The era of strange phone designs is slowly returning. Today, LG and T-Mobile officially unveiled the DoublePlay, a dual-screened, sliding QWERTY, touchscreen Android phone that’s been spotted in the wild since June. The slide-out keyboard is broken in half and a series of shortcut icons are available on a small second touchscreen betwixt the QWERTY’s halves. LG says the new handset is the “ultimate multitasking handset.”
The DoublePlay comes with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), a 1GHz single-core Snapdragon processor, 3.5-inch standard screen, 5MP rear camera with 720p recording, and a 2-inch miniature second screen. The second screen can also act as a touch keyboard with swipe, if that’s what you’re into. Like the Kyocera Echo, the phone is capable of multitasking between the screens, though we’re not sure how limited this feature is (on the Echo, it was limited to a few select scenarios). LG says it can perform multiple tasks like updating Facebook pages while also surfing the Web, texting, or checking email. Several different texting apps will come with the phone, including Group Text and Cloud Text.
“The evolving nature of texting trends and mobile technology has brought LG and T-Mobile together to create a device that celebrates multi-tasking beyond a powerful processor,” said Carl Brown, director of trade marketing for LG Mobile. “With its split keyboard and dual screens, LG DoublePlay’s impressive hardware made it the obvious choice for the official mobile phone of the 2011 National Texting Championship. LG is proud to be leading the charge in the next generation of mobile messaging devices while continuing its legacy as a leading manufacturer in QWERTY keyboard devices.”
