YotaPhone, the first smartphone with dual display is now available in India for 23,499 INR. The highlight is of course the presence of an extra e-ink display at the rear which is always on and like all e-ink displays consumer very little battery. Its and unconventional smartphone for sure and thus is meant for niche audience. Let’s take a good look at what the Russian manufacturer is offering.
Camera and Internal Storage
The rear camera is a 13 MP unit which sounds good enough and allows you to record 1080p full HD videos. The e-ink display can be used to display messages for the subjects when you click images.
For the audience that YotaPhone is targeting, imaging hardware shouldn’t be a deal breaker. The autofocus rear shooter is supported by LED flash. A 1 MP front camera is also present for photography. With the presence of dual display, it would be easier to click selfies from rear camera as well.
Internal storage is 32 GB, which is again is good enough to keep most people happy. The storage is not expandable, but since ample nand flash storage is present, this shouldn’t be a deal breaker.
Processor and Battery
The chipset used is Snapdragon 400 Dual core SoC clocked at 1.7 GHz. The cores used are efficient Krait 300 cores and coupled with 2 GB RAM, this is enough power to handle day to day operations and HD resolution smoothly.
Battery capacity is 1800 mAh. Company claims that this will last 7 times more than other phones with similar hardware and battery. If you are in the habit of using always on e-ink display for reading and checking notifications, you could save lots of battery juice as you won’t have to wake up your phone ever so often.
Display and Other Feature
The front side has a sharp and compact 4.3 Inch display with 720p HD resolution (342 ppi), while the rear side has a 4.3 Inch 640×360 e-ink display. If you have spend some time with kindle e-readers, you would definitely find this enticing.
The good thing about the e-ink display is that they consume very little power and have very good outdoor visibility. They also put very little stress on your eyes. So the option to just flip your phone and continue reading on the e-ink display is a great one.
Yota phone also innovatively uses the rear display to mirror notifications. The e-ink display however won’t work in low light conditions. We are also not sure how much resistant it will be to the scratches and daily wear and tear, especially when the rear side is more exposed to rough surface.
Operating system is also quite dated Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean which is slightly disappointing. Other features include MicroUSB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.0, AGPS, GLONASS, Compass, 3G and WiFi.
Comparison
YotaPhone stands pretty much alone in its league, but based on its price, it will compete with phones like HTC Desire 820, HTC Desire 820q, Gionee Elife S5.5 and Oppo N1 Mini.
What we Like
- Power efficient e-ink display
- Camera and other hardware
What we don’t Like
- Dated Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS
Key Specs
| Model | YotaPhone |
| Display | 4.3 Inch , HD and 4.3 Inch 640×360 e-ink display |
| Processor | 1.7 GHz dual Core Snapdragon 400 |
| RAM | 2GB |
| Internal Storage | 32 GB |
| OS | Android Kitkat |
| Camera | 13 MP/ 1 MP |
| Battery | 1800 mAh |
| Price | 23,499 INR |
Conclusion
Dual screen concept is something we really like. We can see ourselves using it as a handy tool. Since the device is targeting those who read more often, a bigger display would have been more appealing. Also, 23,499 INR seems a little expensive, especially for a first generation product. YotaPhone 2 for the same price would have been more alluring. YotaPhone will make more sense to people who prefer a compact smartphone, it’s not for everyone.
