Most of us have heard about the Kyocera Echo M9300 smartphone Sprint is going to be releasing sometime this year, although nobody is sure of the date just yet. We can look here on the Sprint site and see all the details and price of $199.99 after MIR (mail-in rebate) with a new 2-year contract though. Sources suggest the official launch date shouldn’t be too far away from now since it’s being heavily advertised on Sprint’s web site and now approved by the FCC.

This device is the first dual-touchscreen smartphone Sprint has. That’s the exciting part! Kyocera Echo’s patent-pending “pivot hinge” design enables a compact pocket-friendly single-screen position when closed, and exposes two adjacent 3.5- inch high-resolution touchscreens when opened. The device has customized apps that are optimized for the dual-screen experience and offers four modes of interaction:

· Single-Screen Mode with all the functionality of a single-display touchscreen smartphone
· Simul-Task Mode with two of the phone’s seven core apps running concurrently but independently on the device’s dual displays
· Optimized Mode with both displays supporting a single, optimized app with complementary functionality and enhanced usability
· Tablet Mode with one application spread across both screens for a full 4.7-inch viewing area

Specifications:

· 5MP camera with flash, autofocus and 2x digital zoom and 720p HD camcorder
· High-quality video streaming and downloads at 3G speeds
· Media player with 3.5mm stereo headset jack
· Stereo Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
· Digital compass, accelerometer, proximity sensor, light sensor, GPS
· Expandable memory: 8GB microSD card included; supports cards up to 32GB
· 1GHz Snapdragon processor (QSD 8650 Android)
· Dimensions: 115.0 x 56.5 x 17.2mm, Weight: 193g (6.8 oz.)
· Main display: Dual 3.5-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreens (800 x 480 pixels or
800 x 960 pixels when opened)
· Removable 1370mAh battery; includes spare battery (1370 mAh) with portable charger that can also tether to the phone as an external power supply
· Memory: 1GB/512MB; 8GB microSD included

Have you heard about this one yet? Sure you have right? Let us know what you think now that it’s officially been approved in the comments boxes below.

Source: Engadget & Phonearena

I know we’re a little behind the ball on this one since it was announced on Monday, but better late than never right? The Kyocera Echo is the first dual-touchscreen Android phone on the Market. This phone will be available in Spring 2011 and will run Android 2.2 (Froyo) with a 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Why no Gingerbread though? It has two 3.5″ WVGA screens. Its 4.53″ long, 2.23″ wide, and 0.68″ thick. There’s also no front-facing camera, only a rear-facing 5MP camera. It will also come with an 8Gb microSD card, expandable up to 32Gb.

Depending on that hinge’s angle, those screens can perform multiple functions. Slide one over the other, the Echo looks and feels like a somewhat thicker single-screen smartphone. Slid flat and side-by-side, the smartphone offers a 4.7-inch screen (broken by the hinge) for displaying movies and other media (each screen offers 800×480 resolution). One screen tilted at an angle to the other allows for typing on a virtual keyboard, on one screen, while viewing, say, e-mail or Facebook on the other.

It appears that the price point will be $199 on a two-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate.

There’s quite a few new designs hitting the market soon, which one will come out on top? Would you prefer this dual-screen phone, or the Webtop dock for the Motorola Atrix 4G coming to At&t?

Information:
Sprint
Kyocera