Friday, May 20, 2011

Moving to a new blog....

My wonderful employer has been kind enough to send me another phone to review so rather than continuing to create totally new blogs for every new device I have consolidated things here. Let's hope I get to keep sharing the Android love thanks to Sprint! 


Thanks for reading my device reviews!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Kyocera Echo Camera

Right fully so most of the chatter about the Echo has been around the unique tablet design and the ability to Simul-Task apps. But what about other features that our customers think are important?

I am phone multi-media guy and love taking pictures on my device to send right to twitter and facebook. Yes indeed I am one of “those” people that seem to always be sharing pics and videos.

So how is the Echo as a camera?

I will have to give the 5MP camera and the 720HD video a thumbs up! This is even in comparison to my previous experience with my 8MP EVO. Of course using these features just eat up the battery but this is no problem thanks to the extra battery that is included with the device. These extra batteries can be very expensive and any conversation about the $199 price point of the Echo should include a talk about the value of this extra. Heck, thanks to the unique charger I was able to use my Echo extra battery the other day to charge my dead I-Pod. Thanks ECHO!

Anyway, here is a moment of Zen video for you of a beautiful Oklahoma wheat field along with a couple of pictures taken with the Echo. Tell me what you think.





Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Your Product Ambassador goes animated

I always enjoy talking about being a Sprint employee to people I meet. Lately this has been especially fun as I have had the opportunity to tell people about my role as a Sprint Product Ambassador for the Kyocera Echo.

I was apprehensive about this product at first but now that I have used it for a couple of weeks it is starting to grow on me. More importantly, a buzz seems to be growing with the public.

As an example, I was in Best Buy Friday night and took the opportunity to demo the phone to the sales people in the device area. Soon there was a small crowd of employees and a few Best Buy customers around me asking questions and throwing out positive comments about the Echo. Over the weekend I had several friends approach me and say they had heard I had the Echo and wanted to see it.

Will the phone be a top seller? My guess is no. What I am discovering however is that the phone is creating a positive buzz and is boosting Sprint’s image with the consumer. That has got to be great news.

The last couple of weeks I had a video demo of the device. This week I decided to go animated with a little recreation of what it is like to be a Product Ambassador for Sprint. The animation tool is free too!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Sprint Kyocera Echo Review/Demo

Now that I am into a full week with the Kyocera Echo I am finally spending time with the features that make the phone so unique. I am a notorious multitasker and the ability to run two apps simultaneously was something I have been anxious to try.
The Echo comes preloaded with just a few apps that can be used at the same time. These are:

• E-mail
• Messaging
• Browsing
• Youtube via a custom app called Vueque
• Contacts
• Gallery
• Phone

You will notice this list is rather small with only seven apps at this time. I am sure that as the device is out longer there will be more options although I do not anticipate a lot of these since this is such a niche device and since Kyocera is such a small player in the marketplace.
Kyocera calls this feature “simul-task” and so far I have my favorite simul-task uses have been e-mail, youtube and browsing. Imagine watching a video on one screen while using the second screen for surfing the net. Sound cool? Well it is!

Here is a little demo using the browser and VueQue at the same time.
What do you think? Is this a feature that you think will appeal to customers? Is it unique enough to choose the Echo over the EVO, Epic or Shift?

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Kyocera Echo Unboxing




Just got this new phone last week. Very interesting concept. What do you think?

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Waiting is the hardest part

Later this week my new Kyocera Echo will arrive and in anticipation I am excitingly reading the reviews and watching videos that others have been posting. So far they seem to be mixed with lovers and those in between.
The most common complaint is the lack of 4G for the device which I can certainly understand. For me at least, I do not live in a 4G market and for the time being this is not an issue for me. Anyway, the anticipation of the phone’s arrival is growing for me and I look forward to blogging even more about it soon.
Heck, I might even try an unboxing video to share with you as well. I did it with the last phone I tested and it was a lot of fun!
Meanwhile as we wait here are some reviews:





Friday, April 15, 2011

The Kyocera Echo is coming


Exciting news!  It looks like I am going to be a Sprint Product Ambassodor for this very interesting new Adroid device. The Ambassaodor program is a unique and fun way Sprint uses to get the word out about new products to our employees and customers. We get an exclusive opportunity to "play" with the product and then share our personal honest opinions with fellow employees and the general public. Did I mention personal? My opinions expressed here are truely my own and do not in anyway reflect those of Sprint. Over the next several weeks I will share my likes, dislikes and experience with the Echo from the viewpoint of an average user that just happens to be a Sprint employee.

Stay Tuned.  This is goint to be fun!