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BBC MUNDO RADIO
Sprint Nextel has launched a smartphone with two screens, one stacked on top of the other.
The Kyocera Echo, unveiled on Monday, has a top screen that slides out and can be snapped into place so that the two lay side by side, producing screen space that rivals a tablet computer. The phone is made by Japanese manufacturer Kyocera Corp and the screens are each the size of an iPhone's display. Put together, they create a larger space for typing emails, playing games and watching videos. The resulting display is still about half the size of an iPad's, but larger than those found on most phones.
Sprint Nextel has unveiled the Kyocera Echo smartphone with dual screens that can be laid side by side. Photo credit: Kyocera/CNET UK
The Echo runs Google's Android software. Adding an extra screen is Sprint's way of making the phone stand out from dozens of other Android smartphones.
For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see Sprint To Sell Dual-screen 'Echo' Smartphone on CBS News.
Kyocera's Junzo Katsuki and Sprint's Dan Hesse show off the new Echo smartphone at a New York event Monday night.
(Credit: Sarah Tew)Editor's note: This live event has concluded. You can replay our full coverage of the announcement--including the David Blaine magic show Sprint used to warm up the crowd--in the Cover It Live module at the bottom of this post. Or, for details on the new Echo device and hands-on photos, check out this summary post.
NEW YORK--Sprint Nextel will take the wraps off a new smartphone at an event here this evening.
Sprint's new Kyocera Echo smartphone, sporting two touch screens, is unveiled at a New York event Monday night.
The company has been tight-lipped about the announcement. But The Wall Street Journal today reported the new smartphone will be a dual-touch-screen device running the Android operating system. The phone, made by Kyocera, is reportedly called the Echo and has two 3.5-inch touch screens that can be opened up side by side.
CNET will be at the event here in Manhattan where the new device is to be revealed. I will be blogging the news live with commentary from CNET Reviews editors Bonnie Cha and Kent German and photos from CNET photographer Sarah Tew. The event starts at 3 p.m. PT. Sign up for a reminder to the live blog below:
print Unveils Two-Screen Phone
Kyocera Echo will run on Android, almost tablet-like
(Newser) – Keyboard, shmeboard. Sprint yesterday unveiled the eminently nifty Kyocera Echo, a smartphone that boasts a second touchscreen where other phones might have a physical keyboard. The screens can rest side-by-side—creating an effect that, the Wall Street Journal observes, is reminiscent of a tablet—or one can tuck under the other, turning the Echo into a traditional big-screen smartphone.
Users will be able to drag applications from one screen to the other, or stretch them across both displays. “Extreme multitasking is magical,” Sprint’s CEO promised at the unveiling—and, as if to underscore that point, David Blaine was on hand to perform. Sprint needs the phone to live up to the hype, because the Evo and Epic are already starting to seem old, one telecom analyst says. “Having a new halo device will be critical for them.”
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Yesterday, Kyocera officially announced the upcoming Kyocera Echo -- the first dual-touchscreen smartphone – which is coming to Sprint this spring.
"Until now, a single screen on a smartphone could only be used to complete one task at a time, even with limited multitasking capabilities available on some smartphones," the companies wrote in a press release. "Kyocera Echo’s second screen provides the ability to do two things at the same time and get more done – send an email on one screen while surfing the web on the other, watch a video on one screen while texting on the other, comparison shop online with one web site on each screen and so much more."
The Android-based device features two 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreens connected by a pivot hinge which allows the screens to function independently from one another in Simul-task Mode, side by side in Optimized Mode, or as a single, oversized 4.7-inch display in Tablet Mode.
“Today’s busy schedules often demand that we do at least two things at once," Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said in the press release. "Kyocera Echo is the first device that allows us to do a different task on each of two screens while also providing a tablet-like, larger screen experience that easily fits in a pocket when closed.”
Here are the Echo's pertinent specs:
- 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
- 1GHz 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.)
In a hands-on with the device, the folks over at BGR "were completely shocked — literally speechless with all smiles." When being nitpicky, they said the device was slightly too thick and too square for their tastes. Still, "Using the Echo blew [their] minds. ... The ability to run full apps simultaneous in Simul-task mode, changes the way you multitask."
"It changes the way we think about a smartphone in a lot of areas, and even from our limited time with the phone, we can totally see it changing the direction of a mobile device’s utility," BGR concluded. However, they noted that it would only further Android's fragmentation and weren't sure who the device would be marketed to.
Exact availability has not yet been announced, but a spring launch is assured. The Echo will run $199.99 after mail-in rebate with a qualifying two-year contract. And though it is not compatible with Sprint's 4G WiMAX network, it will require Sprint's $10 Premium Data add-on for smartphones.
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