- [Michael] It's a bit of a Windows week
at the MrMobile studio
as we go from a review of Microsoft's latest laptop
to one of its partners newest smartphones.
But where the story of the Surface Book
is great hardware enhanced by powerful software,
the truth of the IDOL 4S is more like, solid hardware
suppressed by a platform widely regarded as dead.
- He's dead Jim.
- [Michael] But it's not.
And now it has more VR,
for some reason.
I'm Michael Fisher with a review
of the IDOL 4S with Windows 10.
(techno music)
(percussive music)
If this looks familiar, it should.
It's the same IDOL 4S that you can get running Android,
which is based on the same reference design
Alcatel parent TCL used
to build the DTEK line for Blackberry.
That means you get the same metal
and Dragontrail glass construction
with the same forward and aft speaker ports
above and below the screen.
Just as on other IDOLs those speakers
are loud and quite clear.
♫ More, more, more
♫ With a rebel yell
The display in this case is a 5.5 inch panel
with full HD resolution.
That's not as sharp as some of the siblings,
but it is an AMOLED panel,
which is just the perfect fit for Windows Mobile's
deep blacks and rich colors.
And the button formerly known as the boom key
has been pressed into service
as a dedicated camera launcher.
It's not a two-stage shutter button,
but it's still nice to have.
While we're on the subject, let's take a look
at that 21 megapixel camera's best and worst.
Coming as I was from a Google Pixel,
this is a pretty slow shooter, even in automatic mode.
And enabling HDR, really slows things down.
As it turns out though,
HDR is really too aggressive anyway
and often washes out the shadows in photos
so I learned pretty quickly to leave it off.
Despite the phones biggish camera hump,
there's no optical stabilization here ether.
The electronic anti-shake doesn't seem to do much.
Especially if you've used something
with really great electronic image stabilization.
Protip: there's a shortcut here
that let's you hold down the camera button
to jump right to recording video.
Cool, right?
(buzzer buzzing) No, it's not.
Because it only records these so-called moments
in XGA resolution.
And there's nothing in the UI
that warns you about that ahead of time.
So you can't tell you've shot a crappy video
until you've imported it to your computer later on.
That's not the end of the let-downs.
For one thing, that power standby key
way up on the left side
is only gonna be good news for southpaws.
And unlocking the phone with the fingerprint
is damn near impossible on the first try
because there are no physical cues around the sensor
to help you feel it out.
And once you finally do
you don't get a confirmation vibration buzz or anything,
you just have to wait for the slow software to unlock.
Also the hardware so slippery you want to keep an eye on it
no matter where you set it down.
(phone crashing on floor)
Fortunately, battery life is good.
This phone usually lasts me about 12 hours
with moderate use.
Quick Charge 3.0 means it's quick to top up too,
and voice calls on my end are very clear.
Though one caller commented on a mild harshness on his end,
like my voice was peaking.
I didn't hear that from anyone else though.
So shall we finally talk about Windows 10 Mobile?
Okay, well for a dead OS, it feels mighty fresh.
The ghost of Windows Phone still has the best
home screen game in the business.
With email and calendar appointments,
news and notifications all available at a glance.
Yeah, I know, half of you think this too busy,
or confusing, so you know what?
Here, you can live simply if you want.
Remnants of this platform's former near-greatness
litter the interface.
But most of it is right here on the start screen.
The great tragedy of course is this,
most everything beneath that start screen is sub-par.
Windows 10 Mobile has taken strides in the past year,
but it's still markedly less stable
than the competition.
When listening to TuneIn radio on the IDOL today,
I got a text message whose notification sound
broke the audio.
And I spent the next 5 minutes
trying to get the phone to resume that audio stream.
And then there's the ecosystem.
It's a great to use a Windows Phone
that finally has official apps
for things like Facebook, Instagram, and Slack.
Yay progress.
But you now what I'm gonna say,
those apps don't work as smoothly
as their iOS and Android counterparts.
A lot of them crash a lot of the time,
and they're slower to get updates.
And for every official app from a major publisher,
there are others being pulled from the store,
or just being ignored to death by disenchanted developers.
And no, there's still no Snapchat.
That's okay if you're a manager
buying the IDOL 4S for your workers, though.
The phone sports a USB-C connection
so you can plug it into a Continuum dock.
Suddenly you're running a stripped-down Windows 10 PC.
Complete with full screen versions of the Office apps
that come with the phone.
This is how Microsoft envisions people of the future
working from their mobile devices.
Their phones literally are their computers,
which they take from terminal to terminal.
Windows Phones are increasingly making appearances
in the hands of, for example, police officers these days.
With Continuum, Microsoft hopes
to make them attractive to more white collar workers as well
as the sort of work phone of the future.
Why then does this phone
come packing a virtual reality headset in the box?
Well, most likely it's because its Android version does,
and Alcatel didn't want
to repackage a bunch of phones for Microsoft.
At least the company committed to it.
We're looking at no fewer than nine VR-related titles,
pre-installed out of the box.
But, this is by no means
the official launch of VR on Windows 10 Mobile.
It's a watered-down Google cardboard,
experienced on a screen that's not too sharp
when it's an inch from your eyeballs.
Controlled by capacitive buttons
that don't always work well.
You're gonna use it for five minutes,
and then forget about it.
So, at $469 or 20 bucks a month for 24 months on T-Mobile,
what's the word on whether this phone is worth it?
Well, the same as it always is for a Windows Mobile Phone,
if you're already on the platform looking to replace
your aging HTC One M8, say,
the IDOL 4S is totally worth your consideration.
Especially since it's half the price
of the platform's current flagship, the Elite x3 from HP.
The IDOL 4S has good looks, great audio,
Continuum, and good battery life.
If though, you're wondering whether you should jump
to Windows Mobile from another platform,
and you're not talking about buying a fleet of these
for you're business, then no.
This is not the phone to justify that jump.
At the moment, in my opinion, nothing is.
As we so often say with regard to Windows Mobile,
maybe tomorrow.
♫ Maybe tomorrow I'll find my way home
See what Windows Phone could've been with my
Nokia McLaren hands-on,
and see what Windows 10 currently is
with my latest laptop videos.
Subscribe to MrMobile on YouTube.
'Till next time, thanks for watching,
and stay mobile my friends.