NTT DoCoMo and NEC aren’t ready to give up on the idea of folding, dual-screen smartphones just yet. As part of the new line-up for spring 2013, the two haveteamed up to offer the Medias W, which features a 4.3-inch 540 x 960 resolution display on both the front and back of the phone. It follows in the proud tradition of devices like the Kyocera Echo and Sony Tablet P. That’s not to say the Medias W will end up as an eBay tchochke, too, but it’s going to be a tough sell.
The rest of the phone isn’t quite so out-of-this-world. It does at least double up on processing cores with its 1.5GHz powerplant, though NEC has opted for just 1GB of RAM at a time where most top-notch smartphones have moved up to two gigs. The Medias W does have a decent 16GB of internal storage, and there’s a micro SD expansion slot for bringing along even more of your favorite music, movies, and pictures.
There’s a front-facing camera and an 8MP rear-facing (at least when the Medias W is folded shut) shooter. Unlike most smartphones in this class that are built for the Japanese market, the Medias W doesn’t feature support for NFC or digital TV. The latter seems like a particularly strange omission, but perhaps NEC didn’t think consumers would be interested in watching TV on a 5-inch display that had a big black line down the middle.
But like the Tablet P and Echo, the Medias W can do just that. Its dual-display setup allows a single app to run stretched across both screens, or two apps to be run side-by-side. It still seems like little more than a novelty, and it’s hard to imagine the Medias W not fading off into obscurity.
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