Clunky and Chunky

The has two 3.5-inch WVGA screens that can be combined to form one giant 4.7-inch display when the phone is in "tablet mode" (more on that later). There are two sets of Home, Menu, and Back buttons (one for each screen). Strangely enough, the Echo lacks the dedicated Search key found on almost all other Android phones. The left spine of the device houses the microUSB port, the volume rocker, power button, microSD card slot, and 3.5mm headphone jack. I was happy that I didn't have to remove the battery to access the SD card, but not so happy about the power button being located on the spine of the phone. You'll find a 5-megapixel camera (with flash) on the rear of the device.

At 6.80 ounces the Echo is definitely one of the heavier phones out there. That second screen adds a lot of bulk to the device, giving it similar dimensions to phones with slide out QWERTY keyboards. The bulk and the overall rectangle shape of the phone did not make it very comfortable to carry around or talk on for extended periods. The hinge that holds the two screens together is made of a "Super Copper Alloy" that is supposed to be quite durable, however whenever I opened or closed the phone I was afraid it would break apart somehow. When the phone is opened, you can push the two screens together to lock them in place and reduce the gap between them. This effectively turns the Echo into a giant touchscreen; I found that this configuration was the easiest way to use the device.

Performance

The is a 3G phone with a single 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, making it seem a little dated among all the dual core phones that have shown up this year. This does not mean the phone is not responsive--far from it. The Echo is able to run two apps simultaneously (one on each screen) and it does this rather well.