The just-announced Kyocera Echo on Sprint is a first of its kind: a dual touchscreen, Android-powered smartphone. Sprint announced that they would be releasing an industy first and this is just what they have delivered.
The Echo features two 3.5 inch 480 x 800 displays that have the ability to be combined into one screen, which displays as a single 4.7 inch 960 x 800 touchscreen surface. This new smartphone is an interesting proposition that has plenty of possibilities if implemented properly.
As you can see the Echo can be operated by using just the front display or expanded to display both. They are connected by a sliding liquid-metal hinge that Kyocera has patented. You can also have one screen folded up in a laptop-like configuration depending on what you are trying to accomplish. The phone is powered by a 1 GHz second-generation Snapdragon CPU running Android OS 2.2 (Froyo). Due the the amount of work they put into making the phone able to run core apps on each screen independently, the OS version is understandable.
The phone is not the most attractive device out there and is only available on 3G. However the software is fully baked and runs smoothly with both screens in action. Certain apps are available for simultaneous use on each screen. Currently third party apps only run in full screen mode. The Echo is a nice phone and will definitely have a place in the market, we will know more once review units are given out. Tell us what you think about the dual screen phone in the comment section below.
Hardware
- Dual 3.5 inch LCD WVGA (800 x 480 pixels) capacitive touchscreens (4.7 inches diagonally and 800 x 960 pixels when opened)
- Android 2.2 – Froyo
- 1 GHz Snapdragon QSD 8650
- 5 megapixel camera with flash
- Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
- Wi-Fi
- EVDO Rev. A
- 115.0 x 56.5 x 17.2mm
- 193 grams (6.8 oz.)
Hands-On
Source: Engadget, Laptop Magazine