Category Archives: Kyocera Echo

Sprint Drops The Price On Epic 4G, Nexus S 4G and Echo

Posted by on August 19, 2011 No comments

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Looks like Sprint flew under our radar and dropped the price yesterday on some of their “old school” Android lineup. If you’re a new customer you can now sign up for a 2-year agreement and snag yourself a Samsung EPIC 4G for $100, Nexus S for $50 ($30 online), and the Kyocera Echo for free. Don’t forget, the girls — they love the Android (pictured above).

I’d have to say, all of these are pretty solid Android devices (yes, even the Echo). Lets see if Sprint can’t clear out some of their stock with these now extremely affordable handsets. Usually we see price drops from Sprint when they’re getting prepared to release something new — something you may need a tiny little telescope to see…

[Via BriefMobile]

Kyocera Giving Away 10,000 Copies of Android’s Greatest Gaming Apps

Posted by on August 16, 2011 No comments

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In what seems like more of a “thank you” gift than an attempt at bolstering sales, Kyocera announced today that they would be giving away same of the hottest games in the Android Market for users of their wildly popular dual-screened Echo handset on Sprint. This is part of their “Summer of Free Apps” campaign in which the Kyocera will pay for the first 10,000 downloads for a handful of titles including: Burn the Rope, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Monkey Ball?, Colours, Coropata, Crazy Dunker, Cupig, Induced Current, SmackTalk!, Space Wander Landing, Sudoku Master? and Transporter.

All these games can be found in the “Top Apps” shortcut in the Echo’s Android Market. Better hurry before the 10,000 copies run out! Hey, HTC. Where are my free games?

[Via Electronista]

 

Kyocera Giving Away 10,000 Copies of Android’s Greatest Gaming Apps

Posted by on August 16, 2011 No comments

This image has no alt text

In what seems like more of a “thank you” gift that an attempt at boosting sales, Kyocera announced today that they would be giving away same of the hottest games in the Android Market for users of their wildly popular dual-screened Echo handset on Sprint. This is part of their “Summer of Free Apps” campaign in which the Kyocera will pay for the first 10,000 downloads for a handful of titles including: Burn the Rope, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Monkey Ball?, Colours, Coropata, Crazy Dunker, Cupig, Induced Current, SmackTalk!, Space Wander Landing, Sudoku Master? and Transporter.

All these games can be found in the “Top Apps” shortcut in the Echo’s Android Market. Better hurry before the 10,000 copies run out! Hey, HTC. Where are my free games?

[Via Electronista]

 

Kyocera Echo’s Gingerbread Update Now Rolling Out

Posted by on August 10, 2011 No comments

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Due to bugs (and not so much due to a very misleading changelog), Kyocera had to delay the Gingerbread update for their dual-screen Android on Sprint. Whatever issues were still lingering around must be fixed up now, though, because it’s just about ready to pop out of the oven. Changes are the same as before – save for NFC and WiFi calling, of course.

[UPDATE 2, 2:02PM CDT 8/10: Sprint will restart the Gingerbread update to Kyocera Echo users beginning today (August 10). In an effort to provide the best possible customer experience, Kyocera and Sprint have addressed a previous issue with the update raised last week. The Gingerbread update will provide Kyocera Echo users with performance enhancements including faster response, improved power management, enhancements for gaming, and more. See below for full list of new features and enhancements.]

[Thanks Anthony!]

Android 2.3.4 upgrade (Gingerbread) features:

  • An upgrade to the Swype 3.0 virtual keypad, with Tap Correction and Horizontal Word Choice List (predictive text)
  • An improved Downloads application, offering easy access to any file downloaded from the browser, email or another application
  • Pinch-to-zoom in Browser, Gallery, Maps, & Sprint Navigation

Eco Mode
A customized app from Kyocera that helps users manage battery life on their devices. User can pre-set a point (Based on percentage of battery charge remaining) at which their phones will go into low-power-consumption mode. When in Eco Mode, Echo automatically will change various settings – chosen by the user – to conserve power, including Screen Timeout, Display Brightness, Wallpaper, Auto-Sync, Haptic Feedback and Auto-Rotate Screen.*

[Update] Kyocera Echo Gingerbread Update Said to Bring… NFC Capabilities?

Posted by on August 1, 2011 No comments

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[Update 2]: And now the Gingerbread update is rolling out. Check for it over the air.

[Update]: Looks like it was a mistake after all, but the possibility doesn’t completely dissipate. A Kyocera representative told BriefMobile that both the WiFi calling and NFC support features were listed by mistake. Android 2.3.4 listing apparently went up too early and the inaccurate information was left in. They did, however, say that that they were working on these features in experimental form, meaning there very well still could be an NFC chip inside the Echo. I guess we won’t know until Kyocera feels it’s no longer “experimental”. [Brief]

Whoa, color me surprised. An impending Gingerbread upgrade for Sprint’s Kyocero Echo is said to be bringing with it a couple of big features. One of them is WiFi calling, something we didn’t see coming from Sprint or Kyocera. That pales in comparison to what’s said to be coming next, though – NFC support.

The Kyocera Echo was announced and launched with nary a word about any near-field communication chip inside, so it’s surprising to see Kyocera list this as a feature of the forthcoming update. We can see where Sprint and Kyocera might have wanted to keep this feature a secret.

As you might know, NFC support didn’t make its way to Android until the advent of Android 2.3. If Sprint and Kyocera were to advertise the feature before they were able and ready to enable it, they would cause a lot of consumer confusion and no one wanted to deal with that.

It makes us wonder if the chip is inside any of Sprint’s newer phones, and if it is, why it hasn’t been enabled. For now, the Kyocera Echo is believed to be the second phone on Sprint’s carrier with this sort of functionality if Kyocera hasn’t made a mistake in their error. Let’s look forward to it coming sometime soon. A full list of features are below. [Engadget]

Android 2.3.4 upgrade (Gingerbread) features:

  • An upgrade to the Sype 3.0 virtual keypad, with Tap Correction and Horizontal Word Choice List (predictive text)
  • An improved Downloads application, offering easy access to any file downloaded from the browser, email or another application
  • Pinch-to-zoom in Browser, Gallery, Maps, & Sprint Navigation
  • Internet calling over Wi-Fi
  • A Near Filed Communications (NFC) Reader to interact with posters, advertisements, products, etc.

Echo Mode
A customized app from Kyocera that helps users manage battery life on their devices. User can pre-set a point (Based on percentage of battery charge remaining) at which their phones will go into low-power-consumption mode. When in Eco Mode, Echo automatically will change various settings – chosen by the user – to conserve power, including Screen Timeout, Display Brightness, Wallpaper, Auto-Sync, Hpatic Feedback and Auto-Rotate Screen.*