Radioshack Cricket No Contract $40 Huawei Pilar: TechNow with Gina Smith

Written by Gina Smith

A $40 no-contract wireless phone won’t buy you love, but will the new WIreless Cricket offering buy you a bit of happiness. Check out the details here. Tech Now with Gina Smith — tech news for September 4, 2012.

Radioshack hours ago announced its no-contract wireless service — and that it will by the end of the week release the Huawei Pilar, a $40 Cricket Wireless phone with unlimited texts and data all the way to the 1GB throttle. The cost is $25 a month and sign up begins September 4, 2012, reps said in a release.

After that you pay. Find more details from the vendors and a price comparison below the fold. Watch for our review. Here’s the scoop.

You get what you pay for. But for $40 and $150, respectively, the Huawei Pillar and Mercury Ice Radioshack announced today both give some bang for the buck — watch for our reviews of these cheapsters here. More in the piece and details above.

From Radioshack’s advisory today:

Two phones – the Huawei Mercury Ice and the Huawei Pillar – are available in-store starting this week, with two additional phones expected to be available by the end of September.

The Huawei Mercury Ice is available tomorrow (ED: September 04, 2012) and is exclusive to RadioShack for the next 30 days. At $149.99, it’s a serious multitasker with a fun side. The Android 2.3 phone is powered by a 1.4 GHz processor, and its scratch-resistant 4-inch FWVGA screen displays crystal clear pictures and videos shot with the 8MP camera or camcorder. With Muve Music® included in the $50 a month unlimited data plan, the phone delivers unlimited song downloads, ringtones and ringback tones.

Value priced at $39.99 with service plans that start at only $25 a month, the Huawei Pillar is the ideal feature phone for consumers who find themselves texting to stay in touch. The Pillar is a compact device with a full QWERTY keyboard and mobile Web access to keep consumers connected while on the go. And with the phone’s built-in camera, consumers can snap and share pics of where they are and what they’re doing anytime ..

Radioshack Cricket No-Contract $30 Phone details from the vendor.

Here’s the comparison chart Radioshack provided this morning.