Sprint, Virgin Mobile And Kyocera Announce Rise Android Smartphone

Sprint has announced the forthcoming release of the Rise Android smartphone for release later this month, first on Sprint for $19.99 after new 2 year agreement  on Sunday the 19th, while the Virgin Mobile version will be released on the 31st for $99.99.

The Rise also marks the first availability of sub-$100 Android smartphones with Ice Cream Sandwich in the US marketb with midrange specifications, such as a  3.5-inch IPS HVGA resolution display, 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 Snapdragon S2 processor, a 3.2 megapixel camera and a sliding QWERTY keyboard along with a microSD slot. The complete feature set includes the following:

• Google Play™ with access to hundreds of thousands of apps
• 1GHz MSM8655 Qualcomm Snapdragon® processor for fast access to apps and
Web surfing
• 3.2-megapixel camera with an LED flash and 30 frame-per-second camcorder
• Kyocera’s “Eco Mode” software to better monitor and conserve battery power
• microSD™ memory card support up to 32GB
• Dedicated capacitive menu button for easy access to application-specific features
• In addition to Sprint’s nationwide 3G network, Kyocera Rise connects over Wi-Fi
(b/g/n) networks, supports Stereo Bluetooth® (2.1 + EDR) wireless technology
and includes a high-speed USB 2.0 port