Announced last year, the Yotaphone captured the attention of many with its innovative features that could possiblly create a new archetype for the smartphone industry, TechCrunch reported.
The phone, created by Moscow-based Yota Devices, has gained quite a reputation for its "split personality," or dual-screen configuration. The front of the phone sports a 4.3-inch, traditional LCD display, and an energy-sipping E-Ink unit.
It's the first time a smartphone integrates a full-color LCD on one side and an electronic paper display (EPD) on the other side, according to Yota devices.
"This will be the first time that people will be able to personalize the information they want to receive on their phones in an effortless way," Yota Devices CEO Vlad Martynov said in a statement. "Today if you want to check your email, calendar or social media page, you have to pick up your phone, turn it on, open the application and only then can you receive the information. With YotaPhone, this information will appear on the electronic paper display effortlessly, continuously and updated in real time."
The two displays have different functions and different purposes.
YotaPhone lets users watch videos, play games and perform other functions best suited on the LCD, but adds an electronic paper display for content that requires longer reading time, like reading a book or magazine.
"YotaPhone is elegant, slim and sleek," Martynov said. "It's as gorgeous outside as it is inside, featuring two Corning Gorilla Glass screens, which are exceptionally resistant to damage."
This is the first time Corning's 3D Gorilla Glass is being used on a smartphone. The innovative device also keeps important information visible without draining the battery.
Boarding passes, maps, tickets and other important information are displayed even if the battery dies, the company added.
YotaPhone takes all the best technologies and amplifies them. At the same time, we address some of the ways smartphones interfere with us being truly social beings. YotaPhone is always connected, but in a smarter, less stressful way," Martynov said. "Technology is setting the tone of our lives rather than the other way around. We at Yota Devices aim to rebalance the relationship with our smartphone."
The company has just confirmed toTechCrunch that the YotaPhone will launch internationally before Christmas.
Yota Devices has been working on YotaPhone for more than two years. The first model was shown to then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in September 2010 at a meeting on the country's modernization program. Yota Devices has filed a number of patents, copyrights and design rights associated with YotaPhone.
