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Sprint introduces dual-screen Echo smartphone
by Anter Prakash Singh - February 8, 2011 - comments
Sprint’s vice president for product development, Fared Adib, said that ‘Echo’ has been designed for the majority of users who like to use two applications at a time.
Sprint Nextel Corp. will be selling a dual-screen phone called ‘Echo’ made by Kyocera Corp., the wireless carrier has confirmed.
Sprint, America’s third largest service provider, is offering the Android phone at price of $199.99 to customers who sign a two year contract with it.
Sprint aims to target those customers who are interested in using multiple applications at the same time.
Echo: dual-screen smartphone
The smartphone was unveiled at a well attended event where magician David Blain also performed.
The announcement was made a few days before Verizon started selling of Apple’s iPhone.
‘Echo’ is seen as a leap forward by Kyocera which till now has only introduced basic devices in the market.
Along with the Google’s Android software, the Echo will be featuring two screens which will allow users to browse the internet and watch favorite videos at the same time.
The two screens can also work in tandem to double the screen size. So while reading e-mails, one screen can show the text of the selected mail and the other screen can show the inbox.
The dual-screen could be a drain on the battery of the phone. To solve this problem, Sprint is going to offer a spare battery at the price of $50 along with the phone so that the users can use it when running low on power.
Sprint’s vice president for product development, Fared Adib, said that ‘Echo’ has been designed for the majority of users who like to use two applications at a time.
“I actually think it’s going to be a huge market. You’re going to start to see these things become more prevalent.”
Some disadvantages
The dual-screen could be a drain on the battery of the phone. To solve this problem, Sprint is going to offer a spare battery at the price of $50 along with the phone so that the users can use it when running low on power.
With the spare battery, Echo will need to be charged after a day, like most of the other smart phones.
The other disadvantage is that the phone will be using Sprint’s slower CDMA network instead of the high speed WiMax network.
Adib said the company will also work to to launch dual screen phones with WiMax network. “I wouldn’t count out one for WiMax” he said.
Kyocera has that the company will be introducing other models too. The global sales executive for Kyocera, Atsushi Kodera, said that at least one more dual screen model will be introduced shortly.