If you didn’t get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we’ve opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought leaks of a smartphone that tips the scales with a 6-inch screen, an alternate ego to the oft-leaked Sony ‘Honami’ and the return of unlimited data to a certain AT&T MVNO. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that’s happening in the mobile world for this week of August 12th, 2013.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Who would have thought that after all these years, a company like Alcatel is still in the phone business? Their devices have not been ground-breaking ones actually, and what I remembered most about Alcatel mobile phones back in the day was the fact that a particular model could survive on AA batteries alone, making it suitable to bring along without any chargers since you can more or less purchase AA batteries at just anywhere you are. Having said that, Eldar Murtazin recently tweeted the possibility of yet another Alcatel smartphone arriving soon, which would be the Alcatel One Touch Scribe Pro.
Eldar Murtazin’s tweet showed the specifications sheet for the Alcatel One Touch Scribe Pro, which is powered by a quad-core 1.5GHz processor, and on the front you will find a 6-inch display that would clearly place it in phablet territory, although chances are it will be a 720p display instead of a Full HD variety. Apart from that, a 13-megapixel main camera does sound decent, and a large, 3400mAh battery would definitely go some way in making it endearing, coupled with dual-SIM functionality to boot for those who would like to separate their work and private lives. Hong Kong is tipped to be one of the first few markets to receive the Alcatel One Touch Scribe Pro which should retail for $300 thereabouts.
Alcatel One Touch Scribe Pro original content from Ubergizmo. 
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If you didn’t get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we’ve opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought a smartphone inspired by TopGear’s 2012 supercar of the year, leaks of a water-resistant handset for T-Mobile and an Android smartphone from LG that sells for under $100 outright. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that’s happening in the mobile world for this week of August 5th, 2013.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Ah, Alcatel – who would have thought that this particular company has managed to last this long in the smartphone market? While Alcatel’s market share in the world of smartphones can be said to be miniscule – so much so that you can ignore them, they have not given up on the battle just yet. In fact, earlier this year, we have seen our fair share of handsets that fall under the Alcatel One Touch Idol family, including the One Touch Idol X and the One Touch Idol Ultra which was in with a shout to be the thinnest Android-powered smartphone in the market, too. Well, to take a cue from the rest of the other smartphone manufacturers out there, Alcatel has decided to work on a One Touch Idol Mini handset – or at least, according to the leaked press render from serial leaksters @evleaks as you can see above.
Unfortunately, no hardware specifications were attached to the leaked press render that you see above, but considering how Alcatel hardly dukes it out with the rest in the high end market, chances are the Alcatel One Touch Idol Mini will end up as yet another mid-range or even entry level device.
Alcatel One Touch Idol Mini Is In The Pipeline original content from Ubergizmo. 
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To date, Firefox OS has only had a presence in Europe. Now, it’s now venturing overseas to Latin America with a launch on Movistar. Both Colombians and Venezuelans can buy the Alcatel OneTouch Fire and ZTE Open from the carrier today. Whether or not the phones represent bargains will depend on the country, however. Venezuelans wanting the OneTouch Fire and Open will have to buy them at steep respective prices of 1,739BEF ($277) and 1,159BEF ($184) on contract, while Colombians can buy either device for 199,900 pesos ($106) prepaid or 99,900 pesos ($53) on a one-year agreement. We’re still months away from the release of Firefox OS phones in the US, but the Latin American launch at least gets us one step closer.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Telefonica, The Mozilla Blog
We knew good and well it was coming, and now we’ve both a date and a launch partner to hone in on: that’s “tomorrow” and “T-Mobile Poland,” respectively. After going big (as opposed to home) at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, Mozilla has just announced that the Firefox OS-powered Alcatel One Touch Fire will ship tomorrow in Poland for 1 zloty (practically free, for those curious) in combination with “a very attractive tariff.” Market launches in additional European countries will follow in the fall, with German handsets to be marketed via Deutsche Telekom’s second brand congstar. DT’s subsidiaries in Hungary (Magyar Telekom) and Greece (COSMOTE) will also initiate sales of the handset this fall, but pricing in those regions has yet to be revealed. As for word on a US release via Sprint? Still waiting, sadly.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Via: Mozilla
Source: Deutsche Telekom
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
We’ve crossed paths with Firefox OS before, but today marks the first time we’ve played with handsets running the final build of Mozilla’s mobile software. The Alcatel OneTouch Fire and ZTE Open you see above are the same hardware we saw at MWC earlier this year — in fact, the latter just launched in Spain on Telefónica for €69 ($90) contract-free including €30 ($39) of airtime for prepaid customers. We took both phones for a brief spin and immediately noticed a slight improvement in performance. Unfortunately, there’s still a significant amount of lag in the UI, especially when scrolling through web pages and navigating the app tray. Websites also take a while to load, even when connecting over Wi-Fi. Then again, what do you expect for €69? Check out the gallery below and hit the break to watch our hands-on video.
Note: the ZTE Open we handled was destined for Movistar (a Telefónica brand) and is launching today for €69 (not €63 as mentioned in our video).
Gallery: Firefox OS hands-on
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
The first Firefox OS smartphones, the Alcatel One Touch Fire and the ZTE Open, will hit the market “soon” Mozilla has confirmed this morning, promising imminent launches from Duetsche Telekom and Telefonica. The two new handsets run Mozilla’s own alternative to Android, Firefox OS, taking a web-centric perspective on apps and services in order to
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