Alcatel Idol 5S - Review 2022 - Williams Imeling66

Amazon's line of ad-subsidized unlocked phones generally all offer solid hardware at a reasonable cost, but the Alcatel Idol 5S stands out for having the nicest pattern of the bunch. Information technology's no Samsung Galaxy S8, but for $199.99 (or $279.99 without ads), information technology has a slim and attractive glass-and-metal body. Add to that good overall performance and the latest Android software and it'due south a solid buy. Simply it doesn't impress when it comes to high-finish gaming, and lacks the all-encompassing LTE bands of the Moto G5 Plus, which remains our Editors' Option.

Design, Features, and Brandish

Physically speaking, the Idol 5S is nearly identical to its predecessor, the Idol 4S. At that place's a pane of drinking glass on the front, another one on the back, and a band of metal running around the middle. It'southward reminiscent of the iPhone 4S, arguably one of the all-time-looking phones of all fourth dimension.

The 5S is also rather trim, measuring in at five.nine past 2.eight by 0.3 inches (HWD) and 5.three ounces, similar to the Moto G5 Plus (5.9 by ii.9 by 0.3 inches, v.five ounces). Only while the Idol 5S has a 5.two-inch screen, the G5 Plus has a larger 5.5-inch panel with less bezel.

In that location's a volume rocker on the right, a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom, and a USB-C charging port on the lesser right. The left side has a ridged power button with a SIM/microSD carte slot above information technology. The latter worked fine with a 256GB menu. On the dorsum you'll notice a fingerprint sensor.

The v.2-inch display features 1,920-by-i,080 resolution for 424 pixels per inch (ppi). That's but slightly sharper than the larger G5 Plus (401ppi), though information technology falls short of the Quad Hard disk console on the ZTE Axon vii (538ppi). Text and graphics wait crisp, the screen is visible from all angles, and you can run across it outdoors without much difficulty; I found it to be brighter and less cogitating than the G5 Plus. In Display settings you take the power to change screen temperature to make colors warmer, libation, and more than vivid, and enable Night Screen to lower bluish light levels, which are said to keep you upward at dark.

Alcatel back

You lot'll detect speakers above and below the display. They brand for loud sound, though it'southward a bit tinny compared with the ZTE Axon vii. Still, information technology'due south better than the G5 Plus, which only has one speaker.

Network Performance and Connectivity

Like all Amazon Prime phones, the Idol 5S comes unlocked and supports LTE bands 1/2/3/4/5/seven/12/13/17/25/26/41/66. That makes for robust coverage when it comes to GSM carriers similar AT&T and T-Mobile, but there'southward no support for CDMA and so y'all can't use the phone on Sprint or Verizon, something you can do with the Moto G5 Plus.

Nosotros tested on T-Mobile, and network connectivity was strong in midtown Manhattan, where the phone registered xix.7Mbps down and 7.9Mbps upwardly. Other connectivity options include dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2. The only affair missing is NFC, which is uncommon to find in this toll range.

Call quality isn't the best. While transmissions are natural and complimentary from robotic tones, noise cancellation is poor. During a phone call in a noisy environment, lots of background noise came through including traffic, voices, and heavy crackling from wind. It made it difficult to hear on the other finish, though the fairly loud earpiece is good for incoming calls. VoLTE is supported, just only on T-Mobile. There's no Wi-Fi calling.

Processor, Battery, and Camera

The Idol 5S is powered past a midrange Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor clocked at ii.0GHz, the same chipset used in the G5 Plus. Unsurprisingly, it scored 63,345 on the AnTuTu criterion, which measures overall system performance, nearly the same as the G5 Plus (63,845). That's better than you get on the Kirin 655-powered Huawei Honor 6X (56,602), but it's no friction match for the Snapdragon 820-powered Axon vii (141,989).

The 5S has 3GB of RAM, allowing for smooth overall performance and the ability to multitask. I didn't detect whatever significant slowdown when opening new apps or switching between apps, though it didn't experience quite as snappy as on the G5 Plus. That's likely because the G5 Plus has 4GB of RAM and a lighter software layer. The difference in performance is more than pronounced when it comes to high-terminate gaming. The Idol 5S was merely able to handle a few minutes of GTA: San Andreas before the app crashed. This is a problem we didn't run across with the G5 Plus.

Alcatel lock

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Battery life is average. The Idol 5S clocked 5 hours, 20 minutes in our battery rundown test, in which we stream full-screen video over LTE at maximum brightness. That's near the same as the Honor 6X (5 hours, 35 minutes), merely a couple of hours less than the G5 Plus (vii hours, 35 minutes). At that place'due south also no fast charging, and the simply bombardment-saving characteristic y'all'll notice is the default one that comes with Android.

The 12-megapixel rear camera takes solid photos for the price. In adept lighting you become a decent level of detail without much dissonance or grain. Information technology'south not perfect, though. Autofocus is a little slow compared with the Moto G5 Plus, specially when it comes to low calorie-free. Autoexposure also gets thrown off easily when transitioning between direct sunlight and areas of shadow. Color reproduction is authentic, but looks a little drab if you adopt colors to be saturated and punchy.

Low-light photo quality is mixed. With enough time to focus and some tweaking of the ISO using manual controls, the 5S tin take articulate shots, but if yous leave it on machine y'all'll run across a off-white amount of mistiness. Video records at 1080p at 30fps and is adequately stable despite a lack of image stabilization. The 8-megapixel front-facing camera takes reasonably sharp pictures.

Software

The Alcatel Idol 5S runs Android 7.one.1 Nougat. Information technology also features the Joy Launcher skin, which doesn't brand any visual changes to stock Android, but adds some features under the hood. It supports gestures, like a iii-finger swipe to accept a screenshot, and flipping the phone face up-down to mute it. The phone also has a VR Domicile launcher and VR Store app preloaded, though it doesn't come with a VR headset. If you're interested in mobile VR, your all-time bet is a Daydream-compatible Quad HD telephone similar the Axon 7.

Amazon ads

The $199.99 Idol 5S price is subsidized in part by Amazon ads. They announced on the lock screen and as a removable widget on the habitation screen whether yous're logged in to your Amazon account or non. I didn't find them to be besides intrusive, only if yous can't stand them, you can always e'er opt for the ad-free version for an boosted $80.

There's a significant amount of bloatware on the telephone. Y'all'll find 18 preinstalled apps including a number from Amazon, plus Facebook, Goodreads, Next Radio, and others. Out of 32GB of full storage, 19.37GB is available. Fortunately, you tin can add a microSD card if y'all need more space.

Conclusions

The Alcatel Idol 5S is a solid unlocked telephone that offers good overall performance for a reasonable $200. Only information technology falls a fleck curt compared with the Moto G5 Plus. While the G5 Plus will price you lot $30 to $100 more depending on the configuration, it has a longer-lasting bombardment, ameliorate gaming capabilities, and compatibility with all major US carriers. If you can spend fifty-fifty more, the ZTE Axon seven gets you flagship-level specs at a midrange toll. And if you'd prefer to spend less, the Moto E4 offers reasonably polish functioning and features similar a removeable battery and dual-band Wi-Fi for just $130.