Alcatel Idol Alpha, Idol S, Idol mini arrive: thin, cool additions to the One Touch family

The metallic Alcatel Idol Alpha with shiny translucent edges is a just 7.5 mm thin 4.7-incher with HD LCD display, protected by Asahi's Dragontrail glass, with a hearty 13 MP camera on the back. Those edges light up in different colors for notification and mood-setting purposes while watching a video, for instance. 

The phone is powered by a quad-core 1.2 GHz processor, likely a MediaTek endeavor, judging from the rest of the gang, sports 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal memory, but there is no microSD slot listed in the specs sheet. A 2000 mAh battery keeps the light on, which is not much for today's standards at this screen size, but enough for 10 hours of talk time in 3G mode. The supported 4G cellular frequencies indicate the Idol Alpha is destined mainly for the European/Asian markets.

The next entrance is Alcatel Idol S, whose metallic red color pops immediately, but it takes things more mainstream, with the same 4.7" 720x1280 screen, but 8 MP camera and a dual-core 1.2 GHz MediaTek CPU. Its 4 GB of storage can be expanded with a microSD slot, however, and it is an LTE device, again with European bands. Powered by the same 2000 mAh as the Alpha, the Idol S is listed as good for 8.5 hours of talk time in 3G mode, which is below average.

Finally, what would a mobile phone portfolio be today without a "mini" title in it, and Alcatel hops on the bandwagon with the Idol mini - a 4.3" handset with 480x854 pixels of resolution. It will have a dual SIM version as well, which will double the amount of internal storage available to you from 4 GB for the single SIM to 8 GB, though the single SIM Idol mini has a microSD slot for expansion. A 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 5 MP rear camera with HD video recording and 1700 mAh juicer round up the tiny offering, which comes in various metallic colors.

All of the handsets above are running on Android 4.2, and knowing Alcatel, the experience will be mostly stock. Price and availability will be added at a later date, but again knowing Alcatel, the new phones are likely to be a very good value for their money.