Is the Echo for everyone? Certainly not. But then again, neither is the expansive Thunderbolt, the larger-than-life Streak or the close-minded iPhone 4. What the Echo delivers is an entirely new approach to Android, and somehow, Kyocera has managed to add a second screen to the experience without flubbing the execution. The phone was as zippy as any Android phone in recent memory, and we never once felt that it was struggling to calculate for double the displays. The screens themselves were sharp and lovely to peer at, and thanks to the Tablet Mode Extension app, even everyday titles like TweetDeck and Facebook were given new life. If and when developers begin to embrace Kyocera's dual-screen SDK, we could see a whole host of applications that make this layout even more appealing, but thankfully, shoehorned programs make great use of the extra real estate as-is.
On the downside, there's no WiMAX support, and the battery life leaves quite a bit to be desired. We're also troubled by the fact that Sprint TV and Football Live cannot be used over WiFi, and the seven Simul-Task apps -- while appreciated -- just aren't numerous and robust enough to truly praise. We're guessing that the Echo is just the first of many twin-screen phones that we'll see over the next dozen months or so, and there's no question that this is a tremendous first effort. It's certainly not the phone to recommend for speed-craving power users, but we're guessing that quite a few average consumers will find it easy to overlook the negatives when peering at an otherwise astounding 960 x 800 slate of pixels.
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