Alcatel OneTouch announces the Idol 3 pre-orders, upper-midrange specs at a low price

Alcatel OneTouch has announced its newest addition to the flagship Idol line – the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 – a 5.5-inch handset with front-firing stereo speakers and a 64-bit Snapdragon 615 under the hood, running on Android 5.0.2 out of the box. The handset marks a special cornerstone, as it will be the first globally released flagship from Alcatel OneTouch and will be widely available in the US through the alcatelonetouch.us e-shop.

The Idol 3 has a unique flavor to its design – its top and bottom are completely symmetrical and its UI is programmed to allow upside down view. So, technically, you can turn it whichever way you desire, though, we're pretty sure you'd still have to hold it a specific way for phone calls, as there is no mention for dual main microphones. Its stereo speakers are JBL-branded and rated at 1.2W; they also feature Harman Clari-Fi – a technology that aims to battle overcompression and loss of musical detail in today's digital world.

Under the hood, the Idol 3 packs a 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 615, clocked at 1.7GHz and bearing the Adreno 405 GPU, 2 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 128 GB. Its front is adorned by a 1080x1920 5.5” IPS LCD display and Alcatel OneTouch boasts its Technicolor Color Enhance technology, which should give great outdoor visibility and generous viewing angles. The handset will be LTE banded for GSM carriers in the US only.

The camera department has also not been overlooked – the Idol 3 will be packing a 13 MP main camera sensor (Sony IMX214) with an aperture of F2.0. Its front snapper will deliver 8 MP shots with wide-angle view for those large selfies.

Pre-orders for the handset will open on April the 21st and shipments will begin in May. Ordering online from Alcatel will cost $249.99, while MSRP will be $279.99 – a pretty good price for an unlocked handset with the aforementioned specs.