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One of our favorite phone-makers the last few years has been YotaPhone. It started back in 2013 during Mobile World Congress when we got our hands on the first YotaPhone. If you’re unfamiliar with the YotaPhone it has two displays: a regular LCD on the front, and an e-ink display on the back. It’s crazy cool.
This year YotaPhone is back with a second version of their dual-display smartphone. The CEO of YotaPhone himself told us all about this really unique device. Check it out below.
We also got some hands-on time with the YotaPhone 2 itself. The front display is 5-inches with full 1080p resolution. The back “always-on” display is e-ink with 960 x 540 resolution. That equates to 235ppi, which is better than the Kindle Paperwhite. Other specs include a Snapdragon 800 processor, 8MP camera, 2GB of RAM, and 2500mAh.
Of course the biggest feature of the YotaPhone 2 is the e-ink display on the back. You can customize several pages worth of widgets and notifications for quick access. This allows you to check your phone without actually turning on the LCD display, which is the biggest drain on battery.
The e-ink display can be used for more than just checking notifications. It’s perfect for reading e-books and emails, checking the weather, and tons more. The e-ink display can do basically everything the LCD display can do, just with a much lower frame rate. A sacrifice you will happily make if it means awesome battery life.
The YotaPhone 2 is available now for around £555.00. YotaPhone said they are currently in talks to bring the device to all major US carriers. Since the YotaPhone 2 is already compatible with GSM it would make sense to see it on AT&T or T-Mobile. What do you think of the YotaPhone 2?
It’s a great concept that I feel more companies should look into as the next “evolution” in the smartphone market.
Yota Yota Yota… cool concept but not something that I believe many would use. So few people read any more and those that do would have a larger device for reading.
I don’t know. People are always wanting more battery life, this may be the answer for some.
It is for me!!!
If they were really that concerned about battery life, then they would go with just an E-Ink screen and do away with the LCD.
Don’t e-ink screens have trouble in both the sunlight and darkness, unless there is light shine upon the screen? I remember my mom’s first Kindle was this way, haven’t really heard about any advances in e-ink still then. However if e-ink screens are backlights of some sort now then I can’t think of any reason why they wouldn’t other than the downside of lighting issues.
concerned about battery life != only concerned about battery life. If they were only concerned about battery life they’d get a dumbphone, but not having an lcd at all is stupid.
I do all my reading on my Kindle. If they came out with a bigger screen device, I’d be interested.
I still love this concept, I can’t wait till a major company buys it. Also so well thought out on the software side too. This is what Amazon should have done with fire phone.
If amazon had any sense they’d buy YotaPhone and use this for as the basis for a “Kindle phone”.
also love this concept. Not sure why tablets havent done this for readability in sunlight. Also battery life seems to be main complaint of average user now. All phones are fast enough for average user, we want battery life that goes 72 hours!
I would forgo a smidge of battery life for this as the upside is so awesome IMHO. PLus they do not constantly refresh, so battery pull is super low.
I want it. Normal phone use on the e-ink side, then use the other side for media consumption..just plain genius!!!
I’m more surprised that Phandroid hasn’t mentioned this phone yet, despite the fact that they constantly hammer OEM’s about lack of storage.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/6/7505955/saygus-v-squared-super-smartphone-ces-2015
I’m wondering: If I’m viewing facebook on e-ink can I click a link for a video in a way that makes it automatically starts playing on the other side?
Why is nobody talking about this? Yea it has its cons like cases and such but the pros far outweigh the cons. I would totally go for this phone since most of the work I do is outside in the elements.
If this indeed comes stateside I’ll pick it up, I’ve wanted it since the first generation. I have a Kindle Paperwhite and I love the screen and extremely long battery life.
They should make an Android Wear device
£555? Crazy price! Can buy a good android and a Amazon Voyage 3G for that much. And still have some cash left.
That phone is amazing. I want it.
I think this is one of the coolest, most innovative and yet most oddly underrated ideas in phones. It’s awesome. Not sure why other companies & people are not clamoring for this. Maybe people just do not know of it?
The phone itself is weak however in terms of tech going into 2015: low RAM, low processor, low camera, low battery. But this proves they can make the tech and now, just cook it into a bad arse phone with 2015 specs.
People really want this? I just don’t see the point. For me, less is more.