Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra: Astonishingly thin

LAS VEGAS--I'll try not to cut myself on the Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra, which Alcatel claims is the thinnest smartphone yet.

In truth, I've seen none slimmer; the Idol Ultra measures a razor-thin 0.25-inch thick. For perspective, Samsung's slim Galaxy S3 measures 0.34-inch deep.

The Android smartphone features a 4.7-inch HD AMOLED display and comes with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. An 8-megapixel camera with 720p HD video capture rounds out the feature set, along with a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.

The Idol Ultra is bound for China this month.

Just to confuse things, the Idol Ultra is similar to its sibling, the Alcatel One Touch Idol, which will be U.S.-bound. Also bearing a 4.7-inch screen, the Idol uses the LCD display technology instead of AMOLED, and it's finished with a brushed metallic coating. Although not as whisplike as the Idol Ultra, the Idol is still a rakish 0.32-inch thick and weighs a very light 3.9 ounces.

Interestingly, the Idol (not the Idol Ultra) has the larger front-facing camera, 2 megapixels, and the higher-resolution video capture, 1080p HD.

Though both the Idol and Idol Ultra will feature 4G, neither supports LTE, Alcatel says.

I'll learn more about Alcatel's high-end showing at CES, where I'll be able to get my hands on them in person. Stay tuned!