Alcatel Expands Mobile Virtual Reality Ecosystem with Exciting New Products and Partnerships

At the same time, Alcatel announced new partnerships with four of the world's most innovative 360-degree camera makers at the IFA 2016 in Berlin.

VISION is the world's first all-in-one mobile home entertainment virtual reality device to be offered with entry-level pricing that is readily affordable. It can be worn comfortably for 2-3 hours, with or without glasses, allowing plenty of time for a child to take a VR tour of a museum or for watching a movie.

Anyone from a music lover to a hardcore gamer can enjoy VISION's superb VR entertainment capability. Alcatel partnered with Jaunt VR, Magic Interactive Entertainment and Fraunhofer, which will provide preloaded content and hardware to enable VISION users to immediately benefit from its enhanced capability and so get a better experience.

Jaunt VR brings cinematic VR that gives users an exclusive, immersive 360-degree stereo video experience. For those who enjoy VR games, VISION includes Magic Interactive Entertainment's BattleBlock, a frisbee combat game designed for VR that supports a person-to-person mode. Fraunhofer offers an immersive audio solution to support VR, one that adapts real-time sound to correspondent perfectly with what's being seen while looking around.

The Alcatel 360 Camera, meanwhile, is an easy-to-use 360-degree camera that's available in two models, both with a dual 210-degree fisheye lens: a rectangular model, about half the size of a credit card, and a ball-shaped one, about the size of a coin. The compact, lightweight, plug and play Alcatel 360 allows users to capture then preview and share on the smartphones instantly.

The four new partnerships are with 360-degree camera makers 360fly, ALLie Camera, Arashi Vision (Insta 360 4K) and Primesom (Nico360). These camera makers provide more interesting and diverse features for our consumers, such as shockproof outdoor, always-on indoor and even enterprise-grade.

Commitment to Mobile VR
With its smartphone IDOL 4S, introduced earlier this year, Alcatel was the first mobile phone brand to put VR in-the-box and ship a smartphone with VR goggles.

The new VR products and partnerships demonstrate Alcatel's commitment to mobile VR and the 360-degree camera industry - and to bringing its customers the latest technology at affordable prices.

"VR is the next big computing platform and will reshape the way we experience the world," said Nicolas Zibell, General Manager of International Business and President of TCL Communication. "That's why we're jumping in feet first. Our new mobile VR device and 360-degree camera are for those who believe that technology can change the world - and they want to be part of that change."

VISION: Freedom to Move
VISION is an all-in-one wireless mobile device that allows to enjoy an IMAX-format movie experience in their own home.

VISION is not tethered to a smartphone or computer, so users can move naturally while exploring VR environments. It charges quickly too, so there are no interruptions. With its streamlined, ergonomic design, VISION is easy to put on and comfortable to wear. VISION offers seamless immersion in virtual worlds thanks to a wide, 120-degree field of vision - the widest in its class.

It also integrates the lowest latency available, 17 milliseconds. Low latency is crucial to maintaining the illusion of being in a virtual world (and to keeping dizziness at bay). Offered in two color options, VISION also adjusts for myopia, eliminating the need for glasses or contact lenses when using the device.

Alcatel 360 Camera: Just Plug & Play to Create & Share
With an Alcatel 360 camera, everyone can be a VR filmmaker, creating original content to watch on VISION and other Alcatel VR products.

Alcatel 360 camera is pocket friendly, easy to carry and available in two models. The rectangular model is more compact, offering a thinner form factor, and the ball-shaped design maximizes 360° shooting and imitates film making design language.

Equipped with dual 210-degree fisheye lenses Alcatel 360 camera can be simply plugged into the micro USB port of any IDOL 4, IDOL 4S or POP 4S phone.

Budding filmmakers can then create VR videos or 360° photos in just a few simple steps. Group selfies are also easy to take with the super wide-angle lens.

360-degree Camera Partnerships
By partnering with 360fly, ALLie Camera, Arashi Vision and Primesom, all makers of 360-degree cameras that can be used with a smartphone, Alcatel is further embracing the 360-degree camera industry.

With these partnerships, Alcatel wants to ensure that it will be easy for consumers to create, share and enjoy VR content. Alcatel and its partners will cooperate on joint communications, marketing and promotional activities. The products of Alcatel's partners will be available for tryout at the Alcatel IFA booths. The available cameras include: 360fly 4K, 360fly HD, ALLie Camera, Insta360 4K and Nico360.

"We are excited to partner with a leading and innovative mobile industry brand like Alcatel. They are taking a huge step ahead of the market by integrating 360-degree and VR content into their devices," said Dmitry Kozko, President of ALLie Camera. "We look forward to working with them to bring the best possible 360-degree and VR experiences to consumers across the globe and are honored to be the only partner to deliver users a true 360-degree experience with live streaming and 24/7 viewing and recording so they never miss a thing."

"As we continue to uphold our position as the definitive innovator and leader in the 360 camera space; 360fly is excited about the prospects of collectively growing this vertical through this strategic association with Alcatel," said Peter Adderton, CEO of 360fly. "There is incredible upside potential in this sector and we are optimistic that we will accomplish great things through our collective efforts."

Jingkang Liu, CEO of Arashi Vision, maker of Insta360 cameras, commented: "We believe we're entering a new era where people want to share and relive immersive experiences. We produce 360-degree VR technology to make it easy for people to do that. And in partnering with Alcatel, we think it is huge step to make that goal more accessible."

A Vision for the Future
With VISION, Alcatel 360 and its technology partnerships, Alcatel is staying true to its own vision of making the latest technology accessible to a wide range of consumers. "With dedicated research and design resources, Alcatel has made a long-term commitment to VR," said Zibell. "We're excited to be a world leader in the field."

To find out more about our products, please stop by Alcatel Booths 102 and 104, Hall 21B, at the IFA 2016 in Berlin.

Media Contacts
Linna YI - Global PR & EVENT Director - Alcatel Mobile Devices
M: +86-755-3664-5708 - linna.yi@tcl.com

Barbara GOVAERTS - Ogilvy Public Relations
M: +33 (0)1-53-67-12-61 - barbara.govaerts@ogilvy.com

About Alcatel Mobile Devices

TCL Communication Technology Holdings Limited (TCL Communication) designs, develops and markets a diverse range of mobile devices in more than 170 countries worldwide under the Alcatel brand. This represents over 90% of the TCL Communication's total sales and ranks as the world's #6 mobile device manufacturer and the #1 Chinese vendor in overseas markets (according to Q1 2016 telecommunication research firm Gartner and company's data).

Its products and solutions resonate with millennial and Gen Z consumers with a simple, personal, authentic and fun approach. By combining an understanding of local markets and control of the end-to-end manufacturing process, Alcatel branded devices from TCL Communication delivers customized user experiences with innovative, feature-rich, high-performance mobile devices that allow consumers to explore and amplify the joy in the everyday.

TCL Communication is a public company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (2618.HK) and part of TCL Corporation, one of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world. Alcatel is a trademark of Alcatel-Lucent used under license by TCL Communication.