Alcatel Idol 4 Plus, first contact

The French company Alcatel has arrived at the Mobile World Congress , the most important mobile fair of the year held in Barcelona , with a new face and new devices. Thus, your branding is now simplified, as is your logo , and you forget the Onetouch surname . But what is really interesting is its new flagship, the Alcatel Idol 4 Plus , which arrives to present an update of the Idol family focused on leisure and entertainment with a 5.2-inch screen , a complete list of technology. sound , a connectivity sectionupdated to the times we live with 4G and Bluetooth 4.2 connection , and processor Snapdragon 617 with eight cores able to move any application and task. But not only that, those who prefer it, can get a Virtual Reality glasses in the purchase package of this terminal. Keep reading if you want to know all the details.

Metal and glass design with a 5.2-inch screen

This new Alcatel Idol 4 Plus flagship has an attractive design with Premium or high-quality finishes . This is helped by its aluminum metal frame , which gives it resistance in the palm of the hand, and also the glass that covers and protects the front and back . Little to do with the Idol 3 family , where the materials and finishes were in plastic . These stylish and quality lines are collected in a 147 x 72.5 x 7.1 mm body and weighing 135 grams , which makes it quite light despite the proportion of its screen.

And, the Idol 4 Plus has a 5.2-inch panel of IPS technology , which offers a wide viewing angle and defined colors even when direct light falls on the screen. It is capable of displaying images at a resolution Full HD or what is the same, to 1920 x 1080 pixels .

A button to improve the user experience

One of the main features of this new Alcatel Idol 4 Plus is its BOOM button . A developed feature to improve the user sensations in almost all aspects of the terminal, as it affects both the gallery as the video recording , or even while you are playing . In this way, it is possible to press this button, located on the side of the terminal, to take photos in burst mode instantly , when the mobile is still at rest, avoiding missing a scene. Once inside the gallery , the button allows you to create collages and compositionswith any image, without using other applications for it.

Something very similar happens when you are watching videos with this Alcatel Idol 4 Plus , where the BOOM button applies all kinds of effects to give the content a new look, making edits such as repeating clips or changing playback speed , or even broadcasting on direct content over the internet . All this automatically, once this button is pressed.

The BOOM effect also affects music playback . One press and playback is optimized to the middle at any time, improving bass, treble and sound clarity . It also happens when you are playing titles such as the popular car racing game Asphalt on your mobile . At the moment when the mentioned button is pressed, the sound of the title is intensified and allows to fire the nitro (impulse) to achieve greater acceleration in the game.

Finally, this button applies changes to the user experience in the terminal itself, when the user moves between applications and menus. If pressed, a 3D effect known as Parallax , which creates different levels of depth or 3D, is applied to the Alcatel Idol 4 Plus interface . A button capable of improving the user experience in a good number of terminal functions.

A terminal with reversible experience and Virtual Reality glasses

The Alcatel company has also shown that the Alcatel Idol 4 Plus is a mobile designed to be used in any position . Its design places the speaker grilles in strategic positions so that they are never covered with your hands, even if the mobile is held in a horizontal position. In addition, the screen is correctly positioned in any position, face up or face down, even when it is turned from one side to the other. A detail that improves the user experience when we grab the mobile in any way to view content, being able to focus on it and not on how we hold the mobile. Very useful for the most careless.

Alcatel has also surprised by including Virtual Reality glasses with this device in the box. In fact, it is the box itself that, beyond protecting the mobile from shocks and transporting it, is capable of transforming into a glasses in the purest style seen with Google's Cardboards . However, the design and materials far exceed the mere cardboard chosen by the Internet search company, achieving a more ergonomic and visually attractive device. With these glasses the user can enjoy immersive experienceswhen moving to virtual worlds where you can play and move as if you were in them, or to enjoy videos where you can look anywhere and choose what to see at any time. These contents can be downloaded from the Onetouch VR store , an application included within the terminal that acts as a repository for these 360-degree contents.

Snapdragon processor and 3 GB of RAM memory

Under the hood of this Alcatel Idol 4 Plus we find a complete technical sheet headed by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor , with eight cores that run at 1.7 Ghz and 1.2 Ghz , four and four. A chip that comes accompanied by an Adreno 405 graphics processor to meet photography and video games and tools without problems. Issues that are enhanced with the aforementioned BOOM button to multiply and improve its capabilities at specific times, when more power is needed.

In addition, this device comes with a 3 GB RAM , which gives it fluidity in its operation, something that we have appreciated in its first contact after the presentation. It also enables more complete multitasking , with more applications running in the background, to jump between without wasting time or having to start over.

Regarding storage capacity, the Idol 4 Plus comes with 16 GB of memory , although only 10 GB are really usable . Of course, it has a MicroSD slot capable of expanding the space by up to 512 GB more , which offers capacity for many more movies, games, applications, photos and music.

13 megapixel camera and sound with Waves technology

The Alcatel Idol 4 Plus integrates a 13 megapixel camera on the back, accompanied by a dual LED flash two tones to compensate for color changes that can produce this resource in dark places. His camera for selfies , however, stays in the 8MP , but comes with frontal flash and retouching technology to achieve a result without using other applications beauty. Qualities that achieve good results when portraying the environment or the user himself.

Alcatel has worked with Waves to provide quality to the sound section of this Idol 4 Plus . Something that is noticeable through its two 3.6 watt speakers with high fidelity sound . In addition, it has two noise canceling microphones to improve the sound of calls, and includes an FM radio for those who continue to enjoy the radio in a traditional way (it is necessary to use headphones that act as an antenna). All this supporting the formats: AAC LC, AAC +, Enhanced AAC +, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, FLAC, MP3, MIDI, Vorbis, PCM / WAVE . They have not forgotten to integrate a JBL J22 headphones with drivers included to improve the personal sound experience, achieving a great quality in the sound that reaches the user's ears.

4G connectivity and 2610 mAh battery

Thanks to the Snapdragon 617 processor, the Idol 4 Plus can connect to high-speed 4G Internet networks . In addition, in its connectivity section, it has support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi networks , Bluetooth 4.2 to pair any peripheral (smart watches and bracelets, wireless headphones, etc.) and NFC technology to make payments just by bringing the terminal to another device. It also has a slot for MicroSD memory cards , another for a NanoSim card , a MicroUSB 2.0 port , WiFi Direct connection technology and GPS support. (OTG, A-GPS), with which to always be located.

Moving on to talk about its autonomy, the Idol 4 Plus has a 2610 mAh capacity battery integrated . However, Alcatel has not offered detailed data about the duration in use, rest or conversation of this terminal. It has only clarified that its battery takes 120 minutes to charge one hundred percent.

Availability and price

The Alcatel Idol 4 Plus will hit stores in Spain next April. There are two versions of this Alcatel flagship: one of them called Idol 4 to dry , which does not include the box that can be transformed into virtual reality glasses, and which will arrive for a price of 320 euros , and another version known as Idol 4 Plus , which includes the glasses for a price of 360 euros .

It is possible to choose between several colors for the aluminum frame that borders the sides of the terminal: pink, silver, gold and black.