Don’t bin the box – Alcatel’s phone packaging turns into Google Cardboard

The more we hear about Alcatel’s Idol 4S, the better it sounds – and now it looks like it’ll be ready for VR too, thanks to some clever packaging.

According to @evleaks himself, Evan Blass, over at Venturebeat, the Idol 4S will ship in a hard plastic case that unpacks into a Google Cardboard-compatible VR viewer.

It would certainly be a step up from Google’s cardboard original, but still a hell of a lot cheaper than a Samsung Gear VR and a Galaxy S6 to go with it.

The VR-friendly box might make an appearance for the cheaper Idol 4 phone too; it has the same “Your World Augmented” tagline as the 4S on Alcatel’s website.

The phone itself will be one to watch at MWC, with some seriously top spec features.

Expect a 5.5in Quad HD AMOLED screen, and an octa-core Snapdragon processor with 3GB of RAM to keep Android 6 Marshmallow ticking over smoothly.

Throw in a 16MP camera, microSD card storage and a 3,000mAh battery that should easily last all day, and you’ve got a tasty looking phone.

With prices expected to be around $400 (R6,350), it could even go head-to-head with bigger name rivals.

It looks good on paper, but for a company usually associated with budget and mid-range phones, we’ll have to wait for MWC to see if Alcatel can deliver high-end as well.