CES is a place where innovation thrives, but sadly, sometimes gimmicks come disguised as innovation. A phone with two screens would certainly be written off as a gimmick, not in this case; YotaPhone comes with an innovative dual display design which features an E-Ink display which is practical and pretty cool, indeed.
The YotaPhone comes from a Russian company named Yota, who are known for making routers and modems, this is the company’s first phone. The phone reflects Yota’s philosophy of coming up with innovative products.
YotaPhone phone runs on Android 4.1.1, which is displayed on a 4.3 inch HD LCD panel on the front, and the back an E-Ink display of the same size. There are many advantages of having a E-Ink display, the foremost being checking your notifications without turning on your phone, as the panel at the back requires virtually zero battery power. According to Yota, the display at the back will stay on even if your battery dies. The company is making their own apps which take advantage of the E-Ink display at the back as well as providing an API for third party developers to come up with their own apps. Another advantage of having an E-Ink display is its excellent sunlight legibility, where LCDs are washed out, E-Ink displays are crisp and clear.
The YotaPhone has another neat trick up its sleeve, the phone has no physical navigation buttons commonly found on Android devices, instead the phone makes use of a gesture enabled bottom bar which lets you flick across to activate either the home or the back button function, when used, this system is far more intuitive than it seems. Check out the video below to see the phone in action.
