Apple iPhone 4 (Cricket Wireless)

Apple's iPhone 4 is an oldie, but it's still good. At $399 plus $55 per month, Cricket Wireless's iPhone 4 is the least expensive iPhone with unlimited calling, measured over two years. While we recommend it, we can't give an Editors' Choice to a smartphone that isn't top-of-the-line but charges a top-of-the-line price.

The iPhone 4 on Cricket is the same model Verizon uses. (The Verizon iPhone 4 is depicted in the slideshow below.) Read our Verizon iPhone 4 ($99, 4 stars) review for details. The main differences between it and the Cricket iPhone 4S ($499, 4 stars), which costs $100 more, are that the 4S has a faster dual-core processor, a better camera, and the Siri voice assistant.

We generally recommend that you buy the 4S because over the two years most people own their phones, the $100 isn't a huge price difference. And the iPhone 4 already won't get some of the features in the new upcoming iOS 6: for instance, you won't get turn-by-turn navigation, Siri, or FaceTime over 3G.

A Really Cheap iPhone
First, the good news. The $399.99 iPhone 4S (16GB) on Cricket works with the carrier's $55/month plan, which offers unlimited talk time and 2.5GB of 3G data. Cricket has no contracts, so you can switch out your phone any time you want.

Measured over two years, Cricket's iPhone is much cheaper than competing devices from Sprint, Verizon, or AT&T, and it's less expensive than a Virgin Mobile iPhone on an unlimited talk time plan. Virgin offers a cheaper $35/month, 300-minute plan, though, and Cricket doesn't.

Here's how the cheapest iPhones shake out: A Virgin iPhone 4 on the 300-minute plan costs $1,389.99 over two years. Cricket's, with the unlimited talk time plan, costs $1,719.99. Virgin's, with unlimited talk time, costs $1,869. Sprint's model is cheaper up front at $99.99 but requires an $80/month plan with a two-year contract, so it's $2,019.99. AT&T's and Verizon's service plans are even more expensive.

Not Quite Networked
Cricket is a hybrid carrier. In many cities it runs its own network. In others, it uses Sprint's.?Because the iPhone doesn't have the 1700MHz band Cricket uses in many cities, Cricket's iPhone isn't available in Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, Seattle, Washington, DC, or several other major markets.?

If you buy a Cricket iPhone elsewhere, it will still work if you travel to those cities, because it will piggyback on Sprint's network. But you can only buy Cricket's iPhone if you live in one of the 59 cities?listed here. That's frustrating.

And remember, you get the same nationwide performance as Sprint. That has its up sides and its down sides. The up side is a relatively consistent network. The down side is the slowest 3G network in the nation, as measured by our 30-city network speed tests.

No Cricket phones support 4G yet, so I'm not going to ding this phone for it's lack.

Paying a Premium
The iPhone is a brilliant cultural touchstone with an unmatched library of high-quality apps. But you'll be paying a premium over other Cricket, Virgin, and MetroPCS phones to enjoy it.

The Editors' Choice Huawei Mercury (4.5 stars) is $199.99 with the same service plan. That's half the price of the iPhone 4. It has a lower-resolution screen but a higher-resolution camera. It's a handsome, well-built phone, it's available in all Cricket markets, and it's much less expensive.

This is a judgment call. $399 is a lot for a phone, but it isn't $499 (or the $649 Virgin is charging for the iPhone 4S), so you can make a good argument that Apple's gorgeous industrial design is worth the premium. Ultimately, you're paying a top-of-the-line price for a product that just isn't top-of-the-line, and a new iPhone is coming out in just a few months.

Conclusions
The Cricket Wireless iPhone is the least expensive iPhone 4 model available with an unlimited calling plan, if you factor in the cost of the service plan. But while it's still a good phone, it's delivered at a very high price for a two-year-old model that is no longer top of the line. More importantly, Cricket, Virgin, and MetroPCS all offer high-quality Android phones with no contract for less money. Along with Cricket's Huawei Mercury and Virgin's HTC EVO V 4G (4 stars, $299.99), there's MetroPCS's LG Connect 4G ($249, 4 stars), which has a dual-core processor and 4G LTE speed. The iPhone 4 is an excellent phone, but its price needs to come down to compete.

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