Cricket

Can prepaid carriers quench consumers' smartphone thirst?

Relief is a little iffy for contract-free customers thirsting for smartphones.

Weak quarterly earnings for prepaid carriers, like leader MetroPCS, TracFone, and Cricket-owner Leap Wireless, are making the ability of these second-tiered carriers to act effectively as alternative smartphone providers to the big-four operators a little murkier.

Why? As CNET Senior Writer Roger Cheng noted, the overall growth of tier-two customers is slowing--even dropping, in Cricket's case--and in addition, smartphone-seekers appear to be signing on to other options, including prepaid plans with the major carriers like T-Mobile, or dropping down to government-subsidized feature phones in response to financial … Read more

Prepaid wireless market hits a snag

The prepaid business, long an engine of growth for the wireless industry, is starting to sputter.

TracFone, MetroPCS, and Leap Wireless all reported disappointing second-quarter financial results. The period is typically weaker for the prepaid providers as the business takes a breather following two consecutive quarters of growth.

But their performance fell below even the lowered expectations placed on them, underscoring the pressures that the companies face with intense price competition and a still weak economic environment. Furthermore, some of the companies warned of a weaker third quarter, leading some to wonder if the prepaid business is poised for slower … Read more

Cricket unveils Kyocera Luno

We haven't heard much from Kyocera since it unleashed the dual-screen Echo early this year, but today the company returned to its simpler roots by announcing the Luno S2100 for Cricket.

Proving that flip phones still exist, the Luno sports a folding design in a deep purple hue. The rounded edges give it appeal and the 1-inch color external display will let you check caller ID and the time without opening the phone.

Inside you'll find a 1.8-inch color display and a standard alphanumeric keypad. Features include Bluetooth 2.1, a WAP 2.0 browser, a VGA … Read more

Huawei reportedly bringing Cricket its Glory this fall

We've been waiting a long time for that Huawei phone that puts the lesser-known manufacturer (at least in U.S. circles) on America's smartphone map. It's possible the Huawei Glory (Huawei M886) is the handset to do it.

Our friends at PC Magazine went hands-on with the device, a souped-up Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone with a 1.4-GHz Qualcomm MSM8655T processor (Huawei claims it's dual-core, but there's still some debate); a 4-inch TFT LCD screen with 854x480 resolution; and an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash.

The 3G-capable Glory will also come equipped with a 1900 mAH battery, which will hopefully translate into longer battery life, 2GB of onboard memory, and an expansion slot. There are apparently no TV or HDMI-out slots, but Huawei did tell PC Magazine that it has a "surprising" media solution up its sleeves. … Read more

Cricket scoops up Samsung Chrono, too

Just weeks after the Samsung Chrono arrived at U.S. Cellular, it also lands at Cricket Wireless.

The Chrono is about as simple a flip phone as you can get, with a VGA camera and Bluetooth support. It's light (just three ounces), comfortable to use, and has a smooth, attractive body. It also manages to extract top-notch call voice quality, or at least it did on the version we tested with U.S. Cellular.

The Cricket version costs $59.99 without a contract. That's triple the price of the U.S. Cellular version, which will make you part … Read more

Samsung Indulge now available at Cricket Wireless

First introduced back at CTIA 2011, Cricket Wireless announced the immediate availability of the Samsung Indulge, the carrier's first Android smartphone from Samsung. The Indulge costs $329.99 off contract and requires Cricket's $55 Android plan, which includes unlimited talk and data, text (domestic and international) and multimedia messaging, navigation, and more.

Similar to the Samsung Galaxy Indulge for MetroPCS, the Android 2.2 device features a 3.5-inch HVGA touch screen with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, a 3-megapixel camera, and TouchWiz 3.0. The Indulge also offers Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS, but unlike … Read more

Samsung Galaxy Indulge hops over to Cricket

There we were at a CTIA press event, when we saw a familiar phone winking up at us. That's right, folks. Samsung's Galaxy Indulge is coming to Cricket Wireless.

Although the Indulge is the same handset we first saw when it debuted with MetroPCS earlier this year, there will be some differences in pricing, performance, and some of the bundled apps that come with the phone. Cricket Wireless and MetroPCS both add account management apps and digital storefronts, in addition to preloading a handful of other applications.

While we don't have specific pricing or release information, Cricket did tell us to expect the phone's release in May or June, in the $300-$350 range. That price seems steep, but quality handsets usually are on a prepaid carrier, since the carrier isn't heavily subsidizing the cost of your phone. That's the trade-off you make to go off-contract.

The Samsung Galaxy Indulge features a 3.5-inch capacitive touch screen, a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and a 3.2-megapixel camera. It all runs on top of Android 2.2 Froyo and on Samsung's TouchWiz interface.

Sleeker Huawei Ascend 2 coming to Cricket

Huawei quietly introduced a sequel to its Android-powered Huawei Ascend, the Huawei Ascend 2 for Cricket.

The Ascend 2 updates its progenitor in almost every way. It's sleeker, slimmer, and lighter in the hand. Gone is the trackball, and the hardware navigation buttons give way to four touch-sensitive buttons below the 3.5-inch capacitive touch screen.

The camera also sees an upgrade, from 3.2 megapixels to 5 megapixels in the Ascend 2. Everything is powered by an 800Mhz processor.

We're a little disappointed that the Ascend 2 runs Android 2.2 Froyo instead of Android 2.3 … Read more

Cricket announces the LG Optimus C

The entry-level LG Optimus continues to make the rounds to almost all the carriers with the introduction of the LG Optimus C, with the C standing for Cricket Wireless.

Like its other Optimus counterparts, the Optimus C arrives with Android 2.2 Froyo, a 3.2-megapixel camera, WiFi, 3G, a 3.2-inch touch screen, and a usable 600MHz processor. It's certainly not the best Android phone we've seen, but for $130 without a contract with Cricket Wireless, it's not a bad deal.

At the moment, it seems that the only noticeable carrier that doesn't offer one … Read more

Cricket's Muve Music moves to 13 more cities

At CES this year, Cricket Wireless introduced Muve Music, an industry-first cell phone plan built around an all-you-can-eat music model.

The carrier first released Muve Music and its accompanying handset, the Samsung Suede, in Las Vegas after a delay.

Now Cricket is expanding the phone and service as promised to 13 new markets, including Washington D.C., Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Memphis/Nashville/Knoxville, Phoenix/Tucson, San Diego, Milwaukee/Madison, and Wichita--with more additions in the works.

Muve Music costs $55 per month for unlimited talk, text, data, and music streaming and downloads. The Samsung Suede sells for $199 without a … Read more