Kyocera Echo - the First Dual-Touchscreen Smartphone

Sprint Newsroom | Kyocera Echo, Exclusively from Sprint, Revolutionizes the Android Experience as the First Dual-Touchscreen Smartphone


NEW YORK (BUSINESS WIRE), February 07, 2011 - Sprint (NYSE: S) and Kyocera Communications Inc. today announced the first dual-touchscreen Android™ smartphone, Kyocera Echo™, exclusively from Sprint. This Android-powered device features two high-resolution 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen displays connected by a patent-pending “pivot hinge” that enables the two displays to operate independently, side-by-side or combined to form an oversized 4.7-inch (diagonally) integrated display.
Kyocera Echo(TM), exclusively from Sprint, shown in Simul-Task(TM) Mode (Photo: Business Wire)

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. 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.

Images and video of Kyocera Echo’s dynamic design in action are available now at www.echobykyocera.com. Pre-registration begins today at www.sprint.com/echo.
In its closed position, Kyocera Echo is a pocket-friendly, single-display smartphone. When opened, Kyocera Echo reveals a revolutionary new platform for wireless multitasking and gives customers a new level of versatility in Android. Its innovative hardware and optimized software enables consumers to use the touchscreens in four unique ways:

• Single-Screen Mode with all the functionality of a single-display, touch-screen smartphone.
• Simul-Task™ Mode with two of the phone’s seven core apps (messaging, e-mail, Web browsing, phone, gallery, contacts and VueQue™) running concurrently but independently on the dual displays – e.g., reading e-mail on one screen and opening a text message on the other; checking Facebook® via the browser on one screen while looking through a photo gallery on the other; or even searching the Web on one screen and checking email on the other.
• Optimized Mode with both displays supporting a single, optimized app with complementary functionality and enhanced usability – e.g., composing e-mail on one screen with a touchscreen keyboard on the other; watching a YouTube™ video on one display while browsing and queuing additional YouTube videos on the other (with a preloaded Kyocera app called VueQue™); or viewing gallery images on one display while browsing image thumbnails on the other.
• Tablet Mode with one application spread across both displays for a full 4.7-inch viewing area. Tablet Mode is ideal for viewing maps, videos, websites, detailed documents, and long lists on-the-go.

“Sprint is proud to boast the most powerful Android portfolio available today and Echo adds to that legacy with industry-leading technology that will change the way our customers use smartphones,” said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse. “Today’s busy schedules often demand that we do at least two things at once. 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.”

Kyocera Echo will be available this spring for $199.99 with a new two-year service agreement or eligible upgrade and after a $100 mail-in rebate in all Sprint retail channels, including the Web (www.sprint.com) and Telesales (1-800-Sprint1). Pricing excludes surcharges and taxes.

“For years Kyocera has provided handsets to Sprint’s Prepaid Group and MVNOs, as well as to Sprint under the Sanyo brand,” said Eiichi Toriyama, president of Kyocera Communications Inc. “We value greatly our relationship with Sprint and we are thrilled that they have chosen Echo as the standout product with which to reintroduce its customers to the Kyocera brand. With Kyocera Echo, we are proud to give Sprint an iconic, industry-changing device that delivers an entirely new experience for smartphone users.”

Kyocera Echo also includes customized apps optimized for the dual-screen Optimized Mode experience including VueQue™, which lets users watch a YouTube video on one display while browsing, queuing and buffering additional YouTube videos on the other display. Additional applications optimized for the dual-screen experience include:

• Messaging and e-mail: Users can turn the device horizontally and use the top display to view the e-mail/message application while using the lower display as a full-sized virtual keyboard.
• Browser: Takes the browser experience of a standard 3.5-inch smartphone and enhances it, allowing users to view two websites simultaneously.
• Gallery: Users can scroll through thumbnail images on one screen while viewing an enlarged image on the other.
• Contacts/phone: Users can view more of the phone’s contact directory or an expanded virtual dial pad.

Beyond the dual touchscreen innovation, Kyocera Echo operates on the Android 2.2 system and has access to more than 100,000 apps in Android Market™ – everything from Facebook to Angry Birds. Additional key features include:

• Sprint’s nationwide 3G network and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g)*
• Wi-Fi hotspot capability, which supports wireless connections for up to five devices
• 5-megapixel camera with flash, autofocus and digital zoom
• 720p HD camcorder to quickly capture those on-the-go memorable moments
• Corporate (Exchange ActiveSync®) and personal (POP & IMAP) e-mail, IM (Google Talk™), text messaging
• Media player with a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack
• Stereo Bluetooth® 2.1 (+ EDR)
• Full HTML Web browser with Google Search™
• 1GHz Snapdragon processor (QSD 8650 Android)
• 1 gigabyte (GB) of onboard memory and an 8GB microSD™ card for the external memory card slot supporting cards up to 32GB
• Voice and text prompts in both English and Spanish

Kyocera Echo comes packaged with a spare battery (1370 mAh) and a low-profile charging cradle. Along with charging the spare battery independently of the phone, the charging cradle also can tether the spare to Kyocera Echo as an external power supply.
Additional Google™ features include Google Maps™, Google Talk™, Gmail™, synchronization with Google Calendar™, and access to Google Goggles™ to search with pictures instead of words. With Sprint, Kyocera Echo users have access to Sprint Zone™, providing one-stop wireless account access, phone tips, news, a list of top apps plus TeleNav GPS Navigator, Sprint TV and Movies® and more.

A Software Development Kit (SDK) and developer guide for Kyocera Echo will be available before the launch on the Sprint Application Developer Program (ADP) website at http://developer.sprint.com/android. The developer guide will provide details on developing for a dual-screen handset and Android 2.2 device. It also will provide information on how to take advantage of Kyocera Echo’s unique hardware and software capabilities on the Sprint Network. The Sprint ADP has been providing tools for third-party developers since Sprint first launched the Wireless Web on its phones in 2001.

 

There's a reason the post icon I chose for the press release above is an "embarrassed" smiley. Sprint stated last month they were going to make a big announcement that would be the next revolution in smartphones...

And now we know it's the Kyocera Echo...

I'm sorry, but Kyocera? Yes, Sanyo and Kyocera are the same company now, but why was it Verizon stopped carrying Kyo's? Because they were junk and decades behind every other phone on the market. I made the mistake once of buying a Kyocrappa phone and ended up selling it. It was a piece of . Sorry for the censored language, but that's the nicest word I could find to compliment the phone...

Kyocera's are barely passable as low-end simple phones. Any phone of theirs with an aim higher than basic has never worked out. Only small prepaid carriers have carried Kyo phones. That's saying something.

My concern is whether this phone will work properly or not? With two screens, will it be able to handle the heavy use Android commands? Knowing Kyocera's track record, I doubt it.

I have nothing against Sprint, and this is, IMO, the most embarrassing phone announcement I've ever seen. Apparently I'm not the only one who feels the same way about Kyocera and this so-called "revolutionary" phone. See comments after the story in the link below:

Announcements: Sprint Announces First Dual-Touchscreen Smartphone, Kyocera Echo

See! It ain't just me: http://gizmodo.com/#!5754281/kyoceras-double+headed-echo-is-nothing-more-than-mutant