LAS VEGAS — Prepaid carrier Leap
Wireless will launch Kyocera’s first
Android-based smartphone, the Zio
M6000, sometime
this year, the carrier
told TWICE
dur ing CTIA
Wireless 2010.
The Zio will be
among the first
smartphones offered
by Leap.
The phone will
operate in 3G
CDMA 1x EV-DO
Rev. A mode in
Leap’s Advanced
Wireless Services
(AWS) 1.7/2.1GHz
bands as well as in 3G mode in the
800/1,900MHz bands. Kyocera previously
said the phone operated in 3G mode
only in the 800/1,900MHz bands.
Because of the phone’s additional
bands, Kyocera will be able to target
the phone to more carriers than previously
thought. Potential 800/1,900MHz
carriers include Verizon Wireless and
Sprint, and potential AWS-band carriers
include MetroPCS.
Leap Wireless currently offers no
smartphones but will offer the Kyocera smartphone and a BlackBerry smartphone
sometime this year, a Leap
spokesperson told TWICE. The Zio
could become the first Android smartphone
offered in the U.S. with a prepaid
plan, Leap noted.
The carrier also has added roaming
agreements to enable its subscribers
to use its service in all 50 states, up
from the current 35. The company also
announced new service and rate plans
to go with the footprint expansion.
The Zio marks Kyocera’s return to the
smartphone market after an absence
of about five years, having previously
marketed Palm-OS smartphones.
The full-touchscreen phone with
virtual QWERTY keyboard features
the Android 1.6 (Donut) OS, 600MHz
processor, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, 3.5-inch
WVGA capacitive touchscreen, frontpanel
trackball navigation, 3.2-megapixel
camera/camcorder with autofocus,
microSD slot supporting 32GB
cards, stereo Bluetooth version 2.1 +
EDR and 1,130mAh battery offering 6.2
hours of talktime. Kyocera plans to offer
an upgrade to the Android 2.x OS
sometime in the future.
