Cricket to get unusually high-end Huawei Glory
updated 02:35 pm EDT, Tue June 21, 2011
1.4GHz processor, upgradable to Android 4.0
Huawei announced it will supply prepaid carrier Cricket with the Huawei Glory (M886), Huawei's first high-end Android phone. The Glory is a candybar form smartphone that will run Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread), and upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich when it becomes available. It centers on a four-inch, 854x480 TFT LCD screen that a hands-on preview by PCMag noted was exceptionally bright and easy to see outdoors. The Glory uses a 1.4-GHz Qualcomm MSM8655T Snapdragon processor and a heavy duty, 1,900mAh battery. The phone has 2GB of RAM, an expansion slot, and an eight megapixel camera with LED flash.
The Glory has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS, but doesn't have TV or HDMI out. It will ship with EVDO Rev. A for 3G in the US market. The phone is only 9.7mm thick, but its squarish design makes it feel thicker, according to the early look. Huawei has made minor changes to the stock Android interface, which include a rotating 3D cube for home screen transitions and a custom email widget and music player.
Huawei says the Glory should be available beginning in November. The company may ship the phone in either black or white. Expected retail price is under $300 off-contract and could make it one of the cheapest options available at its level.
Last year, Huawei introduced its first Android phone, the Ascend, on prepaid carriers Cricket and MetroPCS. The company has shipped over 2 million of the low-cost Android smartphones. At this year's CES, the company introduced a mid-range Android phone, the U9000. [via PCMag]
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