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Kyocera Echo: a dual-screen Android gaming phone with two launch games
Nintendo may not be making a smartphone, but if it did, it might look a bit like the Kyocera Echo. Coming to Sprint later this year, it's being touted as the world's first "dual-touchscreen smartphone." At a preview event today, we got to see the phone running The Sims 3, optimized to take advantage of both screens. Unsurprisingly, it looked a lot like the DS version, albeit with higher-resolution graphics. The phone is set to launch with one other game, although a Sprint representative wouldn't reveal what it was. Running on a custom Kyocera-skinned version of Android 2.2, the Echo augments the growing "fragmentation" problem that Google's mobile OS faces. Games must use Sprint's SDK to take advantage of both of the screens offered by the Echo. But, how many developers will flock to create games for a single device available on a single carrier? We're going to guess: not many. At least the phone will be able to play other Android games -- maybe even PlayStation Suite games, if the specs are up to snuff.%Gallery-115899%
Andrew Yoon02.07.2011
Sprint's Kyocera Echo dual-screen Android phone announced, we go hands-on (update)
Sprint promised us an "industry first" at its event today, and it certainly delivered: check out the Kyocera Echo, the first dual-screen Android phone. That's right, dual-screen -- that's two 3.5-inch 480 x 800 displays which can be unfolded and used as a single 4.7-inch 960 x 800 surface. The screens are connected by a slick sliding liquid-metal hinge that Kyocera's filed several patents on -- the phone can be closed and used like a regular single-screen phone, unfolded all the way, or propped up into the faux-laptop configuration shown above. Under the hood there's a 1GHz second-gen Snapdragon running Android 2.2 -- we'll forgive the older software because Kyocera had to do extensive customization to add dual-screen support to seven core apps like the browser, email, and messaging. The seven optimized apps can be run on each screen individually so you can have the browser up top and email below, and several of them include useful full-dual-screen views as well. There's also a new dual-screen app manager, which is brought up by tapping the two screens simultaneously. Unfortunately, third party apps can't be run in any of the new modes and just fill the entire display for now -- Kyocera and Sprint say an SDK is coming shortly. Interestingly, the Echo doesn't really run the optimized apps simultaneously when you have two of them open -- it quickly switches them in and out of hibernation, even though they're both displayed on screen. That means you can't do things like watch a video while writing an email, for example -- it's an odd limitation, but it seems like it'll only be an issue in limited circumstances. As for battery life, Kyocera and Sprint aren't giving definite numbers, but we were told things would last about a day with heavy use of both screens -- and the Echo is being sold in a bundle with a second battery in an external charging case, so you should have plenty of juice on the go. Downsides? Well, it's not the most attractive phone we've ever seen, and we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that there's just a lone rear-facing 5 megapixel camera with 720p video capture and that the Echo is 3G-only -- there's no WiMAX, which is a bit odd for a Sprint halo device. Still, it's definitely one of the most intriguing Android handsets we've ever seen, and at $199 (after a $100 rebate) when it launches sometime in the coming months, it's bound to pique some serious interest. Check a short hands-on video after the break. Update: So the simultaneous apps thing appears to somewhat complex -- we weren't able to run a video and email when we played with the phone during our briefing, but Sprint's Fared Adib was able to do it when we ran into him during the launch event. We'll post that video soon -- and of course we'll dig deep into this when we get a review unit. One more thing we noticed: none of the devices we saw in action had pinch-to-zoom enabled anywhere, which is obviously very strange. We were told that the software is still early, so we'll have to see if it makes it into shipping product. Update 2: It's attack of the press materials! New images, video, and release can be found below! %Gallery-115874% %Gallery-115891%
Nilay Patel02.07.2011
Kyocera Echo leaks on Sprint's site
We still don't know whether this'll be the "industry first" shown off at Sprint's event later today, but in light of the WSJ's information, we certainly wouldn't be surprised. A quick check of Sprint's site currently shows a hit for the Kyocera Echo, described as "the first dual-touchscreen smartphone" that offers a "pivot hinge" design with a maximum of 4.7 inches of combined screen real estate while still being "pocket-friendly." No other details are offered -- and the link to the Echo product page is dead right now -- but it's an interesting tidbit nonetheless. [Thanks, Leighton and Dave G.]
Chris Ziegler02.07.2011
Lego bot built to test Kno's tablet textbook, human overlords watch gleefully (video)
Just because the first few tablet textbooks have shipped doesn't mean that members of Kno's development team are resting on their laurels. Product testing on the Kno tablet continues -- and it looks like Lego is doing the heavy lifting. They've put our favorite plastic building blocks to work by constructing a Kno stress tester out of Lego Technic parts. The robot checks both the Kno's ambient light sensor and the ability of its touchscreen to accurately track the system's pen swipes and flicks. Though not as intricate as a Lego replica of a 2000+ year old mechanical computer, the robot -- with its hypnotic pendulum-like motion -- is still a sight to behold. Check the video after the break.
Michael Gorman02.02.2011
Green House reveals its first 15.6-inch USB monitor, lives large on small charge
Just when MMT's 15.4-inch Monitor2Go was getting excited about its big USB display on campus title, Greenhouse Japan has strutted in and ruined the party with its 15.6-inch GH-USD16K USB secondary monitor. True, a resolution of 1366 x 768 won't give the screen bragging rights over Apple's 27-inch Cinema Display, but it should suffice for those on the move in desperate need of some quick dual-screen action. Especially since the accessory weighs less than 3 pounds, produces 18bit color depth and has a brightness of 220 nits while sipping just 5 watts of Serial Bus power. Speaking of dual-action, the monitor can also be set to clone or extend the connected computer's screen depending on user preference. Look for it to start shipping early next month to Japan for an estimated price of $214, glancing over its shoulder until an inevitable 15.8-inch newbie lopes onto the block.
Ben Bowers01.14.2011
NEC dual-screen Android Cloud Communicator LT-W hands-on
At CES, NEC's showing off the hinged Android tablet it teased last month, pitching it as a great way for third parties to... well, do awesome stuff. They're kind of leaving the doors wide open as to how (or to whom) it'll be sold, suggesting it could make a great e-reader, a digital notebook for students, a scrapbook, or whatever devs dream up. The "Cloud" part of the "Cloud Communicator" name means that NEC thinks the LT-W would be great for generic cloud services, but really, it's just an Android 2.1 tablet with WiFi, Bluetooth, and optional 3G -- there's nothing special in here that makes it particularly well-adapted for magically pulling data out of the cloud. Unfortunately -- cloud or otherwise -- we didn't come away with a very positive impression of this thing. Our very first red flag was the stylus, which matches up with a pair of 800 x 600 resistive touchscreens that don't seem particularly bright or contrasty. Some of NEC's sample apps (which you can see in the video after the break) make decent use of the dual display setup, but nothing blew us away -- and more importantly, everything seemed just a little too jerky for a Cortex-A8 core. If NEC were to remix this with a Tegra 2, two capacitive touchscreens, and Honeycomb, we might be singing a different tune... but for now, this seems like little more than a Courier gone wrong. %Gallery-112919%
Chris Ziegler01.06.2011
NEC gets official with dual-screen 7-inch LT-W Cloud Communicator
Is it an e-reader? A two-faced tablet? Something else entirely. Hard to say for sure, but just as it promised, NEC has furnished a boatload of details surrounding its heretofore mysterious LT-W Cloud Communicator. This dual-screen Android 2.1 device shares a pair of 7-inch resistive touchpanels, both of which have a non-glare (huzzah!) panel and an SVGA (800 x 600) resolution. Under the hood, we're looking at an ARM Cortex A8 processor, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, a three megapixel camera, optional 3G, SDHC card slot, a single USB 2.0 connector, an ear-ratting monaural speaker and a bundled stylus pen. There's also an internal accelerometer, GPS sensor and a battery that's good for up to five hours in ideal conditions. It seems as if NEC is aiming this at folks looking for a more sophisticated e-reading device rather than those looking for a quirky alternative to the cadre of slates already on the market, but there's no word yet on a US price and release date. Needless to say, we'll be digging for both here on the show floor. One more look is after the break.
Darren Murph01.05.2011
Kno tablets start shipping this week: quick, make desk space!
Did you happen to pre-order a single- or dual-screen 14.1-inch Kno tablet textbook? Alright, we're assuming that schools and wealthy students were the only ones that actually did, but regardless, the monster-sized tablets are starting to ship out this week. According to the press release after the break, both the single- and dual-display versions are being boxed up and will be sent out to those early pre-orderers over the next couple of weeks. However, if you were hoping that this would mark the launch of the general availability of the enlarged tablets, that's just not the case yet -- you still have to receive an "invitation" and complete a "request for purchase" form on its website. That means even we'll be waiting longer to get one of these our hands, but if you're one of the lucky ones to receive one of these bad boys this week, let us what you think of it in the comments!
Joanna Stern12.20.2010
NEC teases dual-screen Cloud Communicator Android tablet, promises more at CES
Believe it or not, the crew at Engadget HQ will be packing up and headed to CES 2011 a fortnight from today, and it looks as if quite a few undercover products from NEC will be making the same trip. The company has just revealed that its single-screen Cloud Communicator tablet will be on display, but moreover, a dual-screen version will be making it awfully tough for the former to get any attention whatsoever. Now, dual-screen devices aren't exactly new, but an Android tablet with a pair of 7-inch LCDs is definitely more inciting than Kno's education-minded megabook and the two-faced e-readers that swarmed CES 2010. Details on the hardware are few and far betwixt, with NEC only revealing that both panels will be touch-enabled, WiFi, 3G and Bluetooth modules will be baked in and that a stylus will be included for good measure. Also, it'll fully support the use of different programs on each LCD, which -- if executed properly -- could melt our faces into the desert sand below. Sadly, our prying for images got us nowhere, but we're assured to see more at next month's extravaganza. Hang tight.
Darren Murph12.20.2010
Acer Iconia priced at €1,499, on sale in Spain on January 28
Physical keyboards are old news, right? They will be come January 28, which is when Acer intends to make its dual-screen Iconia laptop available for public consumption. That's the date we've received from the company's official Spanish mouthpiece, accompanied by a lofty €1,499 ($1,987). Literal currency translations are as usual inadvisable, but that's a hefty fee, however you want to think about it. Then again, the Iconia does come with two 14-inch multitouch LCDs, which last we checked weren't the cheapest parts in the land, and also furnishes you with some decent grunt under the hood courtesy of a Core i5 CPU, up to 4GB of RAM, up to 750GB of storage, an optional 3G module, and -- lest we forget -- a USB 3.0 port. We're sure it'll end up as somebody's perfect bowl of porridge.
Vlad Savov12.10.2010
Kno knows its way around the FCC, both single and dual screen
Wouldn't you Kno it -- sorry, we couldn't resist -- the Kno has found its way into the confines of FCC's labyrinthine headquarters. But not just one version, no sir / ma'am, the FCC tested both the single screen and dual screen versions together, it seems. External photos of the pair (or is it triplet?) can be found within the same entry, and while the user manual is also included, there's nothing to glean from it. Feel free to enjoy the iconic photography all the same! %Gallery-110274%
Ross Miller12.09.2010
Acer Iconia first hands-on! (update: video!)
Acer's dual-screen Iconia laptop is bold, for sure -- eschewing a physical keyboard for another display -- but its LCD panels are also mighty glossy. If you've got a light in the vicinity above you, there's gonna be glare -- we saw it on stage, and we just saw it now in person. That said, the screen is clear and the touch functionality is pretty clever (five fingers open up a widget where you can scroll through other touch-friendly apps). The keyboard, on the other hand, is pretty hard to use -- even the rep admitted there's a learning curve. You can't rest your fingers down without hitting something, of course. We managed to browse to Engadget, but it took several tries. Check out the photos below! Update: Now with video! It's after the break. %Gallery-108107%
Ross Miller11.23.2010
Mintpass planning a dual-screen, dual boot tablet for 2011
Mintpass, the Korean firm known for its Mintpad tablet (as well as a few baubles, including a flashlight that looks curiously like a chapstick tube and the Cube MP3 player), has recently announced that it will soon be releasing a dual-touchscreen, dual OS device. We don't have too many details yet, but we do know that it's, um, slated to ship with Windows 7 and Android, as well as Android Market access and some sort of feature called "Space Touch" (which we have no details about but sounds pretty awesome nonetheless). Like the Toshiba Libretto W100, this will be able to either operate as two independent displays or, when folded up like a laptop, feature the keyboard on one display with your apps on the other. The company is currently looking for a manufacturer and plans on launching the thing sometime next year.
Joseph L. Flatley11.08.2010
Fujitsu dual-touchscreen concept phone hands-on
Back at Mobile World Congress in February, the mobile UI gurus at TAT showed off their interpretation of a dual-screen phone interface using TI's powerhouse OMAP4 testbed. Seemed a little pie-in-the-sky at the time, but frankly, the concept device being shown off by Fujtisu at CEATEC this week -- created with TAT's involvement, it turns out -- seems virtually ready for production. Or the hardware did, anyway; the software was spartan by comparison, obviously designed to call out a few key use cases where having two giant, glorious 960 x 480 displays right next to each other might come in handy. We were shown browser and email list scrolling across both displays -- boring, if not obvious -- but what really piqued our interest was a cool photo sharing feature whereby you fling photos you want to share from a gallery on the bottom display to a list of contacts on the top one -- very TAT, if we do say so ourselves. Both displays can be rotated between portrait and landscape, creating either a nicely-sized clamshell or a gigantic flip, not an uncommon shape among Japanese phones. Indeed, given the form factor, the entirely-Japanese interface, and Fujitsu's history, we're sure this was designed entirely with the Japanese domestic market in mind -- and we wouldn't be at all surprised to see it show up in a retail capacity there within a year or so. Follow the break for video. %Gallery-104244%
Chris Ziegler10.05.2010
Kno announces single-screen tablet textbook, plans to ship alongside dual-screen by end of 2010
Looks like Kno, whose dual-screen tablet textbook turned heads at D8 this year, is taking a cue from King Solomon himself. The company has announced a single-screen tablet textbook -- apparently the "world's first," if you don't consider the plethora of other tablets as educational in any way. Both devices are apparently on track for a late 2010 release, thanks in no small part, we suspect, to new funding. From the press pics, it really looks to be just one-half the original product: a single 14.1-inch capacitive IPS display with presumably 1440 x 900 resolution. Kno's taken some pride in its two-screen design, so why introduce a more standard form factor? Looks like price might be the big motivator; it's something CEO Osman Rashid seems to at least tacitly acknowledge: "Even though the Kno pays for itself in 13 months, the smaller up front investment of the single screen version will allow more students to use our learning platform." That said, we still don't know the price of either product. Last we heard, the double-display model would be priced at "under $1,000," but there's no indication as to how far under that might be. We'll keep investigating; in the meantime, don't throw away your army of highlighters just yet. Press release after the break.
Ross Miller09.27.2010
Acer's dualscreen laptop leaks out with Core i5 CPU?
We knew dualscreen laptops were the future after our Toshiba Libretto review, but unfortunately for Toshiba theirs was a future attempted too soon. Acer, however, is apparently testing a rig that might be powerful enough to do the trick -- pictures bequeathed to Tech Review Source purportedly show a 2.67GHz Intel Core i5 processor (likely a Core i5-580M) with dual fifteen-inch multitouch screens, making both the Libretto and MSI's 7-incher look positively dated by comparison. Sadly, the publication's source says this device is "still slow and buggy," so retail availability is probably a long while off, but now you can tell your friends you too saw the future and it looked reasonably good. Peep a couple more shots of the laptop at our source link while you wait for a frameless version to pop out.
Sean Hollister09.11.2010
Kno receives new funding for its humongous dual-screened tablet, still hoping to ship this year
If you need a tablet with presence you need the Kno. Its dual capacitive 14-inch IPS displays, each clocking in at 1,440 x 990, make this thing closer to a Surface than a Courier and surely present some unique challenges when it comes to pricing. Kno, the company, plans to sell it by the end of the year for an MSRP of under $1,000, and a new $46 million injection in financing should go a long way toward making that happen. Kno's primary market is education, offering partnerships with various textbook publishers and functionality that's focused more on research and less on quelling the rage of disgruntled birds. But, will the college kids want to make room in their organic hemp messenger bags for this monster? And, will their parents pay a grand for the thing?
Tim Stevens09.10.2010
Toshiba's dual-screen Libretto W100 laptop on sale in America for $1,100
Terrific news, laptop shoppers. Toshiba's concept-turned-commercial Libretto W100 is now on sale in the US of A, but there's no telling how long it'll remain in stock. We heard from the get-go that this dual-screen wonder would only be a limited run, and just a week after going on sale in Japan, the W105-L251 is getting prepped right now for a shipping label with your address on it. $1,099.99 buys you a Pentium U5400 processor, Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit), integrated Intel HD graphics, a memory card reader, 2GB of DDR3 memory, a 62GB solid state drive, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, an inbuilt webcam and an 8-cell battery. Oh, and twin 7-inch WSVGA LCD panels. Toshiba reckons that you'll get yours in "2 to 3 weeks" if you order direct, though Amazon has a pre-sale of its own going for those who like to press their luck. %Gallery-99541%
Darren Murph08.16.2010
Toshiba's dual-screen Libretto W100 hits Japan next week
It's no Courier, but Toshiba's dual-screened Libretto W100 is about as good as we're going to get and, if you're in Japan, the getting is about to get good. The key-free lappy is due to start shipping there on August 11, which means you're just a few days (and, possibly, a few very long flights) away from getting your fingerprints all over one. If, however, you're not so much into the importing scene, you're going to have to wait a bit longer for this $1,100 curiosity to hit US shores through normal retail channels. How much longer? Toshiba promised a summer release, and let's just say that the days aren't getting any longer.
Tim Stevens08.06.2010
Sony Ericsson concept phone is as clever as it is unreal
Looking for some innovation to go with your porridge this morning? How about this fan-made flip phone concept that pivots vertically and horizontally? You can use it as a standard old clamshell, with the lower of the two displays acting as your number pad, or you can rotate it down to pair the screens into one snazzy widescreen panel. That's all there really is to it, but it seems like such an ingenious idea to us -- maintaining the slimline dimensions that some think are crucial to phones, while offering the generous screen size that we all want. Hit the source link to see more of this "Sony Ericsson" FH concept.
Vlad Savov08.06.2010