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US Cellular launches the Huawei Ascend II next week, costs you nothing (after rebate)
Coming next week to a US Cellular website near you... we give you the Huawei Ascend II. The carrier's first Huawei device is no stranger on American soil, having spent a good five months on Cricket's lineup. While the handset was available for $180 with no contract on Cricket, US Cellular is offering it for free with a two-year commitment -- after a $100 mail-in rebate. Perhaps it's not as likely to induce salivation as we were hoping, but it may still be a temptation for a few smartphone fans on a budget that don't mind a contract. The Android 2.3 device, complete with a 3.5-inch HVGA display, 5MP camera and 600MHz CPU, is available online next week and will be offered in stores in early January.
Huawei Ascend II on sale now, brings off-contract Gingerbread to Cricket for $180
We gotta say -- we dig where this is headed. Between Virgin Mobile's Intercept, Boost Mobile's Prevail and Cricket's Ascend II, it's getting harder and harder to justify a mid-range smartphone on a post-paid carrier. Huawei's latest prepaid smartphone has just landed on Cricket, quite a few months after we first touched it at CTIA. What's wild isn't the predictable design or middle-of-the-road 5 megapixel camera -- it's that $179.99 off-contract price tag coupled with a copy of Android 2.3. Gingerbread is proving tough to find even on the big boys, so having a prepaid option is all the more surprising. You'll also get a 3.5-inch HVGA touchpanel, WiFi, a microSD slot and a 600MHz processor. Granted, you'll likely experience plenty of lag when trying to multitask, but with an all-inclusive $55 / month plan (which includes unlimited talk, text, 411 information, international text, data and video picture messages), what's to kvetch about?
