My Cellphone My Terms

Kyocera Echo – What’s to come

Thought we have seen it all. The Kyocera Echo phone, manufactured by Japanese Company Kyocera Corp. has not one but two 3.5-inch, 800-by-480 LCD displays that will allow you to multitask at the touch of a finger. Sure sounds like a cross between a smartphone and a mini -tablet ,nevertheless, read on to see if really it lives up to either of these devices or if two screens is better than one.

4 Modes to choose

The unique dual display design of the Echo  allows you to manipulate the phone into four modes: Standard, Tablet, Optimized, Simultask; whereby you can have two separate screens (each about the size of the screen on an iPhone) running two separate applications on each screen if you wish. Also, you can combine both screens into a single, 4.7-inch Tablet like panel (combined display offered by both screens is around half the size of an iPad) or simply slide the phone closed for a standard single-display view.

Spec Sheet

Aside from the dual-screens, the Echo is comparable in spec to a number of other smartphones that have been on the market since the middle of last year. See list below of what’s onboard.

• 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor;
• a single 5-megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording;
• 1 GB of internal memory, 8 GB expandable by up to 32 GB through a built-in SD slot
• Comes with stereo Bluetooth, GPS, a digital compass/accelerometer combo

The Echo is futuristic in it design but definitely lacking in areas that really  question its performance  and versatility.

• Quite bulky , 0.68 inches thick and 6.8 ozs in weight
• Battery life is a real concern as running two applications on two screens will drain the best of batteries. Estimated talk time is 5 ½ hours.
• No front facing camera for video chat
• Single powered processor
• Android Froyo (v 2.2)  preloaded vs Gingerbread (v 2.3)

Final Say!

All in all, this pioneering design is the first of its kind but surely not the last. This intriguing concept of dual screens working together , separate or as one,  is sure to spur a lot of imitators. The two factors that concern me the most, is one, it does not have a dual processor and two, the battery life is wanting, despite having a spare battery slated to be shipped with the phone, robbing the real power this device needs to work the way it was designed.

Let’s see what kind of ricochet effect this phone will have on the market. It’s priced on Sprint in the US at $199 on a 2 year contract making it attractive and affordable to anyone looking for a smartphone. No news on whether it will be available in Canada but one thing is sure myCELLmyTERMS.com will get you best deal once it arrives.