Russian smartphone manufacturer Yota's dual-screen YotaPhone is a valiant
attempt at a new breed of smartphone, writes Sophie Curtis
Russian smartphone manufacturer Yota unveiled its dual-screen YotaPhone at a
stylish event in Moscow today, promising that “smartphones will never be the
same” again. The wonderfully kooky device combines a high-definition LCD
display on the front with an e-ink display on the back, giving customers
what Yota believes is the best of both worlds.
Apart from the obvious uses of the e-ink display, like reading text without
straining your eyes, Yota has developed a number of other interactive
applications that take advantage of the low-power screen. For example, the
company has worked with ABBYY to adapt its multilingual dictionary Lingovo
into a language-learning game, Vedomosti for delivery of newspaper articles
in a more readable format, and MapsWithMe for dynamic maps.
These can all be controlled by tapping and swiping a panel under the e-ink
display to flick between screens. This takes some getting used to, as the
gesture control is less than perfect, but users are likely to appreciate the
ability to interact with their second screen, rather than just use it to
view static images.
For applications that have not been specially developed for use with the e-ink
display, users can find an image they want using the LCD side of the phone,
and then swipe two fingers from top to bottom to take a screenshot, which
immediately displays on the e-ink screen. This could be useful for anyone
needing to quickly check a map for directions or reference a colleague’s
contact details ahead of a meeting.
Notifications are also displayed on the e-ink display and remain visible until
the user acknowledges them. Yota CEO Vlad Martynov claims that this could
help to combat ‘phubbing’ - the act of snubbing someone in a social setting
by looking at your phone instead of paying attention to the conversation.
While this way of displaying notifications is perhaps more subtle than an
alert sound or a flashing light, it is still likely to catch your eye if the
phone is on the table beside you.
The traditional Android part of the phone is fairly unremarkable. Yota has customised Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 to use the same swipe and tap gestures as the e-ink display, so you swipe to the right to go to the home screen and to the left to return to the previous screen. Aside from that, it offers a familiar vanilla Android experience.
With dimensions of 133.6x67x9.99mm and a weight of 146g, the YotaPhone sits nicely in the hand and feels fairly solid - it is the first smartphone to use Corning’s Gorilla 3 shaped glass and has a special chassis housing YotaPhone’s six antennas on the outer rim. Although 9.99mm is fairly thick, the e-ink side of the phone curves inwards at the top to only 7.9mm, giving the impression of a thinner device.
While the specs are not top-of-the-range - the processor is only 1.7GHz and the battery 1800mAh - the energy efficiency of the phone partially compensates for this. Martynov claims that only mobile gamers will really notice the difference between this and high-end Android devices from Samsung and HTC.
All in all, the YotaPhone is a valiant first attempt at an entirely new breed of smartphone, from a Russian start-up company that only started developing the device two and a half years ago.
It may take some time for the company to build up an ecosystem of apps that really takes advantages of the dual-screen capabilities - Amazon’s Kindle, for example, would be a useful addition - and the company may need to improve the phone’s gesture control in the next iteration. However, for innovation alone, this device gets full marks.
Yota Devices YotaPhone detailed specifications
| General | |
| Release date | December 2013 |
| Form factor | Touchscreen |
| Dimensions (mm) | 133.60 x 67.00 x 9.99 |
| Weight (g) | 146.00 |
| Battery capacity (mAh) | 1800 |
| Removable battery | Yes |
| Colours | Black, White |
| SAR value | NA |
| Display | |
| Screen size (inches) | 4.30 |
| Touchscreen | Yes |
| Touchscreen type | Capacitive |
| Resolution | 720x1280 pixels |
| Colours | 16.7M |
| Hardware | |
| Processor | 1.7GHz dual-core |
| Processor make | Qualcomm Snapdragon |
| RAM | 2GB |
| Expandable storage | Yes |
| Expandable storage type | microSD |
| Expandable storage up to (GB) | 32 |
| Camera | |
| Rear camera | 13-megapixel |
| Flash | Yes |
| Front camera | 1-megapixel |
| Software | |
| Operating System | Android 4.2 |
| Java support | No |
| Browser supports Flash | No |
| Connectivity | |
| Wi-Fi | Yes |
| Wi-Fi standards supported | 802.11 a/ b/ g/ n |
| GPS | Yes |
| Bluetooth | Yes, v 4.00 |
| NFC | No |
| Infrared | No |
| DLNA | No |
| Wi-Fi Direct | No |
| MHL Out | No |
| HDMI | No |
| Headphones | 3.5mm |
| FM | Yes |
| USB | Micro-USB |
| Charging via Micro-USB | Yes |
| Proprietary charging connector | No |
| Proprietary data connector | No |
| Number of SIMs | 1 |
| SIM Type | Micro-SIM |
| GSM/ CDMA | GSM |
| 2G frequencies supported | GSM 900/ 1800/ 1900 |
| 3G | Yes |
| 3G frequencies supported | 900, 2100 |
| Sensors | |
| Compass/ Magnetometer | Yes |
| Proximity sensor | Yes |
| Accelerometer | Yes |
| Ambient light sensor | Yes |
| Gyroscope | Yes |
| Barometer | No |
| Temperature sensor | No |
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