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Orange has teamed up with BIC to launch the easy-to-use, ready-to-go BIC phone. Manufactured by TCL (Alcatel), the entry-level device comes with 60 free minutes, the battery charged, and the SIM card already in place. Once you spend the free minutes, refilling is done using prepaid cards called “mobicarte.”

The idea seems to reach those users that don’t care about high-end features of today’s smartphones, but rather prefer simple phone for texting and calling. Additionally, the France Telecom owned mobile operator may push the device towards a large number of tourists, who in most cases just need a cheap solution to stay in touch while visiting France.

That being said, the two companies will push the BIC phone through over the counter channels, major supermarkets and local convenience stores. Starting from August, 7th, BIC phone will be available in citrus orange and lime green in metropolitan France for 49 EUR with all the taxes.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

Following on from their testing in Singapore, more AlcaLu news….!

Alcatel-Lucent and Telstra have opened a “mobile TV handset testing service centre” in Melbourne, Australia. The facility has been developed to support Telstra’s Mobile Foxtel TV service and will ensure that Alcatel-Lucent’s MiTV application and the Mobile Foxtel service are compatible with and operate smoothly on the handsets that Telstra offers to customers.

Apparently the facility will test up to 100 3G handsets per year to ensure that the typical issues found with complex applications and services and met ahead of time. The testing will also include Streamezoo, who supply a client software app to AlcaLu for MiTV. Whereas as previously testing had been done overseas, it will now be handled locally, and over time the idea is that the service centre can provide testing for other service providers too.

So, a pretty logical step - the best tests are always those that approximate reality the most closely, and therefore where better to test than your own network….!

[Via: Telecom Paper]

Alcatel is looking to bring hardware to the US through O2 Wireless (not to be confused with O2 in the UK). The Alcatel E206a will be offered as a super-basic (read: cheap), dual-band GSM handset. The Alcatel E206a doesn’t offer Bluetooth or even GPRS (let alone EDGE) data services, and is aimed at the entry-level market. In fact, the Alcatel E206a’s spec-sheet is devoid of much more than basic voice calling functionality.

O2 Wireless’s parent company, Locus Communications, operates MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) like CallPlus, Locus Mobile, and POP in the US and will be distributing the Alcatel E206a through these pre-paid channels.

[Via: MobileTechNews]

CTIA Las Vegas 2008 is slow, at least from a hardware/handset perspective. There haven’t been many new announcements and even less new hardware on display. Still, some of CTIA’s exhibitors really know how to entertain. Take Alcatel, for example.

The Alcatel booth wasn’t the biggest or glitziest booth on the show floor. Not by a long shot. They didn’t have amazing hardware. They did have, however, was a Playboy phone and a bunch of hotties prancing around the booth. Unfortunately, it seemed as though I missed the runway show.

The Playboy phone is a Playboy-branded Alcatel OT-V770A mobile phone for the discerning bunny-lover in all of us. Cellatel is handling the licensing of the Playboy brand. It comes in your choice of Gold, Pink, or Silver metallic trim, and plays up its Playboy affiliation to the brim. The Playboy phone sports the same 1.3 megapixel camera, media player, full-screen video playback, 10MB onboard memory, and microSD card slot as the Alcatel OT-VV770A, with the addition of that Playboy logo and embossed metallic rear-panel.

It’s not high in features, but at 10mm thin, it’s got gobs of style. The Playboy phone was only one of 20+ handsets that were at the booth today. The new lineup ranges from sporty and rugged to stylish and refined - but Playboy got the lion’s share of the attention. Go figure.

[Show as slideshow]

Following on MetroPCS’s successful launch in the coveted Los Angeles market, the “unlimited” carrier has announced that they’ll be working with Alcatel-Lucent to bring 3G data service to seven key markets in the US. MetroPCS won the 3G spectrum in last year’s AWS spectrum auction, and will be upgrading their CDMA network from 1xRTT to EV-DO speeds in Los Angeles, Detroit, and Dallas.

MetroPCS also plans to launch in four new markets with 3G from the get-go - New York, Las Vegas, Bostson, and Philadelphia will see MetroPCS’s 3G EVDO network go live in the near future.

“Our customers want the most value for their dollar and our unlimited flat-rate service offers a compelling value proposition, which is evident by the remarkable continued growth of our subscriber base,” said Roger D. Linquist, MetroPCS’ Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.

The upgraded 3G MetroPCS network will bring advanced data solutions to its subscriber-base. MetroPCS customers can expect the same “unlimited” rate plan model with even more service options - services like “advanced multimedia, mobile data, unified communications, video mail, speech-enabled and real-time voice portal applications.”

MetroPCS did not outline their 3G-rollout timeline, but we assume it’ll be completed before the end of 2008. Unlimited wireless plans just got a bit more interesting. We’d love to see a 3G GSM network with an unlimited rate-plan model - now that would get us to bite.

[Via: Mobile Tech News]

Remember that new 4G tech that Verizon was considering for their next-gen wireless broadband network? Yea, well, the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) protocol isn’t just being considered in Finland, the ultra-fast high-speed wireless 4G protocol has already wrapped up a successful trial in Nokia’s homeland.

The LTE/SAE (Long Term Evolution/System Architecture Evolution) Trial Initiative (LSTI) kicked off back in May and the first phase of testing has shown that peak-data-rates can be reached for both mobile and stationary platforms. In other words, LTE has proven itself in delivering higher data throughput levels to devices on the move as well as those sitting still. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is working to standardize the LTE protocol as a 4G standard.

The LSTI was founded by Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, France Telecom/Orange, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, T-Mobile and Vodafone, and was recently expanded with China Mobile, Huawei, LG Electronics, NTT DoCoMo, Samsung, Signalion, Telecom Italia and ZTE.

Here are the technical LTE spiel from the press release:

From a technical perspective, 3GPP LTE technology aims to provide improved spectral efficiency, increased radio capacity, lower latency, lower operating costs for operators, and ultimately new high-performance mobile broadband end-user services. 3GPP LTE is specified to enable downlink/uplink peak data rates above 100/50 Mbps in initial deployment configurations.

100/50Mbps in the down and upstream sounds damn good to us. We can’t wait for Verizon to start work on their own LTE network. Of course, the 3GPP LTE standard won’t be standardized until 2010 (if all goes according to plan). This first testing phase of the 3GPP LTE standard is the first of a three-part program (Proof of concept, Interoperability, and Trial) - so, we’ve got a bit of a waiting game on our hands. Looks like Sprint’s WiMAX 3G standard will have to hold us over until then.

Keep reading for the full press release.

Read the full article

Being completely mobile endows a sense of freedom that no cubicle can match. There’s nothing like traveling all over the place with a wireless data connection ready to do your bidding. That is, until you get jacked for your laptop. The one problem with rocking the mobile warrior lifestyle is that you have to essentially make your portable device your main rig - which means that your hard drive, full of sensitive data, is up for grabs whenever you take your eyes off your laptop.

Sprint’s coming to the rescue with the new SprintSecure Laptop Guardian service - which will work with the OmniAccess 3500 PCMCIA EVDO card from Alcatel-Lucent. The new card not only pulls down sweet, sweet wireless data from Sprint’s extensive EVDO network, but also serves as an anti-theft device. The card has its own “small operating system, a CPU, memory and an SD slot” and must be inserted into the laptop before the laptop can be used - all the while your IT administrator can keep tabs on the laptop’s data and the user’s access to corporate networks. When lost or stolen, the data on the laptop can even be remotely wiped. And, with integrated GPS, the laptop’s whereabouts can be constantly monitored.

Subscriber’s to Sprint’s unlimited data plans can order up their very own OmniAccess 3500 for $250. The SprintSecure Laptop Guardian service will cost an additional $10 to $12 per month.

[Via: Infoworld]

Alcatel just unveiled its new Mandarina Duck fashion handset in three bold colors - cherry red, lilac and green with colour-coordinated graphics. As with most other fashion phones, it’s not the features Alcatel is pushing, hence this device has a smallish 128×160 screen, MP3 player, stereo Bluetooth, VGA camera and the microSD expansion slot. In addition, Alcatel is bundling a bag clip with the device, to allow its (mostly female) users to easily attach the phone to their bags and not lose it in the depths.

I guess we can say Alcatel may have a winner with Mandarina Duck handsets. Not that they’ll sell tons of it, but that slowly they might return to the mobile phone scene with more similar devices. If your interested to grab a Mandarina Duck phone, you’ll have to wait for for the beginning of November and then buy it in one of many Carphone Warehouse stores for the still undisclosed price.

Few more images after the break.

Read the full article

As much as we would like, we can’t write only about the high-end handsets. There’s the market for devices at the lower end of the spectrum as well, hence we’re here to cover it all.

Lately, we’ve spotted Alcatel’s basic phone OT-E221 which lets users take and make phone calls, use text messaging service, and… that’s it. Features like built-in camera and a media player, which we take for granted nowadays, are just not there. However, the price is there — this baby costs mere £14.99 (roughly $30) and will be available in four different colors — hot pink, black, glossy blue and vibrant orange — from Woolworths this September.

[Via: uberphones]

Some people don’t need the latest and greatest. Those people don’t read IntoMobile.

According to CrunchGear Alcatel released a £15 cellphone, the OT-E201. It has a 65k color screen, GSM support on only 2 bands and can handle text messages.

Remember folks, while the hardest decision you made this summer was what > $500 smart phone to buy there are still people out there who are happy as a pig in shit to just have a cell phone in the first place. Just don’t do what I did and give your mother a Nokia E61 for her birthday unless you want to repeatedly explain how to use it.

[Read more at The Register]