Review: The Alcatel Idol 4S launches Windows phones into the VR generation - rigginsglond1944
Alcatel's Idol 4S Windows phone debuts at a time when the news program grows ever grimmer for this political program. Market share is on a lower floor one percent, and Microsoft devices chief Terry Myerson downplayed Windows phones in a recent interview. Acer and Horsepower have offered up corporate Windows phones, but consumer devices have largely disappeared. This is where the Idol 4S hopes to make its sign.
Alcatel's argument is a simple one: Pay $470 (a bit more than the $400 Microsoft charges for its 5.2-inch Lumia 950) and receive a larger, 5.5-inch earpiece. Add to it a VR headset and a few subscription freebies—a 45-day free trial of Hulu Plus, a 30-day trial of Microsoft's Groove Euphony, and a free transcript of the Windows 10 Mobile game,Metropolis Assault—and you're buying the best Windows consumer phone on the grocery store. Not that there's many of them.
Mark Hachman The 4S feels light in the turn over, though the backing is a morsel diplomatic for my gustation.
A Windows ringer of an Android phone
Although I haven't compared the two phones next, the Windows version of the God 4S on newspaper appears to be confusable to Alcatel's existing Humanoid version of the 4S—a unexpected reincarnation of the strategy HTC employed with Windows and Android versions of the HTC One M8 in 2014.
Like the HP Elite x3 business earphone, the Idol 4S is well-stacked more or less excellent hardware, though peripherals and additional services are what in truth set each speech sound apart. The phone itself measures 6.06 x 2.97 x 0.28 inches and weighs 0.33 pounds, a trifle on the white side. The single-SIM device (sharing a time slot with microSD up to 128GB) has a Qualcomm Snapdragon X12 LTE modem.
The metal-and-glass construction of the Idol 4S looks particularly elegant, with a brass metallic band sandwiched between the display glass and the plastic backup. Incidentally, the band extends somewhat beyond the glass, oblation what appears to be a degree of protection.
Pock Hachman The bimetallic edge of the God 4S serves as a bumper of sorts. Note the speaker grille.
The Paragon 4S's 5.5-inch, AMOLED display is where you'll first discover the differences between the Windows and Mechanical man versions. The Android version's screen is 2560×1440; the Windows interpretation's is only 1920×1080. The Mechanical man interlingual rendition as wel uses a Qualcomm octa-core Snapdragon 652 chip, while the Windows version includes the more sinewy four-sum Snapdragon 820. A hardly a other spectacles prefer the Windows phone: Addressable memory is 3.5GB, versus 3GB for Android, and the enclosed storage is 64GB, double that of the Android version.
In daily use, I was a trifle surprised that I could spate and stack applications in the background without any apparent slowdown, and everything I threw at the Graven image 4S ran fluidly. As our benchmarks present, the powerful 820 chip places the Idol 4S neck-and-neck with the HP Elite x3 atomic number 3 the almost powerful Windows ring.
We consumption a number of browser-based benchmarks (using the call's Edge browser) every bit a replacement for app-based benchmarks. The Matinee idol 4S is at the top of completely of them.
One of the only aboriginal Windows phone benchmarks is AnTuTu, which we've crushed out for clarity's sake. Again, the Elite x3 and Beau ideal 4S report virtually identical scores.
I was also appalled at how the Idol 4S battery life excelled. The included non-removable 3,000 mAh battery is powered with a USB-C connector, theDelaware facto cable for modern phones. Part of the long life is certainly cod to the 1080p expose, its relatively low get off output (210 nits at full brightness) and the Snapdragon 820's power management technology. Still, the Idol 4S lasted a banging 9 hours, 48 minutes looping our 4K test video, topping the Elite x3's 9 hours and 28 minutes.
Not everything about the headphone was thus impressive, though. One key omission is NFC support, meaning the phone won't be able-bodied to utilization Microsoft's bu-to-pay Wallet app. I likewise struggled with the rump-adorned fingermark sensor, which logs you in via Windows Hello. My digit had trouble finding information technology, and when it did, its accuracy was unreliable.
Tag Hachman Incipio's desk dock isn't the most soigne or comfortable, but it gets the job done—provided you have the desk space.
The Idol 4S's 1.2-watt front-facing speakers mob a solid poke, loud adequate to comfortably satiate a diminutive room. Unluckily, pushing the volume above about 20 (out of 30) introduces evident aberration at the high end. Earbuds are an option, but you'll have to supply your own. Though Alcatel's Android Idol 4S ships with JBL earbuds, Alcatel omitted them from the Windows phone big bucks.
The Idol 4S doesn't ship with a presentation sorrel, though Alcatel generously supplied a third-company Incipio Integer AV USB-C multiport adapter to shew that information technology could run the Continuum experience under third-party hardware. It's a slenderly awkward solution —there's alone one USB port, no ethernet, and the cables place the phone at an awkward Angle—just the along-screen undergo kit and boodle.
The Graven image 4S camera: competent, with a touch of meantime
There are trey things you should know about the Graven image 4S television camera: one positive, one negative, and other someplace in between. First, the good tidings: its 21MP rear camera sensor (an IMX230 sensor from Sony) ensures crisp pictures. The other, regrettably, is characteristic of some other Windows phones we've reviewed: When you tap the camera icon to take a picture, there's a observable delay (about half a second) before the picture is actually snapped.
Commemorate Hachman There's a articulate camera bump on the rear of the Idol 4S. Hind end it is the fingermark sensor.
Non all is lost, all the same, as there's a middle ground: the popular camera button. Even off with the screen slay and locked, pressing the camera identify triggers Microsoft's camera app. (In the Android version of the Idol 4S, this "Boom push" animates the weather and creates pic collages, features not available in the Windows version.) From there you can tap the button again to hit, OR adjust the settings and focus. Still, as a guy who's perpetually trying to snap shots of his kids as they zoom by, the overall holdup disappointed ME.
Saint Mark Hachman The photographic camera button on the Perfection 4S makes shooting photos a one-button affair.
To test the clip to shoot, I took pictures of a stopo watch app rootage with the phone's screen off, measuring the difference between when I ironed the photographic camera button and what the camera actually recorded. I and then averaged the guessing times together to bring forth a concluding score. A lower time is bettor. (To be fair, even phones with Windows Hello or a PIN ask a some seconds to unlock, ambitious the H.P. Elite x3, for example, out of contention.)
In our photo-quality testing, the Alcatel Idol S performed fairly substantially, at to the lowest degree in full light. We trial quadruplet ignition scenarios: studio lights at full brightness, borderline brightness, and and so under lamplight with and without flash. I didn't wish how the Idol S performed under low-light conditions, with or without flash. See for yourself:
Our test shots of the Alcatel Idol 4S reveal some serious weaknesses in lowly light. Upper quarrel: studio apartment lights at full and minimum cleverness. Bottom words: lamplight, first without then with scoot.
Another possible reason for the lower-quality shots may be the encoder technology. The cameras within the Acer Liquid Jade Primo and Idol 4S manipulation Qualcomm's JPG encoder. I discovered that the file out size of the first studio photo I nip with the 4S was just 1,345KB, versus 3,670KB for the Lumia 950 at nearly monovular resolutions and identical emblazon depths. Sure, Qualcomm's encoder whitethorn make up quite efficient. Only it's likewise possible that quite a bit of digital information is being left on the cutting-board floor, so to speak, degrading the images significantly.
Mark Hachman A photograph montage of pictures snapped with the Idol 4S. Some closeup shots look nice, but some exposure issues seemed to crop up in others. HDR shots worked considerably.
Then again, I thought the 8MP front-facing camera shot rather nice selfies. The 84-degree wide-angle lens captures quite bit in the purchasable frame. Video can beryllium recorded at 1080p (30 frames per second) quality, and played rearward at 1080p (60 FPS).
Something parvenu for Windows: Virtual reality
Unless you have the available funds to pick up a Microsoft HoloLens, the Windows earpiece earthly concern has been au fon bereft of increased operating room virtual-realness solutions—until now. From each one Idol 4S ships with a pair of God 4S VR Goggles, and Alcatel clearly intends them to comprise one of the phone's chief marketing points. Don't expect to be overwhelmed—with a few exceptions, a lack of available content dims the experience considerably. Generally speaking, though, the available content moves swimmingly adequate to avoid lag-induced sickness.
Stigma Hachman The Idol 4S holds the phone, lenses and straps together inside of a neat plastic package.
Alcatel was clearly inspired aside the Samsung Gear VR, and the same basic hardware design applies here. A front top snaps off, allowing you to cut back in the phone and even storage it in that respect. A pair of lenses split your vision into break u screens, helping create the stereoscopic 3D mental imagery that tricks your brain into mentation what you're visual perception is proper. An elastic strap holds everything in rank.
Alcatel did a swell job of designing the goggles' frame, as long as you don't put too many demands on IT. Everything matte lighting and quite homely, and my eyes adjusted naturally. Plastic shells on the front and rear snap in and contain the suspension straps and smartphone when non in use, wrapping information technology all up in a bang-up plastic package.
Mark Hachman The silver medal button detaches the back of the goggles, exposing the straps. The blue buttons are put-upon to control the phone, though they sometimes didn't appear to work.
I father't wear glasses, however, and there's no focus knob to make the necessary adjustments for those WHO do. Alcatel's goggles likewise admit a pair of control buttons, and the phone has to be properly straight for them to work. More often than not, they didn't, though I wasn't sure if that was due to the apps or a flaw in the hardware itself.
Anyone who knows Windows phones, though, grimaces when they hear "apps" mentioned. Overall, the app landscape painting for Windows phones has somewhat improved—but non VR. There's only a trickle of content available, even third gear-party apps.
Mark Hachman Although you crapper manually load individualist apps, it's best to start with Alcatel's included VRLauncher app, which allows you to move your head and launch apps.
Alcatel makes a valiant effort to show off at the least some of the VR easygoing via its VRLauncher app, which serves equally a hub of sorts for other apps on the phone. Essentially, the available self-satisfied comes down to a bit of 360-degree photos and video supplied by Alcatel itself, a pair of comme il faut 3D VR games, as advisable as Tube 360, a small series of up-to-date 360-degree videos that are actually Charles Frederick Worth watching.
In person, I ma that Alcatel's bundled videos were the worst part of the experience. I quickly ejected from a 360-degree wingsuit video which didn't splay rapidly enough to convince my sense of equalizer that it was in control.
Mark down Hachman Alcatel helps minister of religion VR apps along the Windows Store. There aren't that many.
It's a credit to Alcatel's hardware designers, though, that the cardinal bundled games—Fibrum's Captain Fellcraft VR and Zombie VR—played swimmingly.Fellcraft was a bit difficult to control—inclining your head from side to side to control an endlessly decreasing BASE jumper ISN't that comfortable—just I was left without the nausea that the videos induced. The Windows Memory app likewise offers a few VR apps, though about are specifically designed for repurposed Google Cardboard.
Mark Hachman Tube360 is worth victimisation, if solely because the app attempts to prolong to date with topical video features. You can navigate from video to video within the app.
Make none mistake about it, however: VR headsets and content in the Android world are leaps and bounds ahead. Compare our Gear VR hands-connected from 2014, for Pete's sake. In the meantime, Windows phones still lack an semiofficial YouTube app, let alone one that can show 360-degree content.
The record-breaking Windows consumer phone we've seen
Your consumers Windows earphone choices boil down to deuce: the Microsoft Lumia 950 operating theatre the Alcatel Idol 4S. The Lumia 950's superior camera offers a pregnant edge. I'll back any phone that delivers outstanding battery life, however, and the God 4S's silky-smooth performance complements this feature perfectly. As for VR? Without compelling content, it's gimmicky, but what little there is, is implemented well.
From here on out, you have a go at it the news report: Without any self-assurance of a Show u phone (Oregon twist) along the horizon, Windows phones may be on their deathbed. But for those willing to take that chance, the Alcatel Paragon 4S delivers.
Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/410940/review-the-alcatel-idol-4s-launches-windows-phones-into-the-vr-generation.html
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