cricket wireless

Cricket to offer Kyocera Kona, April 21 for $59.99 (hands-on)

The Kyocera Kona doesn't look like much, but for mobile users seeking a no-muss, no-fuss handset that can do the basics, this is a phone worth looking into.

The device is Cricket Wireless' latest offering, and will be available on April 21 for $59.99. It will have a few goodies aside from making calls and texts, including a 2-megapixel camera and 2G data connectivity.

Design The Kyocera Kona is a minimalistic, clamshell device that's simple and compact. It measures 3.94 inches tall, 2.05 inches wide, and 0.68 inch thick. When I held it in … Read more

Prepaid or postpaid?: The fight for your cell phone dollars (Smartphones Unlocked)

This article originally published 11/11/2012 and was updated most recently on 3/25/2013.

Now that T-Mobile has smashed into the center of the no-contract wireless game, the tussle for your business between the contract and no-contract carrier model is even more urgent.

There's no question that the prepaid model is designed to save you money over a two-year contract agreement, but how much do you really gain by going prepaid, and what might you lose from the subscriber experience?

For the sake of comparison, I'm going to break down the cost of ownership over a … Read more

Cricket Wireless dials up Engage LT as next Android phone

Cricket Wireless this week announced a new Android smartphone with the Engage LT. Manufactured by ZTE, the handset is now on sale for $179.99 at the no-contract carrier.

You'd be forgiven if you thought this new model sounded similar to a current offering; it's nearly identical to the ZTE Engage announced in late 2012. In fact, it's hard to imagine how Cricket plans to position the two devices considering just how closely they resemble each other.

The Engage LT runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and features a 4-inch display, a single-core 1GHz processor, 1GB … Read more

iPhone sales at Leap Wireless are half of what was forecast

Leap Wireless, which operates Cricket Wireless, told the Wall Street Journal that it's sluggishly behind in its prepaid iPhone sales. In fact, by the time the carrier completes its yearlong contract with Apple in June, it will most likely have sold only half of the iPhones it committed to sell.

This is bad news for both Leap and Apple. For Leap, the company will be in the hole for around $100 million worth of unsold iPhones, according to the Wall Street Journal; and it doesn't bode well for Apple either, as the company partners with prepaid carriers in … Read more

ZTE Engage: Don't put a ring on it

With a name that evokes images of Jean-Luc Picard aboard the USS Enterprise, the ZTE Engage is actually just an Earthling-created, contract-free phone from Cricket Wireless.

But even if I could get engaged (ha, multiple definitions!) to this handset, I wouldn't want to. Yes, it sports higher specs than what you would usually see from a midlevel ZTE handset, but its poor call and camera performance would tempt any user, not just me, to break things off.

Design With its all-black design and flatly rectangular construction, the ZTE Engage doesn't break any design boundaries. At 5.4 ounces, … Read more

No jiving here with the ZTE Groove

Nothing about the ZTE Groove screams "modern." Maybe it's the outdated name (seriously, the only appropriate times to say "groove" is when ironically referring to the 1970s, or discussing jazz music), but mostly because it runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and has a very unappealing plastic construction.

Don't misunderstand me -- I have no qualms with entry-level handsets. They're great for users looking for something simple and easy to use. But the Groove is different. On top of being dated, it's plagued with mediocre call and audio quality, and a poor … Read more

Get into Cricket's ZTE Groove

Though "new" to the market, the entry-level ZTE Groove from Cricket Wireless feels dated already.

First, it's called Groove -- which no one says anymore except when referring to that Madonna song. Second, it ships natively with the outdated Android Gingerbread 2.3.

Other than that, it features Muve Music, Cricket's music subscription service that lets you stream thousands of albums and songs.

The 3G handset also has a 3.2-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 3.5-inch HVGA touch screen with a 480x320-pixel resolution.

It's powered by a 1,500mAh battery that has a reported … Read more

Nokia Lumia shows off new camera tricks

Wednesday's tech news roundup cures the colorful phone shakes:

Nokia revealed new Lumia smartphones running Windows Phone 8. The Lumia 920 comes in red and yellow and the camera has "floating lens" technology, meaning it helps stabilize shaky movements and allows the shutter to stay open longer for more light to enter. It also has photo editing tools that remove someone walking by your picture, or you can animate part of a still photo as a cinemagraph. (Check out these examples.) It also has a charging station, so it doesn't need cords. The JBL Power Up … Read more

RadioShack kicks off latest contract-free mobile plans

Mobile phone customers can choose from even more contract-free plans from RadioShack as of today.

Four new plans are available altogether through Cricket Wireless -- two for feature phones and two for smartphones.

The $25-per-month feature phone plan offers 300 voice minutes, while the $35 plan raises that to 1,000 minutes. Both plans up the ante with unlimited data access, unlimited texting, call waiting, and three-way calling.

The $50-per-month smartphone plan adds unlimited voice minutes and promises that the first gigabyte of data will run at full 3G speeds. The $60 plan offers the first 2.5GB of data … Read more