoid situations where the battery suddenly runs out completely at the most inopportune moment. It is important to understand that different functionality processes consume different amounts of energy.

Communications

The One Touch Idol X smartphone is equipped with all the necessary communications. Users are provided with Wi-Fi support as a priority method for sharing data. A USB cable is used for wired information transfer. The device has a connector, thanks to which you can not only charge the device, but also connect to computers, laptops and other equipment. Bluetooth is provided for using wireless data exchange methods. You can also use it with a special headset.

3G support provides not only making calls and sending messages, but also connecting to the Internet. In this case, mobile operators provide high-quality speed, thanks to which you can make video calls on the Alcatel One Touch Idol X (the front camera is designed for this purpose). The device also supports the GSM standard. It is designed to quickly determine the location of the device. And of course, the developers have provided the ability to connect a wired speaker system. For this purpose, the gadget has a 3.5 mm port.

Software

The developers used the most common operating system as a platform. We're talking about Android. As for the version, the device runs on a rather outdated version - 4.2. Many users say that this causes some inconvenience, since there are restrictions on installing applications. But if we take into account that the processor runs on a 32-bit system, then this version is quite sufficient to ensure the operation of many non-resource-intensive programs. All owners, without exception, can use international social networks and all Google services without exception. And for installing additional content there is a special Play Market store.

The manufacturer used its proprietary shell on top of the operating system. It provides an initial set of applications - an organizer, calendar, alarm clock, calculator, etc. To expand the functionality of the gadget, the user can always download additional software from the Internet.

Problem solving

According to most users, this smartphone model boasts a high level of reliability. If there were any breakdowns, they constitute a very small percentage. Most often, users encounter freezes. In most cases, this is not typical for the Alcatel One Touch Idol X. The firmware of the original version, as a rule, works without failures. However, isolated cases still occur. To do this, users are advised to contact a service center to update their device. The most “advanced” do it themselves. However, you need to understand that changing the firmware yourself can lead to complete failure of the gadget. Therefore, such actions are done at your own peril and risk.

Briefly about the price

Due to the fact that this phone model has already been discontinued, it can only be purchased from stock. As a rule, users choose online stores for this. Undoubtedly, you can make some pretty good purchases there. However, buyers are advised to be very careful as the Idol X is very similar to the Alcatel One Touch Idol X Mini. They have the same design, but the latest version is slightly inferior in characteristics and size. Naturally, this is reflected in the price.

The full-fledged Idol X model started at a cost of about $250 (RUB 14,000). In three years, new devices have “pushed” the smartphone to the entry-level segment. However, it’s hard to say that the Alcatel One Touch Idol X has dropped significantly in price. The price is currently around $125-150 (RUB 7,000-9,000). When compared with competitors, there are devices in this price category that have better technical equipment, for example in the Sony and Xiaomi lines.

The "Wow" effect has been achieved!

14.12.2013

Telephone and communications

The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks and copes with it with a bang; there is no support for fourth generation networks (LTE). You can organize a wireless point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels; there is a Wi-Fi Direct mode; NFC and MHL are absent.

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

On the very first version of the firmware, clicks were detected that the interlocutor heard, but after the update on October 10, the clicks disappeared. Now during a conversation you can hear your interlocutor perfectly and he, in turn, hears you perfectly. The volume of the speaker is sufficient to freely hear the voice from the handset even in a noisy place.

It is also possible to record a conversation out of the box. Both talking parties are recorded, the recording of the conversation can be listened to by clicking on the icon with the image of a magnetic tape right in the call list opposite a specific call with time and date - everything is organized extremely conveniently.

The Internet works quickly both when connected via 3G and Wi-Fi. No crashes or slowdowns when scrolling.

Battery

The battery here is not of the highest capacity (alas). A total of 2000 mAh powers the smartphone with very intensive use for an average of about 8 hours. To be precise:

Contents of delivery:

• Telephone
• Charger with USB cable
• Instructions
• Wired stereo headset

Positioning

In the summer of 2013, Alcatel made a small breakthrough - they created a model that was almost ideal in terms of price/quality ratio, but at the same time offered maximum performance among all second-tier companies. Idol X combined a thin body with a high-quality screen, a 13-megapixel camera, and a fairly capacious battery. The device was released at a price of about 14,000 rubles, which became the most affordable offer in its class. An amazing situation arose, companies with large sales volumes, for example, Fly, were forced to adjust prices down and take Idol X into account.

Within six months, the cost of Idol X dropped to 12,000 rubles, which made it even more attractive. But the company decided that it was time to update the flagship, and carried out a number of cosmetic works - the new phone received an eight-core processor, a number of software changes and a price similar to its predecessor at launch. In my opinion, this device is suitable for those who are looking for productive solutions and understand why they are needed, and most importantly, how they plan to use this power. But there is no big difference with just Idol X; the average consumer should look at the old model - it is cheaper, more profitable and works almost the same. The company, realizing this, added quite a lot of additional functions to the software. But you can notice this only by deeply studying the device and delving into its settings. Currently this device is the flagship of Alcatel.

Design, dimensions, control elements

It has become a tradition for Alcatel to release several versions of the phone - for example, there is a single-SIM device with a memory card. A model with 32 GB of internal memory and two SIM cards will be supplied to Russia; there is no slot for memory cards. There is also a 16 GB version for this device, but they refused to launch it in Russia. This was the one in the review, but this device does not have any fundamental difference with what will be supplied. The difference in memory capacity does not in any way affect the performance of the device in use.

The first thing that catches your eye is the refusal to use matte and multi-colored plastic, as in Idol X. Here we see ordinary, glossy plastic, which is incredibly reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy S4. Of course, it was necessary to make the design a little different, but it was definitely not worth giving up the successful discovery of the previous device, which consisted of good, wear-resistant plastic. This is what the device and its back looked like.

Phone size – 140.4x69.1x7.9 mm, weight – 130 grams. The slim body fits well in the hand. The case is monolithic, and as a result, the battery cannot be replaced. On the left side there is a slot for SIM card number one; it has a microSIM form factor, just like the second one. I like the way the connector cover flips up, it's hinged and made of alloy. The design gives the impression of being reliable and durable, but the main thing is that it is convenient in everyday life.

On the right side there is a paired volume key. The bottom end is occupied by a microUSB connector, but at the top we see a 3.5 headset jack, as well as an on/off button.

On the front surface above the screen there is a light sensor, and a proximity indicator right there. There are no mechanical buttons, as on previous devices, these are three touch keys. For those who have used Samsung devices in recent years, it will be unusual that the return key is moved to the left, that is, the location is mirrored.

On the back surface there is a 13.1-megapixel camera lens, and there is also an LED flash that can be used as a flashlight. You can also see the speaker hole at the bottom.

Display

The phone has a 5-inch IPS matrix with FullHD resolution of 1080x1920 pixels, which is still atypical for most second-tier manufacturers. The screen is covered with DragonTrail glass, and an oleophobic coating is also applied to it; fingerprints are not so noticeable.

The viewing angles are maximum, the brightness is excessive, which forces you to turn it up to half, otherwise the white color will be overexposed. There is a light sensor that can adjust the backlight automatically. In the screen settings, you can select the color scheme, this is a fine adjustment of colors.

The screen fades in the sun, but not much, and remains readable. The screen type is capacitive, supports up to 5 simultaneous presses.

Alcatel emphasizes that this model has a very thin frame around the screen (zero frame). In fact, the distance is 2.4 mm, which is extremely small, and visually it seems that the screen occupies the entire space from edge to edge.

The screen is completely identical to that in Idol X, where there could be no complaints about it; it is a very high-quality matrix, and it remains one of the best in its segment.

Battery

The battery is non-removable, lithium polymer (Li-Pol), capacity – 2500 mAh. According to the manufacturer, the device operates on average 12 hours in talk mode in 3G and 20 hours in 2G, and in standby mode - up to 320 and 240 hours, respectively. Music playback time is 36 hours.

With normal use of the device (an hour of calls, two hours of music, about an hour of social networks, several photos), it is quite enough for daylight hours. With less load per day. In the most difficult scenario, it will work with two SIM cards until 5-6 pm. This is quite good, since the Galaxy S4 with a more capacious battery runs out much faster due to the gluttony of the processor; here it is not so powerful, but it lasts longer. The time to fully charge the battery is 2.5 hours (up to 90 percent - 1 hour 45 minutes).

Interestingly, the battery capacity has increased from 2000 to 2500 mAh, but this is impossible to notice. In all modes, the operating time remains the same.

Memory and memory card

The smartphone is equipped with 2 GB of RAM, on average about 1 GB is free after booting the device. The system occupies 3.3 GB of memory. The single-SIM model has a slot for a microSD memory card. The maximum volume is 32 GB.

Performance

It uses the MediaTek MT6592 chipset, eight-core processor, 2 GHz, ARM Cortex-A7. The graphics accelerator is Mali 450. This is a fairly powerful system, but by no means a record holder, even in synthetic tests.

You can run almost any complex toys or applications on your smartphone.

Information from various applications and performance tests:

Camera

The camera interface has been redesigned to simplify it; you can turn on HDR mode, get a panorama, turn off the flash, but that’s all. You can take pictures by pressing the screen, focusing occurs at the point of pressing, then the device takes a picture. Second-tier manufacturers do not yet have such camera modules, so it was interesting to compare it with the Galaxy S4. Unfortunately, no miracle happened - the quality of the matrix in Idol X+ is much worse, which can be seen in the detail of the photographs; they often turn out blurry even during the day. But when shooting indoors, the camera of this device completely floats, noise appears, when shooting with flash, the picture is illuminated, and the focus is mercilessly wrong, turning the picture into soap. In a word, 13 megapixels here is more of a marketing ploy than a reality in comparison with the Galaxy S4 or Sony Xperia Z – the camera is much weaker. However, look for yourself at examples of pictures from this device.

Video recording is supported in 1080p resolution, up to 30 frames per second.

The final conclusion about the camera is that it is typical for budget devices; there are not enough stars in the sky. Many second-tier manufacturers offer high-quality 8-megapixel modules, which shoot very well, but in pursuit of digital they risked installing another module, which resulted in not very good photographs.

Communication capabilities

The phone operates in 2G (GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and 3G (850/900/2100 MHz) cellular networks. Available Bluetooth version 4.0 for file and voice transfer. There is a wireless connection Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n. The devices, of course, can be used as an access point (Wi-Fi Hotspot) or modem. USB 2.0 (High-Speed) is used for file transfer and data synchronization. There is a not very popular Wi-Fi Display function, when you can transmit a signal from your phone to another device via Wi-Fi. Traditionally, there is a Wi-Fi Direct function. There is also a remote Wi-Fi display option.

Software features – Android 4.2.2

In Idol X+, just like in its predecessor, Alcatel uses its own software shell, which can be perceived ambiguously by many, since people often prefer “bare” Android and are quite satisfied with its capabilities.

Many functions have been heavily redesigned; Alcatel has added a number of programs that can be downloaded for free anyway, but the fact that they are pre-installed makes the device more interesting for inexperienced users. Let's start talking about the shell with the lock screen.

Without unlocking the device, you can view the weather forecast for the current day. Let's scroll the screen to the right, there will be a calendar and a to-do list for the current day (entering to-dos or viewing another day will not work). You can also view the status bar; it is also available when the screen is locked, if there is no security key or digital code.

The fundamental difference between Alcatel's approach and other shells is that they decided to abandon a separate menu for all applications. On the main screen there is a weather widget and several icons. This is the starting point. We flip the screens to the left, and there will be widgets that you install. Let's go to the right, and these will be program icons, also some programs have already been put into folders, this was done by the manufacturer. You get used to such an organization instantly; it is somewhat logical and definitely has a right to life.

The settings menu now has its own settings, for example, a super saving mode for the battery. The menu itself has also been redesigned in white colors, which is quite nice. In our video, I talk about most of the applications that are in the device, and I don’t want to repeat what has changed compared to previous models.

Next, I could dwell on each program and describe it, but I don’t see much point in this. This is a smartphone, and this software is usually known, or I touched on it in the video. So see the screenshots below.

Another part that I want to describe separately is the multimedia capabilities. The device has support for unconverted video; the chipset plays 1080p perfectly, unlike its predecessor. In terms of music formats, there is support for FLAC, in addition to the usual MP3 and a number of others.

The HiFi Sound mode has appeared, it makes the sound in the headphones more voluminous. I liked him.

Impression

In terms of call quality, there are no complaints about the device, the call volume is excellent, you can hear it even from your bag. Due to the thickness of the case, the vibration alert feels unusual and you often don’t notice it. There are no complaints about the quality of speech transmission.

In March, the device will appear in Russia at a price of 14,990 rubles, it does not look extremely low, especially compared to the cost of the original Idol X, for which they are asking 12,000 rubles. Initially it was assumed that the cost would be 13,990 rubles, but the rise in the dollar exchange rate mixed up all the cards. The device is interesting because it corrects shortcomings in multimedia, plays 1080p video well, and plays music more pleasantly. But other than that, you won't notice any significant differences.

I didn’t like the abandonment of matte plastic in favor of glossy one at all, and the initial choice of white and black cases was also not encouraging. The disadvantages that may make you think is the lack of a memory card; many may need it, unlike the slot for a second SIM card. Good, high-quality screen, balanced functionality. In terms of price/quality ratio, this device does not stand out that much, unlike its predecessor. I would advise you to look at it, and keep this model in mind - it is not so interesting for the vast majority, rather, an object of adoration for geeks.