YotaPhone 2 could be coming to the U.S. early next year
The first YotaPhone has been around since 2012 and the new generation YotaPhone 2 was first glimpsed at Mobile World Congress in February this year. At a special event held yesterday in Moscow’s Gorky Park, Yota officially launched the YotaPhone 2, available in Europe this week and worldwide in early 2015.
YotaPhone 2, an Android smartphone with a second e-ink display on the rear, may seem like a novelty to some, but it has some compelling advantages and is rather well specced.
According to Yota’s CEO, the device consumes far less energy than similar specced devices (sans the second screen) and can run for up to five consecutive days in ‘read’ mode on a single charge. When using standard features, like making calls, texting and emailing, the phone’s ‘economical’ energy scheme allows up to two days between charges. This is largely due to the second e-ink display consuming far less power in comparison to traditional screens. The user simply selects which information to display on the e-ink display instead of the front AMOLED display.
The phone features a 5-inch AMOLED Full HD 1920×1080 display on the front and a 4.7-inch e-ink display on the rear. It runs Android 4.4, KitKat with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 2.2 GHz quad-core processor and packs 32GB internal storage, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash and a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera.
YotaPhone 2, slated to cost $620, goes on sale in 20 European countries this year and in early 2015 will become available in China and the rest of Asia-Pacific and subsequently in Canada and Latin America. Yota has not released any plans for a U.S. launch date.
Meet the YotaPhone 2:
