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Sprint  Nextel announced that it will introduce this spring a dual-touchscreen Android-based smartphone from Kyocera.

Called the Kyocera Echo, the smartphone features a patent-pending pivot hinge designed to enable the smartphone’s two displays to operate independently, ether side-by-side or combined to form a 4.7-inch integrated display. The device will use Google’s Android 2.2 operating system and will operate over Sprint’s CDMA EV-DO network rather than Clearwire’s WiMAX network.

The phone will be customizable and include pre-loaded apps to take advantage of the dual-screen. VueQue, for instance, allows users to watch a video in one display while browsing, queuing and buffering additional videos in the other.

Kyocera Echo also offers four viewing modes. Single-screen mode acts like a single-display touchscreen smartphone; Simul-task mode displays two of the phone’s seven core apps running at the same time but independently on dual displays; Optimized mode allows both displays to support a single app, while tablet mode enables one application to spread across both screens for a full 4.7-inch viewing area.

Ross Rubin, an analyst at the NPD Group, told FierceWireless that the Echo’s two screens can provide greater flexibility for users. “However, when working with an operating system with a wide variety of apps across a wide array of hardware such as Windows or Android, it can be difficult to attract third-party software developers to take real advantage of a dual-screen device, which limits its potential. This is in contrast to products that are created specifically to support dual screens such as the Nintendo DS.”

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OVERLAND PARK, Kan  –Sprint today announced Nov. 15 as the first day of nationwide availability for Palm® Pixiâ„¢, exclusively available on America’s most dependable 3G network1 from Sprint, It will cost just $99.99 with a two-year service agreement, after a $50 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate and be available at Sprint stores, online at www.sprint.com, through telesales at 1-800-SPRINT1, and at Best Buy, RadioShack and select Wal-Mart stores.

“We are excited to offer the new Palm Pixi to our customers in time for the holiday season, and it’s a great addition to Sprint’s industry-leading device portfolio,” said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president – Product Development, Sprint. “Simply put, this phone is fun and easy to use; with its multi-touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard, it’s a great device for messaging and social networking at a price everyone can enjoy, and delivers so many of the great features people love about Palm Pre™ in a fantastic new form factor, making it a huge hit for consumers.”

Running the Palm webOSâ„¢ mobile platform, Palm Pixi lets the user keep multiple activities open and move easily between them, like flipping through a deck of cards, using natural gestures. This allows for easy movement between messaging and email or searching the Web while listening to music, and items are rearranged simply by dragging them. Universal search also makes finding things easy, providing results from both the device and the Web.

Palm webOS brings together the user’s most important information from their phone, at work or on the Web into one logical view. In addition to linking information from Google™, Facebook®, Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync® and LinkedIn®, Palm Pixi adds Yahoo!® integration to Palm Synergy™3. Palm Synergy offers:

* Linked contacts – A single view that links contacts from a variety of sources, so accessing them is easier than ever.
* Layered calendars – Calendars can be seen on their own or layered together in a single view, combining work, family, friends, sports teams or other interests, and the user can toggle to look at one calendar at a time, or see them all at a glance.
* Combined messaging – See all the conversations with the same person in a chat-style view, including MMS, even if it started in IM and switched to reply with text messaging. The user can also see who’s active in a buddy list right from contacts or email, and start a new conversation with just one touch.

A new Facebook application will be available with Palm Pixi, so users can see and comment on all the latest news from friends and easily update their status. Palm Pixi features an exposed full QWERTY keyboard, multi-touch screen and a durable, removable rubberized back cover.

While Palm Pixi comes with a charger included in the box, Palm recently introduced the Touchstoneâ„¢ charging dock, the first inductive charging solution for phones. Touchstone, along with the Touchstone compatible back cover (both sold separately), allows Palm Pixi to be set on top of the dock without worrying about connection, orientation or fit. The device remains active while charging, allowing access to the touch screen, movies or video, or the speakerphone option. Touchstone is available in Sprint stores nationwide for $79.99 and includes a Touchstone charger and USB wall charger. The Pixi Touchstone back cover is also available for $19.99 (plus taxes).

Palm Pixi requires activation on a pricing plan including unlimited data, such as Sprint’s Everything Data plans with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM, which give customers unlimited mobile calling on the Sprint network to and from any U.S. wireless carrier, unlimited nationwide texting, email, Web browsing and much more, starting at just $69.99. The Simply EverythingSM plan from Sprint offers a truly unlimited experience for only $99.99 per month, a savings of $1,200 over two years versus a comparable AT&T iPhone® plan4. (All price plans exclude surcharges and taxes. Other exclusions apply.)

Customers who subscribe to an Everything Data plan are also automatically enrolled in Sprint Premier, the industry-leading loyalty program. The Premier program provides customers with great benefits such as annual upgrades, discounts on accessories, anniversary rewards, rate plan checkups and “first to know” information about the latest at Sprint.

Palm Pixi will take advantage of the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network (inclusive of data roaming), which reaches more than 269 million people, 18,652 cities and 1,838 airports. The Sprint Networks (inclusive of data roaming) have more than twice the coverage of AT&T’s current 3G network and more than 15 times the coverage of T-Mobile’s current 3G network, both based on square miles5.

Sprint is also the only wireless carrier to offer Ready Now with trained retail associates to work one-on-one with customers to personalize their Palm Pixi, set up features and demonstrate how it works before the customer leaves the store. Customers have the choice of sitting down with a Sprint retail associate at the time of purchase or they can schedule an appointment for a later time at www.sprint.com/storelocator.

Application developers will have a chance to learn more about Palm webOS at Sprint’s ninth annual developer conference beginning today in Santa Clara, Calif. The Sprint Open Developer Conference is open to all developers and will feature information through speaker sessions and coding camps on developing applications for a range of platforms, including webOS. Palm is a premier sponsor of the conference, and Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer, directors of Developer Relations for Palm, will be giving a keynote address in addition to running several breakout sessions and coding camps focusing on the webOS platform. For details, go to http://developer.sprint.com/devcon2009.

Customers who would like to register to receive additional information about Palm Pixi can register at www.palm.com/pixi.

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Announced earlier this morning, the brand new Palm Pixi will be, for the beginning, sold only in the US and only via Sprint.

However, the Pixi will most probably reach Europe and Canada too “ especially since, according to Pocket-lint, a Palm spokesperson declared that the company does plan to bring Palm Pixi to both regions as soon as it can and will announce more when appropriate.

Well, a Pixi release outside the US is unlikely to happen this year “ after all, Europe is still waiting for the Pre to arrive.

O2 is probably the European carrier that will first offer the Pixi.

Coming as Palm™s second WebOS smartphone, the Pixi features a 320 x 400 pixels multi-touch display, full QWERTY keypad, GPS, 3.5mm headset jack, 2MP camera, and 8GB of internal memory. The price of Palm Pixi is not known at the moment, but it will probably be lower than Pre™s price.

Source [Unwiredview]

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“The new Palm Pre phone will be here June 6, starting at $199.99 on the Sprint network (after rebate and service agreement). “

Says sprint

Sprint could be announcing the launch date and price of the much anticipated Palm Pre Tuesday, according to various Web reports.

Last week, the blog Boy Genius Report cited a “proven tipster” who said that Sprint was working with The Wall Street Journal’s tech columnist Walt Mossberg to release the details of the launch and pricing on May 19th.

And on Monday the Web site Brighthand.com reported it has heard that Sprint Nextel stores have already sent at least one Pre to every store to get employees familiar with the device. Large shipments of the Pre haven’t come into stores yet, the story says. But it appears stores are gearing up for the launch, according to Brighthand.com.

Palm announced the hot new smartphone in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but both Palm and Sprint Nextel, which will be the exclusive service provider for the device, have been mum on details about when the device will launch or how much it will cost.

Rumors and leaks from retailer Best Buy indicate that June 7 will be “Pre Day” and that the device will sell for $200. But these details haven’t been confirmed by either company.

And now it looks like Wal-Mart will also be selling the Palm Pre. In an article published Monday, the Journal cited Wal-Mart executives who said the mega-retailer will be selling the Palm Pre when it is launched. Some blog reports indicated that Best Buy would be the only retailer other than Sprint to sell the device.

The Palm Pre will be the first phone to use Palms new WebOS, and many people believe it could give the popular Apple iPhone a run for its money both in terms of hipness and sales.

The new device, which has a sliding keyboard and multitouch key screen, has an operating system is designed for multitasking. It will also come with 8GB of storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a 3.0 megapixel camera.

Thanks to Cnet!

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