Alcatel has announced that it will launch its new Alcatel IDOL 3 4.7 Android smartphone in the United States and Canada on Friday. The phone, despite having a budget price, has fairly decent specs, including Android 5.0.2 Lollipop and dual front-facing speakers coupled with JBL Audio. In addition, the phone sports a classy design befitting of a higher end smartphone, eschewing the common plastic and cheap appearance of many handsets that fall in the sub-$200 range.

Alcatel announced the phone on Monday, saying it will be launching the phone through its US and Canadian websites and on Amazon this upcoming Friday. The handset will be sold unlocked and be priced at $179.99 USD. Alcatel promises the phone will have an out-of-the-box update when it ships that includes the StageFright patch.

The IDOL 3 will feature a 4.7-inch display with a 1280 x 720 TFT-IPS display, an MSM8916 1.2GHz quad-core processor, Adreno 306 400Mz graphics, 1.5GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage – all of which is pretty decent considering the price tag. You’ll be able to expand the internal storage by another 32GB via a micro SD card slot.

The phone features a 13-megapixel rear camera with auto focus and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. The handset can record videos up to 1080p/30fps. The IDOL 3 features a micro SIM slot, 2000mAh battery, and LTE.

(slashgear.com)