Sprint Nextel, Kyocera launch dual-touchscreen Echo smart phone

NEW YORK – Sprint Nextel Corp. and Kyocera Communications Inc. announced the Echo, a dual-screen smart phone running Google Inc.’s Android 2.2 operating system. The mobile phone is comprised of two 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen displays connected by a pivoting hinge. Both screens can operate independently of each other allowing users to multitask on a 4.7-inch diagonal display screen.
According to Sprint Nextel the Echo aims to redefine multitasking with what it calls “simultasking,” or “hypertasking,” – the ability to run two separate processes independently on a dual touchscreen.
Kicking off the event, Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse and Kyocera’s Junzo Katsuki took the stage, asking the crowd to imagine being able to double their productivity every day. That’s the idea behind the Echo and its simultasking capabilities on which users can e-mail on one screen while surfing Facebook on the other. Or read work e-mails on one screen while waiting for incoming text messages on the other.
When closed, the phone looks like a standard rectangular smart phone, but with a push of the thumb, the phone flips open to create the dual screen effect. Both screens can be kept flat and held horizontally or vertically, and users are also able to tilt one of the screens up to resemble a mini laptop.
Both screens display separately in 480 x 800 resolutions and together in 960 x 800. It also has a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera and records video in 720p. The Echo supports 3G and Wi-Fi, which means no WiMAX, but it is capable of acting as a mobile hotspot for up to five devices.