Kyocera Echo review

It’s not exactly difficult to put into words what the Kyocera Echo is — it’s a dual-screened Android phone, after all — but it’s a wee bit more challenging to wrap your head around who exactly it’s for. The hardcore gaming contingent already has Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play, and those obsessed with screen real estate have options spanning the gamut — everything from Dell’s 5-inch Streak to a veritable cornucopia of choices in the 4- to 4.3-inch range. So, where exactly does this oddball fit in? Quite frankly, we get the impression that it’s doing its darnedest to carve out a market of its own, a thought that’s reinforced by Kyocera’s dedicated app development space and two-faced Simul-Task mode. Early critics (read: us) railed on the fact that double the screens meant double the trouble in terms of battery life, and there’s no question that a second cell was included with our test unit. But are the advantages of having a second 3.5-inch WVGA touchpanel enough to overshadow the obvious pitfalls? Join us as we do a little soul-searching in our full review, hosted up just past the break.

Design

There’s no arguing that Sprint has a soft spot for Sanyo / Kyocera. In the carrier’s eyes, Sanyo-built phones have shown to be both durable and reliable in the utterly unpredictable hands of end-users, and fewer RMAs mean fewer FOFs in Overland Park. During a sit-down with the operator, we were told that the Echo is a project that has been in motion for over a year now, and that oodles of pivoting mechanisms were tested before the (now patent-pending) tilting / locking hinge was settled upon. Naturally, we spent a lot of time opening and closing this thing just to get a feel for its sturdiness, and while a week in the city is hardly a year in the R&D lab, we’re just as confident in its ability to open / close now as the day we first touched it.

It’s also impossible to ignore the Echo’s girth. Without qualification, this is one of the thicker modern-day smartphones on the market, but it’s easy to excuse when you realize that you’re effectively getting two phones in one. From a display standpoint, anyway. We said it back in February, and we’ll say it again — the Echo’s no looker, but what it lacks in aesthetics it more than makes up for in raw utility. If you’re looking for a phone that oozes style, there’s hardly a need to give this guy even a second of consideration, but if you’re willing to overlook a somewhat unsightly exterior for one of the most unique phone experiences on the market, we think you’ll find a lot to like underneath.

While feeling solid (as a rock, even), the Echo wasn’t burdensome from a weight standpoint. In fact, we found that it slipped into our pockets even easier than most other phones due to how skinny it was from a width perspective. The volume rocker and microSD card slots were both positioned perfectly, and thoughtful packers will be elated to know that no proprietary charging cable is needed — micro-USB does the trick. The pair of panels are decidedly glossy, but equally crisp and bright in use. We didn’t manage a single scuff or scratch during our testing, despite a barrage of unadvised attempts.

The hinge

Oh, sure – technically the patent-pending hinge is a part of the design, but given that it’s what makes this phone, we couldn’t resist the urge to break it out. For starters, you’re probably wondering how exactly it works. That’s best shown in the video just below, but the gist of it is this: A simple thumb push from left to right (one-handed) is enough to slide the top panel back, and a continued thrust will flatten ‘em out beside one another. From there, a simple shove closes the gap in the middle, locking it into “tablet mode.” If you’d rather mimic a laptop, you can raise the top panel up a notch, though we didn’t find much use for this situation.The hinge itself is a rather simple affair, only having a lock / unlock setting, a lie-flat setting, and a single tilt setting (for use in the aforementioned laptop mode). Once locked into place, the phone practically demands both hands to use, but at least multitouch is in full effect and works shockingly well with one finger on one screen and one on the other. It’s quick to open, easy to adjust, and difficult to knock out of place without obvious intent. There’s also a healthy and unmistakable “click” with each and every movement, ushering in a level of confidence with each movement. It became abundantly clear to us that Kyocera put an awful lot of work into the hinge; it’s one of the more solid pieces we’ve seen in recent memory, and there’s precisely no wobble to be found anywhere. Frankly, only a robust and rigid hinge would lead to an experience worthy of laud, and that’s exactly what we found after a week of abusing it.

Read more at: http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/13/kyocera-echo-review/