Cricket now offering Samsung u340

Anyone who regularly reads this site knows that we’re pretty big fans of MetroPCS and Cricket, two regional providers who offer flat-rate, unlimited calling on a prepaid basis. Heck, we already wrote about them earlier today. So when Cricket announces that it’s offering a new phone, you’d think we would be praising them to the heavens. This time, though, we just can’t get excited about the offering. It’s the Samsung u340, and it’s not all that different from the other phones available through Cricket. Take a look for yourself at the Cricket phones page. How does the u340 stand out? In essence, it’s just the lesser model of the Siren, which costs just $30 more. In a word, the phone is standard. Web access, multimedia player, personal planning tools — the list is basically what you’d find on just about any mid-level phone out there. Honestly, if Cricket is going to start offering new phones, they can’t just pick these middle of the line offerings and think that it will make a difference. It already had a good selection of high-end phones, so why not concentrate on the under-$100 market? After all, that’s what the majority of their customers are looking for. But without that value-laden, low end offering, Cricket is alienating a large portion of their customer base that simply cannot afford an expensive phone. In reality, the u340 isn’t a bad phone. It’s just a bad phone for Cricket at this time. [Business Wire]]]>