Hello Z! So is what you are saying that Cricket is willing to trade out the phone for you based on something being wrong with your Ascend?
If so, you might want to consider the Zio as soon as Cricket gets it back in the lineup. As I understand it, all Zios have been removed and will be replaced with 2.2 stock when they are for sale again, after the upgrade is officially out. This being the case, I would definitely wait for that to happen if I were you. If you try to trade now you might wind up with a refurbished Zio that still has 1.6 platform and will have to suffer through the update yourself.
These are my thoughts:
Personally I love the Ascend. But then you probably already know that.
One of the reasons I love this phone is because of the manufacturer who made it: Huawei. They are the world's 2nd largest telecom manufacturer and have been making handsets for the big carriers for years now, only under their names. IE: Motorola, Samsung, Nokia etc. Actually far too many to name. Kyocera, maker of the Zio, on the other hand has not had the same experience with handsets, as their main priority has been solar cells and printers which they market under that brand name Copystar.
That being said, if you look at the specs of both phones you will see very little difference. They are both approx the same size and are similar in design, each having a trackball, same resolution, same internal memory, same size camera (no flash or autofocus) and same size processor basically. But just because of this it doesn't mean all the internal working parts will be the same.
Huawei Technology far exceeds Kyocera.
When the Zio is out with 2.2 it will be much more appealing. I don't know what the sound is like. The sound on the Ascend is not the best IMO but it's acceptable. No upgrade is going to improve that. LOL
So, given that maybe the basic technology isn't all that important to you as long as the phone has decent specs, you can look at the phones side by side to attempt to reach a better decision of what to do:
The Ascend and the Zio are both very attractive and sleek phones. I'm quite sure the Zio is very nice in the flesh. I haven't personally seen one but I know that Zio owners like their phones other than the 1.6 platform it originally came with. Slowwwww...very very slow. LOL
2.2 most definitely makes a difference for Zio owners coming from 1.6 to 2.2. Big change!
So basically at this point it is up to you to decide what you want to do. I would imagine that the Zio will be more expensive than the Ascend when it is reintroduced with 2.2. It retails for something like $249 now. Since they don't have it in the lineup anymore I don't really know but I'm sure there will be rebates, etc. just like before.
If Cricket is willing to trade you straight up you might want to consider the Zio.
Personally, if it were me, I would hold out for the Ascend 2.2 upgrade. Why? Because o/a I think the Ascend is a far better device than the Zio. Anything made by Huawei is going to be better.
In addition I have had my Ascend for 3 months now and have done every single thing imaginable to it and it is still working. That in itself should be a great testimonial! LOL
If you can wait, there are more new phones that will be hitting Cricket soon and you might be sorry you settled for the Zio when you could have the X5 or the new Optimus, both with 2.2 out of the box.
That's about all I can really say about the Zio vs the Ascend.
Of course here in the Ascend Forum we really do love our Ascends!
So maybe this might have been written from a slightly biased point of view.
If you take a look at the Zio Forum here you will see very little activity. Ascend has moved up to the 22nd most active phone forum here in the entire Android Forum. That's saying a lot since it has only been around since Nov 2010.
There are exciting things in the future for Huawei.
I can't say for sure that the Ascend will get 2.2 but I am about 90 percent positive it will be out sometime in March.
For me, since my phone is rooted and there are other custom roms out there, like the Icarus and the unofficial 2.2 Froyo I am not too concerned if we get it or not. It would be nice but for $100 bucks I think this phone is a smoking deal!
I hope this helps you some with your decision. I'm sure others will be here to offer their opinions as well.
Just do what feels best to you and you can't go wrong!
Hope this helps!!!
