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Cricket launches Sanyo Zio by Kyocera
A new device launch never fails to warm the cockles of our hearts, and today's treat comes in the form of the Sanyo Zio by Kyocera on Cricket. We'd heard earlier this year that Cricket was prepping to launch this set in July for 'round about $300 -- and yes they missed that date but they've exchanged tardiness for better pricing, gotta love 'em, right? The Zio ships with a 1GB microSD, features a 3.4-inch touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel cam, WiFi, Bluetooth, and all that running in the land of Android 1.6. Pricing is set at $249 with a $20 online rebate thrown in and of course a bit of fine print requiring you grab the $55 a month Android plan. Sadly, the Zio is listed as backordered on the site so getting one today might be a stretch, but estimated ship date is August 26th, and what's five days between you and your new cell pal? We had a chance to play with the Zio back in March and came away feeling a little underwhelmed, so why not give it a quick read before you dive in? Follow the read link to see the rest of the goodies.
Cricket hires goats to eat blackberries (video)
Yes, you did read that headline right, but it's not quite what you think -- rather than a children's tale of talking crickets and cell phone-eating goats, we're talking about clearing brambles covered with tiny black fruit at the cell towers of Cricket Wireless. The carrier hired a herd of goats to munch away at some troublesome growth at Oregon transceivers just last week, in a trial for a potential contract that could fill goat bellies at dozens of blocked base stations and save thousands of dollars for the company. "I'd rather have my operations team keeping our customers' Blackberries in perfect working order so we've hired the goats to take care of the other blackberries at our cell sites," Cricket's Keith Casey told OregonLive, using a variation on the pun that's no doubt been thrown around Cricket offices for months.
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.
Cricket's new tiered data plans seem like a model for the industry to us
Here's something we can all agree on: data caps are a bummer, especially now that we've all got smartphones capable of gobbling literally gigabytes a day. Unfortunately, they seem to be a necessary evil in this crazy supply-versus-demand world of capitalism we all call home, particularly in light of the spectrum crunch the FCC keeps warning us about. Or are they? One great band-aid rarely explored by North American carriers is the concept of bandwidth throttling, whereby you don't have a hard cap that results in overage -- instead, you just get slapped with a lower data throughput if you blow past your quota. That's what regional value carrier Cricket is doing with the launch of its new data plans today, offering buckets of 2.5, 5, and 7.5GB for $40, $50, or $60, respectively, at maximum speed on its EV-DO network -- but additionally, the quota is on a rolling 30-day basis, which means you can potentially free up some of that bucket each and every day of the month (depending on your usage patterns). If you exceed your cap, you risk falling down to a lower speed where you "may only be able to do basic email and web browsing." The downside is that this represents a $10 increase in the cost of Cricket's 5GB plan -- and bandwidth throttling still isn't fun, of course -- but at least you can keep using your modem without the dread looming in the back of your mind that you're going get a 20-page bill at month's end.
Kyocera Zio coming to Cricket in July for $300?
Kyocera's North American offerings are decidedly lower-end, so we were a bit surprised to see 'em bring a full touchscreen Android device to the party at CTIA this year -- until we touched it, at which point we instantly realized that the so-called Zio still well inside low-end territory. It makes sense then that the Zio would be coming to some of Kyocera's traditional carrier partners like Cricket, and indeed, PhoneArena appears to have scored an internal slide deck showing a projected 2010 lineup that includes the Zio front and center. Cricket apparently likes July as a launch target, and they're looking to retail it for $299.99 -- pricey, yes, until you remember that these guys don't do contracts. We certainly wouldn't take this sucker over, say, a Nexus One -- but as a contract-free offering on a value carrier, you might just have a deal.
Cricket tacks on Samsung's Stunt
Looking for a rightful successor to your now-aging SCH-R211? Samsung and Cricket would like you to look no further than the SCH-R100 Stunt, a dead ringer for the candybar of the same name that launched on MetroPCS back in December of last year. It turns out this is a little bit more than your average ultra-basic phone, though: Cricket says this device is introducing Bluetooth to the lowest tier of its lineup, a particularly useful feature now that using the handset while driving is a no-no in many jurisdictions. It's available now (contract free, naturally) for $99.99.
YouTube nabs live sports streaming rights
Alright, before you jump on your sofa Tom Cruise-style, these rights don't relate to the NBA, NFL or anything else quite so exciting to the Western viewer. Google's master plan for getting into the cutthroat sports broadcasting world is to start with... Indian Premier League cricket. Oh sure, you don't know what that even is yet, but plenty of people in the Eastern hemisphere live and die by the stuff and YouTube's slated to start broadcasting live matches from March of this year. What should be tantalizing for all of us is that Google seems to be taking this as a pilot venture which, if successful, could be the harbinger of plenty more live streaming content to come. Cricket at the vanguard of modern content distribution -- who could've expected that?
Cricket, MetroPCS launch Samsung Messager II
Seemingly unconvinced that enough people had said "hey, you spelled 'messenger' wrong" after the first model, archrival regionals Cricket and MetroPCS have both launched Samsung's Messager II with a 2 megapixel camera, EV-DO, and a pair of keypads: one slide-out QWERTY, one numeric permanently affixed up front. Admittedly, the name is no stranger than the "Vice" brand adopted by the phone's twin sister up in Canada, but isn't it kind of ironic that a phone with a full QWERTY keyboard be given a name that nearly everyone thinks is a typo? Find this sucker now on MetroPCS for $149 and Cricket for a hair under $200. [Via Phone Scoop]
Oh, by the way: August 4, 2009
Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for Tuesday, August 4th, 2009: Following the G'zOne C731 Rock, Casio's C741 Brigade for Verizon has nabbed FCC clearance. Not much is known about the phone -- we can assume it'll be ruggedized to one degree or another -- but one interesting tidbit is the inclusion of VCAST TV support, something Verizon's been getting lax on as of late. [Via PhoneArena] Have you seen a white / silver Samsung i7500 Galaxy? Now you have. [Thanks, Ruben W.] China's regulatory peeps have had the good fortune of seeing a couple new Philips Xeniums in their midst, a K700 full touch model and an X501 candybar. Philips has yet to announce either unit, but you can bet they'll last until the next ice age on a single charge. [Via Unwired View] Microsoft's MSDN -- its official developer network -- has published a case study on porting an iPhone app to Windows Mobile. A year ago, you'd have been more likely to see case studies going in the other direction, but, you know, times are changing. [Via Tweakers.net] Digia put together a nice little web browser for UIQ called @Web, but then UIQ sorta went away -- so they're back at it again, this time on S60 5th Edition in beta form. S60 does a decent job browsing out of the gate, but @Web's got some interesting UI elements that might make it worth a look. [Via All About Symbian] We don't see much of it in the States, but Samsung's got a whole brand -- DuoS -- for dual-SIM capable handsets. Mobil.cz has dug up a new model in the series, a low-end candybar dubbed C3212 that'll run the equivalent of around $195 and go on sale in Russia later this summer before expanding to other European markets. [Via Mobile Phone Helpdesk] Value brand Cricket is adding yet more value to its unlimited voice plans that start at a bargain-basement $40. The $40 price point now includes web access; $45 gets you unlimited email, backup, and 30 roaming minutes a month, and $55 ups the roaming to 200 minutes.
Trophies: Ashes Cricket 2009
We're not even going to pretend we know what any of this means. View Trophy List | Visit Trophy Portal
Cricket's TXTM8 is as cute as its name
Looking for something maybe just a little less flashy than Motorola's Hint on Cricket? They've got your back now thanks to the inclusion of the TXTM8 -- pronounced "text mate," we think -- sourced from middleman / distributor / purveyor of fine goods PCD. There's not much to the phone other than its cute little shell and a sliding full QWERTY keyboard, but it does pack a 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth support, and AWS CDMA (as all Cricket handsets do these days). Interested parties can inquire with the carrier for one of these now, running $139.99 contract-free after discount.[Via Phone Scoop]
Thwack! Left 4 Dead 2 survivors play a bit of cricket
Click image for a closer view of the zombie bashing There's a cricket bat in Left 4 Dead 2, and after pondering how such an instrument could find its way to the southern United States (we certainly don't make them here, and every American knows that we don't allow people with them to enter the country), we've come up with a few theories: Someone smuggled the bat and full set of gear (notice how the zombie is dressed to play?) into the country, akin to how Snake Plissken was smuggled into Manhattan in Escape from New York Zombies really like sports The United States was chosen as a neutral place to hold a competition between two rival teams in cricket, and the zombie infestation happened during the game A wizard did it It's an homage to Shaun of the Dead Valve just felt like it We asked some folks at Valve about it, but they wouldn't divulge any info. What do you guys think?[Via IGN]
Cricket picks up Samsung's MyShot II
We didn't know the lowly MyShot had developed enough brand cachet to warrant a sequel, but sure enough, the MyShot II has gotten very, very real for value carrier Cricket. Like the model before it, the MyShot II packs a 1.3 megapixel camera and tops out with 1x data; in fact, the only real improvement here seems to be the styling, which arguably looks a little more modern. It supports AWS CDMA -- as all Cricket phones do these days -- and can be yours (hence the "My" in "MyShot") contract-free for $139.99 after rebate.[Via Phone Scoop]
AT&T in the market for Leap Wireless?
There's a lot of posturing and ego-inflating at the very highest levels of the US' wireless industry; AT&T had been the biggest provider until Verizon swooped in and bought Alltel, and we imagine that the new number two has been plotting its counterattack ever since. Of course, this kind of endless tit-for-tat acquisition game is an Alien vs. Predator-style "whoever wins, we all lose" scenario, since the end result is inevitably less competition and more Big Wireless (we just coined that term, and yes, you're free to use it). Anyhow, the popular buzz today is that AT&T is taking a serious look at Leap Wireless -- which owns the Cricket brand, the regional that's offering $40 / month unlimited -- on account of both companies mysteriously canceling appearances at a pair of investment conferences over the next week. It's mega-speculative at this point, but the move would certainly make sense considering the overwhelming popularity of cheap unlimited plans right now and AT&T's presumed desire to get back in the king's throne, wouldn't it?
Codemasters asks, 'Fancy a bit of Cricket?'
Codemasters has just dropped word to MCV that it is developing Ashes Cricket 2009, based on this year's The Ashes games. Codies brand manager Richard Gittins thinks that the game will be a big deal, based on how crazy people went over the games the last time they were hosted by the UK back in 2005, and expects strong sales.The game will feature all of the official matches and players (including big shots Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Ricky Pointing), as well as a Legends mode that tasks players with completing certain technical scenarios. Ashes Cricket 2009 will release this summer on Xbox 360, PC and PS3, with a Wii version of the game releasing some time later this year.
Cricket picks up the Motorola Hint, too
It's interesting how some handsets make the rounds among the regional carriers without so much as a passing mention from the nationals, and that's certainly shaping up to be the kind of life the Motorola Hint is leading. Piling on to launches on Alltel and MetroPCS, it turns out that the Hint is also now available from Cricket; like MetroPCS, Cricket likes to do the whole no-contract thing, which means you'll pay $229.99 upfront for the pleasure of putting a 2 megapixel, EV-DO equipped QWERTY slider in your pocket with these guys. Any takers? [Via Crave]
Nokia's 3606 flip phone slips onto Cricket Wireless
Nokia's simplistic 3606 has been out and about for awhile now, but it's brand new to Cricket Wireless airwaves. The aforesaid carrier is now offering up the 3606 in branded fashion, bringing along a 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, music with external control keys, a microSD card slot, 700mAh battery and a 2-inch 220 x 176 internal display. The pain? $139.99 after all applicable discounts.[Via MobileBurn]
Up close with Cricket's giant Samsung Messager
We had a chance to check out the ginormous, hand-built recreation of Samsung's Messager on site in Chicago this week, and yep, we can confirm it -- this is one big phone. Be that as it may, we're still a bit surprised to hear that it's Guinness Record-setting big, but we guess Cricket's angle here is that the Messager is fully functional. There was a healthy line to use the phone when we stopped by; folks were given the option of making a call (over speakerphone, naturally) or sending a text message, but seeing how the display was just as functional as the rest of the phone, we wouldn't want to call up any numbers we didn't want half of the city of Chicago seeing. Follow the break for video of this beast in action -- and after seeing the amount of footwork involved in simply dialing a number, let's all hope phones never actually get this big, shall we?
Caption contest: Cricket builds the world's largest cellphone
Regional carrier Cricket has set about breaking the Guinness record for the world's largest cellphone, crafting a giant Samsung Messager out of wood, metal, lights, wizardry, and love. It'll be officially unveiled tomorrow, but in the meantime, we've been treated to some behind-the-scenes footage of the 8th Wonder Of The World's creation. Follow the break for video.Chris: "Leaving out the microSD slot was purely a design decision."Don: "Hey, anybody remember where we put the world's smallest cellphone?"Paul: "yo, david, can we meet up for this fight tmrw? me and my philistine buddies got totally wasted last night, got giant hangover. thx."Joe: "Sure, Cricket has a bigger network, but Boost Mobile has better ringtones."Josh T.: "And yet... the display is still cramped."Nilay: "Finally, we will crush the iPhone!"Thomas: "Hold on, let me walk over to my inbox"Jacob: "The good news? Grandma will be able to see the buttons. The bad news? She won't be able to dial a number without an oxygen tank."
Cricket rolls out Samsung r211 candybar
The "ultra-simple CDMA set with AWS support" category is getting pretty well-stocked the past few months courtesy of carriers like MetroPCS, and Samsung's helping to fill the shelves with another one on Cricket today. The SCH-r211 offers little more than what you can gather from the product shot -- it'll do data sans 3G, and that 128 x 128 display isn't helping matters either -- but more importantly, it runs just $89.99 contract-free, and it's available this very second.
