Dual-screen Yota3 is official with a sharper E Ink screen
But you'll need to fork out at least $560 and also fly yourself to China.
Well, the wait is finally over. After a teaser back in June, the third-gen dual-screen YotaPhone -- now simply dubbed Yota3 -- was unveiled in China yesterday. Pretty much all the main specs are identical to the leak Engadget received earlier, but this was our first time seeing this rounded metallic design. First and foremost, there's a 5.5-inch 1080p Samsung AMOLED screen along with a 13-megapixel f/2.2 camera plus a fingerprint reader on the front. Flip the device around and you'll see its headlining feature: a 5.2-inch 720p E Ink Carta II display -- an expected upgrade from the previous 4.7-inch 960 x 540 screen -- accompanied by three capacitive navigation buttons at the bottom.
As previously mentioned, the Yota3 is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 625, which is a little disappointing given that prices start at 3,699 yuan -- about $560 instead of the rumored $350. That said, you still get a 12-megapixel main camera with an efficient 1.4um sensor, and it's boosted with a speedy f/1.9 aperture plus Dual PD auto-focus. There's also a handy 3,300 mAh battery with 9V/2A quick charge via USB-C. And no, there is no headphone jack here so you'll need to use an adapter for personal audio.
The Yota3 comes in three versions: there's a 64GB base model with the aforementioned price, then the 128GB model jumps to 4,299 yuan or about $655, with both model packing 4GB of RAM plus microSD expansion (if you don't mind using up one of the two SIM slots). There's also a 64GB "national gift set" version which is also asking for 4,299 yuan, but instead of aluminum, the phone's 7.9mm-thick body uses the more premium 316L stainless steel instead; plus it comes with more accessories and some e-book credit.
It's hard to tell how well the Yota3 will sell in China, let alone the rest of the world. While its rare dual-screen feature will no doubt entertain a presumably small group of enthusiasts, the pricing isn't attractive enough to push it to the mainstream audience, nor is it positioned as a premium device. Either way, it looks like the Yota3 will be a tough sell, which isn't good news for this struggling Russian-Chinese partnership.
