You like your Android phones big, with powerful hardware, but you prefer the contract-free zone of regional carrier Cricket.  If you can hold off buying a new smartphone till later in the year, you just might find the perfect fit.   And if everything goes according to plan, it will be the Huawei Glory.

While Huawei is no Samsung or HTC, their new smartphone does sound pretty sweet.   The design is decidedly Apple-like, but the hardware and software combo should make you forget that fast enough.

Details of the Glory include a large 4-inch capacitive touchscreen display (854 x 480),  a 1.4 Ghz Qualcomm processor, an 8.0 megapixel camera (with autofocus), aGPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, EVDO Rev.A, 2GB of onboard storage and a 1,900 mAh battery.  It runs Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread (toting the usual Google Mobile Suite), with a few customizations from Huawei (fortunately, not that much).  The company claims it should be easily upgradeable to 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich when it rolls out (you can't really tell if they're being serious with claims like this, though).

PC Mag had a brief hands-on with the phone and has given it fairly positive reviews.  They say the 9.7mm body feels "smooth in the hand," the LCD is "unusually bright" and that the handset is "very, very fast."  Sounds great.

As you may have expected with a Huawei-Cricket pairing, the Huawei Glory will be quite the affordable device.  It will be sold as a prepaid smartphone (no contract) late in the year, priced at an attractive $300.

[via PC Mag]



Cricket Communications just announced a new QWERTY candy bar in their roster.  Called the Cricket TXTM8 3G A410, the handset represents the first sub-$100 release from the carrier featuring high-speed EVDO access.

Clad in a black and silver color scheme, the phone measures 4.5 x 2.36 x .55 inches and weighs 3.58 ounces.    Judging from the picture, looks aren't much to be impressed with, but it does look adequately presentable (particularly for the price).

Details of the Cricket TXTM8 3G include a 320 x 240 pixel display, a 2.0 megapixel camera module, a four-row QWERTY keyboard, 3G with HSPA, stereo Bluetooth and microSD card expansion (up to 16GB).  Battery is 1,150 mAh, rated at 5 hours of talk time and 330 hours of standby.

It's strictly a feature phone, although it does pack a full range of messaging options, including SMS, MMS and mobile email.  No word on IM support, but Cricket does have IM apps in some of their previous releases, so we fully expect that to make it here.

Price for the Cricket TXTM8 3G is $99.99 when purchased either with Cricket's $35 or$45 all-inclusive unlimited plans.   Considering there are plenty of smartphones with similar price points (although the plans will be a tad more expensive), it may not be the clear-cut better choice.

[Cricket]

Cricket has added a new Android phone in their roster.  Likely coming in at the bottom rung of current Android releases, the Sanyo Zio (from Kyocera) features some decent specs that could be worth getting over a regular feature phone.

Running Android 1.6 at the helm, this isn't the kind of device seasoned Android users will look to as their next phone.   Regardless, you get the whole suite of Google apps (albeit, circa 1.6), along with support for a wide catalog of Android-compatible software - a definite step-up if you've been languishing with one of Cricket's budget handsets the last year or so.

Details of the Sanyo Zio include a 3.5-inch touchscreen display (400 x 800 resolution), a 3.2 megapixel camera module, 3G, WiFi, stereo Bluetooth and microSD card expansion (1GB included, expandable up to 32GB).  It has a 1130 mAh battery, with a rated talk time of six hours.  Phone dimensions are  4.6 x 2.3 x .48 inches, with a weight of 3.7 oz.

It's Cricket's first Android handset and it sounds like a fair effort.  Those interested can head on over to the Cricket website, where it's priced at $249.99 (with a 20% "online rebate").  There's a fine print of requiring an "Android Plan" with no signed contract, so we're not sure how well this falls on the value scale.  Shipping is slated for August 26th.

[My Cricket via Engadget]

The LG Helix is the first AWS-capable phone ever released by the Korean company.  Apart from that, however, there's not much to set it apart - it's about as simple as a clamshell handset can get.

Physically, it's a traditional flip phone through and through.  It's slim, compact and should easily fit in your pocket, all while sporting a blocky, rectangular design.  The Cricket version for the US comes in silver and pink (neither of which are particularly affable);  hopefully, they'll bring in the more attractive orange version too.  As clamshells go, it sports two displays - a 1-inch color LCD outside and a 2-inch panel (with 220x176 resolution) inside.

As a phone, it makes for largely inconsistent call quality - there's occasional choppiness and crackly audio.  Speakerphone was predictably tinny, but usable.  Battery life is rated at five hours of talk time, which makes it good for a couple days of regular use.

There aren't much here in terms of features (and that's not an understatement).  You get the basics - a 1,000 entry phonebook, standard messaging, some PIM tools, Bluetooth and a WAP browser.  As expected, there's neither 3G nor Wi-Fi.  Surprisingly, there's no music player in sight as well.

LG threw in a 1.3 megapixel camera, however, with a good amount of editing options.  The picture quality was actually very good for such a basic camera, so that's a silver lining.  Rounding out the feature set are a few games (Super Street Fighter and Where's Waldo) and apps (MyBackup and MyPerks).

Overall, it's tough to recommend the LG Helix.  While I can understand the lack of features (it's $119.99 without a contract), the spotty call quality is an absolute deal-breaker.  It could be the network or the phone's fault, though.  If Cricket has good presence in your area, it might be worth the purchase.