YotaPhone Review: The world's first dual-screen smartphone

At the CES exhibition in Las Vegas, a presentation of the YotaPhone smartphone took place. There he received the prestigious award, becoming the best among mobile devices. The new model is not similar to any other devices, because it is equipped with two screens, one of which is E-Ink, as in electronic "readers".

What is the advantage of a smartphone with such displays? It can work much longer if you use only the E-Ink screen to view service information messages. Also, this display is better suited for reading, reducing eye strain. In addition, displays of this type are perfectly readable in the sun. In addition to a pair of displays, the model is characterized by a productive chipset, even the old generation. The smartphone supports 3G / 4G networks, it is equipped with a 13 megapixel camera and 32 GB of RAM, but there is no support for memory cards. According to its characteristics, the device turned out to be interesting, except for the lack of a Full HD display, which has become an integral feature of this year’s flagship models.


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Specifications

OS : Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
Network : LTE 800/1800/2600 MHz, UMTS 900/1800/2100 MHz, GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz
Processor : 2 cores, 1.7 GHz, Qualcomm 8960T
Screen : 4.3 "720 x 1280, LCD. 360 x 460 EPD
Dimensions : 133.6 x 67 x 9.9 mm, 146 g
Camera : 13 megapixel, autofocus, LED-flash, front camera 1 megapixel
Memory : 2 GB RAM, 32 GB eMMC
Communications : WiFi 802.11 a / b / g / n, BT v4.0, GPS w / A-GPS + Glonass
Video : 1080p 30fps; H.263, H.264 AVC, MPEG-4, WebM
Audio : MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC +, AMR, MIDI, WAV
Color : black or white
Battery : 1800 mAh
Others : accelerometer, gyroscope, FM radio, support for gesture control
Price : 19 990 rubles

Design

If you put the YotaPhone on the table next to any of the new flagship devices, you can clearly see how much less its screen is the screen compared to its counterparts, and the body itself can hardly be called small. Large frames around the screen, impressive thickness. And look at the device more interesting from the back than the front. The whole essence of the model opens here: a curved E-ink screen. The front side with the main display is flat.





Against the background of the flagship products of this year, which compete with each other, who is thinner, YotaPhone does not fall among the leaders at all. The thickness of almost 1 cm is a lot against the general background. This can only be explained by the presence of a second screen.

The smartphone is not very heavy, but due to the wide frames around the screen and the large flat sides it feels larger than it actually is. Now most companies are trying to reduce the empty areas around the display, making the most of free space. There is no such thing. The frontal and rear parts of the smartphone are covered with Gorilla Glass, the sidewalls are covered with a nice soft-touch plastic, the assembly is excellent. It is pleasant to take a smartphone in hand, although it is not particularly convenient to hold it because of angular shapes and thickness, but it is a matter of habit.

Above the screen is a speaker, a set of sensors and a camera. Rocking volume control placed on the left side, on the top end of the power button. It is flat, the place chosen is uncomfortable, you have to reach for it. The button itself is actually a plug for the microSIM connector.

Screen

The backlight of conventional screens consumes a lot of energy, which inevitably affects the autonomy. In this case, the role of the event panel is best assigned to E-Ink. And he works constantly, separately from the color display and does not depend on it. Considering how low his power consumption is, this has a positive effect on the lifetime of a single charge.





Events that are displayed on the E-Ink screen are customized by the user. For example, a smartphone may not show the contents of the message or the name of the sender, but only indicate the fact of receiving a new notification. Sets a list of those from whom you want to display messages and letters, a lot of settings for different occasions, which allows not to fear for the private nature of the correspondence. Disable the second screen can not be, it works constantly. In addition to all kinds of notifications, it can show the weather forecast, there is a set of widgets, background wallpapers are configured. In addition, there is an SDK for developers who can later support the original idea with their software. In the meantime, programs are not very many, but, nevertheless, already at the start you can complete your smartphone with a set of useful applications.

On the additional screen, you can display data from the main screen, if you hold with two fingers from top to bottom. The result will be a static image that will duplicate a color image. The smartphone provides convenient work with the calendar, in which you can create various events and receive timely notifications. Again, the electronic ink screen is great for reading. You can flip through the pages with the rocking volume control located on the side or gestures along the sensory area below the screen.



The main screen has a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels, glass without an air gap, the image has excellent viewing angles.

Detailed testing of the main screen

It uses the well-known LCD technology IPS and with a diagonal of 4.3 inches has a resolution of 1280 x 720 (HD). This provides a high pixel density of 342 ppi - the image does not suffer from pixelation, and the fonts and small details look quite smooth.

The maximum screen brightness was 550 cd / m2. This is a very good result, on par with the iPhone 5 / 5S. A solid stock of brightness is enough in most situations. The contrast ratio reaches 745: 1 - good enough for IPS, but it can be better. But the anti-reflective coating did not let down - it well suppresses various parasitic reflections. Viewing angles also came out great. Apparently, the screen has a structure without an air gap, which helps the image to maintain intelligibility at an angle.





Gamma and brightness of halftones are the main questions. The current version of the YotaPhone screen diligently adjusts the gamma depending on the content on the screen. Therefore, it is difficult to measure this indicator with any certainty - the amplitude of the change in brightness is quite noticeable. What is worse, the constant change in image brightness is sometimes noticeable by the eye. Light transitions lose their intelligibility, then acquire it again - in general, they live their own lives. The only consolation is if there is a static image on the screen (and, accordingly, the adjustment does not interfere with it), then visually there is no problem with the gamut. In this case, the intelligibility is good, and the brightness transitions look correct. Until the image is replaced by something else, and the split second the screen will shift the gamma and brightness ...



Color settings, however, no longer cause any complaints. The average color temperature is about 6700K, which is very close to the standard. A slight incline in cold tones is barely noticeable.



In the color balance a little lack of red components. The deviation is so small that the average Delta E error on the gray scale was only 2.79 units. In fact, the screen is very carefully configured from the factory and does not contain any unnecessary impurities.



The color gamut, apparently, also received due attention. Primary colors are very close to the sRGB standard, only green is somewhat lacking in saturation. But even this small miscalculation does not spoil the big picture. The average color error Delta E - 2.37 units. In fact, the distortions are so small that they will not be visible to the naked eye. Great result for a debutant!

As it turned out, the YotaPhone screen has an excellent margin of brightness and very good color reproduction. In principle, here you can talk about some similarities with the iPhone 5 / 5S. If all retail copies will have similar color accuracy, then you can take your hat off to Yota. But the non-switchable adjustment of the scale, which makes the brightness constantly “float”, on the contrary, has become a kind of a fly in the ointment. Looking through the photos, you will often notice how the image changes brightness for half a second. I want to believe that this flaw will be dealt with in future firmware, or at least will highlight the option to disable the adaptive gamma. In this case, the YotaPhone screen can be given the highest rating, but in the current version it is very, very good. To be honest, for a newbie, this is an unexpectedly high result.

Tests, shell, autonomy

The YotaPhone processor operates at a frequency of 1.7 GHz, which is well known from the Qualcomm 8960T chip used in last year’s smartphones. It has 2 cores, 2 GB of RAM, graphics Adreno 320. In tests, the smartphone shows excellent results, which is not surprising: the powerful stuffing gets on well with the HD-resolution of the screen.







There are no memory cards, its memory is 32 GB. The smartphone is well implemented work for codecs, it plays videos of various formats, including the "heavy" videos in Full HD. The speaker is loud, the smartphone reproduces sounds well, but there is a small supply in the headphones, it may not be enough in the subway.









Some kind of specific shell for the device is not offered, inside the familiar Android 4.2.2. YotaPhone abandoned the standard idea of ​​using touch buttons below the screen. Instead, it offers a touch-zone, which is controlled by gestures. If you hold from left to right, you can exit the application, moving from right to left is similar to the "back" button. It is unusual at first, then you can adapt to the algorithm, but the option is certainly not the most convenient.





In addition to the basic tabs in the menu, where standard applications, widgets and a store with software are highlighted, there is also a separate section where special programs for the screen on electronic ink fall. Below are examples of programs adapted to work with the E-Ink screen.

























The battery capacity of the YotaPhone is 1800 mAh, it is non-replaceable. In that case, if you actively use the main color screen, the operating time is not much different from competitors - it is a light day. If you only look at the notifications and at the minimum use the functions of the smartphone, you really get a couple of days of work. But here it should be understood that in this case the scenario of using the device becomes too artificial. Without the Internet, the camera, the player, the modern life of the smartphone owner already seems abnormal. In the video playback mode, at maximum brightness, 4 hours of work are obtained, with the games, the smartphone lives for 2 hours.

Camera

The YotaPhone camera is in an unusual place, in the lower left corner of the back panel. Because of this, it is inconvenient to shoot in an upright position, and if you turn the smartphone sideways, you should be careful not to accidentally block the lens with your fingers. While shooting on the monochrome screen, a funny screen saver is displayed. In the settings you can turn on the HDR mode, remove the panorama, use filters, switch to the front camera. The maximum resolution is 4160 x 3120, 13 MP sensor.



Examples of the photo below, the quality is low, similar smartphones of the same price segment are being removed better. For example, Samsung GALAXY S III, Sony Xperia ZR.





















Originals can be downloaded here .

Pocketbook CoverReader Covers

An interesting alternative for those who like to read, will be interesting developments from Pocketbook, which are made in the form of a cover-book and work with a Samsung GALAXY S4 smartphone. According to own information Hi-Tech.Mail.Ru, CoverReader will be available in January at a price of 3990 rubles. We had the opportunity to get to know him and compare him with the YotaPhone.







With Pocketbook, you can not only read books, but also view documents, emails or web articles. In addition, this screen displays informational messages about missed calls and received SMS. On this screen, you can view text or image files using any other Android application that supports the Share function.



You can scroll pages using the touch zones of the E-Ink display itself or the phone’s sound control keys. The pictures are examples of PocketBook CoverReader. They have a back panel of soft-touch plastic, which is mounted instead of the standard cover. In addition to the versions with blue and black frosted plastic front panel, there will also be a soft-touch version. Other colors will also appear, exactly known about the dark blue shade.

Conclusion

The idea of ​​a second screen, which duplicates the main one in order to save energy, is certainly good in itself. All sorts of notifications are perfectly visible on the street, while for many smartphones the screens “fade” under the sun. But at the same time, the management concept is inconvenient. Instead of the three usual touch keys, there is a touch area both in front and behind. And she responds to touch is not the first time, you have to press it again. This is especially true of the area under the black and white screen. For the "reader" the screen is too small, the solution is a compromise.

The design of the device for a product that targets the high price segment is quite simple. The phone is a utilitarian thing, but still I want to get something prettier than a bar with large frames around the screen. In terms of stuffing and performance, everything is fine: the HD resolution and last year’s top-end processor complement each other perfectly, and we shouldn’t forget about LTE support too. The smartphone does not have a slot for a memory card, but the built-in 32 GB should be enough for various tasks.

YotaPhone deserves attention as a separate product that can attract attention in the market and create a precedent - such devices have not yet existed. However, the industry does not stand still. The industry quickly mastered the production of covers with this type of screen. For example, such a thing can be found in a well-known manufacturer of "readers" Pocketbook. Having bought such an accessory, you can also read books on the E-Ink screen, and you can flip through the pages with the volume buttons. The price is about 3990 rubles, which is quite democratic for such an accessory, if you do not want to carry a separate e-book with you.

Nevertheless, products with such capabilities as YotaPhone offers are not available from any manufacturer on the market yet. Therefore, despite the fact that in its current state, the prototype does not work in an ideal way, the device deserves an award for innovation.