Russian phone maker YotaPhone introduced one of the most unusual Android phones late last year with the introduction of a dual-screen handset with a color display on one side and an E Ink screen on the other.

Now YotaPhone is getting ready to launch a next-generation model. This time both displays feature touchscreens, letting you use the low-power, sunlight viewable ePaper display as your primary screen if you want.

Yotaphone 2

YotaPhone is showing off a prototype of a new phone that features a 5 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel color AMOLED display on one side and a 4.7 inch, 960 x 540 pixel E Ink display on the other.

Since E Ink screens only use power when the page is refreshed, you can leave an image or text on the always-on display indefinitely. It also means that if you use the E Ink screen to make calls and perform other basic phone functions, you should get significantly longer battery life.

In fact, YotaPhone says the phone’s 2550mAh battery should provide up to 50 hours of run time if you’re using the device to read eBooks (presumably in airplane mode).

The ePaper display doesn’t refresh the screen as quickly as the color display, has a lower resolution, and only shows shades of gray. So it’s probably not the screen you’ll want to use to watch videos or run games. But it’s nice to have options.

The phone supports 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, USB 3.0, and GPS and it’s expected to ship with 2GB of RAM, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and the latest version of Android… whatever version that is when the phone actually hits the streets.

While those specs look decent, it’s clearly the E Ink display that helps this phone stand out — and by now that it’s a true secondary display for most apps on the phone, the next-gen YotaPhone combines some of the best features of an Android phone and a dedicated eReader like a Kindle. The first-generation YotaPhone didn’t have a touch panel for the E Ink display and you could only use that display with certain apps.

via TechCrunch

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,544 other subscribers

3 replies on “Next-gen YotaPhone has E Ink, color touchscreens”

    1. Thats an interesting idea. Offer one without color, up the res of the E Ink panel to 720p.
      That would work as a pretty good business phone and I am sure would reduce the price by quite a bit. That said the specs and design make this phone is VERY VERY cool.

    2. That’s what I’ve been waiting for. . . for a couple years now. HD color e-ink with decent internals.

Comments are closed.