The Alcatel IDOL 4S is the newest flagship smartphone developed by the Chinese company. It will start selling in the U.S. via T-Mobile very soon with a Windows 10 version that includes a VR headset in the package.
The phone and the headset work together to provide the user with an immersive VR experience. Buyers put the smartphone inside the VR device to turn it into a screen from which they can access a growing number of apps and games.
Neither Alcatel nor Windows has announced a store for users to purchase additional VR content but a beta version has already appeared in Windows’ website, sources claim. Beginning November 10, the IDOL 4S will sell at T-Mobile stores for $469.99.
IDOL 4S: Specs, features, VR capabilities
The phone is Continuum-enabled, allowing users to connect to a second screen while still using the phone. It comes encased in a 2.5D glass body and a metallic frame on the back and features a fingerprint reader and Windows Hello.
It is a 153.9mm tall, 75.4mm wide and a 6.99mm thin device that weighs approximately 152g. It’s 5.5″ screen has a Full-HD 1080p AMOLED display. The phone also covers 4G LTE and has a 3000 mAh full-day battery.
The back camera takes still at 21MP while the front camera reaches 8MP. It supports video recording both in 1080p and 2160p at 30fps, and playback at 1080p and 60fps. An internal storage of 64GB with 4GB of RAM help make this video features a reality, along with the cutting-edge Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 Quad Core CPU.
The phone also supports SD cards of up to 128GB. It has an impressive standby time of 420 hours with an estimated 13 hours of talk time. Upon purchasing the phone, users receive a free 45-day trial for Hulu Plus, a 30-day trial for Groove Music and a copy of the ‘Halo: Spartan Assault’ game.
The IDOL 4S’ VR experience
The IDOL 4S comes preloaded with access to YouTube 360, a channel containing a vast number of interactive 360 videos. It also features games and apps developed by content partner Littlstar.
To use the headset, the user must ‘slide’ their smartphone in a slot located at the front of the goggles and press a switch to lock it in. After wearing the activated VR device, the user controls the apps by using two buttons beneath the goggles.
Using their eyes, customers can navigate the VR environment and select the desired apps via the buttons mentioned above. Alcatel currently offers a VR Store for users to download additional content and the Android version of the phone also nests some VR apps on Google Play. A Windows Store version will come soon.
Source: Alcatel
