Yota Devices made headlines when it released the first-ever dual-display phone, the YotaPhone. Now, the follow-up to the highly-popular two-screen phone will be made available in the U.S. this spring.
The YotaPhone 2 is a block phone with full touch capacitive display on both its front and back. The front display is a 5-inch high definition AMOLED screen with 1080p resolution. At the back, the 4.7-inch screen is an electronic paper display with a 960 x 540 resolution. Both displays are encased in Gorilla Glass 3.
Running on Android, the YotaPhone 2 is expected to make its appearance in the U.S. market through crowdsourcing site Indiegogo, according to Matthew Kelly, YotaPhone's Managing Director for Americas. Yota Devices is expected to kick off its Indiegogo campaign soon, with special prices available for early bird backers who will fund the campaign this coming April.
Aside from the novel feature of two displays, the YotaPhone 2 also features increased battery life. Users can opt to read e-books, notifications, and messages on the back display, made of e-ink, and therefore save power. Phone owners can then use the full HD display in front for color-heavy apps such as taking videos and images.
Another feature that sets the YotaPhone 2 apart from other smartphones is its YotaSnap and Life After Death feature, where users can get a screenshot of information from the front color display — like a map or an important message — and have it saved on the e-ink display at the back. The information is stored and displayed even if the battery dies completely.
These novel features are a first for the industry. According to Yota CEO Vlad Martynov, "We believe our technology constitutes an entirely new species of mobile device, not just by integrating a power efficient electronic paper display but by making two screens work in harmony."
