National Geographic has partnered with Cellular Abroad for the development of Duet D888, a dual-SIM card cell phone that will come to the United States market unlocked. The handset is made by Beyond E-Tech and is able to support two SIM cards at the same time, one for the Cellular Abroad intentional SIM card and one for another card that users will choose.

Basically, mobile phone users in the US will be able to include inside the device a SIM card for a GSM carrier like AT&T or T-Mobile, while also having the possibility to add a second card while traveling abroad.

The new Duet D888 features a standard silver candy-bar design, nothing special, though it looks rather attractive. A 2-megapixel photo snapper has been included in the package, along with an MP3 player, an FM radio, Bluetooth, USB connectivity, a personal organizer, messaging, and a speakerphone. In addition, the handset also comes around with a range of National Geographic content, including wallpapers and ringtones.

For what it's worth, the new mobile phone is a lot different when compared to the first National Geographic phone, the Motorola V180, mainly due to the fact that it comes with a lot of improvements, coupled with the dual SIM card functionality, as well as with more travel-friendly features. And it can easily prove to be a more attractive option than the simple National Geographic's Motorola Razr V3 device.

Currently, no US carrier has a dual-SIM card phone added to its offering, and such devices are rather rare in the country, apart from some unlocked models and a series of crude adapters for regular handsets. Due to the fact that they are able to offer users the possibility to have two phone numbers inside the same device, they sound very appealing to many people, as they would be able to make calls on both lines, and maybe even have the SIM cards from different carriers.