Alcatel One Touch Idol now available in the U.S. for $299 contract-free

Alcatel announced a whole bunch of Android smartphones during the first quarter of 2013, and one of them is now officially available for purchase in the U.S. straight from the company's online store. Starting today – May 30, anyone interested in the Alcatel One Touch Idol may grab one for the low price of $299 off-contract. 

Is the smartphone worth purchasing, however? Well, that's debatable since a Google Nexus 4 costs the same. The Alcatel One Touch Idol is a mid-range device that stands out with being very slim and light for its class, with a thickness of 7.9 millimeters and tipping the scales at only 110 grams. It offers a 4.7-inch, 540 by 960 pixel display made using IPS LCD tech and protected by a layer of Dragontail scratch- and fingerprint-resistant glass. Yet with a 1GHz, dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM, the One Touch Idol won't set any new benchmark high-scores, while its 8MP auto-focus camera can't capture video beyond 720p resolution. The 1800mAh battery is passable, but the 4GB of on-board storage is likely to run out fast. Thankfully, a microSD card slot is present on the device.  

Overall, the Alcatel One Touch Idol is a full-fledged Android 4.1 smartphone for a reasonable off-contract price of just $300. Besides, one gets a bunch of Iron Man 3 branded merchandise with each purchase; the smartphone makes an appearance in the movie, in case you didn't know. The Alcatel One Touch Idol can be used with AT&T, T-Mobile, or a non-CDMA virtual network operator in the U.S. Shipments are to begin on June 15.

source: Alcatel One Touch Idol