Alcatel Idol 4 and Idol 4S are

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s manufactured by

TCL Corporation TCL Technology (originally an abbreviation for Telephone Communication Limited) is a Chinese electronics company headquartered in Huizhou, Guangdong Province. It designs, develops, manufactures, and sells consumer products including televisi ...

and marketed by Alcatel Mobile Phones. They were unveiled during Mobile World Congress in February 2016, and are a successor to the Idol 3. The Idol 4 and 4S are positioned as mid-range devices, with the 4S serving as a higher-end model with a faster processor, a larger

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display, and a bundled

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which serves as the device's packaging.

Specifications

The Idol 4 series is constructed with a metal and glass chassis. It features a dual-sided speaker system developed in collaboration with

JBL JBL is an American audio equipment manufacturer headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. JBL serves the customer home and professional market. The professional market includes studios, installed/tour/portable sound, cars, music ...

, with speakers on the top and bottom edges of both sides of the device. The Idol 4 is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 system-on-chip with 3 GB of RAM, and features a 5.2-inch

1080p 1080p (1920×1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen ve ...

IPS LCD IPS (in-plane switching) is a screen technology for liquid-crystal displays (LCDs). In IPS, a layer of liquid crystals is sandwiched between two glass surfaces. The liquid crystal molecules are aligned parallel to those surfaces in predetermined ...

display. The Idol 4S uses a Snapdragon 652, and has a larger, 5.5-inch

Super AMOLED AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, ) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescent material, and active matrix ...

display. Both models have 3 GB of RAM, and the 4 and 4S have 16 and 32 GB of internal storage respectively, expandable via microSD card. They feature 2610 and 3000 mAh batteries respectively. The Idol 4 and 4S both feature 8-megapixel front-facing cameras, and have 13 and 16-megapixel rear-facing cameras respectively. The 4S includes a rear-mounted

fingerprint reader Fingerprint scanners are security systems of biometrics. They are used in police stations, security industries, smartphones, and other mobile devices. Function Everyone has patterns of friction ridges on their fingers, and it is this pattern t ...

. The Idol 4 series ships with Android 6.0 "Marshmallow". Alcatel plans to provide an update to Android 7.0 "Nougat" in the future. The "Boom Key" on the side of the device can be used to activate certain functions in the software, such as waking the phone directly to the camera, music audio enhancement, and activating nitro in the ''

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'' driving game series. The retail packaging of the Idol 4S doubles as a

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), e ...

headset which the phone can be inserted into.

Reception

''The Verge'' considered the Idol 4S to be an attempt by Alcatel to progress towards a higher-end market, replacing the plastic used on previous Idol models with higher-quality materials and a "well-constructed" chassis. The quad HD display was praised for being better than that of the

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, although not as "blindingly bright" in direct sunlight as

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displays. The speaker system was also considered "powerful", stating that it " ut the

Galaxy S7 Edge The Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and Samsung Galaxy S7 Active are Android-based smartphones manufactured, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics. The S7 series serves as the successor to the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and ...

to shame and actually did justice to the new Justice single." The Boom Key's features were panned as being "not particularly useful" and "certainty not important enough" to require a dedicated key. The performance of the Idol 4S was considered good, explaining that "it may not be as impressive on the spec sheet, but in the real world, I've been struggling to find a difference in performance between the 4S and phones with the more powerful ualcomm Snapdragon 820" The camera was panned for not featuring optical image stabilization, and having a lower quality in comparison to its competitors. In conclusion, ''The Verge'' felt that the Idol 4S "didn't disappoint", but did not have enough distinctive functionality to make it stand out against major competitors at its price point. ''VentureBeat'' considered the VR headset box to be a "clever value-add" that could be "a good way to move virtual reality downmarket from its lofty

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heights". ''The Verge'' considered the headset to be comfortable, but limited in comparison to the

Samsung Gear VR The Samsung Gear VR is a virtual reality headset developed by Samsung Electronics, in collaboration with Oculus VR, and manufactured by Samsung. The headset was released on November 27, 2015. When in use, a compatible Samsung Galaxy device acts ...

because of its low level of functionality, lack of lens adjustment, and lack of content partnerships (as with Oculus and the Gear VR) beyond

Google Cardboard Google Cardboard is a discontinued virtual reality (VR) platform developed by Google. Named for its fold-out cardboard viewer into which a smartphone is inserted, the platform was intended as a low-cost system to encourage interest and developme ...

-compatible content.

Windows 10 version

On November 10, 2016, Alcatel unveiled a version of the Idol 4S running

Windows 10 Mobile Windows 10 Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft. First released in 2015, it is a successor to Windows Phone 8.1, but was marketed by Microsoft as being an edition of its PC operating system Windows 10. Wind ...

, with

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as a launch partner. The Windows 10 version of the Idol 4S contains changes from the Android version, including a change in system-on-chip to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and 4 GB of RAM, 21-megapixel rear camera, and the replacement of the 1440p display with a 1080p display.

BlackBerry version

In July 2016,

BlackBerry Limited BlackBerry Limited is a Canadian software company specializing in cybersecurity. Founded in 1984, it was originally known as Research In Motion (RIM). As RIM, it developed the BlackBerry brand of interactive pagers, smartphones, and tablets ...

unveiled a re-branded version of the Idol 4 in partnership with TCL known as the

BlackBerry DTEK50 BlackBerry DTEK is an Android smartphone co-developed and distributed by BlackBerry Limited, and manufactured by TCL. DTEK comprises two models: DTEK50 which is a modified and rebranded variant of TCLs Alcatel Idol 4 (released 26 July 2016); a ...

. It is similar in specifications and design to the Idol 4, although with minor design changes such as the replacement of its glass backing with a rubber coating. The device runs a BlackBerry-developed distribution of Android similar to its first Android device, the Priv, which is modified with security and enterprise-oriented features. This was then followed in October 2016 with a re-branded version of the Idol 4S known as the BlackBerry DTEK60.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.alcatel-mobile.com/smartphones/idol4-4s/ Alcatel mobile phones Android (operating system) devices Mobile phones introduced in 2016 Windows 10 Mobile devices