Orange is announcing the launch of the Alcatel One Touch Pixi 2 smartphone, an affordable, feature-packed smartphone that will rapidly bring the benefits of the mobile internet to consumers across Africa and the Middle East.

With the Alcatel One Touch Pixi 2, Orange offers customers a full featured 3G Android Jellybean 4.2 smartphone with a 3.5 inch HVGA screen, dual-core 1 GHz processor, 2GB of inbuilt memory and 512 MB RAM. The sleek smartphone weighs in at 100gm and is only 10.5mm thick.

"The smartphone landscape is rapidly changing - with high quality smartphones becoming increasingly affordable and accessible. At Orange we continue to make the internet more accessible to our customers in Africa and the Middle East by providing the best phones and tablets, on the best networks, with localised content and services at a price that is accessible for even more of our customers", said Yves Maitre, Executive Vice President, Connected Objects and Partnerships at Orange.

The Alcatel One Touch Pixi 2 comes pre-loaded with the top social networks and other popular applications, and Orange customers will have access to a range of great benefits, including:

• Orange Football Fan Club: Easily follow the news about their favourite teams and gain access to international football news. Personalise the app in order to follow your favourite teams. In-app gaming also allows you to play and bet on matches and to win prizes.

• Orange Updates: This application brings relevant and local applications directly to customers. Orange Updates offers the possibility to access the Orange apps catalogue which has been created together with local and international partners, and allows customers to download a variety of Orange apps at no additional cost.

• “My personal hotspot”: Access sharing across multiple screens with only one internet connection, and simply manage connections from all devices. Through ‘my personal hotspot’, in just one click the smartphone is transformed into a Wi-Fi hotspot.

• Lookout Mobile Security: Installed on every Alcatel One Touch Pixi 2 , this app provides anti-virus protection, monitors and saves data, encrypts your confidential information, and tracks the smartphone when it is either lost or stolen.

• My Orange: With ‘My Orange’, customers can stay in touch with their Orange account, following the rate of voice, SMS, & data consumption, and recharge their account.

• Control My Data : Allows customers to monitor their data consumption on the mobile network, Wi-Fi network and also when roaming. Control My Data notifies customers when they reach a data limit that they choose, and allows customers to block data usage by application.

“Alcatel One Touch is proud to be launching the Alcatel One Touch Pixi 2 with Orange, bringing the benefits of mobile internet available to even more consumers around the world. With our strategic partner Orange, we are committed to help everyone to explore and to create more in their daily lives”, said Dr. George Guo, CEO of TCL Communication Technology, creators of the Alcatel One Touch Pixi 2.

This launch follows the successful launch by Orange of the original Alcatel One Touch Pixi, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, which sold nearly 250,000 units across 6 months, rapidly becoming the most popular smartphone in Orange shops in African and the Middle East. One out of every five smartphones sold by Orange across Africa and the Middle East is now an Alcatel smartphone.

Specification list:

• Standby Time: 3,5 hours working time
• Screen size: 3,5 inches HVGA
• Weight: 100gm
• Thickness: 10.5mm
• Chipset: MT6572M, Dual Core 1.2 GHz CPU
• Camera Features: 2 mega pixel
• Connectivity: WiFi, 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 + A2DP, GPS/A-GPS, HSPA+ (HSDPA/HSUPA)
• Memory: RAM: 512MB; EMMC: 2GB, MicroSD (up to 32GB)
• Operating System: Android Jelly Bean (4.2)
• Sensor: Gravity sensor
• User interface: Micro USB, 3.5mm stereo audio jack headset, build-in MIC,
• Battery: 1300 mAh