At the time of purchase, I was interested in design, the only +
3 years ago
Beautiful design Good screen resolution, you can watch movies in high quality. I really liked the backlight in the glass inserts, it is convenient to determine, without turning on the screen, the presence of missed messages, notifications from social networks, etc.
3 years ago
Stylish, thin.
3 years ago
1. Pretty nice design. 2. Many write that a small battery. I had enough for the whole day. Perhaps because the screen was used at minimum brightness and was turned off mobile transmission data.
3 years ago
Very beautiful design. The gold color looks great
4 years ago
Juiciest photos with the right lighting during the day, at night it’s not an option at all. An excellent camera - you can still look for another one in budget models. The screen is bright for HD.
4 years ago
Original appearance, display, thin
4 years ago
Transparent inserts
5 years ago
Cute design, smart, does not hang, does not bug, does not lag, excellent value for money, bright display.
5 years ago
1) Lightweight 2) Cameras are good 3) Bright display 4) Excellent touch screen 5) Good case, with a metal rim 6) Very good stuffing
Lags, the speaker broke terribly quickly and the screen sat down. battery lasts for 3 hours.Purchase=error
3 years ago
The speaker sat down very quickly, literally a month later it was no longer audible calls. Under warranty they did repairs, but a week later everything was back as it was. After 1.5 years of use, the speaker did not work at all. Intermittent freezes Gets hot after prolonged use
3 years ago
It discharges quickly, gets very hot, the OS has a lot of superfluous. Weak speaker, weak antenna. The camera is not the best.
3 years ago
1. There is no 3.5 mini jack. If you are a fan of listening to music, but you do not have a player, then I believe this will be a critical point for you, because. for headphones, you need to use an adapter (from mini jack to micro-usb), which is not only difficult to find, but also this adapter will often break. 2. I did not like the design of the launcher and icons. For this reason, I had to install the Yandex shell, and therefore I had to sacrifice the speed of the phone. In general, 1 GB of RAM for a phone (and for a tablet) is very small. (This item is my subjective opinion). 3. Every time you turn on wi-fi, the phone starts to slow down terribly. And yes, it slows down intermittently.
3 years ago
The battery is very weak does not last until the evening and the processor is very weak
4 years ago
The battery drains quickly. Slow and dumb.
4 years ago
No 3.5 jack (headphone out)
4 years ago
1. Battery for 4-6 hours of work 2. After a week, the screen stopped turning off during a conversation, that is, if you bring it to your ear, the buttons are randomly pressed. You can only speak in speaker mode. 3. Inhibits wasps. 4. The notebook is messy, the interface leaves much to be desired. To remove the contact will have to strain your brains. 5. Literally everything is buggy.
5 years ago
The speaker is not loud, the headset is of poor quality, the charge lasts about 2 days, I expected a little more for a new phone, the camera, in my opinion, does not justify the declared 13.1, the settings show 10 megapixels, in my opinion no more than 8 megapixels., but this is purely subjective , for whom the photo is not so important, they can safely take it, because for the money that it costs you simply cannot find the best, again IMHO. Yes, I almost forgot there is no 3.5 mm jack., the headset is connected via an adapter to micro USB, + I'm used to the lock button on top and it's on the side (not immediately located), but these are all trifles)
5 years ago
1) Sound, quiet rear speaker 2) Battery, with active use, half a day.
TFT IPS- High-quality liquid crystal matrix. It has wide viewing angles, one of the best indicators of color reproduction quality and contrast among all those used in the production of displays for portable equipment.
Super AMOLED- if a conventional AMOLED screen uses several layers, between which there is an air gap, then in Super AMOLED there is only one such touch layer without air gaps. This allows you to achieve greater screen brightness with the same power consumption.
Super AMOLED HD- differs from Super AMOLED in a higher resolution, thanks to which it is possible to achieve 1280x720 pixels on a mobile phone screen.
Super AMOLED plus- this is a new generation of Super AMOLED displays, differs from the previous one by using more sub-pixels in a conventional RGB matrix. The new displays are 18% thinner and 18% brighter than the older PenTile displays.
AMOLED- an improved version of OLED technology. The main advantages of the technology are significantly reduced power consumption, the ability to display a large color gamut, a smaller thickness and the ability of the display to bend a little without the risk of breaking.
retina- display with a high pixel density, designed specifically for Apple technology. Pixel density per Retina displays is such that individual pixels are indistinguishable to the eye at a normal distance from the screen. This provides the highest image detail and greatly improves the overall viewing experience.
Super Retina HD- The display is made using OLED technology. The pixel density is 458 PPI, the contrast ratio reaches 1,000,000:1. The display has an extended color gamut and unrivaled color accuracy. Pixels in the corners of the display are anti-aliased at the sub-pixel level, so borders don't distort and look smooth. Super Retina HD reinforcement layer is 50% thicker. Breaking the screen will be harder.
Super LCD is the next generation of LCD technology and features improved features compared to earlier LCD displays. Screens have not only wide viewing angles and better color reproduction, but also reduced power consumption.
TFT- A common type of liquid crystal displays. With the help of an active matrix, controlled by thin-film transistors, it is possible to significantly increase the speed of the display, as well as the contrast and clarity of the image.
OLED- organic electroluminescent display. Consists of a special thin-film polymer that emits light under the influence of an electric field. This type of display has a large margin of brightness and consumes very little power.
But the manufacturer managed to think about the fact that the backlight can become a source of discomfort - in the smartphone settings, you can choose which events the model will respond to with light, as well as reduce or increase the brightness of the illumination. Well, or just choose a schedule for turning off your smartphone for the night. Light sleepers will have to hide the device under their pillow or get rid of the backlight.
The third thing that attracts attention is the metal edging. Thanks to her, the smartphone is pleasant to hold. In terms of design, the model is beautiful. But it caused some shortcomings.
First, it is the lack of an audio output. Due to the presence of an adapter in the kit, this does not result in a problem, but listening to music or watching a movie with headphones during charging will not work. And here is what the package looks like.
The box in which the smartphone is delivered deserves special attention. It's metal and so unique. It looks nice, but I can imagine how much inconvenience it causes during transportation.
Secondly, specifically in our (already “boxed”) copy, there were gaps between the case and the metal edging. Small, but still.
In general, the body of the smartphone Alcatel One Touch Idol Alpha seemed to me very attractive and worthy of attention. Attracts the views of others. But two copies passed through our editorial office - one beautiful and almost untouched. And the second - which was specially used for wear. The transparent plastic inserts were so scratched that it was painful to look at. It turns out that this model will need to be handled more carefully so that it pleases the eye with its appearance for a long time.
And what about his screen?
I rate the quality of the Alcatel OneTouch Idol Alpha screen highly. It is perfectly calibrated: the color temperature is close (compared to the average IPS display mobile device) to the reference 6500K, although the color gamut does not perfectly match the sRGB space (that is, comfortable for viewing images), it still will not cause discomfort for most users. The brightness is enough for use on a summer day. The display has two typical “Chinese” problems - a weak oleophobic coating and the dubious operation of the light sensor. In the sun, you have to manually twist the brightness to the maximum.
For those who want to know more
In the gallery below I provide screenshots of Alcatel OneTouch Idol Alpha screen measurements with a colorimeter, from which experts in the matter can get a good display result in terms of color temperature, a decently low ΔE value for a smartphone screen, color gamut. And from the comparative table - that the brightness of the backlight and the contrast of the screen did not disappoint.
| Device name | Brightness of the white field, cd/m2 | Black field brightness cd/m2 | Contrast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alcatel One Touch Idol Alpha | 384.37 | 0.36 | 1068:1 |
| Samsung Galaxy Alpha | 352.5 | 0 | ∞ |
| Huawei Ascend P7 | 400.69 | 0.82 | 489:1 |
| Samsung Galaxy S5 | 370.3 | 0 | ∞ |
| HTC One M8 | 459.44 | 0.22 | 2088:1 |
| LG G2 | 336.41 | 0.4 | 840:1 |
| Sony Xperia Z1 | 400.81 | 0.75 | 534:1 |
| Huawei Ascend D2 | 310.52 | 0.30 | 1037:1 |
| iPhone 4S | 434 | 0.53 | 818:1 |
How often do you have to recharge
The standard mode of this model is charging once a day. Of course, if you do not stop reading news or books from the smartphone screen, then you will have to do everything one and a half (3 times in two days), or even two, and if you use it mainly as a dialer with occasional access to mail, then once every one and a half days .
What's with his performance?
The smartphone is equipped with a quad-core processor MTK6589 and 1 GB random access memory. Geeks will say that for the money these are ridiculous characteristics. Indeed, a year and a half ago Smartphone Fly with similar equipment and without design cost 2000-2500 UAH. How so? In general, an interesting story is obtained with the “stuffing” of the device. Firstly, at the time of the announcement of the model, it was quite typical for its class (the middle and older segment of the “Chinese”). Secondly, at first we saw a lot low-cost smartphones on MTK6589 (and its modifications M and T). And brand lovers gradually complained that the graphics, they say, were weak, active users of navigation (runners and drivers) - that the GPS was lame. But then MTK6589 gradually began to force out its more budgetary tribesman MTK6582 from new products. With even less powerful graphics, incomprehensible speed of work (suspiciously all devices on this processor were distinguished by twitching and slowing down of the interface). In the novelties of Chinese manufacturers (middle and senior segment) in the first half of 2014, the MTK6582 was installed mainly. At the bottom is a dual-core MTK6572. The eight-core MTK6592 has been found in units of devices presented on the Ukrainian market since its release. At IFA 2014, there were noticeably more announcements of smartphones with this processor. Apparently, the following flagships and sub-flagships of Alcatel OneTouch, Lenovo, Huawei, and after them other manufacturers will be equipped with it. But in the absence of fish - when the new interesting MTK6592 is not yet widely used, and the old and ugly MTK6582 does not make you want to take the device in hand at all, MTK6589 looks like an excellent compromise. Moreover, the model is not chasing the title of technological leader. Her goal is to win the beauty pageant. The smartphone has an average performance by the standards of the first half of 2014 (and then it went on sale), a comfortable interface smoothness. It copes with most games (especially since the display resolution here is HD), and with FullHD video playback. We would like to see 2 GB of RAM inside (as Huawei does with some of its especially beloved devices). But on the other hand, for a person who does not behave like a techno-maniac, the difference will not be very visible, and for the one who does, this model is clearly not ideologically suitable.
What's with his connection?
The presence of metal frames around the perimeter of the case causes some people to fear that the smartphone will have communication problems. So, with GSM, I did not have any excesses, but wifi module worked weaker than in most devices. Well, there was a weakness of the GPS signal, traditional for the MTK6589 processor. However, not in its most clinical form.
What is interesting about the interface?
Between appearance The interfaces of Alcatel OneTouch, Huawei and Lenovo smartphones have a lot in common. They are very bright and colorful, even in different (and there are usually a lot of them in the settings menu) preset design themes. Until recently, Alcatel OneTouch™ smartphones lacked a separate menu with all applications. Now it has appeared. Yes, it happened so unexpectedly that I did not notice this fact on the first day. Out of the box, the device works under Android control 4.2 (largely old version The OS is explained by the date of the announcement of the model). Since there have been no changes since the review of last year's flagship Idol X, I invite those who are curious to learn more about the interface from this text.
Is the camera good?
The smartphone is equipped with a 13-megapixel module, camera characteristics are identical to Alcatel OneTouch Idol X Plus. She does not shine with photographic abilities compared to the stars of the market - Samsung, LG, Apple, but also does not lag behind with nameless heroes under the brands Fly, Prestigio, Highscreen and so on. In poor lighting, the pictures will be guaranteed to be soapy, in any light, even in the daytime on the street - noisy, and most likely to experience exposure problems. You can look at examples of photos in the original resolution in a separate gallery on Torba. Preview - below.
Are there any competitors?
The competitors of this model can be conditionally divided into two groups: smart and beautiful. To the “beautiful” I would include both Huawei P7 and samsung galaxy Alpha, and HTC One mini. In each of the devices, case materials and design play a significant role. Alcatel OneTouch Idol Alpha is the most affordable of the “beautiful” ones. Samsung Galaxy Alpha costs the most. But he has highest quality camera, smaller body, twice the memory and flagship performance. In a word, even though he has the most immodest price tag, he deserves his money. HTC One Mini equipped with a screen with a smaller diagonal (4.5 inches), but the smartphone has a completely metal body and the best autonomy in the list - you can count on a day and a half of work. But the cameras that he has, that of Alpha, both failed and are inferior to all competitors. Huawei P7 is also completely metal. The smartphone is very thin, even thinner Samsung Galaxy Alpha is equipped with a 5-inch FullHD display and 2 GB of RAM. The processor in it is installed by Huawei's own design. It cannot be said that it fully meets the requirements of FullHD resolution: when heated, the smartphone starts to slow down. For Idol Alpha, however, this was not noticed. The price and performance of all models is comparable. Only Galaxy Alpha surpasses its competitors in these two parameters by one and a half times.
To “smart” competitors, I would include the ageless LG G2 and Nexus 5, which have maximum performance for their UAH 5.5 thousand (Idol Alpha will cost UAH 5 thousand). Snapdragon processor 800, FullHD display with properly working backlight auto-adjustment, the best cameras on the market, the latest OS versions, and in the case of the LG G2, even a day and a half battery life. If all these words are dearer to you than metal cases and beautiful colors, then you should definitely look towards these models.
In the dry matter
Alcatel OneTouch Idol Alpha - never a leader in production, and for those who want to grab good performance and a million hours of battery life at a delicious price, obviously not here. But this is a beautiful model with a recognizable design, which until now was a rarity among Android smartphones, but is about to become commonplace. The model should be chosen for those people who do not need advanced characteristics, but who will appreciate the bright appearance. Moreover, among the “beautiful” smartphones, this one is one of the most affordable. The lack of an audio output, which had to be sacrificed in the name of design, I would not call a big problem, it can be simply solved with the help of a complete adapter. But if the potential owner of the device lives in places with a weak Wi-Fi signal or indulges in jogging with applications on a smartphone, then Alcatel OneTouch Idol Alpha will not be a good choice. Also, when choosing a device, it is worth making sure that there are no extra gaps and cracks on the case, as our sample showed, the model has such problems.
2 reasons to buy Alcatel OneTouch Idol Alpha:
- beautiful design, metal ends;
- lower price compared to most "beautiful" models;
2 reasons not to buy Alcatel OneTouch Idol Alpha:
- weak Wi-Fi and GPS module;
- mediocre autonomy.
Alcatel was founded back in 1989, produced telecommunications equipment, signaling systems for railways, even geostationary and low-orbit artificial earth satellites, experienced a merger with the American company Lucent Technologies, the rise and fall of the telephone market, and the transfer of all capacities to China. Now the ALCATEL ONETOUCH brand belongs to the TCL Communications concern, and in particular to its division TCT Mobile Limited. However, the development and design of devices is carried out in Europe. The French roots of the company have contributed to the design of the products - outwardly they turn out to be very attractive and unusual, much like French cars of the 70s:
ALCATEL ONETOUCH Idol Alpha was introduced back in September 2013, but entered the market in June 2014, and has only just reached our test lab. The smartphone is a representative of the average price category with original design.
Specifications ALCATEL ONETOUCH Idol Alpha:
- Housing materials: aluminum, plastic, glass
- Color: Grey, Gold, Pink
- Operating system: Android 4.2.2
- Network: GSM 900/1800/1900, HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100
- Processor: Quad-core Mediatek MT6589, 1.2 GHz
- RAM: 1 GB
- Storage Memory: 16 GB
- Screen: capacitive, IPS, 4.7 inches, 720x1280 pixels
- Camera: 13 MP main with flash and autofocus, 1.3 MP front
- Optional: Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS
- Battery: 2000 mAh non-removable
- Dimensions: 138x66.6x7.5mm
- Weight: 117.4g
- Device price: 10500 rubles. / 3000 UAH
Contents of delivery
Idol Alpha comes in the original aluminum box, which is a gray cylindrical tube. At first, when I unpacked the package, I thought that the marketing department of the ALCATEL ONETOUCH brand decided to appease me and instead of the device sent a bottle of good cognac ;-)
The packaging of the smartphone itself turned out to be no less interesting - the device, charger and wires are in a special capsule:
The standard package includes:
- Network adapter
- microUSB cable
- Headset
- Adapters microUSB to MiniJack 3.5 mm
- Paperclip to open the SIM card tray
- Instruction set and warranty card
The charger provides a charging current of 1A, which allows you to fully charge your smartphone in about 2 hours. Since the smartphone itself does not have the usual 3.5 mm headphone or headset jack, a microUSB port and a microUSB to MiniJack 3.5 mm adapter are used to connect them. The quality of the adapter is good, but I'm worried about the durability of a fairly thin wire.
The vacuum headset that comes with the kit is also of good quality, the sound is quite acceptable, better than most of the bundled ones.
Appearance and usability
The smartphone received a rather original design, slim body only 7.5 mm and a modest weight - 117 grams, which is 30-50 grams less than similar devices. The difference in weight compared to other smartphones is quite noticeable. The 4.7-inch Idol Alpha feels great in the hand, and thanks to the rounded top and bottom, it is comfortable to hold even in landscape orientation.
The design of ALCATEL ONETOUCH Idol Alpha incorporates some features from the iPhone 5 and Sony Xperia P. From the iPhone, he got an aluminum edging with ground off corners, and from the Xperia P - transparent inserts with button markings and backlight.
Front panel covered protective glass Dragon Trail Glass, which is manufactured by Sony, differs from the same Gorilla Glass 2 in reduced fragility, respectively, if the smartphone falls on the pavement or is hit hard by some object, the glass is less likely to break. And, of course, it is well resistant to scratches. By the way, the edging around the front panel that protrudes by 1-1.5 mm also protects against scratches.
Above the screen is a speaker, to the left of it is a 1.3 MP front camera, and to the right is a barely noticeable proximity sensor and a light sensor.
Even higher is a transparent plastic insert that glows with incoming calls, SMS or notifications. The color of the indicator is only white, but it looks cool in the dark.
At the very bottom of the case there is exactly the same illuminated transparent insert similar to the one at the top, but inside it there are icons of the control buttons Back, Home, Menu, in the appropriate order, and on the separator you can see a hole for a conversational microphone.
At first you think that this panel itself is the touch keys, but this is not the case, the touch areas of the buttons are located above, on a black insert that is located between the screen and the bottom. The solution is very unusual, but very interesting, besides, the transparent insert is coolly highlighted:
On the right side are the volume rocker and the lock button. Their location is good, using the lock button is very comfortable, since it is located right under the finger.
The microUSB connector and the Micro-SIM tray are located on the right side of the smartphone, at the bottom and top, respectively. To open the tray with a SIM card, you need to use a fashionable key clip from the kit or a regular clerical one.
As mentioned above, due to the design features of the smartphone, the engineers had to abandon the standard 3.5 mm headphone jack. Using the adapter creates some discomfort.
The back cover of the smartphone is non-removable, which made it possible to reduce the thickness of the case to 7.5 mm. In the central part is the company logo, in the upper left corner is a 13 MP camera with LED flash and an additional microphone, and at the bottom is an external speaker.
The device is perfectly assembled, and the materials are resistant to wear and scratches.
Screen
ALCATEL ONETOUCH Idol Alpha is equipped with a 4.7-inch IPS display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels, which is quite standard for modern smartphones middle price range. The screen is sharp at 312 dpi, which means that without the use of a magnifying glass, it will be difficult to see individual pixels.
Color rendition and contrast are good, but the color gamut is slightly biased towards cold shades. At large viewing angles, there is a slight drop in image contrast, and the backlighting of the display seems uneven, with light predominating in the corners.
Oleophobic coating makes sliding your finger across the screen easy and enjoyable, multi-touch supports up to 5 simultaneous touches. The maximum brightness level allows you to comfortably use the smartphone in sunny weather, the light sensor works adequately and copes well with automatic brightness control.
System
The current firmware version for ALCATEL ONETOUCH Idol Alpha is Android 4.2.2. Like most manufacturers, ALCATEL smartphones use an interface of their own design.
The biggest changes, perhaps, affected only the unlock screen:
In the settings there is the ability to configure gestures, for example, if you turn your smartphone over during an incoming call, the ringtone will turn off, the same story with the alarm clock.
Shaking the phone while playing songs will play the next song. The Status bar item allows you to turn off notifications for individual applications, very convenient setting if you do not like to be distracted by messages from social networks.
Performance
The heart of the smartphone is a chipset from MediaTek - a quad-core MT6589 with clock frequency 1.2 GHz and PowerVR SGX544 graphics accelerator, 1 GB RAM.
Our standard test games Real Racing 3 and Dead Trigger 2 showed that the smartphone is not too designed for those who like to play. In Real Racing 3, the lack of FPS is clearly visible, a similar situation with Dead Trigger 2 at maximum graphics settings, for a comfortable game, I had to lower the settings to medium. Of course, MediaTek chipsets have never been famous for their extreme performance, but specifically MT6589 can only satisfy inexperienced users who play simple arcade games, gamers will be disappointed. The results of testing in benchmarks showed that the performance of the smartphone is more at the level of state employees than on mid-range devices.
Real Racing 3
Dead Trigger 2
Test results of ALCATEL ONETOUCH Idol Alpha in various benchmarks:
- Antutu Benchmark 5.3: 16237
- Quadrant 2.1.1: 4815
- RL Benchmark SQL 1.3: 35.28sec
- Benchmark Pi 1.11: 390ms
- Linpack 1.2.8: 187.407 MFlops
- Sunspider Chrome 1.0.2: 1649.6ms
- Epic Citadel UHQ 1.07: 23.3 fps
- Basemark ES 2.0 Taiji 1.2: 14.59 fps
- Basemark X High 1.1:-
- Basemark OS II 1.0.1.0:207
Autonomy of work
Battery ALCATEL ONETOUCH Idol Alpha non-removable, capacity - 2000 mAh. Battery capacity is typical for modern devices but as with performance and power savings, MediaTek's results have never been perfect.
Our standard test showed that in the mode of web surfing via Wi-Fi ALCATEL ONETOUCH Idol Alpha holds a charge for 8 hours and 4 minutes. We consider this result insufficient for smartphones, because it means that if you actively use your smartphone during the day, charging until the evening may not be enough, I'm talking about 1 hour of calls, 2 hours of web surfing, 1 hour of games, 1 an hour of music and 1 hour of video viewing. If you are less dependent on a smartphone, then for sure the autonomy will be sufficient for two days of use.
Camera
Alcatel Onetouch Idol Alpha is equipped with a 13 MP main camera (it uses a camera module from Sony, 13 MP Exmor RS, the same as in the Galaxy S4 or Sony Xperia Z) with flash and autofocus, and a 1.3 MP front camera.
The main camera takes fairly high-quality pictures with good detail and contrast. When the flash is used at close range, the colors change towards a cool tint. Macro shots are good and detailed. The camera app allows you to adjust the exposure and ISO, but you will have to limit yourself to 4 standard modes: HDR, Panorama, Night, Sports. It's funny, but from the Chamber you can not immediately get into the Gallery.
The smartphone is an interesting solution in terms of design, it has not the most advanced features and an excellent camera. However, it is difficult to talk briefly about this device, as the manufacturer has found something to surprise its buyer. When I first saw the packaging from Alcatel one touch Idol Alpha 6032X, I could not help exclaiming: “Well, wow!” When I picked up the device itself, a pleasant surprise was repeated. However, later in my head it started spinning: “Hey, wait!” and "It can't be!", and these were by no means positive exclamations. We read about all this and something else in our today's review.
The name of the smartphone is so big that I did not even dare to add anything from myself to the title of this article. Here and "one touch", and "idol", and "alpha" and even the letter "X", which, as is customary, means something special. In my opinion, there are so many pathos words for one title. However, the manufacturer did not stop at one name. Let's start with the configuration, since there is something to talk about here, and show it too.
Device kit
The packaging of Idol Alpha is fundamentally different from anything we've seen before. Usually, the manufacturer tries to save on the box, trying to reduce their costs and, thereby, make the price of the device the most attractive. Samsung, for example, makes recycled boxes for their devices. LG uses soy ink for printing. On the example of the latter, we see that here for the manufacturer there is still a chance to get into some fashionable rating of environmentally friendly companies. In the eyes of consumers, this is a definite plus. This is especially true for European countries, where the attitude towards ecology is somewhat different.
So, Idol Alpha crosses out all the above principles and comes in a metal tube with the appropriate marking. Down with savings and environmentally friendly production! But, you see, it looks cool! In this “pipe” there is a special stand made of black velvet, in which the smartphone itself rests peacefully. The unpacking system is quite tricky, because all the components are hidden in a special compartment of this holder.
The complete set of the device consists of the following: microUSB cable, Charger, headset with call control button, 3.5 mm adapter! (more on that later) and a SIM eject tool.
A special clip for opening the SIM card tray surprisingly resembles that of the iPhone. In general, the device itself clearly shows many similarities. It is clear where the designers drew inspiration from when developing the 6032X.
Design, materials and use
Even more impressive is the appearance. The first thing that catches your eye is the transparent plastic inserts at the top and bottom. Smooth, pleasant to the touch, rounded plastic does not carry any additional functionality. This is just an external "decoration" that looks really cool. In addition, inserts are illuminated by moonlight for any notification. Such illumination looks especially impressive in the dark.
The emblems of the system control keys are cut out on the lower plastic. The first thing I did was try to click on them, but nothing happened. These are just symbols, and the touch keys themselves are located on a dark strip below the screen. The buttons are not marked in any way, so you have to press somewhere here. There is no other way to express it. Unfortunately, the manufacturer did not bother to somehow allocate touch areas for the keys. Subsequently, I repeatedly caught myself trying to press these labels applied to the plastic. It turns out that the lower part of the smartphone looks very dignified, but the ergonomics are not fully thought out.
Along the entire contour of the device is a metal edging, painted in the color of the case. Obviously, the manufacturer killed two birds with one stone on this: he brought the antenna to the outer contour, thereby saving on internal space, and made it one of the main features of the device's appearance. This implementation of the antenna looks very good, but the idea is far from new. The style and performance are painfully familiar to us. If you haven't guessed yet, then everything will fall into place after a direct comparison of Idol Alpha and iPhone 5.
The screen is covered with a protective glass with an oleophobic coating. Thanks to the special design, the impression of a two-level case is created: as if a small black smartphone is enclosed in a metal ring. An interesting solution from all points of view. Above the display is a grid of conversational dynamics, to the left of which there is a peephole front camera. To the right of the speaker, there is a proximity sensor and a light sensor. The latter, by the way, works correctly, but with some delay: the change in the backlight of the screen returns to normal with ambient lighting in about 5 seconds.
There are absolutely no elements on the upper and lower ends.
On the right side of the smartphone are metal volume buttons and below is the power button. The movement of the buttons is clear and moderately soft.
The left side contains a tray for an operator's card, which, by the way, is made of a slightly different material, and this is noticeable against the background of the phone's monophonic edge. At the very bottom, there is a microUSB port. And then I couldn't believe my eyes. I twisted the smartphone again and it turned out to be true.
Alcatel One Touch Idol Alpha 6032X does not have a 3.5 mm headphone hole!
For me it was a shock. In my memory, for 5 years now, almost everyone (even Sony a little later) abandoned their proprietary ports and began to build an audio output into their devices for connecting third-party headphones. And now, in 2014, when all devices have a certain gentleman's set of options (own shell over the OS, microUSB input, USB-Host, 3.5 mm jack for connecting third-party headsets), Alcatel launches one of its best devices, which turns out to be without one leg.
For the sake of at least some convenience, the company included an adapter from microUSB to a 3.5 mm jack. Thank you, of course, but this crutch is far from the same as the initially available ability to connect any headphones. The adapter can be forgotten, broken, lost, and so on. And it is relatively difficult to buy a replacement now, since even budget models have a standard audio output in their arsenal. No demand - no supply. Unless, there is an opportunity to order through Ebay.com and wait about a month for the parcel, involuntarily refusing to listen to music on the phone for this period.
By the way, not a single flash drive could be connected to a smartphone, as he thought that an audio headset had been inserted into it.
Ostud suggests the conclusion that the OTG mode is not supported.
And this, by the way, is one of the main advantages of the entire Android system. In general, something the developers here are smart about.
Since we are talking about the shortcomings of the device, it is worth mentioning that the main speaker is located on back cover. If the Idol Alpha 6032X lies on a flat surface with the screen up, then the sound is noticeably muffled. If you hold the device in your hand, the sound is muffled. If the smartphone is in a bag or in the front pocket of trousers, then forget about at least some audibility of a ringtone or other notification. Of course, the location of the components of any device in the case that the designers have drawn is a very difficult engineering task. And any user should understand this. The day will probably come when manufacturing companies will go out of their way to accommodate their consumers and put the convenience and experience of using their products at the forefront. An example of a company where such an ideology rules everything, we all already know.
The transparent insert with control button emblems has a recess for the first microphone. The second is located on the back, not far from the rear camera eye and LED flash.
Alcatel One Touch Idol Alpha 6032X is a very thin (7.5 mm), light (117 g) and ergonomic smartphone. Using the device is a pleasure. All controls are in convenient places and you do not need to intercept the phone to reach any button. In the pocket of trousers or jeans, it is almost invisible.
Coupled with an excellent appearance, interesting colors (two options are available: dark blue and beige), verified ergonomics - Idol Alpha 6032X makes a really very positive impression.
Yes, there are drawbacks, but there is no ideal, especially for the price of 13,990 rubles.
At the end of this section, I propose to compare the dimensions of the Idol Alpha 6032X with its closest competitors.
| Length | Width | Thickness | Weight | |
| Alcatel One Touch Idol Alpha 6032X | 138 | 66,6 | 7,5 | 117,4 |
| Samsung GALAXY S4 mini | 124,6 | 61,3 | 8,9 | 107 |
| Sony Xperia Compact Z1 | 127 | 64,9 | 9,5 | 137 |
| Fly IQ4410 Quad | 135,8 | 68,4 | 8 | 123 |
Display
The display perfectly reproduces colors thanks to the IPS matrix used in its basis. With a diagonal of 4.7 inches and a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, the viewing angles remain maximum. I propose to compare the color reproduction of a smartphone with the iPhone 5 (the one on top) in the photos below.
If there are no questions with the display of the picture display, then with regards to sensitivity, everything is not so simple. Supports up to 10 simultaneous touches, that is, a full-fledged Multitouch. During use, it turned out that the screen sensor does not always respond to touch. This is especially noticeable when surfing the Internet, the code requires you to click on some small link. For example, the hero of our previous review LG G Flex has a display with very good sensitivity: at times it is not even clear whether you touched the surface or not, but the smartphone has already reacted. You should not expect such sensitivity from Idol Alpha 6032X, and this can be attributed to disadvantages.
In addition, the corners of the display of the picture are not beveled, despite the fact that the phone itself has a rather rounded shape. Again, back to the iOS interface, where there are no right angles - everything adheres to the general concept. The example below shows what this is about. And although most users will not notice this, there will still be bores, like me, who will pay attention to this.
Specifications and performance
- Processor MediaTek MT6589 (4 cores) with a frequency of 1.2 GHz
- PowerVR SGX 544MP video chip
- RAM 1 GB
- storage memory 16 GB (actually available 12.64 GB)
- display 4.7" IPS screen with a resolution of 1280 × 720 pixels
- camera 13.1 megapixels (main) with LED flash, 1.3 megapixels (front)
- sensors: proximity sensor, light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetic compass
- supported music formats WAV, MP3, MP2, AMR, MIDI, Vorbis, APE, AAC, AAC+, FLAC, WMA
- FM radio
- battery 2000 mAh
- operating room android system Jelly Bean 4.2.2
Networks and connections:
- quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900), UMTS 900/2100 (6032X)
- HSPA: DC-HSPA+
- Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), Wi-Fi direct, Wi-Fi Display, DLNABluetooth 4.0
- GPS with A-GPS technology
- Micro USB 2.0
- microSIM standard
As you can see, the smartphone has a processor from MediaTek, which provides sufficient performance for most tasks.
However, branded shell at times it has jerking and barely noticeable slowdowns.
There is no 100% smoothness of any interface animation. It's hard to say why this is happening. Perhaps the proprietary shell is not well optimized, or maybe the processor's performance leaves much to be desired.
For clarity, I give the results of testing in the AnTuTu program:
Nevertheless, the smartphone easily handled FullHD video playback. Most modern games are also supported, but, of course, at medium graphics settings.
A 13.1 megapixel matrix is used as the main module for photographs. The output photos have a resolution of 4224×3168 pixels. Of course, there is autofocus, which quickly captures the subject and almost never misses.
There are very few additional shooting scenarios: there is HDR support, the ability to create a horizontal panorama, sports mode and night shooting. For the front camera, the developers have added special settings that are suitable for selfie lovers - this is, first of all, automatic skin retouching and creating collages. In my opinion this the right approach when the manufacturer does not load the camera interface with many different add-ons. Still, almost no one uses it all. Those who need additional functionality can always download third-party photo apps from Google Play.
Let's take a look at some sample photos.
Obviously, the Alcatel One Touch Idol Alpha 6032X camera is one of the most strengths device. Detailing, color rendition - everything is at a very decent level. Sometimes the smartphone misses the choice of exposure, so it's always worth taking a few shots. In such cases, it can also come to the rescue HDR mode, but in order not to blur the picture, you need to hold the device with iron hands for quite a long time - about 3 seconds.
For some reason, the manufacturer did not provide the ability to go directly to the footage from the camera interface. But we all have long been accustomed to such functionality, since the days of 1.3 megapixel modules.
As for video shooting, the smartphone is capable of shooting video at a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels at 30 frames per second.
During video recording, the tracking focus is clearly visible, which instantly refocuses on any desired object. The output file format is the good old 3GP (H.263, MPEG4, H.264 codecs, depending on the quality preset in the settings). What can I say when you can see everything with your own eyes.
Sound and video
As mentioned earlier, the speaker in Idol Alpha 6032X is located on the back of the device. The sound through the speaker is quite quiet and, if we draw a parallel in terms of volume with the iPhone 5, then the latter sounds about twice louder than a smartphone from Alcatel. On a noisy street or in the subway, it is unrealistic to hear a call from the device. Even the relatively shrill notification ringtones preinstalled do not save the situation.
The quality of music playback through headphones leaves an extremely positive impression.
We are talking about using third-party headphones. The entire spectrum of sound, including bass, is clearly audible. For those who lack the standard sound, there is an equalizer with a lot of preset add-ons, as well as many other effects among other things. As music player Idol Alpha 6032X is also great because it supports many popular audio formats: WAV, MP3, MP2, AMR, MIDI, Vorbis, APE, AAC, AAC +, FLAC, WMA. If it would be possible to connect your headphones without any adapters there, it would be very good.
The bundled headset does not pull out low frequencies at all, although it does allow you to control playback and calls. For an undemanding user, it is quite suitable as the main headphones.
There is one more unpleasant feature. For some reason, the player stretches all the covers of songs and, accordingly, it looks sloppy.
There is also an FM radio that works via a headset used as an antenna. You can listen to the radio without headphones, but in this case, no one guarantees the stability of the signal.
Video playback does not raise any questions, except perhaps that the player itself is very ascetic: there is not even an opportunity to view information about the file.
Input method
In the phone settings, you can fine-tune the input methods using several pre-installed keyboards to choose from. A learning mode and two ways of typing words are available: for fast typing users and for those who prefer accuracy.
According to the manufacturer, Idol Alpha 6032X is able to last 24 hours on a single charge in music player mode. A non-removable battery with a capacity of 2,000 mAh allows the device to stay afloat for one light day with active use. For a day and a half, the smartphone is able to survive without being connected to a power source only with a fairly moderate load (20 minutes of calls per day, 10 pictures per camera, an hour of Internet surfing via Wi-Fi). On the face of the standard for Android-smartphone.
Outcome
Yes, Alcatel decided to save money on the processor and not install a top-end chip from Qualcomm. Nevertheless, the price of 13,990 rubles for a device in federal networks dictates its own rules. However, the smartphone is not positioned as a top device. The buyer has the right to count here on the image component, a pleasant screen and good camera- and all this, believe me, is already a lot. Yes, there are certain inconveniences: you can’t just connect any headphones and there is no support for OTG mode. Before purchasing, these points should definitely be considered.
Can Alcatel Idol Alpha 6032X be considered a purchase?
Yes, if not needed high performance, a second SIM card and passion as you want a fashion device, but the iPhone for one reason or another is not suitable.
