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Dual-screen Yota3 is official with a sharper E Ink screen
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.
'YotaPhone 3' isn't the dual-screen powerhouse you were expecting
If you're one of the few people who are still waiting for the next dual-screen YotaPhone, listen up: we finally have an update for you. During Harbin's China-Russia Expo over the weekend, Baoli Yota -- the joint venture formed by investor Baoli (formerly known as REX) and manufacturer Coolpad -- teased its upcoming "Yota3" with a date: it's due in the early fall later this year (almost four years since the launch of its predecessor) and will come with 64GB or 128GB of storage for a more favorable $350 or $450, respectively, according to RBC.
Yota aims for mass-market success after buyout
It's fair to say that the global launch of Yota Device's last E-Ink smartphone didn't quite go to plan. Despite positive reviews and a successful crowdfunding campaign, the Russian startup was forced to scale back its US plans significantly following a manufacturing issue. That sad state of affairs goes a long way to explaining why it's just accepted a large investment that puts a majority 64.9-percent stake in its company in the hands of Hong Kong-based investment company REX Global.
YotaPhone 2's US launch canceled after crowdfunding success
We sort of loved the dual-screened YotaPhone 2, and we weren't alone -- nearly 450 people ordered devices from the company's Indiegogo campaign earlier this month, and a few of them are going to be very disappointed. In an email (obtained by The Verge) fired off to backers earlier this morning, Yota Devices cancelled the phone's US launch entirely thanks to "unforeseen delays including both production and delivery of the North American variant of YotaPhone 2 from our manufacturer."
YotaPhone 2 gets whiter, cheaper and Lollipopier
The YotaPhone 2, with AMOLED on the front and E Ink on the back, is already quite a striking handset thanks to its dual-screen design. Though not striking enough, apparently, or at least not as openly eccentric as the new, white version of the device launching today. And a different color scheme isn't the only thing Yota Devices has to announce this morning. The price of the YotaPhone 2 is also dropping significantly in Europe from today, regardless of what model you're eyeing up, and all current owners will be pleased to hear that an update to Android 5.0 Lollipop has begun rolling out. In addition to Google's improvements, the new version also includes a bunch of YotaPhone-specific tweaks that let you do more with the E Ink display.
popSLATE gives your iPhone a second (not so useful) screen
Like most smartphone users, I unlock my screen incessantly so I usually run out of battery when I most need it. But popSLATE promises to be the rehab for my swipe-screen addiction. It's a smartphone case with an in-built E Ink screen that can personalize the back of an iPhone 6. I could use it to flaunt my favorite pictures or if I run out of battery, at say, an airport, I'd be able to flip my phone over to scan my boarding pass. It seemed like the perfect solution for my excessive phone usage. So I turned the back of my phone into a second, always-on screen for about a week.
YotaPhone 2 will come to the US via Indiegogo
The second generation of YotaPhone's dual-display smartphone is finally coming to the US, but not in the way you may expect. In an interview with PhoneScoop, the company's Matthew Kelly said that the e-ink display-toting device will be made available to backers on Indiegogo, of all places. The details have yet to be worked out, but the company is planning to offer early backers some sort of bonus for getting to the front of the line. If the sale is successful, then the device might even wind up hitting store shelves but, for now, it doesn't look as if any specific plans have been made. There's also no word on how much the US edition of the YotaPhone 2 will cost you, but considering that it's priced at nearly £600 ($917) in the UK, you can expect to be paying flagship prices for that extra screen. Update: Yota have belatedly confirmed that the handset will be priced at $600 when it hits Indiegogo.
YotaPhone 2 review: niche and expensive, but seriously cool
YotaPhone was inarguably one of the quirkiest smartphones released last year, with not one, but two displays. This curious marriage of LCD and E Ink was certainly a manufacturing achievement, but limited uses for the secondary screen meant it simply couldn't live up to its potential. Undeterred, Yota Devices announced earlier this year it was cooking up a sequel, and today it's ready to launch the new and improved YotaPhone 2. Its fresh design, high-end specs and bigger, higher-resolution displays are welcome upgrades, but most importantly, a thorough overhaul of the handset's software means you can now make full use of the low-power E Ink screen, which has also been granted touch functionality for this generation. I've spent a fair amount of time with the device, and have to say that it's the most interesting smartphone I've ever used. Like its predecessor, the YotaPhone 2 is still very much a niche proposition with narrow mainstream appeal. That being said, Yota Devices has more or less achieved what it set out to do last year: Make a handset with an E Ink display that has several, legitimate use cases. Whether these will actually tempt you into picking one up is another matter, but the second screen is no longer an oddity; it's an asset.
Dual-screen YotaPhone 2 arrives in Europe this month
Yota was slightly cruel to YotaPhone fans. It unveiled the next generation of its dual-display smartphone way back in February... and left people wondering about the launch window for most of the year. At last, though, you can try this two-screened device for yourself. The YotaPhone 2 is now slated to launch in Europe this month for 32,990 rubles in the company's native Russia, or about $612. The hardware hasn't changed much since the start of 2014, which makes this a mid-range device with a few tricks up its sleeve. You're still looking at a 5-inch 1080p AMOLED display at the front, and that signature 4.7-inch e-paper touchscreen at the back for basic tasks and alerts; inside, there's a respectable Snapdragon 800 processor, 32GB of storage, an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front shooter.
Dual-display YotaPhone now shipping to the UK for £419
We're not entirely convinced that this is the right time to hop aboard the YotaPhone express, especially when a greatly improved second-gen handset has been promised before the end of this year. Nevertheless, if you're in the UK and you're willing to drop £419 in order to experiment with a genuinely unique e-reader / smartphone hybrid (as opposed to a phone that is e-ink only), then the Yota Devices web store will now ship to you via the source link below.
Dual-screen YotaPhone has a second shot at greatness
If you caught our review of the YotaPhone at the end of last year, you'll know we were cautious about recommending it -- in fact, we said it was probably safer to hold out for a second-gen device. Well, here's a surprise: that replacement is already at the prototype stage and it brings some big improvements that could undo many of the criticisms we leveled at the original. Most importantly, the rear E-Ink panel is now fully touch sensitive, which means you'll be able to do a lot more with this phone without ever needing to engage the traditional, power-hungry display on the other side. Calls, texts, emails, browsing, tweeting and more can be handled using the "always-on" 4.7-inch E-Ink display, with the only sacrifice being predictably slower refresh rates.
YotaPhone update lets you read more e-books and documents on its energy-saving E Ink display
Much as we admired the potential of the YotaPhone in our recent review, we just couldn't overlook its lack of support for popular e-reading platforms like Amazon Kindle and Google Books. That problem hasn't been solved just yet, but things are starting to move in the right direction: the dual-display handset has now been made to work with an alternative (and relatively popular) e-reading app called FBReader. This app will let you display and swipe through Word and .rtf documents on the E Ink panel, as well as unencrypted .epub and .mobi e-book formats of the sort that are traded in smaller e-book stores and some shadier, copyright-dodging parts of the web. PDF files should also be supported by the next version of FBReader, which is currently in beta. Meanwhile, Yota Devices tells us that it's "discussing potential collaboration" with Amazon in order to bring about Kindle support, which, if it happens, would be nothing short of a breakthrough.
YotaPhone review: LCD on the front, E Ink on the back, unique all over
We've long pondered the possibility of an e-ink phone. One that offers enough battery life to get us to the end of the day, or maybe even the End of Days, simply by being less reliant on the power-draining frivolity of an LCD or AMOLED panel. What we didn't envision, though, was that the first mass-produced attempt at such an idea would come from a Russian company we'd never heard of, or that it would take the particularly unusual form of the YotaPhone -- a device that does many things differently, not least in having a curved E Ink panel on its rear side. As you're about to see, a lot of these two-faced ideas have potential, but some of them need some work -- a lot of work, in fact -- before they're ready for prime time. And then there's the price tag, which may come as something of a surprise in its own right given the YotaPhone's mid-range specs. It costs €499 in Europe, which equates to around $675 in the US (although the handset isn't currently available there). That means you could actually buy the Yota's two halves separately for a more affordable sum; for example, by getting a Nexus 5 and a Kindle. Nevertheless, the ability to buy the two-in-one YotaPhone is something we didn't have a year ago, and something that isn't offered by any other company, and so it's worth bearing that in mind as we proceed to lay out its many flaws.
Weekly Roundup: Amazon Prime Air drones, LG G Flex review, hands-on with the YotaPhone and more!
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Daily Roundup: Andy Rubin's Google robotics, Microsoft completes Nokia acquisition and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Hands-on with the YotaPhone: the e-ink Android phone that nobody expected
There was a moment, back in 2012, when we had some quiet doubts about the YotaPhone. The first prototype was desirable, useful, and far beyond any kind of gimmick -- but it also seemed like it'd be hard to manufacture for a reasonable price, especially by a company that has never built a phone before. After all, this is effectively two devices rolled into one: an LTE Android phone with a 4.3-inch LCD display on one side, plus an e-reader on the other side, offering always-on notifications from the OS and the luxury of over 60 hours of e-book reading time thanks to good old E Ink technology. Fortunately for us, and for any other phone lover on this planet who appreciates fresh ideas, such fears were unfounded. The Russian engineers at Yota Devices have overcome the many technical challenges that stood in their way, and the fruit of their efforts will go on sale in Europe later today via a dedicated online store, priced at a not-so-wacky 499 euros ($675). Admittedly, that may seem like a lot to ask if you focus solely on the specs -- like the 720p resolution of the LCD or the mid-range Snapdragon S4 Pro processor -- but it starts to make sense when you take a look at just how unique this thing is. And now that we're holding the final hardware in our hands, we're able to do just that.
Dual-screen YotaPhone is shipping in time to impress nerds at your holiday party
If you wrote Santa asking for a dual-display phone this year, the fat man from the North Pole may be gliding down your chimney with a YotaPhone on Christmas Eve. It's been nearly a year since we first spied the LCD and E Ink-packing handset, and now TechCrunch says the Russian-based company is finally ready to make good on its promise to bring the device to consumers "before Christmas." As you might recall, the Android-based handset with a split personality features a full-color, Gorilla Glass 4.3-inch 1,280 x 720 LCD display on the front and a 200 dpi E Ink display on the rear. The company has yet to stick a price tag on either screen and the specs aren't exactly earth-shattering , but if it does make good on its promise, we're sure someone will pick up the YotaPhone for novelty sake alone.
YotaPhone inks manufacturing deal, plans to launch in the second half of 2013
Did you think that Russia's YotaPhone was consigned to the island of misfit concept devices? The company has just inked a production deal with Singapore-based OEM Hi-P international, with YotaPhone planning to launch the handset globally in the second half of 2013. While Hi-P isn't a name you should be familiar with, a cursory search reveals that it's previously produced hardware for Apple, RIM BlackBerry and, most notably, Amazon's E-Reader division. At the same time, the Russian business is opening up an R&D center in Singapore to help research "subsequent generations of YotaPhone," so it looks like Janus devices could be here to stay.
YotaPhone Android prototype with dual LCD and E Ink displays hands-on (video)
Yesterday we brought you the announcement, and today we bring you the hands-on reality -- although bear in mind that this dual-screen YotaPhone is still very much a prototype. It certainly works -- pretty well, in fact -- but it's understandably rough around the edges and Yota Devices have plenty of work to do before the handset launches towards the end of next year. By way of a quick refresher: from the front this is a regular Android Jelly Bean phone with decent specs, including a 720 x 1,280 LCD display, dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, 2GB of RAM and a 12-megapixel main camera. Turn it around, however, and you reveal its double identity: a 200 dpi E Ink display which can hold a range of information -- calendar appointments, ebooks, tweets and whatever else you'd like -- without draining the battery. The good new is that the YotaPhone actually makes an even better first impression than we'd hoped, while the bad news is merely what's to be expected given the early stage of development. Click past the break for our hands-on video and impressions and all will become clear.
Russian YotaPhone promises dual 4.3-inch LCD and E Ink displays in Q3 of next year
Cast your mind back to IFA and you might just recall the appearance of a dual-screen mash-up device with no proper branding or launch date. Well, it so happens we've been in touch with the mystery phone's maker, Yota Devices -- a spin-off from the more established Russian telecoms company of the same name -- and we're assured that this is much more than a whimsical concept. The Android-based handset has now reached fully working prototype stage and bears a Gorilla Glass 4.3-inch 720 x 1,280 LCD display on the front, a 200dpi E Ink rear display of the same size and toughness, and a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor with 2GB of RAM and at least 32GB of non-expandable storage. There's even LTE, a 12-megapixel rear camera and a 720p front-facer to round things off, all housed in a 140 gram body that is less than 10mm thick. If things go to plan, the YotaPhone should arrive on Russian networks in Q3 of next year for an untold sum of money, and Yota says it's "in talks" with certain US and European carriers too. Read on for more.
