Alcatel’s new Windows Phone flagship for Europe delays the inevitable

Windows Phone may be dying, but that doesn’t mean it’s dead yet. And, yes, while Microsoft did recently killed off support for Windows Phone 8.1, leaving just Windows 10 Mobile handsets as the company’s only supported smartphone devices, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still Windows 10 phones coming out.

Preorders just opened in Europe for the Alcatel Idol 4 Pro, a Windows 10 Mobile phone version of last year’s Android-based Alcatel Idol 4S (via MobileScout).

Hardware-wise, the Idol 4 Pro doesn’t seem to be a bad phone. It features last year’s high-end Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage with a 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED display, all housed in a metal-and-glass enclosure (instead of Alcatel’s usual plastic). It’s certainly not the best specs for a 2017 smartphone, but it’s more the Idol 4S had to offer.

The biggest problem, though, is that at a £419.99 ($546) price tag, for the cost of the Idol 4 Pro you could get any number of recent Android flagships, that offer just as good, if not better, hardware (like the OnePlus 5) and do so without clinging to the sinking ship that is Windows 10 Mobile.

That said, if you’re a true fan of Microsoft’s mobile OS, the Idol 4 Pro looks like a good option for a modern Windows 10 Mobile flagship phone. Preorders are available through the Microsoft Store in Europe for £419.99.