Cricket Wireless has announced it is to launch the Alcatel OneTouch IDOL 3 smartphone on the 6 November at the same time as its boost to international costs, which see customers benefiting from free roaming in Canada and Mexico. However, this story concerns the launch of the Alcatel OneTouch IDOL 3 device, which includes the Alcatel OneTouch Mix application offering customers “an immersive music experience on a 4G LTE network … Customers can listen to music directly from the app and add effects, transition songs, sync, mix, scratch or insert samples just like a DJ!”
The IDOL 3 device is based around a 1080p resolution, 5.5-inch IPS LCD panel, which features help from Technicolor so as to obtain the right color balance. Under the skin, the IDOL 3 packs the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 System-on-Chip, which features eight ARM Cortex-A53 application cores configured in a typical big.LITTLE architecture. Four cores are clocked at up to 1.5 GHz for the heavier lifting and four are clocked at up to 1.0 GHz for the lightweight processor duties. The System-on-Chip is backed up by 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of local storage, but the IDOL 3 also comes with a microSD slot that supports cards of up to at least 128 GB in capacity. There’s a 13MP rear camera and an 8MP front facing unit complete with an 85-degree wide angle, perfect for group selfies. The device comes with dual front facing speakers of 1.2 watt output and featuring JBL Audio technology.
For the software, Alcatel OneTouch have given the device a near-stock Android Lollipop 5.0 experience. The interface is very much the vanilla Android experience but Alcatel have included a number of extra features designed to improve how the device works day to day. Alcatel OneTouch explain that the device is the only in the world with a “fully reversible user experience,” as no matter how the device is held the display will always be the right side up, even when held upside down. The device will be available for just $149.99 with activation in a little over a week, as a Cricket exclusive. When we reviewed the IDOL 3 back in May, we rather liked the device but this was at the $250 price point.