Sprint Echo Announced: First Dual Touchscreen Smartphone Available in Spring

Sprint announced the release of the Kyocera Echo yesterday. It is a phone that revolutionizes the Android Experience as the First Dual-Touchscreen Smartphone. The Sprint Echo’s two screens are connected by a pivot hinge which allows users to complete two tasks at once. The two displays can operate independently, side-by-side or combined to form an oversized 4.7-inch display.

The Sprint Echo will be available this spring for about $200 after rebate.

In a press release yesterday, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said, “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. 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.”

Beyond the dual touchscreen innovation, Kyocera Echo operates on the Android 2.2 system and has access to all t he Android apps. Other features include:

• Sprint’s nationwide 3G network and Wi-Fi
• 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 and personal e-mail, IM, text messaging
• Media player with a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack
• Stereo Bluetooth
• 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