Firefox Flame by Alcatel One Touch

Firefox Flame 

by Alcatel One Touch

  The Alcatel One Touch Fire is the first phone to run Firefox OS, new software that aims to light a fire under Android.

  The 3.5-inch Fire is a dinky little number wrapped in a cheerful, brightly colored plastic casing. The rounded corners and vibrant look -- including signature Firefox orange -- give it a chunky, playful appearance.

  It's basically the Alcatel T'Pop , a low-end feature phone, but the big difference is the software. Firefox OS is an open-source operating system created by Mozilla, the folks behind the Firefox Web browser. Apps are built using HTML5, which means that in theory they run on the Web and on your phone or tablet.

  The downside of any new platform is that there won't be many apps yet -- certainly not many of the big-name apps you find on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone or tablet. Ultimately, the number and quality of apps will depend on how many people buy Firefox phones.

  At the time of writing, Firefox OS is still some months away from release, but there are some decent apps available already. For example, popular game Cut the Rope and Nokia's Here maps app are available now.

  And of course, Firefox is on every phone to browse the Web. You can connect to the Web and to other devices by the usual array of smartphone options: 3G, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

  The Firefox OS interface is very simple, and certainly easy to get to grips with. On the home screen there's a tray at the bottom containing useful shortcuts, including icons for your text messages, phone dialer, and Firefox browser. There's also a big thumbs-up icon that allows you to send feedback about the phone.

  Swipe right and you see all your apps arranged in a grid, which will be familiar to anyone who's used Android. But unlike Android, on the model I tried there's no option to rearrange apps or move them to the home screen. Alcatel says this will be included at some stage.

  To visit the Firefox OS app store, swipe to the left and you're greeted with a grid of icons representing the different categories of apps, such as camera apps or sport-related apps. It's a neat introduction to the app store, much cleaner and simpler than the barrage of featured apps on the front page of many other app stores.

  Simplicity is the theme of Firefox OS. It's designed to be easy to use, even if it's your first smartphone. It's also designed to be simple for phone networks to customize the phone.

  With its simple and easy software, the Alcatel Fire isn't aiming to compete with high-end smartphones. But there are still few rough edges, even if you're not expecting high-end performance. You don't have to look too closely at the icons to see jagged edges on the HVGA screen, for example. And the model I tried felt pretty slow, too, with a Firefox logo popping up as it took a moment to open even basic functions.

  If it struggles with the basics, I'm dubious that the single-core 1GHz Qualcomm processor and its 256MB of RAM can do a decent job with games, Web browsing, and other activities that are now standard on smartphones.  The Fire also has a 3.2-megapixel camera, but it wasn't ready for use on our test model.

  The phone comes with a 2GB microSD card, or you can add a bigger card for up to 32GB of storage for your movies and music, apps, and snaps.

  It's too early to tell if Firefox and the Fire's problems will be ironed out. Much depends on the phone networks and how they customize the phone -- and how they price it. I want to like Firefox OS, and if I'd never used a smartphone before I probably would. But with this first impression, Firefox OS simply doesn't offer enough to tempt me away from the wealth of cheap Android phones that are every bit as cute, match the Fire's specs, and are backed by an established, jam-packed app store.

  The Fire will rise first in China, followed by Latin America and Europe. Alcatel expects it to catch flame in June, but exact release details, including price and release date, will depend on the carriers that decide to sell it -- or not. Alcatel is currently in talks with Deutcshe Telecom and Telefonica.

All information courtesy of CNET

How to Hard Reset an Alcatel One Touch phone

How to Hard Reset

 an Alcatel One Touch phone

  Hard resets are often necessary when your Alcatel phone starts behaving uncharacteristically.  Or in other words, your phone just doesn't work quite the same as it used to.  This method will erase everything off of the phone and set it back to the original factory settings.  This is also a common practice when selling or gifting your phone to remove all content and possibly undesireable photos, etc.

  To hard reset an Alcatel One Touch phone, you first need to power it off, then hold the Volume up + Power buttons simultaneously until you boot into recovery mode. From there, you can easily reset it.

ALCATEL ONETOUCH PIXI 7 Tablet

ALCATEL ONETOUCH PIXI 7

  Cheap compact Android tablets are aplenty at the moment, so there’s enough variety for consumers to choose from based on their specific needs. Alcatel has been making strides in gaining precedence in the coveted high-end segment, but they’re not one to hide away when it comes to the lower-end market. No doubt trying to compete against the horde of affordable Android tablets that are out and about, the Alcatel OneTouch Pixi 7 is gunning to give is close rivals some heated competition.

Design

  Let’s get straight to the point here. There’s nothing flattering about the Alcatel OneTouch Pixi 7 from what we can see at the moment, despite being a pre-production model and all, since its design is flat and downright boring. Although its housing is constructed from matte plastic, giving it a pretty clean appearance, it’s the sturdy kind that elevates its build quality – though, for only a tiny bit. Following suit like other 7-inch tablets, it’s very comfortable to hold due to its compact form factor.

  Its power button and volume keys are positioned in familiar locations on the right edge, but Alcatel strayed a little bit from the norm by putting the microUSB port on the top edge – along with the 3.5mm headset jack of course. Interestingly, it’s housing an IR blaster there as well, which is an extra amenity we wouldn’t otherwise expect to see in a cheap Android tablet. Oh yeah, there’s also a microSD slot hidden behind a plastic flap on the left edge to supplement its internal storage.

  Playing around and holding it, we can’t say it’s the most magnificent thing we’ve seen – more so when others before it, like the Google Nexus 7, raised the bar in what we expect.

Display

  Low end specs are expected for a device like this, so don’t expect anything sharp looking with this one. Bearing a 7-inch 960 x 540 (qHD) TFT display, its washed out looks combined with its less than detailed display makes it a scary thing to behold. Sheesh, even tilting it slightly causes heavy distortion – resulting in colors appearing extremely washed out in tone. Frankly, there’s a threshold for everything, but knowing what came before it and what’s on the horizon, it’s disappointing that it couldn’t have been blessed with something a little better.

Interface and functionality

  Before diving into the software, it should be noted that the pre production model we checked out came right from R&D, so its software was super buggy. That’s just something we expect. Running what appears to be astock Android 4.4.2 KitKat experience, there are several weird glitches in trying to maneuver around the software – though, it’s more than likely we’ll be seeing some kind of customization, much like the other new stuff being announced from them. Going off on that, Alcatel’s customized Android experience is pretty light in terms of content and features in comparison to its rivals, which can be perceived as a good or bad thing depending on who you talk to.

Processor and memory

  Cheap means cheap, so it’s not a shocker that it’s powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz processor with 512MB RAM. Due to its pre-production nature, we see some heavy performance glitches right away – again, it’s not something all that unexpected. Let’s just hope that the final product at least gives us a smooth performance with basic tasks, since we know, it’s highly unlikely to be a high powered thing to handle intensive gaming.

  It’s not enough for multimedia heavy folks, especially with only 4GB of internal storage, but people can sleep knowing it can be supplemented thanks to its microSD card slot.

Camera

  Usually, affordable Android tablets omit cameras, so it’s to our amazement that this one is outfitted with not one, but TWO cameras. Don’t hold your breath, though, seeing that they’re measly sized 0.3-megapixel ones – front and back! They’re not there to snap the most detailed shots, but instead, they’re simply tacked on to give us that option of snapping something if nothing else better is present.

This review brought to you through http://www.phonearena.com/

Alcatel One Touch Fierce Review

Alcatel One Touch Fierce

 Review

When it comes to low-to-mid-range smartphones, there are a lot of choices, and it seems like there is always a new model coming out. That's what we have here with the Alcatel One Touch Fierce, which is available from T-Mobile for $164 full retail, or $20 down and $6 per month for 2 years under their Simple Choice Plan. This places it at an affordable price for a quad-core smartphone with a 4.5" display. Alcatel also offers the One Touch Evolve at only $100 full retail, though its specs aren't as good as the One Touch Fierce we have here.