How many times have you been sitting there reading your e-mail and thinking to yourself, “Dang. I wish I could play Angry Birds right now. But I also need to check these e-mails. But.. but.. Angry Birds! If only I could do them both at the same time!”
Well, friend, Sprint and Kyocera have heard your cries (which is weird, because you were thinking them to yourself. Get out of our heads, Sprint.) Today at their event in New York City, the two companies unveiled their newest shiny cellular toy: the Kyocera Echo, a dual-screen Android 2.2 phone capable of running one app on each screen simultaneously*.
Expect the Echo to hit Sprint’s shelves sometime this spring for $189 on contract.
Here’s what we know so far:
- Dual 3.5″ Screens, each one running at 480×800
- Kyocera’s utilizing a titanium hinge they designed in house here; it can be used as a standard candy bar phone, or unfolded into a clamshell, DS-like handset.
- It’s packing a 1GHZ Snapdragon CPU
- Android 2.2
- No Sprint 4G here, folks. It’s 3G only.
Sadly, it’ll be a while after the device’s launch before your dreams of “simultasking” (as Sprint calls it) Angry Birds and E-mail can come true. While the device comes with a handful of custom-built apps that can make use of the dual screens independently of each other, third party apps will have to wait until Samsung/Kyocera release their SDK.