Alcatel OneTouch announces the Idol 3C, adds vivid colors to its super-affordable 2015 flagship

Now, Alcatel expands the line with the Idol 3C – a slight variation of the Idol 3, the new handset comes in a number of different-colored, interchangeable backs. In fact, that seems to be the only difference – the rest of the phone appears to be the same 5.5” Idol 3 as before, and there's nothing wrong with that – we did give it a 9/10 in our review!

So, to reiterate – the Idol 3C has a couple of unique quirks to it – its top and bottom are completely symmetrical and its UI is programmed to allow upside down view and even upside down calls, as the stereo speakers can be reassigned between microphone and earpiece freely. So, technically, the phone doesn't “really” have a top and bottom side, as far as its front is concerned. 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 3C packs a 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 615, clocked at 1.5 GHz 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, offering the same Technicolor Color Enhance technology as we've seen in the Idol 3, which we really, really liked.

For a main camera, the Idol 3C rocks a 13 MP sensor with an aperture of F2.0, while on the front, it has an 8MP snapper – pretty much the same stats as the Idol 3. Hopefully, Alcatel OneTouch has touched the camera up a bit, as we found it underwhelming with the old version of the flagship.

Availability and pricing is unknown at the moment, but, given that the hardware of the Idol 3C is the same as the one in the Idol 3, the price will not go beyond $250.