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People might believe dual-screen phones are novelties, but apparently some folks want them enough to prompt Android OEMs to keep making them.
T-Mobile Oct. 17 said it will begin selling the Android 2.3 Gingerbread-based LG DoublePlay smartphone this holiday season, offering a handset with a 3.5-inch main display, under which sits a 2-inch sub-display.
Each screen can work together to provide larger screen real estate for users, or separately to allow users to multitask, including checking email on one screen and playing Angry Birds or other games on the other.
In that regard, the DoublePlay’s dual screens recall Sprint’s Kyocera Echo. That Gingerbread phone that sports two 3.5-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreens (capable of operating independently or together. eWEEK found that device to be fun, yet sometimes awkward, to use at times.
However, while the Echo offers only two touch screens, the “truffle-colored” DoublePlay includes a slide-out QWERTY keyboard that couches the 2-inch sub-screen. See what the DoublePlay looks like on CNET here.
Users may also access the Swype application for gesture input on the phone, which is powered by a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.
LG is also touting group texting, cloud texting to run across multiple platforms and devices, and a modest 5-megapixel camera and video recorder that shoots footage in 720p.
The LG DoublePlay should be available from T-Mobile this holiday season. However, neither pricing nor additional hardware and software specifications for the phone are available at this time.
It will be interesting to see the uptake of this uniquely designed phone, following in the footsteps of the smash hit Apple iPhone 4S, which sold 4 million units in its first weekend.
The DoublePlay will also vie for customers versus Android rivals such as the Samsung Galaxy S II, Motorola Droid Bionic and Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which will reportedly be unveiled Oct. 19 in Hong Kong.