Alcatel One Touch Idol X+ arrives with eight cores of power

Alcatel One Touch Idol X+ arrives with eight cores of power
It may have many cores, but is it any good?

Alcatel may not be the biggest name in mobile, but with the One Touch Idol X+ it may have one of the undercover hits of CES 2014.

Building on the One Touch Idol X, which garnered a respectable 4-star rating in our in-depth review, the Idol X+ looks to kick things up a notch.

Take a look at the Idol X+ spec sheet and it certainly appears to be an impressive offering on paper with a 5-inch full HD display - on par with the Galaxy S4 and Xperia Z1 - 2GHz octo-core (yes, eight cores) processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage and 13.1MP camera wrapped up in a body which is thinner than the HTC One and Nokia Lumia 925 at 7.9mm.

Not all good news

There isn't a microSD slot so you won't be able to build on the 16GB (or 32GB) of internal storage, 4G connectivity is sadly absent and the One Touch Idol X+ comes running Android 4.2 which isn't the latest version of Jelly Bean (that's 4.3), let alone the latest version of Google's platform - Android 4.4 KitKat.

Historically Alcatel's handsets have been a bit of a let down in the interface and performance areas, with sluggish navigation and childish icons detracting from the overall experience.

We hope the One Touch Idol X+ is able to overcome these software flaws and provide a truly fluid experience which makes the most of the powerful innards.

Update: We've now been given a price for the One Touch Idol X+, with Alcatel confirming a RRP of $250 for the handset - that's around £150, which would make it a bit of a steal.

In terms of an Alcatel One Touch Idol X+ release date the phone will start shipping in February, with Russia its first port of call.