Regional carrier Cricket Wireless announced a slew of news today that include new all-inclusive rate plans and that it is adding 15--yes, 15--new devices to its lineup.
The new rate plans are some of the most competitive in the country, with unlimited plans available from $35 to $60 a month. The basic $35 plan lacks data and a couple of voice features; the $45 plan includes unlimited voice, text, data, and online backup; and the $55 and $60 unlimited plans are for Android and BlackBerry devices, respectively. According to Cricket, all regulatory taxes and fees are included in that price. It has also aligned its monthly plans with its pay-as-you-go plans--the $35 and $45 pay-as-you-go plans have similar features to the monthly ones.
As for the hardware, Cricket didn't give us a list of all of its new phones; however, it did tell us about a few notable it is adding, such as the BlackBerry Curve 8530, the Sanyo ZIO by Kyocera, and the Samsung Messager Touch. While we've reviewed the Curve and the Messager Touch before, we've only had a brief glimpse of the Zio at CTIA. The Zio is Kyocera-Sanyo's first Android phone and it has a 3.5-inch touch screen. It's a relatively low-end Android phone, with only Android version 1.6; however, it has a 3.2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, the usual Webkit HTML Web browser, GPS, and it supports EV-DO. The MSRP for the Sanyo Zio is $249.99 while the price for the BlackBerry Curve 8530 is $299.99. As is the case with Cricket, no contract is required.