No, this isn’t a #ThrowbackThursday news, guys? The iconic-cellphone French company, Alcatel, finally outs its real octacore smartphone, Idol X+, plus other equally interesting devices such as BoomBand, Idol Alpha, Idol Mini and C-Series phones.
Officially announced in January 2014, OneTouch Idol X+ is Alcatels’ superpowered yet ultra-slim smartphone. The device is almost bezel-free, and sports a 5″ Full HD display (with 441 ppi) and 13.1 megapixel camera that can shoot full HD videos. Its true octacore processor is built by Mediatek, and its chipset is somewhat very familiar to most of you – MTK6592. We were to quick run an Antutu Benchmark of the device and its result simply blows the devices most of your are probably familiar of like this phone.
Let me go break down the details. According to Alcately, when measured, the phone’s thickness – or should I say thinness – is only 8.1mm. This makes this one of the slimmest true octa-core smartphones around. It has a full HD display with retina-busting clarity. The screen shows a lot of details thanks to its 441 pixels-per-inch density.
Other that what’s under its hood, Alcatel’s new device looks great and is totally built to please. Its premium spin effect and metallic finish body are design implementations that phone design freaks would really rave about. Take a look at actual photos of the smartphone we took during the event.
To give you a full glimpse of Idol X+’s features, check out the list below:
- 5” Full HD IPS display
- Octa Core 2 GHz
- 13.1 Mpxl Full HD main camera
- 2 Mpxl 1080p front camera
- Hi-Fi sound
- HD video
- 8.1mm thin
- 2500mAh
Inside the retail box of Idol X+, you will find a premim JBL Earphones, which can basically enhance the media experience. The device is now available for PhP18,990. We already requested Alcatel to provide us a unit for review so you can also see how it really stacks with competition.
Fellow tech blogger, Reg Ramos of DRontheGo.net and Jeck Cruz of Alcatel Philippines.
Alcatel Boomband, Idol X+’s perfect companion
Just in case you’re into wearables, Alcatel also launched Boomband, which could be the perfect connected device to Idol X+. The band may be used as your health monitoring app, and may be extended to be your sleep pattern tracker. And oh, before I forget, Boomband’s wristband is made with Phiten and it can handle all weather conditions.
Unfortunately, the wearable device cannot exactly tell or show the time of the day. However, apart from being a health and sleeping monitoring gadget, it may also serve as your “notifier” via LED indicators and vibration alerts. It will also rapidly vibrate to alert if you get too far from your phone.
Now here comes the shocker – this wearable device is only sold at PhP1990 a pop.
Alcatel’s facing a huge battle against local and international brands in the Philippines. I believe that Alcatel has got more things up their sleeves like gadgets, sales strategies and discounts. I am just very excited to see how everything pans out. There is one thing that really make me like this brand – they know how to make long-lasting devices. In fact, the OneTouch Idol Ultra I got last June 2013 still works and looks even better than other relatively newer smartphones I’ve got.
Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.
