metropcs

MetroPCS adds Samsung Messenger

MetroPCS is the first stop for Samsung's answer to the LG Rumor. The Samsung Messenger, also called the SCH-R450, offers a candy bar design with a 262,000-color display and a slide out keyboard to warm your text-loving heart. Though the phone's overall styling is rather bland, the feature set is respectable. Inside you'll find a 1.3-megapixel camera, an MP3 player, e-mail and instant messaging, stereo Bluetooth, USB mass storage, organizer features, a speakerphone, voice recognition, 20MB of internal storage, and an microSD card slot.

The Messenger costs $199, which may seem a tad expensive, but … Read more

Alltel gets Samsung MyShot

Last week Nicole Lee took you on a guided tour of the Samsung MyShot SCH-R430 for MetroPCS. Though the handset is nothing fancy, she liked the MyShot's excellent call quality and bright displays. That all sounds great if you use MetroPCS, but starting today Alltel customers can get in on the fun as well. Alltel's MyShot is almost identical to the MetroPCS model, except that it comes in both red and basic black. Features are the same, however. Inside you'll find a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, a speakerphone, voice dialing and a wireless Web browser. You can … Read more

UTStarcom sneaks in the CDM7126

UTStarcom didn't have much of a presence at this year's CTIA, but it did sneak in an announcement of the AWS-enabled CDM-7126 handset for both Cricket and MetroPCS. The Cricket version is dubbed the CDM-7126C and the MetroPCS version is dubbed the CDM-7126M. They're both about the same, save for the look of the front surface. As for the phone itself, it's a pretty standard device, made for the entry-level market though it does have Bluetooth as well. The front surface is pretty unique in that there are LED indicators for incoming calls and text messages, … Read more

MetroPCS begins serving Las Vegas

MetroPCS may not have a booth at CTIA but the carrier has arrived in Las Vegas. On Friday, MetroPCS announced it would begin providing wireless service to the Las Vegas area. The carrier also said it would open four company-owned stores by July. MetroPCS already serves markets in Georgia, Florida, Texas, Michigan, and California, and Las Vegas will be its first market in Nevada. MetroPCS does not require contracts, and it offers unlimited minutes as a feature of all its calling plans. It offers mostly Motorola phones but it also carries select models from Nokia, Samsung, UTStarcom and Kyocera.

MetroPCS releases the Samsung r410 QWERTY phone

MetroPCS isn't exactly known nationwide as a carrier of stylish phones, but it looks like that may be about to change. It just announced the Samsung r410, which appears to be quite an attractive phone with a full QWERTY keyboard. Similar to the LG Rumor, it has a regular number keypad on the exterior and a hidden QWERTY keyboard that slides out for easier text messaging. Other than that, there's not much to talk about in the features department aside from e-mail, instant messaging, a VGA camera, and Bluetooth. It's also not too pricey at $199 before … Read more

MetroPCS bids for Leap Wireless in stock deal

Regional cell phone operator MetroPCS Communications bid Tuesday to buy competitor Leap Wireless International in a deal worth more than $5 billion in stock.

MetroPCS, which went public in April, said in a press release Tuesday that it would offer 2.75 of its shares for each outstanding common share of Leap. This represents a value of $75.05 based on Friday's closing price and is only 3 percent higher than Leap's closing price on Friday.

MetroPCS also said it would refinance $2 billion of Leap's debt as part of the deal.

"We believe that the … Read more