Are you looking for a new smartphone that has to have everything you need and yet doesn’t burn a big hole in your pocket? Well, look no further because we found a chic, affordable mobile phone with an amazing performance: the Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra. Here are 10 reasons why we love this phone!
1. It’s thin. Really thin.
Officially recognized as the world’s slimmest smartphone at the CES 2013 (Consumer Electronics Show), the Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra is only 6.45mm thin. It can fit in the pocket of your skin-tight denim, in your embellished clutch or purse without any bulkiness protruding in an unsightly manner.
2. The HD display is amazing.
We’ve had friends who stopped in their tracks when they saw the Idol Ultra’s display, exclaiming, “OMG! That’s one heck of a display!” It is so clear that you can probably spot a fake bag when you’re viewing a picture on this phone. Colours are vibrant from any viewing angle thanks to a 4.7″ HD AMOLED display.
3. It doesn’t look cheap.
Why spend a lot of money on a smartphone with a cheap, flimsy-looking plastic casing? The Idol Ultra is sophistication personified with a matte finish at the back and a sleek front made of Corning glass.
4. You don’t have to stick with black.
Once you go black, you never go back? Not with the Idol Ultra, as it’s also available in red here in Malaysia. If you’re more of a simple, understated elegance type of person, choose the black cover. Go for red if your personality is loud and adventurous.
5. You don’t waste time downloading apps.
We don’t want to dive into complicated steps when setting up a new gadget, so the Idol Ultra is perfect here. It comes with pre-installed apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Weather, Evernote, Barcode scanner, YouTube – and that means you don’t have to waste precious time downloading the basic apps that you need.
6. It’s really easy to use.
As mentioned, complicated set ups are a turn off (for most of us, our personal purchasing motto runs along the lines of “Don’t confuse me with technicalities! I just want to be able to use it!” we’re tech klutzes and we’re not ashamed to admit it!). Discovering that the Idol Ultra not only runs on Android Jelly Bean but also has a user-friendly interface made us instantly love it. On a lock mode, there are four tiles you can launch -home screen, camera, messages, phone call- by simply dragging them down.
7. 16 GB internal storage is more than enough.
We’ve been using the Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra to cover lifestyle events, which means there’s a lot of picture taking, tweeting and Facebook updates involved. The 16GB internal storage that the Idol Ultra comes with is more than enough for all our event pictures – even with other apps that we downloaded for our job such as Wordpress, Instagram, Photo Grid and Pixlr-0-matic. Oh, and everything runs smoothly without any lags, from swiping the phone to launching apps.
8. Good camera quality.
In daylight, the pictures we took were good, and nighttime snaps with the flash function weren’t bad either. The Idol Ultra carries an 8MP rear camera and a 1.3MP front camera that can also record videos. The shutter speed was acceptable too; you’ll be able to take several pictures in succession by continuously pressing the trigger button.
9. It’s built to last.
The Idol Ultra’s Corning glass makes it scratch and grease resistant. However, we encourage everyone to get screen protectors for their phones and you’ll get one for free with the Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra set. The soft rubber back gives you a good grip (there’s nothing more we hate than slippery phones as our jobs require us to be on-the-go a lot!) and it’s also water-repellent, which is something we value highly in this erratic Malaysian weather!
10. Quality and price affordability do exist!
Priced at only RM1299, some of you might be skeptical about its quality. Well, we’ve been using the One Touch Idol Ultra for over a month now and not only has it been a stylish accessory, it’s also proven that good gadgets can come with a decent price tag. It’s done its job accompanying us at lifestyle events and has been a great tool in the life of busy urbanites like us.
Technical specifications:
Dimension: 134.4 x 68.5 x 6.45mm
Display:
4.7” HD 720p (720 x 1280 pixels)
AMOLED display
Corning Glass
Oleophobic coating
Camera:
Primary: 8 Mpxl with LED flash. HD 720p video
recording
Front camera: 1.3Mpxl 720p HD
Battery:
1820mAh
Stand by time: 400h (2G) / 400h (3G)
Talk time: 12h (2G) / 7h (3G)
Others:
E-Compass. G-Sensor. Proximity sensor. light
sensor. EAP SIM. Micro SIM, DLNA. HD voice
(optional), P2i，Flip cover(Optional)
