Android Police: Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 (5.5″) Review: $250 Buys You So Much More Phone Than It Used To
Here’s the thing, on value, I can’t ignore that you can get a OnePlus One for $50 more than this phone. Yes, OnePlus has customer service issues, their marketing is awful, and they’ve had some problems with touchscreen defects (or non-defects, if you ask OnePlus). But the Snapdragon 801 is a much better, tried-and-true chipset that is worth every single one of those fifty dollars. Sorry, Alcatel.
The Verge: Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3 review
At this point, you’re surely looking for the catch in all of this, the bugbear that will take down the Idol 3 and reveal its true status as a cheap, forgettable phone. I can’t really say there is one, but the area where the Idol 3 doesn’t match the best of the best is in raw performance. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor with 2GB of RAM is enough for the vast majority of everyday tasks, but it won’t keep up with phones running higher-end chips. Most of the time it’s not a problem, but every once in a while there’s an annoying stutter or delay when opening an app that’s enough to remind me I’m not using a top-tier phone.
Android Central: Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 review
I’ll admit I went into this review with the expectation that the Idol 3 would be one of those phones I couldn’t recommend to anyone and would never want to use. I’ll now eat a steaming pile of crow and say I couldn’t have been more wrong. For many of us, the Idol 3 would be a perfect fit, and it’s now the phone I would recommend to anyone looking for the best bang for your buck when buying a new Android.
Android Headlines: Featured Review: Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3
In a world where we have a OnePlus One that just ditched its invite system after a year, and it’s going for $349. Along with a Moto G at $179. I think the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 sits right in the middle. Not quite in the low-end of the mid-range as the Moto G, but not quite in the high-end range of where the OnePlus One was and still is. Which is why I think Alcatel OneTouch did a great job of pricing this at $249 when it goes on sale next month.
Many of the sample photos in that review have a flat look to them. The colors don’t pop. But at least the edges aren’t machined like a recent Xiaomi phone.
This page will now get cloggy due to the videos.
Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 Review: The Reversible Budget Phone
No praise for the camera in this one:
Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 Review: A true affordable flagship
Yet the camera looks OK here, especially with the sample video:
Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3 Review
Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 is a budget buy
Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 Review
What’s maddening: These all claim to be “reviews,” yet only one of them ran banchmarks. Here’s the AnTuTu:
That score is in the neighborhood of recent Chinese tablets using some of the Z-series CPUs. And it’s considerably faster than the ZTE Zmax:
This is a serious contender for me as a possible phone.
Previously here:
Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 Pre-Sale Begins
Farewell For Now, ZTE Zmax