A stylish smartphone with impressive technical characteristics is the Alcatel One Touch Idol X. Initially (in 2013) it was positioned as a mid-range solution. But now, 2 years after the start of sales, this device can be safely attributed to the budget class of devices. It is his capabilities and technical parameters that will be described in detail and considered in the proposed material.
Equipment
Typical equipment for this "smart" phone (as for the device of this manufacturer). There is nothing unusual in it. It includes such accessories and components:
- The smartphone itself with a 2000 mAh battery.
- Charger.
- Entry-level wired stereo headset.
- Interface cord.
- A quick guide to operation (it also contains the warranty card at the end, on which the seller must put his stamp and fill it out completely when buying a device).
The previous list clearly lacks a case. The case of the device is almost completely made of plastic, it is not difficult to damage it, and it will be quite problematic for the owner of this gadget to do without this accessory. Although the front panel of the smartphone is protected by shock-resistant Dragontrail glass, it is recommended that a special protective film be glued to the front panel of the device to prevent any kind of damage to it. It is also not included in the package, and this accessory will have to be purchased at an additional cost. Also, owners of a single-sim version of this phone will have to purchase an external flash drive. The phone has only 8 GB of internal memory, and this is clearly not enough for comfortable work today.
Gadget Design and Features
Most of the front panel of the gadget is a touch screen. Its diagonal is equal to impressive even by today's standards - 5 inches. The width of the frame on the left and right is only 2.4 mm. Not every mid-range smartphone currently boasts a similar feature. The length of its body is 141 mm, its width is 68 mm, and its thickness is 6.9 mm “fantastic”. Its weight is very small - 130 grams. For a device with such dimensions and characteristics, these are truly phenomenal indicators. Above the screen is the front camera window, there is a speaker and several sensors. A touch-sensitive control panel with backlight is displayed under the display. It consists of three standard buttons. On the underside of the smartphone are harmoniously located: a hole in the earpiece microphone, a USB port socket. On the right are buttons that provide volume control. If Alcatel One Touch Idol X does not turn on after briefly pressing the lock button (located on the top of the smartphone), then you need to hold it down for 5-15 seconds and wait for the device to turn on. Here, on the upper edge of the device, there is an audio port (3.5 mm). With its help, an audio signal is output to a wired speaker system. It can be either speakers or headphones with a microphone. On the back cover, in addition to the manufacturer’s logo, there is also a “peephole” of the main camera with LED backlighting and a loud speaker.
Computational Foundation
Alcatel One Touch Idol X is based on one of the most productive 4-core chips of MediaTek - MT6589T. It consists of four computing modules based on the architecture codenamed “Cortex – A7”. The maximum frequency of each of its computing modules can reach 1.5 GHz, and no other CPU of this manufacturer can boast exactly the same values ​​or large. At the time of the release of this gadget, this semiconductor crystal made it possible to solve any problems. But now, after 2 years, he will no longer be able to cope with the latest generation of the most demanding toys. And here the problem is not in the CPU itself, but in the fact that there is software designed to run on 64-bit platforms, and this processor can only perform 32-bit calculations. All other tasks on this computing platform are performed without problems (watching videos, simple games, reading books, listening to audio, and so on).
Device video card
The PowerVR SGX544MP is used as a graphics accelerator in this device. At the time of the start of sales, this video accelerator made it possible to solve all problems without exception. But now more demanding games of the latest generation have already appeared, which will simply run on it. But at the same time, this graphic solution still allows you to solve most everyday tasks. This and browsing the Internet, and reading books, and playing videos (including movies), and even mid-level toys - all this is possible Alcatel One Touch Idol X with such a graphics card.
Display
The Alcatel One Touch Idol X is equipped with a 5-inch display. Its resolution is equal to today's impressive standards - 1920 x 1080. It is based on a matrix made by IPS technology (hence the impeccable color rendering). Well, with the help of OGS technology, the picture on the screen is not distorted even at angles that are very close to 180 degrees. Even now, after two years, not every mid-level gadget, not to mention entry-level devices, boasts a display with similar characteristics. In addition to everything else, the screen in this device is protected by Dragontrail glass (an analogue of Gorilla Glass), on the surface of which an oleophobic coating is applied (with its help fingerprints do not remain on the front panel of the phone).
Cameras
The Alcatel One Touch Idol X main camera also has impressive parameters. The photos taken with it are of really high quality. She has a 13 megapixel sensor, which is also produced by Sony, a leading manufacturer of "sensitive" elements for phones and cameras. A similar sensor is used in the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia Z. The developers did not forget to equip this gadget with an autofocus system and LED backlight. This camera can record video in 1080p format (with a refresh rate of 30 frames per second). A more modest sensor in the front camera is only 2 megapixels. But this will be quite enough for a selfie or making video calls using the same Skype, for example.
Memory
Now we disassemble the Alcatel One Touch Idol X from the perspective of the memory subsystem. The amount of RAM in different versions of this gadget is always the same and equal to 2 GB. At the same time, system processes occupy about 700 MB. The remaining 1300 MB, the owner of the smartphone can use to run application software. The capacity of the built-in drive in a 2-SIM modification of such an apparatus is 16 GB. There is no slot for installing an external drive. But the single-sim version of this device is equipped with only 8 GB of disk space, but in this case, instead of the slot for the second SIM card, there is a slot for installing a 32 GB flash card. If for some reason the indicated capacity of the integrated drive is not enough, then you can use "cloud" information storage services, for example, Yandex-drive.
Smartphone autonomy
A fairly modest battery, as by today's standards, is equipped with Alcatel One Touch Idol X. Its characteristics are really not impressive: 2000 mAh based on lithium-ion manufacturing technology. According to the manufacturer, the specified capacity in standby mode should be enough for 320 hours in second-generation cellular networks and 240 hours in 3G mode. In reality, with such a battery and similar technical characteristics, you can count in maximum saving mode for 2 days of battery life. If you use this device to the maximum, you will have to charge the battery every night. However, there is no guarantee that he will be able to fine-tune it until the evening. As a result, it is mandatory to additionally purchase an external battery, which can be used with a low charge of the main battery. In this case, your phone will definitely not let you down. But in this case you will have to carry an external battery with you and also control its charge level.
Communications
The communication set of this smartphone includes the following interfaces:
- Wi-Fi is the primary way to share information with the World Wide Web.
- Mobile networks of GSM and 3G standards. They allow you to make calls and exchange SMS. Also with their help you can organize an Internet connection. In the latter case, it will even be possible to make video calls.
- The GPS sensor allows you to locate the device with a high degree of accuracy. Also, A-GPS technology can sometimes be used for these purposes.
- Bluetooth is perfect for those cases when you need to use a wireless headset or exchange data with a similar mobile device.
- A wired speaker system can be connected to a smartphone using an audio port (3.5 mm).
- Micro-USB allows you to charge the battery or synchronize the device with a PC.
Software
Smartphone Alcatel One Touch Idol X, as expected, operates under the control of the most popular operating system for various mobile devices - “Android”. Its version is 4.2. Of course, this is far from the latest system software to date, but its availability is quite enough to run most applications. The only thing that will not work on this 32-bit version of the operating system is the latest 64-bit applications of the latest generation. On top of the operating system, the proprietary shell of this manufacturer of mobile gadgets is installed. Its interface strongly resembles a similar MIUI shell from Xiomi. In addition to standard applications (calendar, calculator, organizer, and so on), the installed software includes clients of international social networks (for example, Facebook) and a set of mini-utilities from Google (Gmail +, Chrome, and so on) . The user will be forced to install everything else from the content store (“Play Store”).
Current price
Although it has been 2 years since the start of sales, the price has not changed for the Alcatel One Touch Idol X. Reviews give it a rather high price. The smartphone itself has long been discontinued and now you can buy it only from stock. Well, regional dealers bought the device at a rather high price, below which they cannot lower its market value now. Currently, it is valued at $ 375. Its starting price was 500 dollars. On the one hand, the device has fallen in price by $ 125, on the other hand, now for the same money you can buy Xperia M4 from Sony or Mi4 from Xiaomi. Any of these devices is technically much better than Idol X. As a result, this smartphone doesn’t look so good compared to analogs that can offer their owner much more for the same money.
Reviews
Alcatel One Touch Idol X has practically no drawbacks. Reviews highlight only the lack of the possibility of grouping in the address book (this is solved by installing additional application software) and the minimum number of settings in the camera (alas, this problem can no longer be solved). Everything else (processor, display, cameras, memory subsystem, and so on) is really well chosen and harmoniously complements each other.
Smartphone maintainability
The Alcatel One Touch Idol X boasts a high level of reliability. You can try to repair it yourself in the event of a breakdown. But for this you will have to additionally purchase a set of special tools and spare parts. And this is not entirely advisable. A better option would still be to contact a specialized center for the repair of mobile gadgets. For example, an operation such as replacing the Alcatel One Touch Idol X screen requires certain knowledge and skills that specialists have. But without this, such a relatively simple smartphone repair will be quite difficult to complete. So if your phone is out of order, then in most cases it can still be restored. And this is better done with the help of specialists. Otherwise, there may be problems.
To summarize
At the time of its release, the Alcatel One Touch Idol X was a really tempting purchase. It combined excellent technical parameters and a reasonable price policy. But now for the same money you can buy gadgets with the best options. As a result, buying it at the moment is not entirely advisable. Well, those who managed to purchase it earlier can only use such a perfect device and enjoy it.