AlcatelOneTouch Idol 3 Global GSM Unlocked 4G LTE Smartphone, 4.7 HD IPS Display, 16GB - Gray

We bought two of these phones (at full price, so this is an actual customer review, not one that may be biased by having received it for free or at a discount) a few months ago and still really love them. We spent quite a bit of time researching all of the options available both above and below this price range, and this phone looked to be a great value, and it really is. We are very pleased with our purchase. We use it with T-Mobile on one of their pre-paid plans and have had a very good experience with the phone and T-Mobile. We are also going to be traveling outside the country, and this phone comes unlocked and supports all of the bands that we need.Pros:The screen looks great, and is very bright and crisp.The camera takes very nice pictures and video.The phone fits nicely in the hand and looks and feels like a much more expensive phone. The build quality is excellent.We charge them after a couple days of normal use, so the battery seems to last a respectable amount of time.The sound, as other reviewers have mentioned, is just excellent. This thing can really put out some sound, and gone are the days of not being able to hear your phone ring! Playing music on it sounds great, and is stereo (one speaker at each end of the phone).The phone is reversible, with a microphone and speaker at each end, so it doesn't matter which way its facing when you pick it up to answer it, the phone will just take care of it based on the orientation using the gyro sensor. This isn't really a must have feature, but it is kind of nice.It plays videos (such as YouTube) very well, and it feels very smooth and responsive in every app we've tried.The value for the money is great, and we would still be very happy with it if we paid more.Cons:Wish it supported dual sim cards instead of just one, but you get a microSD card spot instead, so not too bad and most people probably only need one sim card slot anyway.Wish the volume could be adjusted in smaller increments, but this isn't the phone's fault, it's an android thing and not a deal breaker at all.In closing, we are very pleased with our purchase of two of these phones and would quickly and happily buy them again. If you are looking for a great unlocked GSM phone and don't want to pay an arm and a leg, then give this one a try. We highly recommend it!

Update: I just updated my 5 star (!!) review to a 1 star.... This used to be a great phone for a great price (see all the nice details below). Until about a year ago. Then, Alcatel got greedy and started pushing "updates" for individual applications and the entire OS, which turns the normal benign applications like launcher, file manager and calendar, into annoying malware which keep spewing ads, notifications, and installing random applications you don't want. And that's just on the surface - I'm suspecting there's more evil stuff going on that I am not aware of. Stay away from this phone like the plague. You can't imagine how sad I am - I liked this phone so much that I actually bought 5 of them for my whole family, and thought my next phone will be a newer model of Alcatel Idol. Obviously, no longer.=======I'm really happy with this phone. It is packed to the brim with features, has a very modern Android (it updated to 6.0 right after I unpacked it and connected it), has tons of storage space (I added an 32 GB SD card, so I now have about 45 GB of free space to store applications and data - thank's to Android 6's "emulated storage" built-in feature). It looks beautiful, has the perfect size (4.7" is not too small, but also not too large), and the speakers sound great. People are genuinely impressed when I show them my new phone, and even more so when I tell them how little I paid for it - this is definitely NOT one of the crappy half-functioning super-cheap phones - this phone is a rare combination of being great and cheap.

As of late I've been on something of a "phone journey". I first purchased an Idol 3 5.5", but the phone was just too darn big to be practical (at least for me). I returned it, and then picked up the new Moto G 2015 (which I also did a review on). It was an excellent phone, but in the end I discovered it was missing some key features that I really needed in a daily driver device.First, the Moto G was missing a notification LED. Sure, some of you may think "who cares, it has Moto display", but there are times where this just isn't optimal. When the phone was on my desk and I happened to miss a notification (which normally flashed 3 times, but sometimes just once, probably bugged), to find out I even had one I had to either 1.) reach across the desk and wave my hand over the device, 2.) pick it up which would activate the screen (which didn't always work, either), or 3.) physically hit the power button. A notification LED eliminates the need for all of that fuss. That light is going to blink until I check/clear my notifications, for me this is PERFECT!Moto G is also missing a gyroscope. Not overly important to me (most of the time), but this is useful for things such as 360 degree YouTube videos, certain games, etc. Another win for Alcatel!Moto G doesn't include a magnetometer. Wanna use a compass app on the Moto G? Too bad, so sad. Alcatel 3 - Motorola 0.No NFC on the Moto G. Wanna pay using Android Pay in the future? Well, you can't do that with the Moto G! Idol 3 strikes again!Only 8GB internal storage on the similarly priced Moto G. What's that? You want 16GB for 179.99? Don't worry, Alcatel has you covered.Moto G only offers 1GB RAM on the 179.99 model. While 1GB is "sufficient" with careful usage, I'll gladly take 1.5GB for the same price, thanks Idol 3!The screen. While their resolutions are the same (1280 x 720), the Idol 3 4.7" sports a 312 PPI pixel density, while the Moto G only comes in at 294. More pixels? More clarity? Yup! I'll take it!Dual front facing speakers with JBL sound? They sound absolutely amazing. The Moto G at least had the decency to have its only speaker on the front, but there is zero contest here. These speakers sound just as good as the ones from the 5.5" Idol 3!While there are more positives, I just wanted to lay out the comparisons between the Idol 3 4.7" and the Moto G 2015 1GB model, as these are the most often compared devices. In my honest opinion, there is zero contest between the two and I feel that Alcatel did an amazing job on this device. At first I was a bit leery of the 1.2Ghz Quad Core CPU, but I've had zero issues with lollipop and everything is buttery smooth! I fully recommend this to anyone, as it is well worth the price of admission!