Smartphone design rarely sees something new and interesting these days. To my mind, everything new that we in terms of hardware design has become pretty dull ““ with the rare exception here or there. Well, feast your eyes on this.
The YotaPhone is a world first ““ not in the case that it is an Android device with multiple screens, but that it has a regular LCD display on the one side, and on the other you will find an e-ink screen. That‘s right, something completely new, and it isn‘t a concept or an idea someone is trying out. It will go on sale in Russia, Austria, France, Spain and Germany this month, and many more in 2014.
We have come to expect certain things from the smartphone market, i.e. great screens, zippy processors, masses of storage and a camera that puts some point-and-shoots to shame. But as I said before, sometimes it lacks excitement ““ we crave something different that isn‘t thrown in for gimmicky reasons.
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 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.
Other more gimmicky functions of the dual screen include taking photos using the YotaPhone‘s 13-Megapixel camera – the e-ink display shows an image of a camera and instructs you to smile. The YotaPhone features a 4.3-inch 720p LCD display on the front and around the back is a similarly-sized e-ink panel at 360×640 resolution which can be used to display the aforementioned secondary information, such as the weather and calendar alerts.
The device is powered by a dual-core 1.7GHz Krait processor with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, with support for the main HSPA and LTE bands used in Europe. There’s an 1800mAh battery, and on the software side it’s Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean running the show. So the normal smartphone part is nothing new or exciting (and a bit antiquated), but that‘s not what makes it interesting, of course.
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. However, for innovation alone, this device gets my vote.
What are your thoughts on the YotaPhone? Possible future device for many, or feeble attempt at something different?
Pictures: TheNextWeb
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