Did Alcatel compromise too much to make the One Touch Idol Mini?
Creating miniaturized versions of flagship smartphones is the new tech bandwagon. The formula is almost always the same: make smaller versions of popular smartphones, knock down the hardware a peg (or two), then slap a Mini tag on it and sell it to the masses who can’t afford the full sized version. Unfortunately, there are some companies that take the hardware downsize too far – and if you haven’t guessed, Alcatel happens to be one of them. While we found the One Touch Idol Mini to be a pretty little smartphone, the hardware behind it has been knocked down too much that it started to compromise the user experience.
Alcatel One Touch Idol Mini Spec Sheet
- 1.3GHz MediaTek Dual-core Processor
- Mali-400 GPU
- 512MB RAM
- 8GB Internal Storage, Non-expandable
- 4.3-inches IPS LCD Display, 854 x 480 pixels resolution
- 5.0-megapixels primary camera with Autofocus and LED Flash
- VGA secondary camera
- Dual SIM, Dual Standby
- 3G, WiFi, WiFi Hotspot, Bluetooth, GPS with aGPS
- Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2
- 1,700mAh Battery
- SRP: Php6,990
Impressive looks, solid build
Say what you want about the 4.3-inch Alcatel One Touch Idol Mini, it ain’t no slouch in the looks department. While its body is primarily made out of plastic, it doesn’t feel cheap or plasticky at all. It’s actually the opposite – it’s pretty slick looking and very elegant, and more than a few people mistook it for an iPhone 5 when we were showing it around. It’s also pretty light too, almost too light, weighing in at only 96 grams.
As far as controls go, the One Touch Idol Mini had the volume rocker on the left side where it could be easily accessed. The power button is on top, alongside the 3.5mm jack, while the USB charging port is located on the bottom.
The two SIM slots lie on the right side of the One Touch Idol Mini.
Somewhat dated hardware
Like we mentioned earlier, companies usually knock down the hardware specs destined to go into the Mini versions of their flagship devices a notch to lower the price. In the Alcatel One Touch Idol Mini’s case, the downgrade might have gone too far. It’s powered by a dual-core MediaTek MT6572 processor running at 1.3GHz, along with a Mali-400 MP GPU chip. The display is a 4.3-inch IPS LCD display that has a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels. As far as memory go, you’re looking at only 512MB of RAM, which was probably the source of many of our issues with the device. The One Touch Idol Mini runs Android 4.2.2 out of the box.
Those issues include semi-frequent lag whenever we unlocked the device for use, or whenever we got too overzealous in opening apps without closing some first. As far gaming goes, it’s safe to say that the One Touch Idol Mini isn’t a gaming machine, though light games like Plants Vs. Zombies 2 will run on it without too many issues. More graphically demanding games, like Dead Trigger 2 and the like, will get hit by lag, as the One Touch Idol Mini’s hardware desperately try to catch up.
Puzzling design choices
We were surprised to learn that the One Touch Idol Mini did not have a removable battery, and only had 8GB of non-expandable storage. It’s one of those things that you assume a smaller, more affordable device would have, yet it was strangely missing on the One Touch Idol Mini.
Good camera
The camera on the One Touch Idol Mini is good enough for a 5-megapixel unit. As long as you take photos in plenty of light, and avoid low light shooting, you should be good to go. One nice thing about the camera is that it had a built-in burst shooting function, allowing you to take 5 photos continuously.
Long battery life
One nice thing about the One Touch Idol Mini is that it’s not a power hog. On a full charge, the One Touch Idol Mini managed to give us around a day and a half of battery life with moderate use, which included browsing, a few calls here and there and light gaming.
Verdict: Decent enough for the price, but there are better options
The One Touch Idol Mini is decent enough for the price, but unfortunately there are better options out there. If it had expandable memory at least it could double as a media player, but the non-expandable 8GB memory really lets it down.