14 DAY TRIAL // Yota is a Russia-based smartphone manufacturer that has recently expanded beyond the European confines, as it has just started selling its YotaPhone 2 product in the US via Indiegogo. But although the device is up for purchase, backers will probably see their units ship out only in August.
The phone is unique because it offers dual-display functionality, so apart from the main display, users also have access to an e-Ink secondary screen for notifications.
However, local technology website Hi-Tech has now uncovered an unsettling piece of information about the phone.
According to the report, the Russian YotaPhone houses a backdoor which can be used by the Federal Security Service (former KGB) to spy on your activities. Auch.
The YotaPhone has a backdoor? So what?
But what’s even more surprising is that the head of Russian Government-sponsored Rostech corporation Sergey Chemezov, who is in charge of making the phone, doesn’t see any problem with this setup. According to him, the Federal Security Service has to have access to the users’ info by default, because otherwise they wouldn’t be able to sell the phone on the market.
He claims that otherwise the phones could be used by terrorists or criminals. Chemezov’s statement culminates with him calling the iPhone a terrorist-prone device. Talk about aggressive marketing strategies.
As we told you above, the YotaPhone 2 has just made it on the US market, but after reading this piece of news, I don’t know how many users will still want to fund the campaign on Indiegogo.
Still, if you’re not turned off by this piece of information, Chemezov promises that more YotaPhone models are coming in the near future. The third iteration of the dual screen smartphone arrives in February 2016, and towards the holiday season, we’re going to see a cheaper version arrive on the market.
On top of that, the company is also working on a wireless charger and a tablet. According to an earlier report, Yota apparently claimed that US carriers showed great interest in picking up the new YotaPhone models.
But given the “special” spying ability of the phone, one has to wonder if the device will do very well on the US market. Most likely customers will stick to their iOS and Android handsets, which supposedly don’t allow for any backdoors.
