By 
Last month, we brought news about Sprint’s dual-screen Kyocera Echo smart phone from their event in New York. Although the press conference revealed plenty of information regarding the hardware specifications which runs on Android, pricing and availability details were conveniently left out.
According to the press release Sprint issued earlier today, the Kyocera Echo will hit retail stores and will be available online beginning April 17th, 2010. Those looking to buy will have to shell out $199 after signing a new two-year service agreement. Customers can also reserve a device on March 26th.
“Continuing to set the bar high in Android innovation, Sprint is thrilled to bring this industry-first device to the market,” said Fared Adib, vice president Product, Sprint.
For those not familiar with the Echo, I suggest reading our original article about the features it packs. However for a quick run down, it packs two 3.5 inch touch screens 3.5 inch touch for running two apps side-by-side. Although it does not feature the latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, it runs the next best thing: 2.2 Froyo. Standard goodies include a WiFi, mobile hotspot, 5 megapixel camera, HD video recording, and Bluetooth. The Echo lacks a dual-core processor, but it still has 1 GB of memory and it comes with a 8 GB microSD card with support for 32 GB.
With the Windows Phone 7 powered HTC Arrive heading down the pipeline and rumors regarding the EVO 2, it is hard to tell whether customers will opt for a somewhat far-fetched design. Our hands-on experience from Sprint’s Industry First event last month left us feeling as though the device was unattractive, bulky, and awkward looking.
While companies such as HTC have had a great record pushing out updates for Android, we do not know much about Kyocera. In fact, this is one of their first main stream Android devices which adds further concern. Would you consider buying an Echo smart phone? Let us know your thoughts below!
Links: Sprint – Kyocera Echo
