Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5) and Idol 3 (4.7) review: Two phones, one soul

Performance

The Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5) features Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM8939 chipset with 1.5GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU and quad-core 1GHz Cortex-A53 CPU. The GPU is Adreno 405, while the RAM is 2GB.

The 4.7" variant of the smartphone features a less capable Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 MSM8916 SoC. The latter packs 1.2GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU, Adreno 306 GPU, and 1GB of RAM.

GeekBench 3 test, which gauges the multi-core CPU performance. The devices perform in line with their similarly-equipped competitors in the segment.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• Meizu m1 note
  3988
• OnePlus One
  2663
• Oppo R7
  2620
• Archos 50 Diamond
  2460
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  2451
• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML review
  2423
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (final)
  2375
• Alcatel Idol 3 (4.7)
  1447

AnTuTu 5 paints a similar picture. Once again, the Idol 3 (5.5) displays similar performance as other Qualcomm Snapdragon 615-equipped devices we have tested in the past.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML review
  42301
• Meizu m1 note
  39224
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (final)
  32217
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  29907
• Archos 50 Diamond
  28756
• Alcatel Idol 3 (4.7)
  22321

Basemark OS II is another all-round benchmark that gives an overall score along with single and multi-core performance among others. We focus on the overall score and the dedicated CPU scores.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• OnePlus One
  1196
• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML review
  1094
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (final)
  883
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  814
• Archos 50 Diamond
  762
• Meizu m1 note
  715

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

• OnePlus One
  2213
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  1819
• Meizu m1 note
  1754
• Archos 50 Diamond
  1674
• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML review
  1462
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (final)
  1453

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Meizu m1 note
  12848
• OnePlus One
  10234
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (final)
  8592
• Archos 50 Diamond
  6906
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  6467
• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML review
  5600

Basemark X

Higher is better

• OnePlus One
  13129
• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML review
  12565
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (final)
  5105
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  4953
• Meizu m1 note
  4617
• Alcatel Idol 3 (4.7)
  1578

GFXBench and its various benchmarks put the Adreno 405 GPU to the test. The Idol 3 (5.5) didn't shatter any records - it performed yet again in line with its rivals that pack the same GPU.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus One
  28.3
• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML review
  27
• Meizu m1 note
  15
• Archos 50 Diamond
  15
• Oppo R7
  15
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (final)
  14.9
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  14.2
• Alcatel Idol 3 (4.7)
  5.2

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus One
  30
• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML review
  27
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (final)
  25.8
• Meizu m1 note
  16
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  15.1
• Archos 50 Diamond
  15
• Oppo R7
  14.8
• Alcatel Idol 3 (4.7)
  9.5

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML review
  13
• OnePlus One
  12.1
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (final)
  5.84
• Meizu m1 note
  5.8
• Archos 50 Diamond
  5.8
• Oppo R7
  5.7
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  5.7
• Alcatel Idol 3 (4.7)
  1.8

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML review
  13
• OnePlus One
  12.9
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (final)
  12.2
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  6
• Oppo R7
  5.9
• Meizu m1 note
  5.7
• Archos 50 Diamond
  5.7
• Alcatel Idol 3 (4.7)
  2.7

BrowserMark 2.1 and Kraken 1.1 test the JavaScript performance of the smartphone.

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML review
  1486
• Archos 50 Diamond
  1437
• Alcatel Idol 3 (4.7)
  1437
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  1343
• OnePlus One
  1339
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (final)
  1171
• Meizu m1 note
  536

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML review
  6360
• OnePlus One
  7008
• Archos 50 Diamond
  12110
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (final)
  13609
• Alcatel Idol 3 (4.7)
  14246
• Meizu m1 note
  15055
• Alcatel Idol 3 (5.5)
  18124

In our real-life experience, both Alcatel Idol 3 models never felt underpowered.