Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Kyocera and Sprint Now Hyping a Dual-Screen Android Smartphone

Posted by Roblimo on from the my-phone-will-soon-be-smarter-than-I-am dept.

Sprint and Kyocera want you to believe that two screens are better than one, even on a pocket-sized phone. The new Android-powered Kyocera smartphone, the Echo, will feature two touchscreen surfaces in a hinged design. The article says: "The Echo’s highlights can be seen in the phone’s obvious multitasking potential. The phone can be operated like most other touchscreen smartphones in its single-screen mode, but in 'Simul-task mode' users can run separate apps on each screen — like, say, open a text on the upper screen while reading an email on the lower one."

8 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Nice design... by Microlith · · Score: 2

    I like the design, now if only it had a stronger processor (say Cortex-A9, which natively supports multiple displays) and a better mobile OS.

    Actually I'd prefer it if the thing was like the LG enV with two displays (one inside, one outside) and a physical keyboard. Having worked with both the Android and iPhone soft keyboards, I can say without a doubt that they piss me off to no end.

  2. a fresh idea for once by v1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    instead of copying the other 500 cell phones out there they actually have a good, original idea. Refreshing!

    I guess now that I look at it, one thing that IS irritating on my phone is having to switch between apps for brief times. Being able to have two apps open AND visible at the same time would be very useful. But it's just one of those limits we take for granted because until now there really hasn't been any good solution, and every phone has suffered from that same limitation.

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  3. I was physched.... by markass530 · · Score: 2

    then I found out the damn thing isn't 4G. I live in LA, and have clearwire, so I know how sweet the 4G CAN be, so I'm not just running after some marketing hype. Also sprint just expanded their $10 a month surcharge to include ALL Smart phones, so if I'm gonna pay that 10 bucks, it damn well is gonna be for a 4G phone.

    1. Re:I was physched.... by Miamicanes · · Score: 2

      I believe *all* new Sprint Android phone activations going forward have the $10 fee, 4G-capable or not.

      Believe it or not, the problem you're having on the bus probably has NOTHING to do with coverage. It appears that Clear's towers all assign their own dynamic IP addresses, and won't route traffic from other towers more than one hop away. The net result is that if you try using Sprint4G (which uses Clear's towers) in a moving vehicle, you're going to drop the connection every 1-3 miles. You can prove it to yourself with this little experiment:

      Find an area where you know beyond doubt that 4G coverage is rock-solid and two towers are both near the same major road, then walk from one tower to the next & keep an eye on the signal-strength bars. Starting near tower #1, disable 4G, then re-enable 4G to make sure you get an IP address from the tower next to you. Now, launch some task that constantly uses data, like Pandora, and start walking toward the next tower. You'll see the bars go from 3, to 2, to 1, back to 2, then *right* when you're close enough to spit on tower #2... your connection will drop. If you stop walking immediately, toggle 4G off and on (to force an immediate reconnect, instead of passively waiting ~5 minutes for it to reconnect on its own), it will scan for about a second and reconnect almost instantly with 3 bars. I've repeated this experiment multiple times in various locations around Fort Lauderdale, to the point where I'm now pretty much convinced that this behavior is by design and more or less as I've described it.

      Frankly, it pisses me off, because it means that Sprint 4G is basically useless in a moving vehicle -- car, train, or otherwise. Especially when you consider that most Android apps either crap out or crash when the phone forcibly switches between 4G, 3G, and wi-fi. I don't know whether Verizon's LTE exhibits the same behavior, but it really does make T-Mobile look a lot more attractive than Sprint.

      Oh, there's another catch with Sprint/Clear 4G, and this one will bite you if you use it at home in an area where most of the tower's OTHER users are transient. If their router notices that you're using more bandwidth than other individual users OF THAT SPECIFIC TOWER, your throughput will be *massively* throttled. Note that the statistics are *per tower*, and NOT "total network usage". That's what kills you. You're using that one specific tower, racking up bandwidth blackmarks all day... other users (shopping at the nearby mall) are only using it for an hour or two, so even if they're streaming YoutubeHD nonstop, they're unlikely to come anywhere near the bandwidth you're slowly racking up all day.

  4. I can live with it by PPH · · Score: 3, Funny

    You kids don't remember the days when porn came with a couple of creases across it and a staple in the Playmate's navel.

    Now stay off my lawn!

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  5. Stereo display? by Megahard · · Score: 2

    Just put the image for each eye on each screen. Might work well if the distance between the screen centers is close to the interpupillary distance.

    --
    I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
  6. And this will never see Gingerbread.... by BulletMagnet · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From the article:

    "....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".

    Just what I DON'T want in my next Android smartphone: a Gimmicky dual screen that required a ton of customization to the Base OS guaranteeing that it will never see another carrier-supported OS upgrade during it's lifespan.

    Hey Sprint, here's an idea to take back to the folks at HTC......

    Make the EVO 2.0 the love-child of a stock EVO, the EVO Shift (with a decent keyboard, not that POS they stuck on the Epic 4G) and toss in a dual core processor. I was really looking forward to the Shift only to find out it was a very nuetered unit. Don't me wrong, I love my EVO, I have just decided virtual keyboards aren't for me.

  7. Re:What people fail to mention... by the+linux+geek · · Score: 2

    The quick and easy version: Android "screens" are called Activities. Each is a distinct class. Only one can be in the foreground at any time. When you use the back button, the current activity's onDestroy() function is called, and the activity is deallocated. However, when you move from one activity to another at any point in the OS (whether you switch to another application, or if your own moves to a different "screen") the current activity is not destroyed, but instead paused. The default behavior is to keep running, but most applications override onPause() to pause everything in the UI to avoid confusing the hell out of users - for instance, going to Netflix's settings should not allow the movie to continue playing offscreen at the same time.