Alcatel is no stranger to the mobile phone market. They have produced quite a number of devices over the course of their long presence in the business. As things go, however, they have been a little low-key of late, releasing a phone or tablet here and there. There hasn’t been anything wrong with the devices; as a matter of fact, they have been quite popular with the bundled promos of some local networks. They hope to break the relative silence with a few great devices that they launched here just the other week. At the top of the list is the Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra. It’s a stylish Android phone that now holds the distinction of being the thinnest mobile phone in its class at an unbelievable 6.45mm thick. It’s also a feather-light 115g.
When held the One Touch Idol Ultra feels like a phone a few tiers above its actual price. It is light, but doesn’t feel like a toy. The back is a matte, almost rubbery plastic, but manages to still be solid. there is no creak, the seams are tight and the buttons are crisp. Overall, it is of very encouraging build quality and should hold up to daily use.
It has a 4.65 inch screen at a resolution of 720×1280 pixels, giving it a crisp pixel density of about 316ppi. The screen is quite nice, and the AMOLED display makes for deep blacks and nice contrast. The Idol Ultra runs Android Jelly Bean 4.1
We can’t say it enough: This phone is THIN. If it were less solidly built, it would feel like one could snap it clean in half. As it stands though, it’s quite rigid and handles well in the pocket. The front of the device is protected by Dragon Trail Glass; offering similar scratch and shatter resistance as Gorilla Glass, at least according to videos and some light use. It comes with a nice, tasteful skin from Alcatel, and apart from the overly fanboy Iron Man wallpaper that it comes with, is very pleasant.
The device is available for approximately PHP15,000, if you folks are interested.
We’ll be featuring the Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra in the upcoming June issue of Gadgets, and we’ll also be posting a few updates on the device as we use it, so stay tuned!