The Wall Street Journal reported today that Sprint would unveil a new smartphone at its “Making the Impossible Possible” press event in NYC this evening. The Kyocera Echo is reported to be a dual touch-screen smartphone running on the Android operating system. The handheld is slated to have two 3.5 inch touch-screen displays for a total of 4.7 inches of combined display. The two screens can be put side-by-side to allow users to drag items from one screen to the next, and multi-task with different apps running on either screen. A “pivot-hinge” will also allow one of the screens to be tucked behind the other so the handheld can be used like a traditional smartphone.

This would be the first smartphone on the market to feature the unique dual display design. The Wall Street Journal refers to the innovative prototype as a “pseudo-tablet.”  The big idea is that the handheld would provide a huge amount of screen real estate while still folding into a reasonably pocket sized package, not to mention being a functional cellular phone.

Rumors have been circulating that Sprint was set to make an “industry first” announcement at this evening’s press event, which, in case you were wondering, is invitation only.

Image source: Wikipedia