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YotaPhone 2's American crowdfunding campaign kicks off
Have you been jonesing to get the YotaPhone 2 in North America? It's time to put your money where your mouth is. As promised, Yota has kicked off an Indiegogo campaign to help fund its unique smartphone's summer launches in the US and Canada. Make at least a $500 pledge (that's $100 off the eventual release price) and you'll get both the Android handset as well as a bumper case and a 3-month subscription to Yota's BookMate service. You can also spring for a $50 portable wireless power pack if you're averse to cables. The crowdfunding effort will end in 60 days, but it has a fairly modest $50,000 goal -- there's a good chance that you'll have a YotaPhone 2 in your hands before the weather gets cold.
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.
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.
Engadget Daily: YotaPhone 2, the PlayStation turns 20, and more!
YotaPhone's second-gen handset, the YotaPhone 2, is powerful, well-built and makes legitimate use of its secondary E Ink screen. The only problem? It costs as much as an off-contract 16GB iPhone 6. That's not all we have on deck, though -- read on for the rest of our news highlights from the last 24 hours.
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.
