Mobile Phone News

HTC’s Desire is without doubt one of the headline Android devices of 2010 so far — and heck, when you’re using the already-great Nexus One as a starting point and re-upping it with an optical pad, physical buttons, and Sense, it’s hard to argue otherwise. US Cellular has at this time become the first carrier to bring the device to the States (nearly five grueling months since its first spats of international availability, we’d like to note), and because USCC’s a CDMA carrier, this is naturally a slightly different device than you’re getting elsewhere. Don’t get us wrong, most of the thoughts in our first review of the Desire still apply — but needless to say, this launch is notable enough to warrant a second look. Read on!

HTC’s Desire is without doubt one of the headline Android devices of 2010 so far — and heck, when you’re using the already-great Nexus One as a starting point and re-upping it with an optical pad, physical buttons, and Sense, it’s hard to argue otherwise. US Cellular has at this time become the first carrier to bring the device to the States (nearly five grueling months since its first spats of international availability, we’d like to note), and because USCC’s a CDMA carrier, this is naturally a slightly different device than you’re getting elsewhere. Don’t get us wrong, most of the thoughts in our first review of the Desire still apply — but needless to say, this launch is notable enough to warrant a second look. Read on!

As we discovered back at its CTIA intro earlier this year, Kyocera’s (and Sanyo’s) Zio isn’t the neatest Android phone you’ve ever seen — nor the most technically impressive — but at $230 without a contract after $20 discount, it’s pretty hard to argue that you’re not getting what you pay for. Regional carrier Cricket had been promising the Zio for some time, and at this time it’s in this place, just the latest in the company’s newfound push into the smartphone space — a space it’s traditionally avoided in the past — with the recent launch of the Curve 8530 (for the same price as the Zio, coincidentally). Trackballs are officially passé at this point, but considering the budget monthly outlay that Cricket offers, we’ve no doubt they’ll find some takers.

Cricket starts offering Android-powered Zio for $230 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.