Sprint Unveils Two-Screen Phone

Keyboard, shmeboard. Sprint yesterday unveiled the eminently nifty Kyocera Echo, a smartphone that boasts a second touchscreen where other phones might have a physical keyboard. The screens can rest side-by-side—creating an effect that, the Wall Street Journal observes, is reminiscent of a tablet—or one can tuck under the other, turning the Echo into a traditional big-screen smartphone.

Users will be able to drag applications from one screen to the other, or stretch them across both displays. “Extreme multitasking is magical,” Sprint’s CEO promised at the unveiling—and, as if to underscore that point, David Blaine was on hand to perform. Sprint needs the phone to live up to the hype, because the Evo and Epic are already starting to seem old, one telecom analyst says. “Having a new halo device will be critical for them.” (More Sprint stories.)