First Generation Dual-Screen Yotaphone Launches In UK

The dual screen Yotaphone is now available to purchase in the UK, giving British users a chance to use the first version of the Russian device  which adds a battery-saving e-ink screen to an Android phone. The second generation Yotaphone, where both screens handle touch input, won’t arrive till later this year.

Britain is part of the second wave of markets for the first-generation Yotaphone, which launched last December. The first countries to get it were Russia, Germany, Austria, France and Spain.  Now, along with the UK, it is available in Portugal, Italy, Switzerland and Scandinavia.

Yota promises that Britons who purchase the £429 device will be able to get their hands on the next-generation Yotaphone at a discounted price when it launches in the fourth quarter of 2014. The Yotaphone runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, has a 13 megapixel camera, a dual-core Qualcomm Krait processor running at 1.7GHz and 32GB of memory.

Yotaphone Launch

It has a 4.3-inch LCD screen on the front and a monochrome e-ink display on the back, which can be used to view information without waking the phone, saving battery power. Manufacturer Yota claims its smartphone can last between seven and ten times the length of other comparable devices.

“The typical user picks up and activates their smartphone more than 150 times a day,” explains Yota Devices CEO Vlad Martynov.  “Why?  Because users worry that messages or information they need or want are hidden behind their phone’s black screen.  This is a huge distraction and can impede meaningful interaction with our friends, families and colleagues.”

An upgrade programme will allow everyone who purchases a current generation Yotaphone to purchase its successor later this year at a cheaper price. The next-generation Yotaphone was shown off at Mobile World Congress (MWC) last month and features a 5-inch AMOLED display and a 4.7-inch E-Ink display that can be used as a second touch screen, meaning phone functions can actually be performed using the display.

“The future of smartphones is always-on displays allowing users real-time access to information without turning off the real world and disrupting the people around you,” adds Martynov.

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