Haven't heard of Coolpad? Don't sweat it. Its phones for the US market are numerous enough to count on one hand. Still, this Chinese company, which sells a number of high-end devices in China (with real leather backings, one might add) has found a nontraditional way to make it into Americans' hands.
The Coolpad Arise will soon join its cousin, the Coolpad Quattro II 4G ($100), in Kroger supermarkets across the country. Although there's no pricing or launch date for the Arise yet, a Coolpad representative assures CNET that the price will come in under $100 and will run on Sprint's 3G network (it doesn't support LTE).
Specs for the chunky phone are basic, and the rough construction quality makes it seem like it's been stamped out from a sheet of black plastic. With 4-inch screen, the starter phone also has a dual-core CPU and a 2-megapixel rear-facing camera.
Coolpad hadn't officially announced the phone when we saw it at CTIA 2014, so we'll have to wait for more specs and pricing.