14 DAY TRIAL // The YotaPhone 2 is a device that breaks the pattern of typical smartphones by offering a secondary E-ink display living on the rear side.
While the phone has been out and about for a while now and customers were invited to purchase it, today, Yota Devices (the company behind the phone) is releasing an alternate version of the handset which swaps the black outer casing for a white one.
Furthermore, Yota Devices is pushing the Android 5.0 Lollipop update over-the-air (OTA) for the black model, while the white version is to ship with Lollipop pre-installed. The new software version is said to improve the phone’s user interface experience and overall performance.
The software update will make things run a lot more smoothly
The Android 5.0 Lollipop version that is offered on the YotaPhone 2 looks pretty close to stock, but Yota Devices has also concentrated on making the E-ink display more useful.
The always-on display now includes widgets for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, so users can be up to speed with their social media accounts without having to turn the main screen on.
The main visual change brought about by the new device model is that it has a white rear cover, while the sides are kept dark. The phone continues to boast a 4.7-inch touch-enabled rear E-ink panel with 16 levels of grey scale and a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels.
The main display is a 5-inch 1080p affair, while the whole device rests on the services of a quad-core Snapdragon 800 chip fitted with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. An 8MP camera adorns the back of the device. Last but not least, the phone draws life from a 2,500 mAh battery.
On top of that, there is another reason to be excited about Yota’s news. The company is dropping the price of the phone to £440 / $688 / €613 in the UK, from £555 / $868 / €773. The rest of Europe is getting it for €599 / $672, down from the previous €699 / $785.
It might seem a little bit expensive for a brand that isn't Samsung, HTC, or any of the big names, but if you want an atypical phone with two displays, the YotaPhone 2 will probably capture your attention.
