While February might seem quite some time ago in mobile terms, this was when MWC 2016 took place and when Alcatel announced they were dropping the OneTouch from their name and from then on, simply going by ‘Alcatel’. Along with the rebranding, this was also when Alcatel introduced the latest handsets to join their Idol range, the Alcatel Idol 4 and the Alcatel Idol 4S. Since then, there has not been too much news on the Idol 4S, although that has now changed with Alcatel today releasing updated availability details for the smartphone in the US.
According to Alcatel, the Idol 4S will commence its pre-order status starting from July 15 and pre-orders will begin to be fulfilled with shipping taking place in “early August”. In terms of price, Alcatel has now confirmed that the Idol 4S will cost $349.99 during its pre-order stage. Which is not a bad price in itself. However, Alcatel is greatly sweetening the deal by also including a number of extras. The most notable of which is the inclusion of VR goggles, a 2.5D tempered glass screen protector, JBL headphones, and an Incipio protective case. All that with free shipping and for the stated $349.99. For those who prefer to wait for the general availability to commence, Alcatel has also confirmed that the same ‘IDOL 4S bundle’ will be available come August 3rd, but priced at $399.99 in the US.
If you need a reminder on what is on offer for the money, the Alcatel Idol 4S comes packing a 5.5-inch AMOLED display which makes use of a 2560 x 1440 resolution. Inside, this is a smartphone which packs in 3GB RAM and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor. Storage is set at 32GB and expansion is possible due to the inclusion of a microSD card slot which supports cards up to 200GB. Cameras come in the form of a 16-megapixel rear camera which is coupled with an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. Additional features include a 3,000 mAh battery, a dual 3.6–watt JBL speaker, quick charging, dual-SIM support, NFC and Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow). Although, Alcatel has already confirmed that the Idol 4S will be updated to Android Nougat in due course.
