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.

Following on MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS)’s successful launch in the coveted Los Angeles market, the “unlimited” carrier has announced that they’ll be working with Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) 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 (NYSE: NOK)’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 (NYSE: ALU), Ericsson, France Telecom/Orange, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, T-Mobile and Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), and was recently expanded with China Mobile, Huawei, LG Electronics, NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM), 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 (NYSE: VZ) 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.

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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 (NYSE: S)’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.

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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 (NYSE: NOK) E61 for her birthday unless you want to repeatedly explain how to use it.

[Read more at The Register]

Alcatel’s new music phone for the masses comes to us as the Alcatel OC701. We got some live pics of this puppy and we gotta say that, for an entry-level device, this thing looks pretty cool. The “rubbery” look is pretty attractive and the phone even comes with a remote control for playing all that music. Music controls are located on the phone’s external face, along with a small OLED display.

Still, we’d rather play our tunes on our Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone (we know it’s a lot more expensive, but that’s how we roll).

Lots more pics on the link

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Alcatel keeps pushing their handsets for fashion-aware consumers. Lately, they’ve announced the No.3 GlamPhone that will be available in multiple colors (pictured bellow). As you can see from the image, this device will not sport that many features — it is primarily designed to be a basic mobile phone with music player functionality. In that sense, if priced correctly (i.e. cheap), it may find its audience among the younger crowd. The Alcatel No.3 GlamPhone will also pack a 1.3 MP camera, and will be available this June. (via: uberphones)

Qualcomm is planning to get into the MVNO game with the launch of a new MVNO, LifeComm, with focus on healthcare. The MVNO is slated for a 2H 2007 launch and should have broad appeal with services including “fitness, weight management or reduction, diabetes management, and monitoring heart health, including hypertension and congestive heart disease.” Whether a health-oriented MVNO is enough to draw consumers away from, say, web-based health resources, is yet to be seen. Interestingly, the MVNO will be targetted at 40-65 year old women – as they are health “influencers” (read: Mothers). Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) will be leasing CDMA spectrum from an unnamed carrier and plans to release phones running BREW.

via: moconews