On Tuesday, electronics retailer RadioShack announced that it has teamed up with Leap Wireless' Cricket Communications subsidiary to launch two Huawei-manufactured phones that run RadioShack's own branded, no-contract wireless service.

The two Huawei no-contact handsets - the Huawei Pillar and the Huawei Mercury Ice - hit the RadioShack stores in the US on Wednesday; with two more handsets likely to be added by the end of September.

The Huawei Pillar is a "feature" phone for RadioShack's no-contract wireless service, and boasts a basic QWERTY keyboard, built-in camera and Internet access. The handset itself is priced at $40; and the users can select from two plans --- a $25 per month package for 300 voice minutes; or a $35 a month package for 1000 voice minutes. Both the plans come with unlimited texting as well as Internet access.

The Huawei Mercury Ice is an Android 2.3 smartphone, which features a 1.4 GHz single core processor, a 4-inch display screen, and an 8-megapixel camera. Priced at $150, the two plans, with unlimited voice and text, which are available for the handset include: a $50 per month package 1GB of full speed 3G data; and a $60 plan for 2.5 GB limit. Both the plans include unlimited data usage.

About RadioShack's no-contract wireless service, Allen McClard - VP of RadioShack mobility - said in a statement that the new service is part of RadioShack's promise "to continue to evolve in the wireless space" in order to meet the "something different" needs of mobile-device users.