He's a touch idol. First look at Alcatel One Touch Idol (6030a) and Idol Ultra (6033). Mobile device batteries differ from each other in their capacity and technology. They provide the electrical charge necessary for their functioning.

Guest 2 years ago

Yandex Market

I've been using this beast for a week. I bought it in black. Looks great, much more expensive than it costs. Collected very high quality. You can’t find covers for sale, you can only order them from China. While I bought a universal book, the cover is a little too big, but no big deal. The power of electronics is felt in everything. In games like Asphalt 8, of course, it gets hot, but from experience I can say that some other models, both more expensive and less powerful, get hotter. The battery lasts for conversations of 30-40 minutes a day, constant mobile Internet and always-on Wi-Fi, high display brightness, games for no more than half an hour or an hour for almost a day. Yesterday I left it at 35% in the evening and turned it off at night. Even though it was in standby mode. Perhaps the native firmware is to blame. The quality of the camera compares favorably with many competitors at a higher price. The screen is juicy, bright, and clear. An official update to 4.4 Kitkat will be released soon. The manufacturer, unlike HTC, does not abandon its customers, it supports them. This is cool. Serves faithfully for 4 years! The battery only began to drain faster, performance decreased, and the body became damaged. Otherwise everything is fine. Everything is original!

Dmitry R. 3 years ago

Yandex Market

Eh, Alcatel missed... and why did they install the ES9018 Saber DAC, housewives still don’t know what it is. People, this is a music phone first and foremost. With a top DAC and a good amplifier. But for VKontakte there are better ones. Although he didn’t lose face, the responsiveness of the interface is better than his wife’s S7, the screen is simply chic, I saw about the same color rendition on the LG G2, it’s perfect

Guest 3 years ago

Yandex Market

I've been using it for almost 3 years. Android 4.2 is frankly outdated. The charge lasts a day, almost all applications run without strong brakes, but not without glitches, of course.

Guest 3 years ago

Yandex Market

At first they gave me this phone, but a year later it broke when it fell on the screen. I bought the same one and a year later it broke again. Again the sensor. The camera and flash didn't work for six months, and lately it hasn't held a charge well. But I think all these problems are my fault) overall I really like the device. I was more than satisfied with the 13.1 camera. The screen is very large. It works quickly and doesn't glitch. You just need to not download everything like I do)

Guest 3 years ago

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If there was such an opportunity, I would take another phone

Guest 3 years ago

Yandex Market

The first problems began after 2 years of operation. The SIM card slot stopped working, or rather lived its own life. The screen shows 2 SIM cards (active), but the call was not made and, accordingly, received. Resetting to factory settings didn't help. I decided to let it be “one-size-fits-all.” But then it started snowballing. The laminated film on the back cover peeled off, and the phone itself began to turn off (fully charged). One day it still didn't turn on. The service center diagnosed that the board had failed. Draw a conclusion.

chaos46reg 3 years ago

Yandex Market

I lived for a little over a year of careful use (I would have died 2 weeks earlier, they would have done it under warranty), I won’t say that the model is unsuccessful, maybe I was just unlucky...

Mansur 3 years ago

Yandex Market

Great phone, reliable. It has been working properly for 2 years now.

Yaroslav A. 4 years ago

Yandex Market

Almost 2 years of use. The first half of operation is completely problem-free. For “office” use plus games like card games, charging once every 2 days. There is enough performance for everything (there are no heavy games). The glass and body are durable. Does not die inside wet pockets (fishing in the rain). Except that the case slides on any table: it’s a problem to lean it against something at lunch, everything slides off :) After a year of use, the battery and (IMHO) the GPS module begin to degrade. Sometimes SIM card slot #1 started giving an error. Now charge at least once a day. Satellites are lost every 10-15 minutes. The upper part of the body gets very hot. After another fall, a layer of laminating plastic peeled off from the back, and over time the rags increase in size. The phone is reliable, it worked honestly, the money once spent on it is well worth it

Alexander 4 years ago

Yandex Market

I really liked the smartphone both externally and internally, and the price is also very attractive - 11,500, for 13,000 I would strongly consider it. Ideally, I wanted a Huawei Honor 6; on Ali in October it cost around 14 thousand rubles, after the dollar went up in November - 16 thousand rubles. lack of warranty, etc. So I started looking for an official phone number. Before this, I used SGSIVmini for a year - everything was fine except for the lack of a 2nd SIM card and the screen size. I decided not to overpay for the brand - smartphones from other manufacturers (Sony, Samsung, LG, not to mention iPhone) with similar characteristics cost at least 15 thousand rubles. Regarding the camera, I can’t classify it as either a plus or a minus of the smartphone. She's kind of mediocre. I won’t say that the photos are better than the 8 megapixel Samsung camera. It should be noted that the camera settings have a maximum resolution of 9.4 megapixels (everywhere in the specifications and in Antutu - 13.1 megapixels). Despite this, the photo editor has a wide range of tools, which I liked. P.s. I've been using it for a year and a half -

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 now buying not 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 our latest reviews of fresh products of high-quality Chinese production can serve as an example of this (the list of such companies includes , primarily 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 exactly 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, 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 under the Fly brand (Fly Luminor IQ453), which in fact 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)

	Alcatel OT Idol X	Fly Luminor IQ453	Oppo Mirror R819	LG Optimus G	Google Nexus 4	Sony Xperia ZR
Screen	5″, IPS	5″, IPS	4.7″, IPS	4.7″, IPS	4.7″, IPS	4.55″, IPS
Permission	1920×1080, 440 ppi	1920×1080, 440 ppi	1280×720, 312 ppi	1280×768, 317 ppi	1280×768, 317 ppi	1280×720, 322 ppi
SoC		MediaTek MT6589T (4 cores ARM Cortex-A7) @1.5 GHz	MediaTek MT6589 (4 cores ARM Cortex-A7) @1.2 GHz		Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) @1.5 GHz (4 Krait cores)	Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) @1.5 GHz (4 cores, ARMv7 Krait)
GPU	PowerVR SGX 544MP	PowerVR SGX 544MP	PowerVR SGX 544MP	Adreno 320	Adreno 320	Adreno 320
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	1 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB
Flash memory	16 GB	32 GB	16 GB	32 GB	8/16 GB	8 GB
Memory card support	—	—	—	—	—	microSD
operating system	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.1	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.1
Battery	non-removable, 2000 mAh	non-removable, 2000 mAh	non-removable, 2000 mAh	non-removable, 2100 mAh	non-removable, 2100 mAh	removable, 2300 mAh
Cameras	rear (13 MP; video - 1080p), front (2 MP)	rear (13 MP; video - 1080p), front (5 MP)	rear (8 MP; video - 1080p), front (2 MP)	rear (13 MP; video - 1080p), front (1.3 MP)	rear (8 MP; video - 1080p), front (1.3 MP)	rear (13 MP), front (0.3 MP)
Dimensions	140×68×6.9 mm, 120 g	144×69×7.7 mm, 131 g	137×68×7.3 mm, 110 g	132×69×8.5 mm, 145 g	134×69×9.1 mm, 139 g	131×67×10.4 mm, 138 g
average price	T-10467810	T-10533924	T-10470422	T-8461088	T-8490976	T-9383887
Alcatel One Touch Idol X offers	L-10467810-10

• SoC MediaTek MT6589T, 1.5 GHz, 4 cores, ARM Cortex-A7
• GPU PowerVR SGX 544MP
• Operating system Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
• Touch IPS display, 5″, 1920×1080, 440 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB, internal 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, Wi-Fi hotspot, 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
• Lithium-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: a charger, a Micro-USB cable, a 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 were included in the package of the flagship smartphone at the factory, which is 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. If we take into account the recently increased standards for the size of mobile devices, which have become the norm, then the Alcatel One Touch Idol X model can even be called neat and not too large. 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 a soft-touch effect) on the back cover and shiny varnished 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.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out 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 the white field was displayed in full screen, the maximum brightness value 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. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front camera). In automatic mode, as 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. At lower 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.

This smartphone uses an IPS type matrix. 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 displays 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 color balance there is not very important, 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 a noticeable presence of low frequencies, 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 bought 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, here we are talking about 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, the 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 digital camera modules. The front camera here has a 2 MP 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.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Standard video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3	Hardware+
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3	plays fine with decoder Hardware+	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3	plays fine with decoder Hardware+	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹

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:

File	Uniformity	Passes
Screen
watch-1920x1080-60p.mp4	Fine	a lot of
watch-1920x1080-50p.mp4	Fine	a lot of
watch-1920x1080-30p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1920x1080-25p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1920x1080-24p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1280x720-60p.mp4	Fine	a lot of
watch-1280x720-50p.mp4	Fine	a lot of
watch-1280x720-30p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1280x720-25p.mp4	Fine	No
watch-1280x720-24p.mp4	Fine	No

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

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 a common enterprise TCL & Alcatel Mobile Phones Limited (TAMP), where 55% of the shares belonged to TCL and 45 % - 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 boasts the latest MediaTek MT6592 platform, 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:

Manufacturer	TCL Communication
Type, form factor	Smartphone, monoblock
Communication standards			850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
			900 / 2100 MHz
High speed data transfer	GPRS (32-48 Kbps), EDGE (236 Kbps), HSDPA+ (up to 21.6 Mbps), HSUPA (up to 5.76 Mbps)
SIM card type
CPU	MediaTek MT6592: 8 cores ARM Cortex-A7, up to 2 GHz, 1 MB L2 cache
Graphics adapter	ARM Mali-450MP, up to 700 MHz
	IPS, 5", 1920 x 1080 pixels (440 ppi), touch, capacitive, multi-touch up to 10 touches, protective glass
RAM
Persistent memory
Card reader
Interfaces	1 x 3.5mm mini-jack audio jack
Multimedia	Acoustics
	Audio processing	Hi-Fi decoder ES9018 and headphone amplifier Maxim9720
	Microphone
	Main	13 MP, autofocus, electronic stabilization, face detection, LED flash, video recording in 1080p format (30 FPS)
	Frontal	2 MP, video recording in 1080p format
Communication capabilities		802.11 b/g/n (Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Display)
	Proximity sensor, Light sensor, LED indicator, G-sensor
Battery	Li-ion: 2500 mAh
Charger	Input: 100~240V AC eg at 50/60 Hz Output: 5 VDC e.g. 1 A
	Electronic compass (E-compass)
	140.4 x 69.1 x 7.9 mm
operating system	Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
Official guarantee	12 months
Products webpage

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. The manufacturer on the official page indicates Corning Gorilla Glass 2 / NEG, but on the Internet there is also a mention of Asahi DragonTrail. 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 are three touch buttons, which are mirrored relative to the “stock” Android design: Back, Home (holding opens Google Now) and Menu (holding opens the Running Application Manager). 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 the back of the previous model (ALCATEL ONETOUCH IDOL X) was made of a 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.

Hi-Fi mode can only be activated by connecting headphones and using the pre-installed Music application. 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 unlikely to be 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

Examples of video shooting

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, in addition to quickly calling up the camera and direct unlocking, you can view the weather. The solution with dividing desktops also looks quite interesting. To the left of the home screen is 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 there is no more free space on others. 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 a preview, just swipe up from the bottom on the corresponding program.

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 unnecessary programs and games using the standard method.

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 the standard Music 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 ability to activate 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. 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.

Overall, the user interface is subjectively pleasant and colorful. 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 the 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 run at maximum settings 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 SIM Dual Standby standard. 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.

The range of communication capabilities is represented by Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi modules. 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.

The data transfer speed via Wi-Fi (wired connection 100 Mbit/s, router supporting the 802.11 n standard) reaches 50 Mbit/s for receiving and up to 47 Mbit/s for sending. The operation of the wireless network modules is quite standard: everything connects quickly and holds the connection well.

The smartphone has a 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 can operate in music player (headset) mode for 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 a delivery kit). Charging from a USB port with a base current of 1 A takes 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 sound quality (made possible thanks to the use of a progressive Hi-Fi decoder ES9018 and a Maxim9720 headphone amplifier with support for playback in SACD mode 24 bit/192 kHz ), good autonomy (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 latest version of Android OS.

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

All prices for ALCATEL+One+Touch+Idol+X%2B+6043D+Bluish

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Specifications

• Android 7.1.1
• Display 5.2 inches, 1920x1080 pixels, LTPS IPS, 423 ppi, full lamination, automatic brightness adjustment, Dragontrail 2.5D protective glass
• MediaTek MT6753 chipset, 8 cores with a frequency of up to 1.3 GHz, MALI T720-MP3 GPU
• 3 GB RAM, 16 GB internal memory (8 GB available), memory cards up to 128 GB
• Battery Li-Ion 2800 mAh, charging time up to 3.5 hours with a complete device
• Rear fingerprint sensor
• Front camera 8 megapixels (physical resolution 5 megapixels), fixed focus, f/2.4, 1/5 inch sensor, 1.12 micron pixel size, LED flash, 84 degree angle
• Main camera 16-megapixel (physical resolution 13-megapixel), phase detection autofocus, continuous autofocus (CAF), f/2.0, 1/3-inch sensor, 1.12 micron dot size, 76.3 degree angle, LED flash - video recording up to 1080p ( 30 fps)
• FM radio
• Equalizer Dirac
• Two nanoSIM cards, combined slot
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz), bluetooth 4.2, USB 2.0, USB OTG
• LTE cat.4, band 3/7/8/20/28A
• Light sensor, gyroscope, electronic compass, proximity sensor, G-sensor,/
• Size 148x73x7.5 mm, weight 155 grams

Contents of delivery

• Telephone
• Charger with USB cable (5V/1A)
• Wired stereo headset
• Instructions
• SIM Card Clip

Positioning

In past years, Alcatel positioned the IDOL line models as flagships, but starting in 2017 this is no longer the case. The A-series is coming to the fore, while IDOL has become a secondary offering that looks like it will be temporary and it is possible that the line will be abandoned.

Alcatel produces two similar models, the regular IDOL 5 and IDOL 5s, the second device is positioned higher and costs more, but like the IDOL 4 it has stereo speakers, a larger amount of internal memory (32 GB versus 16 GB in the younger model), dedicated Now key, both front and main cameras are better and all this at a cost of 300 Euros. In Russia, this price would quickly turn into 20 thousand rubles or even higher, which would put an end to the model, since the competition in this segment is enormous and the IDOL 5s has no advantages. Therefore, the company chose a junior device, which, by coincidence, is very similar in its characteristics to IDOL 4, in some ways even inferior to it, and in some ways slightly superior.

What's interesting is that both IDOL 4 and IDOL 5 will be on the market at the same time and the choice between them is not as clear as we would like. At a similar price, in my opinion, the old device has all the advantages, but we’ll talk about that at the end of the review.

The internal positioning of IDOL 5 follows from its position in the line; it is a direct replacement for IDOL 4, a slightly updated device, but many characteristics have been formally changed. For example, the main camera in IDOL 4 is 13-megapixel, in the new product it is a 16-megapixel camera, but the sensor itself is 13-megapixel and identical to the previous one, that is, greater resolution is achieved by extrapolation. We can say that Alcatel tried to create a solution without special costs.

The real continuation of IDOL 4 is IDOL 5s, this device will not appear in Russia, but we see a transition to USB Type C, two stereo speakers, more built-in memory and a different chipset - in fact, it is this device that becomes a continuation of the IDOL line. In the photos, the dark graphite phone is IDOL 5s.

For the buyer, the choice of IDOL 5 in Russia is far from optimal; in terms of price/quality ratio, the model is not the most interesting, it has many competitors, including among models from Alcatel. The choice of this device will be influenced by the advice of the seller, as well as based on its availability on the shelf. However, let's understand everything in order.

Design, dimensions, control elements

I have a strong association of smartphones in metal cases with a fingerprint sensor on the back with models from Huawei; they popularized such devices and this design became widespread. If the previous IDOLs had their own recognition, now the devices are similar to Huawei, as well as a large number of models from other companies, and this has a certain problem, they do not have their own face.

The model is available in two colors, black and silver.

At the upper and lower ends of the antenna inserts, in the aluminum case they are clearly visible, especially in silver. It somehow reminded me of the unfortunate gray color in Nokia 8, and it’s about the same thing here. Some will not be touched by this, but others will scream because the little esthete inside will suffer from this color mismatch.

The size of the device is 148x73x7.5 mm, weight is 155 grams. Fits well in the hand, not slippery, great in the pocket. In some descriptions I came across the fact that there are supposedly two speakers, but this is a mistake, there are really two holes on the bottom, on both sides of the microUSB connector (why not USB Type C? Yes, because this is an old friend IDOL 4 ), but the speaker is hidden only behind the right grille.

On the left side there is a slot for nanoSIM cards and right there a slot for a memory card; they are combined, that is, either one SIM card and a memory card, or two SIM cards.

But on the right side there is a paired volume key, as well as an on/off button. The 3.5 mm jack is located on the top end, you can also see a second microphone there, the noise reduction system works well.

In terms of build quality, there is not a single complaint about the device; everything is excellent and usual for this price range. An excellent level, but that's what you expect from such models.

Display

The technical characteristics of the screen are as follows: - 5.2 inches, 1920x1080 pixels, LTPS IPS, 423 ppi, full lamination, automatic brightness adjustment, Dragontrail 2.5D protective glass. On paper everything is fine, in real life the screen lacks brightness and viewing angles. Comparing the screen with the same Alcatel A7, you will see differences in everything, dim and featureless in IDOL 5 and bright, clear in A7.

In my opinion, it is the screen in IDOL 5 that becomes the biggest disadvantage of the device; it does not correspond to its price group and this is sad. There is nothing special to talk about here, other characteristics are secondary, in the sun it becomes very blind, especially in the camera.

Battery

The battery capacity is 2800 mAh, it is Li-Ion, charging is included 5V/1A, but even replacing it with fast charging will not help, it is not supported. Charging time 3.5 hours! They obviously saved on the battery, since when replacing the charger one could expect that the charging speed would increase, but this happens only slightly, since at 5V/2A the charging time is about 3 hours. Which is infinitely large considering the battery capacity.

The video playback time at maximum brightness in MX Player (HD video, AVI container) is a little more than 6 hours, which is not much.

In a normal usage scenario (an hour of talking, up to two hours in the browser, social networks, 4G, minimal music), the device lasts until 7-8 pm from 9 am. This is not much, but given its filling this is typical behavior.

Memory, chipset, performance

The device has 3 GB of RAM, built-in 16 GB (the system and applications take up about 8 GB), plus you can install memory cards up to 128 GB. Chispet MediaTek MT6753, 8 cores with a frequency of up to 1.3 GHz, MALI T720-MP3 graphics processor. This is not the most productive solution, but you won’t notice it in the interface; synthetic tests give such results.

To understand the difference with last year's IDOL 4, which is built on the Snapdragon 617, I will give the test results on it. The new model is inferior to last year, this is, of course, nonsense.

Camera

The front camera has a flash for selfies and its resolution is 8 megapixels. Standard for the latest generations of devices there are skin improvers, facial contour improvers and similar little things. They can be disabled. The quality of the photos is good.

The main camera has phase detection autofocus, a resolution of 16 megapixels (actual 13 megapixels as in IDOL 4). The quality of the images has seriously deteriorated due to extrapolation; any movement causes blurring; the camera does not take good pictures in the dark. If we compare it with its classmates, then the Alcatel A7 takes better pictures, as does the Motorola G5s.

Here are some more photos and an example video.

Communication capabilities

The model supports 4G (LTE FDD 3/7/8/20/28A), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, BT 4.2, USB & BT Modem Tethering - in a word, a standard set of technologies, without any special features.

Software features

Inside there is Android 7.1.1, Alcatel refused any add-ons and this is the right decision. You can read about standard Android features in a separate article.

The device has a built-in FM radio, you need to connect headphones for it to work, there is a broadcast recording, everything is standard and works as it should.

For music, it is possible to use Dirac equalizers, they change the sound, but there is nothing radically better, the device sounds normal. The player, unlike many models, here is its own.

Traditionally, Alcatel has an electronic compass, as well as the ability to enable augmented reality (a picture from the camera is superimposed on the compass).

In the album you can make collages from several photographs, including using animation when creating them.

Since the IDOL line had a hardware Now button, but here it was abandoned, it was replaced with a virtual analogue, you can configure the button to call different applications and functions. But the fact that a translucent key constantly hangs on the screen irritates me somewhat, so I turned it off immediately.

In the settings, similar to devices from Samsung, a number of service functions are combined into one utility, including checking the memory, the condition of the battery and other components of the device.

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. At the moment 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.