In Pictures: Hottest products at Mobile World Congress 2013

Alcatel fires up its own Firefox OS phone

Alcatel may be the first to market with a Firefox OS phone, when it releases the One Touch Fire in Europe around mid-2013. The phone’s specs are similar to that of the ZTE Open: 3.5-inch screen, 1GHz processor, 256MB of RAM, 512 MB of storage, 3.2-megapixel camera without LED flash. No pricing was indicated for either phone. But these features indicate it's aimed at entry-level, cost-conscious buyers.

The homescreen acts as the app launcher. Side-to-side swipes bring up panels with apps or browser shortcuts. Some semi-permanent icons find a home along the screen bottom. There’s a pull-down status bar with more of Firefox OS on a prototype phone, shown last month at the Consumer Electronics Show.