Alcatel Idol 4s review: VR Gateway

22 July 2016
We first caught a glimpse of the Alcatel Idol 4s at the MWC 2016, back in February, where, in keeping with Alcatel tradition, it was piled together with another basic Idol 4 model, as well as three other POP4 devices. Still, even amid the announcement chaos that this event is, the Idol 4s still managed to stand out.

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  • D
  • AnonD-514671
  • 0@%
  • 22 Jul 2016

i got alcatel idol 3 4.7''. this phone was good for price but got one defect. microphone is too quiet in the recordings. i think they use that microphone on idol 4 too.
maybe next generation got louder speakers and little bit better camera but it can't be better than nexus 5x / 6p or zte axon 7. this last will be amazing for headphone quality sound.

    AnonD-476428, 22 Jul 2016 "The Idol 4s might not be gunning for exactly the same pe... moreStill... phone speakers suck. You couldn't compare your so proud stereo speaker to a real one, which would be better even if it costed 10$. You would want to get your own speakers. Who the f uses phones speakers to play music. Just because speakers are stereo, it doesn't mean the phone performs better. Look at that f**king resolution. For SD652 it's an overkill and it kills the phone's performance. OnePlus 3 has 1080p and it would perform around 5x better than this in 3D games. On 1080p adreno 410 struggles a bit, what about QHD? Death. The battery of your proud phone sucks too. Sorry, but for this price there are much better phones, which even have SD820.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • tyx
      • 22 Jul 2016

      Not very impressive battery life. I'm waiting for a battery test of the Zenfone 3--early reviews seem to show that the SD 625 is much more efficient. It would be a trade-off in raw power, but it's also cheaper and adds OIS to the camera.

        • m
        • mir
        • t7I
        • 22 Jul 2016

        They list the stereo speakers in the beginning but have not tested the sound properly. Typical laziness. Watch my comment get deleted again for calling them out on a valid point.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • n5u
          • 22 Jul 2016

          AnonD-476428, 22 Jul 2016 "The Idol 4s might not be gunning for exactly the same pe... moreDepends whether you care about the speakers or not. Personally, I couldn't care less whether it was mono, stereo, rear facing, front facing, bottom facing, etc

            • D
            • AnonD-136500
            • CDX
            • 22 Jul 2016

            for a hump that big the cam should've been 23mp at least

              • a
              • athos07m
              • SwU
              • 22 Jul 2016

              It would be great if GSMArena could fetch a Vodafone Smart Platinum 7 for a side-by-side review. It seems to me that the Vodafone design has the upper hand, with the same insides. I'm really tempted by that phone (the Alcatel probably won't be sold here).

                • N
                • Noob
                • q{4
                • 22 Jul 2016

                No audio measurements?

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • iF$
                  • 22 Jul 2016

                  The problem with alcatel is they simply take too long on new updates, ....Neverthless it´s a interesting choice among the crowded market os smartphones these days

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • 95t
                    • 22 Jul 2016

                    AnonD-476428, 22 Jul 2016 "The Idol 4s might not be gunning for exactly the same pe... moreYou are so wrong about this, Axon 7 indeed has stereo speakers and is far better than Idol 4S in sound, it even come with better DAC's and Dolby certification. Please check before posting

                      • D
                      • AnonD-545216
                      • LuB
                      • 22 Jul 2016

                      The Axon 7 is available for pre-order for 400 on b&h with some free gifts, making them quite comparable price-wise but not as much spec-wise.
                      Personally I needed a phone now and went with a cheaper option but with more bands (was considering the idol and the axon). According to the pages the idol would have been quite limited for travelling and the Axon would have been okay but not the best (at least not worth waiting for in my case).

                      Later when I'm sure where I'll be for the following two years, I'll give priority to luxury specs over carrier compatibility =)

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • IV8
                        • 22 Jul 2016

                        Hello.. Is the amoled RGB type or pentile/diamond pentile? If it is RGB then it will be a better VR experience compared to Samsung's diamond pentile amoled

                          • D
                          • AnonD-476428
                          • SuE
                          • 22 Jul 2016


                          "The Idol 4s might not be gunning for exactly the same performance highs as the OnePlus 3 or the ZTE Axon 7"

                          Nop, Alcatel Idol 4s is way better than OnePlus3 / ZTE Axon 7 !!!

                          Alcatel 4s has STEREO FRONT SPEAKERS !

                          ZTE Axton 7 has MONO speaker ! I repeat mono speaker (ear peace up, and load speaker down) !!

                            • D
                            • AnonD-563201
                            • PGw
                            • 22 Jul 2016

                            The battery sucks tho

                              • D
                              • AnonD-406268
                              • uNV
                              • 22 Jul 2016

                              Intelligent specs.Never looked like a copy.IP68 would make a better deal replacing sony m5.

                                • D
                                • AnonD-501550
                                • 7XY
                                • 22 Jul 2016

                                AnonD-563201, 22 Jul 2016Yuck looks like a rip off a Samsung s7Everything is a rip-off of something nowadays... If you give it a metal back, you'll complain they copied it from HTC or OnePlus. If you gave it a Plastic Back, people will complain that its cheap. So don't complain and just enjoy the phone (BTW Samsung ripped-off Sony with the Glass Backing)

                                  • D
                                  • AnonD-563201
                                  • PGw
                                  • 22 Jul 2016

                                  Yuck looks like a rip off a Samsung s7