Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 pre-orders begin shipping, U.S. retail launch begins

After going up for pre-order back in mid-April, the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 is finally beginning to ship! For those that didn’t pre-order, you can also now buy the handset through Alcatel’s website or from Amazon — though the latter still says it won’t technically be in stock until tomorrow.

While Alcatel isn’t the first name you think of when it comes to quality smartphones, the Idol 3 may just change your mind. The Idol 3 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 with 2GB RAM, other specs include 16GB storage with microSD, a 13MP rear cam, an 8MP front cam, high-quality front facing speakers, a 5.5-inch 1080p display, and Android 5.0.2 Lollipop all at a price of just $250.

Looking solely at the spec sheet, this seems like a whole lot of phone for $250, but how about real world performance? In our full review, Josh Vergara gave the phone a rating of 8.8 and called it “one of the best budget phones of the year”, particularly praising the sound, the display, the camera, and the phone’s design. In other words, this phone actually is as good as it sounds and should provide a highly enjoyable Android experience for those that are looking to save a little money and don’t necessarily need the bleeding edge.

Anyone buying (or already pre-ordered) the Idol 3? Let us know in the comments.