Nokia 1606's isn't a new creature, but it is a new member of the quickly expanding Cricket family. The AWS-capable flip phone pretty much sticks to the basic, boasting just a 160 x 128 resolution display (internal) / 96 x 32 pixel monochrome LCD (external), a voice recorder, 3.5-hours of talk time (11 days in standby) and weighs just 2.68-ounces. If that's enough to suit you, head to nearest Cricket shop and hand over $129.99 plus any applicable taxes.

[Via phonescoop]

If you've invested in one of those Sony Ericsson TM506s being offered by T-Mobile, it certainly helps if you've got some place to take advantage of its carrier-first HSDPA support -- and while it's going to be a while (a good, long while) before you find it blanketing every square inch of T-Mobile's coverage, you'll at least have a few more cities in which to play by the time that all-important G1 launches next month. Thirteen cities have officially launched so far, with another 8 coming online in the coming weeks, another 7 beyond that by the end of the year, and "meaningful expansion to additional customers and markets through 2009." In case you'd like 'em to be showing a little more hustle here (and who wouldn't?), it looks like the government is still holding things up; T-Mobile specifically mentions in its press release that it's continuing to "work closely and effectively together" with the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and Defense to speed things along and free up AWS spectrum as quickly as possible. In the meantime, follow the break for the full list of cities that'll be 3G-ready by the end of 2008.

When Sony Ericsson's TM506 was leaked earlier this month, there was no mention made of the flip's support of AWS 3G. Thankfully (thankfully!), the official launch brings along confirmed support for the protocol. SE is linking up with T-Mobile USA once again, providing a stylishly small handset that sports a 2-megapixel camera, built-in A-GPS (TeleNav), stereo Bluetooth support, an M2 card slot, multimedia playback, outer / inner displays and 9.5-hours of GSM talk time (250-hours on standby). Curiously, no price is mentioned, but you can find out for yourself when this lands in stores early next month.

True, ZTE's C79 clamshell becomes one of the relatively few phones released to market to support CDMA on the AWS frequency band in addition to the old-skool cellular and PCS bands, but to buyers, that doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot at this point. Instead, they'll be more concerned (and rightfully so, may we add) about the stylish red shell, the 1.3-megapixel camera, 220 x 176 primary display, external music controls, and 69MB of memory on top of a microSD slot. Strangely, there's no EV-DO involved, but this is MetroPCS we're talking about -- which also means we're met head on with a contract-free price of $169. It's available now.

Just over a year ago, we were all making bitter beer faces at FCC chairman Kevin Martin for not going along with a delightful sounding "free internet" plan. Now, it seems the main man's tune has changed. During a recent interview, Martin stated that there was a "social obligation in making sure everybody could participate in the next generation of broadband services because, increasingly, that's what people want." He's reportedly looking to attach a free mobile broadband requirement to the AWS-3 spectrum that's set to be auctioned next year, which would require the winner to allocate 25% for gratis access. 'Course, we wouldn't get our hopes us for this to actually go down like it surely is playing out in your mind just now, but we won't fault you for dreamin'.

[Via phonescoop]

We normally throw FCC goodness your way on Friday, but on occasion we can't help spilling the beans when they do. Today's treat seems to be a Sony Ericsson handset called the TM506, which, from outward appearances looks to be a clone of the Z780, but packs a wee bit of AWS love under its hood. Bedecked with T-Mobile branding and packed with goodies like Bluetooth, A-GPS, some type of camera, dual-band GSM, 1700 / 2100 WCDMA, and all wrapped in an alluring metallic green housing. Nice of Sony Ericsson to tack the TM -- which we're guessing stands for T-Mobile -- onto its set, perhaps this is evidence of Sony Ericsson attempting to rekindle a relationship after many years of nothing doing? Now that Sony Ericsson's doing its part, all we need is T-Mobile to follow suit with some fresh 3G airwaves for this to ride on. Go team.

[Via PhoneScoop]

Make no mistake, LTE is quite likely the buzzword at CTIA 2008. That being the case, Nokia Siemens Networks is making sure it's part of the in-crowd by introducing a "LTE solution for radio and core networks [that] will enable operators to deploy WCDMA / HSPA and LTE in all major frequency bands, including the 700MHz and 1.7 / 2.1GHz bands that are of particular importance in North America." Apparently the outfit is assuming that winners of the recent spectrum auction will be champing at the bit to deploy new networks / services, and while we can only hope it's correct, the equipment to make it happen is seemingly ready to roll.

[Via PhoneScoop]

The collection of AWS handsets just keeps getting bigger, as Cricket is announcing a pair of its own in the SCH-r430 MyShot and SCH-r210 Spex. As for the former, you can expect a flip phone design, 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, web browsing / messaging capabilities and oodles of mundaneness. As for the candybar-styled Spex, you'll find built-in Bluetooth, a 1.5-inch 128 x 128 resolution display, speakerphone support and little more. Granted, both phones are tri-band -- meaning that they'll play nice in PCS, Cellular and AWS markets -- and thankfully, you won't be asked to take out a second mortgage to call one your own. The duo is available now for $149.99 and $119.99, respectively.

[Via PhoneScoop]

As the usual jollifications at CTIA roll on, ZTE has announced a new duo of ho hum handsets for the US market. Hot on the heels of the C88 comes the affordable C78 candybar and C79 flip phone. As for the former, you can expect a VGA camera, MMS / internet browsing capabilities and built-in Bluetooth, while the latter packs a 1.3-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, a 2-inch display and a microSD expansion slot. Both units operate on the AWS frequency bands in addition to the PCS and Cellular bands, but unfortunately, mum's the word on carrier / pricing information.

At this point, we're simply running out of metaphors for the egregious ways in which Motorola is abusing the industrial design of the original RAZR. Yes, Moto, we get it, it was a game-changing phone -- in 2004. Heck, we'll even give it a free pass for 2005 and 2006. But a new one in 2008? Seriously? Sure enough, the new V3s variant rocks out with CDMA support on the 800, 1900, and 1700MHz bands, making this the first RAZR of any sort to support AWS. Cricket just launched its first AWS phone, so we wouldn't be surprised to see this one land over there, too. Oh wait, our bad, Motorola did change one thing about this phone: the "A" has been dropped from the name. The manual calls out the V3s as the "MOTORZR," possibly in preparation for a broad new marketing campaign that's virtually identical to the old, but with even fewer vowels. Your guess is as good as ours.

It doesn't look like much, but it's the innards of UTStarcom's unassuming CDM7126 flip that makes it a superstar. It turns out that this is the very first CDMA phone to launch in the US on AWS bandwidth, meaning that in addition to the typical 850 and 1900MHz support, this one adds in a little extra coverage punch via the new 1700MHz spectrum that T-Mobile is also sharing for its 3G services. We spied the CDM7126 at CES earlier this year -- hence the somewhat unusual picture -- and while we can't find it hiding out on carrier partner Cricket's website, residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma should be able to march into stores as soon as today to pick 'er up. Don't get too excited, though; other than the noteworthy use of AWS, the phone lacks EV-DO and an external display. Yikes!

[Via Phone Scoop]

It's no secret that Nokia's waiting in the wings with its low-end 3555 flip for T-Mobile, but here's the thing: as low-end as it may be, it's still 3G, which makes it a blockbuster by T-Mobile standards. The latest intelligence indicate that T-Mob's liking March 17 as the retail release date for the phone, featuring myFaves support, stereo Bluetooth, microSD slot, speakerphone, and a VGA cam -- not bad, considering the fact that it'll almost certainly be within a few bucks of free on contract. Perhaps the best part of this whole document, though, is the verbiage directed at sales staff imploring that the 3555 be sold "without any reference to UMTS," and if the customer specifically asks about the phone's 3G capabilities, there are a few canned responses (nothing we don't already know, really) designed to shut the customer up and get 'em out the door with a smile on their face and a 3555 in their pocket.

[Thanks, Mumbo]

It's awesome how Nokia's 3555 looks like a giant beatin' stick when it's unfurled, but rest assured, it's little more than a low-end 3G flip. We'd heard a while back that the phone would be finding its way to AT&T to slot in underneath the midrange 6555, and it turns out they're going to try to kill two birds with one clamshell by offering it on T-Mobile, too. Like we said, AT&T's 3555 is 3G ready, and happily, the FCC documentation for this version shows the presence of 1700MHz support implying that it'll rock out on T-Mobile's 3G network just the same -- what few slivers of it are up and running, anyhow. Then again, exactly what is it that we're going to be doing with 3G on that cute little display?