[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] piskr:
Alcatel Idol Ultra Review

User Review

I read all possible reviews on Alcatel Idol Ultra since I became interested in this phone but unfortunatelly I must say that I didn't learn a lot. There were a lot of hands-on instant reviews from fairs and a few live but those are mostly written on first sight and didn't carry much reliable information. So my final decision was rather a poker game - I tried to analyze any single information I got and shape it into common perception how could that phone meet my needs.

What I could collect from previous reviews and found critical at that time were mostly issues regarding somehow obsolete Taiwan processor with weak GPU which couldn't meet demands of massive AMOLED HD screen, lousy camera, insuficcient battery and consequently less than working day capacity with overheating problem. One of critics even mentioned IPS screen issue which is totally ignorant as AMOLED is one of the aces of Idol Ultra. It brings vivid and sharp picture with reduced power consumption as a benefit.

Not without slight pressure of doubt I prepare the phone for first use. After first few days I suprisingly found out that it might meet my most substantial needs. Here I must stress out that every user (or at least groups of them) has its own specific preferences and sucesful choise of phone is to be judged regarding this preferences. For me I should say that I'm defenitely not a gamer, I'm rather very demanding business user. Hence my ideal phone is this which can sucesfully support specific application used for business and everydays life purpose. I'm not a beginner, I've changed some phones to date, cusotomized all of them, started from first Windows phones, moved to Motorola's Linux variants and ended with Android by now. I must also admit that Motorola was so far my favorite producer, I gave up the last one (brilliant piece of hardware) Razr I because of luck of any possibility for customization.

So this review is strictly written from my point of view. Following my preferences I firstly removed all fancy colorful screens and replace them with black one (as we know black in oled technology means no power consumption). Then I replaced funny factory launcher with the Holo HD and cusomized icons, behaviours and screens (left only two screens). After than I downloaded my desired applications and frozen a lot of incorporated ones. I felt much better expecially when I found out that Alcatel left AOSP functionallity untouched what practically levels this phone with Nexus having in mind that only a small amount of bloatware was added by the producer.

The next week I started to sistematically study how to root the phone. I found out that none of usual methods works for it. Then I found the procedure described in my previous post.

After rooting I imidiatelly remove all bloatware. Then I started to evaluate the costumized phone. I've forgotten to mentioned that I practice outdoor sports and therefore stability and roughness are essential properties for me. By now my phone is about two months old, it survived high mountains with snow and ice and travelling with a lot of sun and beaches so it is a time to draw certain reliable conclusions.

1. Smoothness

Alcatel Idol Ultra runs on JB 4.1 which brings Butter Project to the phone. As you can see AnTuTu score for this phone is 6000 and something. My previous phone scored more than 14000. But neither launcher nor critical applications (TV, YouTube, movie player, multitasking) experience no lag at all. Regarding my use I could not find any difference in speed comparing with RAZR I which is recognized as very fast. One interesting discovery for me was that Chineses use special governor adopted solely for MT65XX chips (Hybrid) and it serve the purpose suprisingly well.

2. Screen

Picture is sharp, vivid, bright colors, even under daylight sun fair recognisible. Respond is smooth, fast and I still regard AMOLED much higher than IPS or other known displays. What was a negative suprise for me, I found that after outdoor use I can see two small scratches. They are hardly seen but I ask myself what type of screen this phone really sports? Before launch it was announced that it would be the Snapdragon, official site says that it is Corning. I hope that they declared it correct. I also find two micro scratches on the rubber coating to the lower plastic level. All that scratches are really almost unobvious for now, I hope that they are really products of hard use not of bad materials.

3. Audio and Video

As far as video is concern it depends on perfect screen performance and there is nothing much to add. I use the native player and it performs well, no need to be replaced.

YouTube performs superb, the system accepts flash player (http://www.apktops.com/adobe-flash-player-11-1-111-10-android-4-x.html).

Audio through headphones or bluetooth is superb. Calls are transmitted satisfactory on both sides, rear speaker sounds a little tinny but it is loud enough and it serve the purpose.

What is of great importance for me, the SIP functionallity is not removed from the system and it works flawlessly. Skype works as well and voice commands are suported either through google search or custom applications. Bluetooth is 4.0 and supports voice call as well as FTP file transmission.

Integrated radio works well (with wired headphones as antenna).

4. Camera

I couldn't find the rear camera as bad as it described in some reviews. On the contrary - there is a lot of manual adjustments enabled and the panorama option is really nice. It's true that the camera is not a high end device but it is neider an entry level. It might performs sligtly worst in low light condition but otherwise it can do the job. I'm attaching some pictures to support my opinion.

5. Browser

Although it is fancy to use the Chrome nowdays I found native browser more useful (and less bulky) for phones. As I said it supports flash, it supports user certificates and therefore al protected functions as for example ecommerce and ebanking. It has nice bookmark widgets enable direct triggering from the home screen. Phone supports VPN (both PPTP and OpenVPN) and those enables anonymus and safe browsing.

6. Radio Systems

One of a big advantages this phone offers comparing with others is really strong reception of all signals (GPRS, HDPA, GSM, WIFI, BT). GPS locks instantly even inside the buildings. What is even more elating is that this conduct doesn't compromise power consumption. I might say that this phone has the best reception among all I had to date.

7. Power Consuption

It is one of the weakest point of every phone. Especially for us outdoors freaks. But I might fairly say that even with my above average use I can make it through the day. When I use it normally I may get about 36 hours. But in any case it means that all radios are constantly enabled (data, WIFI and GPS). As I mentioned the governor which instantly switches between deep sleep, fist and second prcessor, does the job really well. As you can see suprisingly the screen is almost never the major energy sucker. And phone is never overheated, that is not true at all. Largerst clients might heat it recognasibly but that happend with all phones. And do not forget: this is one of the thinnest - there is no large space for dissipation.

8. Overall expression

Large display enables good sight on operations and pictures. Rubberized core gives an extra strong grip which is particulary helpfull when you use the phone in rough conditions. Not to mention that good grip lessen randomly drop in any situation. Thin and accomplished design gives the phone stilish almost aristocratic appearance characterized for high end devices. It serves me well and never experiences single crash to date. I must nearly admit that I like it.

9. Additional Applications I Installed

Besides integrated GMaps which I found useful when I travelled in the USA I have two additional navigation sytems - Androzic for outdoor activities and TomTom which is in my opinion far the best navigation (If you'll have it don't miss to try my really dark night scheme - replace any of integrated and give the same name imported: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=3000163&postcount=3

That is pretty all I know for now. Next time something about legal issues and warranty regarding rooting. Enjoy.:cool: