Kyocera Zio smartphone; Industry lets out a resounding “Meh”

Kyocera recently released information regarding the Zio, a low-cost, midrange, Google Android powered smartphone slated for release sometime in the Spring of this year.  Despite the rather uninspired specifications, the Zio marks the return of Kyocera to the smartphone arena, which means more to come.  Hit the link for more information.  The Zio features a slurry of midrange hardware components, with the exception of the display.  Measuring in at 3.5″ and 800×480 pixels (exactly the same as the Motorola Droid), the display is quite capable of browsing the web comfortably.  Kyocera intends to sell the Zio somewhere around $200 US without contract, according to PCmag.

Display aside, the hardware specifications are nothing to write home about.  The Zio shares the same processor as the Motorola Devour; the Qualcomm MSM7227 clocked to 600 MHz.  Unfortunately, the Zio also is running the antiquated Android 1.6, but Kyocera promises it will be user-upgradable to current iterations of the Android OS (2.1, etc).

The Zio comes equipped with a CDMA radio, meaning we’re likely to see it on Sprint’s network based on their recent interest in Android’s potential to totally pimp out their new, significantly redesigned data network.

Rounding out the specifications, we have an average 3.2 MP camera, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-fi, maximum of 32GB of storage via SD card and 512 MB of flash storage for on-board application installation.  Meh.