YotaPhone2: A Disruptive SmartPhone Launches In UAE

An extraordinary two-fronted smartphone that has both a regular touchscreen on the front and an e-ink touchscreen on the back has launched in UAE. Guess what, the YotaPhone2 can be controlled from either side.

The front display is a crisp high-definition screen (1080p AMOLED) that you’d expect from a premium smartphone. Just in case AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) is a display technology for use in mobile devices and televisions towards low-power, low-cost and large-size.

The back is an always-on greyscale e-ink display that is very similar to a Kindle's screen.

Yota is a Russian mobile company that launched its first double-sided YotaPhone prototype back in 2012. The YotaPhone2 is the second iteration of the device.

The e-ink screen (back side of the phone) uses much less battery power, and can be used to deliver notifications, emails and text messages, while the front or the actual screen is good for social networking, watching videos and playing games.

The idea of have a dual display phone is to conserve batter life,so that you could use essential features through the e-ink rear display to make the phone last for much longer.

The phone has a a curved design that is the equal of many modern smartphones. With all these exciting feature the phone is not deemed to be perfect. 

The phone runs Android 4.4 KitKat and comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor running at 2.2 GHz, backed up by 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage.

It weighs 145g, which is heavier than the iPhone 6 (129g) but lighter than the Amazon Fire Phone which comes in at 160g. The whole phone measures 144 x 69.5 mm by 8.9mm, but the curved edges make it feel a bit thinner.

The YotaPhone 2 comes with two cameras, an eight megapixel autofocus camera on the rear, and a two megapixel camera on the front of the handset. The camera feature can be described as basic and nothing extraordinary. 

Rather than focus on imaging and creating a great imaging experience, Yota Phone’s designers appear to have decided on leaving the camera as a basic ‘point and shoot’ operation. YotaPanel is the is like running of the widgets on you regular Android home screen. You can have multiple panels that you can swipe from side to side, and these can be loaded up with a number of widgets designed by Yota to work on the eInk screen   The eInk screen is a little slow to respond, so while the software is quick to pick up touch inputs, there can be a slight delay before you can see the results. The eInk screen can have a ghosting image come through when a screen is updated But over all the phone is a disruptive and will definitely appeal to the geeks and the regular consumers. I am sure by the time Yotaphone 3 comes up there will be lot of takers. The phone is available in UAE with Etisalat for AED 2999 right now or sign up for 18 month contract and get the phone for free