Hands on with the Alcatel Idol 3: the smartphone you can use upside down #MWC15

We tried out the Alcatel Idol 3, an Android smartphone in two sizes that can be used either way up, at Mobile World Congress. Here’s a demo:

The 5.5-inch version of the Alcatel Idol 3 has a full HD (1080p) IPS display, 13MP rear camera and 8MP front-facing, octa-core processor, 4G and Android Lollipop. The 4.6-inch version has a 720p IPS screen, 13MP camera again (but only 5MP front-facing), a quad-core processor and again, 4G and Lollipop. Alcatel unfortunately couldn’t tell us the battery capacities, though.

It looks like the Alcatel Idol 3 will be out in the UK around mid-May. Alcatel told us the 4.7-inch version will cost 220 Euros (£159) and the larger one is 300 Euros, or £217 – we’d definitely spring for the higher-end model if possible, because over a year or 18 months of use, that £60ish difference won’t seem like very much and it’s a considerably better phone. Either way, though, the Idol 3 is definitely one of the more innovative phones we’ve seen at Mobile World Congress.