No one in living in a rich Western country takes Huawei seriously because of their reputation for making cheap low end Android smartphones. All that’s about to change thanks to the Honor. Announced back in late August, we got some hands-on time with the Honor earlier this month and came away impressed. Make no mistake, it’s no where near the fit and finish of something like the Samsung Galaxy S II or Apple iPhone 4S, but it’s a huge step up from previous Huawei devices. Best of all, it’s still priced well within most people’s budgets. When we played with the Honor we were told it would come in at less than $300 unsubsidized. Today we can finally confirm that the Honor is indeed coming to America and that it’s going to cost just $250. You’ll be able to pick it up on Cricket Wireless, who is calling the device the Huawei Mercury. You’re looking at a 4 inch 854 × 480 pixel screen, 1.4 GHz processor, 8 megapixel camera, and 3G connectivity, though we’re only talking EV-DO here.
Should you buy it? That’s a really hard question to answer. Cricket isn’t really a national operator. They have roaming agreements, sure, but there’s a reason they have only 7 million customers. Their $55 per month unlimited everything plan is awesome, but you’re limited to EV-DO for 3G. If money really is an issue, then why not get a $40 per month plan with Simple Mobile? Then you can get whatever smartphone you want, likely something used since it’ll help you save some pennies, and have pretty much have the exact same level of service. Huawei probably doesn’t want to hear that, but that’s their problem. They should start selling their devices unlocked on Amazon or at Best Buy to expand their reach.
Anyway, what do you think, is the Honor/Mercury the device you’ve been looking for?