Confirmed: Sprint To Roll Out Kyocera Echo

The rumors appear to be true: Sprint Nextel will unveil a Kyocera smartphone on its network at an event tonight in New York.

Sprint's web site, when a search for Kyocera is entered, leads to text billing the Kyocera Echo as the first dual-touchscreen smartphone. A click on the link provided by Sprint leads to a note that the page is not quite ready yet.

The only specification given so far is that the phone has a 4.7 inch screen when both displays are combined.

Earlier reports, citing people familiar with the matter, said that the new phone would run the Android operating system.

In January, the tech blog Engadget reported that two logos had leaked showing the Kyocera Echo and the HTC Arrive. The latter is rumored to be a Windows 7 phone.

Sprint is bills its event as unveiling an industry first. The HTC phone, if it is also rolled out this evening, would be the first CDMA phone running Windows 7. But a search on the Sprint site, while showing results for the Kyocera, does not show a new phone from HTC - just the ones that have already been announced, the HTC Evo Shift and Evo 4G.

From Kyocera, Sprint currently offers the Sanyo Innuendo, Taho and Vero. Only the first would qualify as a smartphone, however.

The event is at 6 p.m. Eastern time at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan.

To contact the reporter responsible for this story call (646) 461 6917 or email j.emspak@ibtimes.com.