Cricket launches BlackBerry Curve 8530, says Kyocera Zio is in the cards

We'd wondered what had happened to Kyocera's low-end Zio with Android after its March announce at CTIA... and lo, here it is. Cricket announced today that the phone is indeed in the pipe for 2010 -- a little later than earlier rumors that we'd see it in July -- marking just their second smartphone after their branded version of the BlackBerry Curve 8530, which ships later this week. Pricing for the Zio hasn't been announced, but the Curve 8530 will run $279.99 after discount -- pricey, yes, until you consider that you're getting that devoid of a pesky contract. Cricket's excited to trumpet that its unlimited BlackBerry plan runs just $60 a month in total, which means that voice, text, and data are all off the meter. Not bad -- but considering Cricket's positioning as a regional value brand, we'd expect no less.

[Stephanie C Posted Aug 3rd 2010 8:55PM]

I saw an ad on TV that says Cricket is now national.

[DDRobert Posted Aug 3rd 2010 9:58PM]

@Stephanie C it's not, it still drops calls in roaming areas, just means it can call anywhere in the US (such as Hawaii and Alaska) now

[MBN Posted Aug 4th 2010 10:45AM]

@DDRobert Not true, it works on partner networks, but you just use minutes from a small, limited bucket when roaming, depending on your plan.

[MBN Posted Aug 4th 2010 10:27AM]

FINALLY, a real, albeit low-end, smart-phone on Cricket. Too bad it's too late for me.

[klardner Posted Aug 4th 2010 1:47PM]

Virgin mobile offers the Blackberry curve 8530 with no contract for $35 a month with unlimited data and text and 400 minutes of talk time, you do have to buy the phone for $300.