Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 4.7" Review

Lisa Gade reviews the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 4.7” model. We reviewed the 5.5” version a few months ago, and as you might expect, this is the small hands and small pockets edition with a 4.7” IPS 1280 x 720 “Technicolor” display. The specs are a bit lower than the bigger Idol 3, but so is the price, and this unlocked GSM 4G LTE phone is a bargain at $179 full retail (no contracts, no payment plans required). It runs Android 5.0 Lollipop on the 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 410 quad core CPU with 1.5 gigs of RAM and 16 gigs of storage. It has a microSD card slot, single band WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and a GPS. Like the bigger Idol 3, it has front-facing JBL speakers that are quite loud, and you get a set of JBL branded earbuds in the box. The phone has a non-removable 2,000 mAh battery and the same good 13MP front and 5MP rear cameras as the Idol 5.5”. It’s available direct from Alcatel’s website and Amazon in the US. Its LTE bands support AT&T and T-Mobile as well as several smaller GSM carriers, but it’s not compatible with Verizon or Sprint.