If you’re a fan of Kyocera and their phones, you might be interested to hear that at CTIA, the Japanese company unveiled two new handsets – the Hydro and the Rise, both of which are entry level devices but will come with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on board. A move which we’re sure will be appreciated by Android users out there who are still waiting on the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on their high-end handsets.
Starting with the Hydro, the handset will sport a 3.5” HVGA display with a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8655 processor clocked at 1GHz. It will pack 512MB of RAM and is waterproof up to depths of 1m for a maximum duration of 30 minutes. Next up is the Rise which features the same specs but the only main difference is the fact that it features a slideout QWERTY keyboard along with the same waterproof design. While both devices are expected to be entry-level devices, they come with “Tissue Conduction” audio technology that is said to enhance voice calls.
This is achieved through the use of a piezoelectric transducer that transmits sound through air as sound waves, and soft tissue as vibrations. Originally used in hearing aid devices, with the introduction of the technology to smartphones, this will apparently help improve hearing in noisy environments. No word on release date or prices, but it has been speculated that the the Hydro and the Rise could arrive on either Sprint or Verizon’s network later this year.