Probably one of the most exciting smartphones of the year, the Idol 3 from Alcatel OneTouch is finally making its’ way into Canada. We first took a look at the Idol 3 in Barcelona back in March, and instantly fell in love with it. It’s not a high-end smartphone, but it is a decently priced smartphone with pretty great specs. It’s been available here in the US for a bit, and now it’s heading to the great white North. We reviewed the Idol 3 recently, so if you haven’t read our review, be sure to check that out!
As far as specs go, we have a 5.5-inch 1920×1080 resolution display here, Alcatel worked with Technicolor to get some of the best color calibration possible on this panel. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 615 is on display here, and it performs quite well actually. It’s paired with 2GB of RAM, along with 16GB of storage which is expandable via a microSD card slot. For the camera folks out there, there is a 13MP camera around back and a 8MP front-facing camera. Which both perform amazingly. It’s all running a mostly stock build of Android 5.0.2. There are a few additions to the UI, but not many. It’s also powered by a modest 2910mAh battery inside.
One of my favorite features of the Idol 3 is the fact that it has front-facing stereo speakers. Thanks to Alcatel OneTouch partnering with JBL. The phone is also reversible. So you can do a full 180 and you wouldn’t even know it was upside down, literally. It is a great phone and one we’d highly recommend. It’s selling here in the US for $249. We don’t yet have pricing for Canada – we’re waiting on the carriers to confirm their pricing – but the phone will be available at Bell, TELUS and Videotron in Canada. So you’ll be able to take your pick.
The Idol 3 will be available on June 30th, and it’s arguably one of the best values in wireless right now!