# The crazy YotaPhone 2 - Android on the front, e-ink on the back!



## editor (Dec 3, 2014)

Crazy. But interesting.



http://www.androidcentral.com/yotaphone-2-hands


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## editor (Dec 5, 2014)

Blimey. The Verge is raving about it. 


















> Above all else, the YotaPhone 2 is cool. Within minutes of getting my hands on it, I was telling my colleagues about how I had just placed my first phone call where I dialed with the butt-side of the phone. Then I played a game of chess — rendered in a sharp and attractive monochrome — and I smiled at the ease of it all. I also set my own wallpaper for the electronic paper display and immediately sought someone to show it off to. The YotaPhone does everything you’d expect from a modern Android smartphone, but then goes beyond that with its thoughtfully designed and integrated e-paper functionality





> Like all devices that try to do more than one thing, the YotaPhone 2 has its issues, but unlike the vast majority, those compromises are not enough to quell my enthusiasm. There’s something legitimately new here, and it’s done well enough to make me want to use it regularly. Android phones from smaller companies always give rise to concerns about software updates and future support — it’s not easy being a global distributor dealing with tens if not hundreds of network operators — but the YotaPhone 2 sticks to a stock Android experience that should simplify things and also comes preloaded with the Google Play Store and the full suite of Google services.
> 
> The one shortcoming that the YotaPhone 2 will struggle to overcome, though, is its affordability compared to its competitors. Its UK price of £555 is nearly £200 more than it would cost me to buy a Nexus 5 and an Amazon Kindle. In fact, it’s more expensive than an Xperia Z3 plus a Kindle or an Xperia Z3 Compact — the top phone that I’d currently recommend — together with the backlit Kindle Paperwhite. And yet, none of those combinations give me both the phone and the e-reader in one curvy package that slides easily into my pocket. The YotaPhone 2 is expensive, but it’s also unique.


Shame about the price though, but great to see some real innovation.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/5/7338753/yotaphone-2-hands-on-preview


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## pesh (Dec 5, 2014)

E Ink made one a couple of years back, don't think it ever got released.
http://gizmodo.com/5939546/dual-e-ink-and-lcd-phone-just-means-twice-as-many-fingerprint-smudges


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## The Boy (Dec 6, 2014)

I'm still struggling to see the point of this.  Especially given the price tag.


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## editor (Dec 6, 2014)

Massive battery life option, maybe?


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Dec 6, 2014)

editor said:


> Blimey. The Verge is raving about it.



Oh, I like that


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## The Boy (Dec 6, 2014)

editor said:


> Massive battery life option, maybe?



Is that it?  For >£550?  Colour me meh till the price drops a fuckton.


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## Chz (Dec 7, 2014)

I wish them the very best of luck, so that they make a next generation one that I can afford. Nifty++, but not at that price.


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## salem (Dec 7, 2014)

Cool. I've been waiting for this since seeing the idea mooted years ago.

I'd say 70+ of what I do with my smartphone would be fine with a decent monochrome screen. There would be plenty of times it'd even be better than a lcd (reading long docs, in sunlight).

I'd be curious what the real world savings are though. My battery stats say that the screen was only responsible for 18% of battery usage since last charge. I'd take a phone twice as thick with >2x battery instead I think.


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## editor (Jan 26, 2015)

It appears it's actually rather good!

http://www.androidcentral.com/yotaphone-2-review


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## twentythreedom (Jan 26, 2015)

I remember a phone that had an MP3 player on the back. 

It's a solution to a problem nobody's really got


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## alsoknownas (Jan 27, 2015)

No, this is a good idea.  E-ink is of course great (for literature).  I was just wishing there was a hybrid switchable display technology that would save me carrying both my kindle and my phone.  Hadn't thought of this... clever.  Obv. price / quality have to be right.


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## chandlerp (Jan 30, 2015)

I would happily swap my iPhone 5S for one of these.


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## editor (May 19, 2015)

They reached their crowdfunding target in extra quick time.


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## Throbbing Angel (May 20, 2015)

Great idea and great device.

Still want one - Still costs too much


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## chandlerp (May 20, 2015)

Yes, I really want one of these but the price is prohibitive.  Instead I've bought the latest Kindle to go with my iphone 5S


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## editor (May 20, 2015)

chandlerp said:


> Yes, I really want one of these but the price is prohibitive.  Instead I've bought the latest Kindle to go with my iphone 5S


The UK equiv price of £385 ($600) is cheaper than an iPhone 5s.


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## BigTom (May 20, 2015)

I've just bought one   I'm hoping that I'll pretty much just use the e-ink display, on that score it really looks great for me / my usage. I will report back here when it arrives. I feel a bit wrong spending that much money on a phone tbh.


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## editor (May 21, 2015)

BigTom said:


> I've just bought one   I'm hoping that I'll pretty much just use the e-ink display, on that score it really looks great for me / my usage. I will report back here when it arrives. I feel a bit wrong spending that much money on a phone tbh.


Ooh, please keep us updated!


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## chandlerp (May 21, 2015)

editor said:


> The UK equiv price of £385 ($600) is cheaper than an iPhone 5s.


I appreciate that, but I already have the iPhone


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## Throbbing Angel (May 21, 2015)

editor said:


> Ooh, please keep us updated!



^^^this ^^^


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## BigTom (Aug 24, 2015)

Well it's arrived editor Throbbing Angel in some ridiculously lovely designed box:






But I need a nano sim for it, which I don't have, so it'll have to wait until I use it properly. I've had a play though obviously.
Bear in mind all my previous smartphones have been £100-£150 phones, aside from very briefly in 2012 when I had an HTC phone which was around £200 I think, that the police took off me after fortnum and mason and I never used again.

This one is bigger than my s3 mini, but not so big that it's uncomfortable in my hand or pocket. It's slimmer than my s3 mini despite the double screenage and feels good, with a nice weight. The led touchscreen is fantastic, really responsive, sharp and bright/vivid colours, though I've not used it to play any video or games yet. The e-ink screen works fine, the touchscreen is not as responsive and will take a little getting used to I think, with slower, more defined motions needed than on the led touchscreens I've used.

I can't make a phone call yet, but I've pretended to send a text message using the e-ink side and tbh I think that using swype keyboard will be so much quicker and easier to type a message that I'll probably not use the e-ink side for this, but if I was in a situation where I wanted to preserve battery I would, it's perfectly usable, just the keyboard is slightly laggy and I find swiping much quicker than typing.

There's not many apps for the e-ink side, which isn't surprising, but I was hoping they might have worked out a way to display the text from apps on the e-ink side so I could use tapatalk to read urban but unfortunately not. Still has most of what I want - clock, music player, phone calls, texts and emails. Also has a twitter app, weather and some games (2048, solitaire, sudoku, something else, none I'm likely to play, did have a game of 2048 on the e-ink side to see what it was like and it works fine, but shows up how the touchscreen needs a more directed touch than the led side). Sends you back to the led screen for notifications though.

Once I've got the nano sim (I'm off to Shambala festival on wednesday so it'll be a week at least), I'll see how I get on using the e-ink side only and see how long the battery lasts.


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## BigTom (Aug 25, 2015)

I've just found the program that puts the normal led screen onto the eink side to use any app and I'm currently using tapatalk and Swype to post this post 
Awesome. Definitely need to get used to using the touchscreen on the eink side but Swype works fine, photos display, though I'll probably avoid the bandwidth thread  even Google maps looks useable. 

That just leaves the camera really, we'll see how it goes but now I feel like I could use the eink side almost exclusively.

Fucking loads of system updates tonight though.
Also, small annoyances, I miss physical home/back/settings buttons and the lack of sd card slot too.don't think I'll need to worry about not being able to swap batteries.

I'm well happy now though. Will report back again when I've used it properly for a bit


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## editor (Aug 25, 2015)

BigTom said:


> I've just found the program that puts the normal led screen onto the eink side to use any app and I'm currently using tapatalk and Swype to post this post
> Awesome. Definitely need to get used to using the touchscreen on the eink side but Swype works fine, photos display, though I'll probably avoid the bandwidth thread  even Google maps looks useable.
> 
> That just leaves the camera really, we'll see how it goes but now I feel like I could use the eink side almost exclusively.
> ...


I appreciate the updates - keep 'em coming!


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## chandlerp (Aug 25, 2015)

How much did you pay?	I want the white one


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## BigTom (Aug 26, 2015)

$525 on their kickstarter, I'm not organised enough to keep my credit card statements so I don't remember what that ended up being in £.

Forgot to mention there's an ebook reader built in and the lollipop update it's done comes with new apps native to the eink screen, but haven't looked at them yet.

Doing my early morning urban browsing on the eink side today. Definitely getting used to the touchscreen, can honestly see myself barely using the led side. Much nicer to read on eink than led too


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## BigTom (Aug 26, 2015)

I've taken a photo using the eink side with the front camera so lower res, I don't do video calls but from using the camera, I can see it'd work fine, handles video with a decent enough frame rate, even ok for the Samsung watch promo video I just watched, black and white though obviously.

Honestly, first impression is that I'll barely use the led screen, and the things I will use it for (maps, photos, video) I can do on the eink side, just that having colour and higher resolution makes for a better experience, and I'd go for an eink only phone.


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## BigTom (Sep 9, 2015)

Sim card has arrived and is activated, so this is now my phone! going to charge it overnight and start using it in anger tomorrow. We'll see how long the batter lasts.


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## twentythreedom (Sep 9, 2015)

Ooh, tempted by this


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## chandlerp (Sep 9, 2015)

Can't seem to find the white one for love nor money


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## NoXion (Sep 9, 2015)

I'll be impressed when they come up with an e-ink screen capable of both colour and high refresh rates.


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## sumimasen (Sep 13, 2015)

You paid $525, which is about £340.  They've now closed that offer on the indiegogo site, the official website and ebay is showing it at £440 now.  Looks like you got an absolute bargain in hindsight!

My phone is dying, and I've been waiting for ages for the Motorola X Style.  It will probable cost in the £350, so when I saw this thread my eyes did light up.  However the £340 you paid vs the £440 it now is makes it look much weaker as a candidate.

A couple of questions:

1.  Has it been updated to the latest Android version, or is it still KitKat?
2.  How is battery life (and are you a heavy user anyway)?
3.  Are you buying into the dual screen habits, or have you giving up and see it as gimmicky?


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## BigTom (Sep 13, 2015)

1) it came with 4.something but updated to lollipop a day or so after I first turned it on

I only got the SIM card last week and had to sort out the data connection so I've only really been using it since Friday. Charged Sat morning and needed it again this morning. I'm not a heavy user but was out and about yesterday so did use it a fair amount. Would like to give it more time to see how the battery life is, but it's not revolutionary, I think one to two days rather than one to one and a half on my s3 mini.

I'm using the eink screen most of the time, definitely not a gimmick. I'll give a proper review once I've used it for a week or so


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## sumimasen (Sep 13, 2015)

Thanks, and look forward to the further review!

Just one more question I've thought of having read more in the last hour... is it 4G?


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## BigTom (Sep 13, 2015)

yes it is - LTE, which I'm led to believe is 4G. I've only used it to browse urban so I didn't really notice a speed difference compared to 3g but then it's mostly text so doesn't really need extra bandwidth.


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## BigTom (Sep 20, 2015)

A little about my phone history/usage - I've had £100-£150 smartphones, Samsung S3 mini for the last 2-3 years so that's what I'm comparing against. In terms of usage, I'm on EEs lowest monthly plan and nowhere near my phone/text/data limits (phone/text might be unlimited, can't remember). I use my phone quite a bit, as an MP3 player for 1-2hrs on a workday, less at weekends; browse urban on tapatalk for 30m-1hr most mornings, occasional phone/text messages and as my camera. Maps is rare but critical and googling stuff is reasonably frequent. I'm mostly around places with wifi.

One thing you need to know for the purposes of this review is that the program that puts the standard android display onto the eink screen is called yotamirror.

I've charged the battery on:
Fri/Sat night, Sun morning, mon/tues night, tues/wed night, fri afternoon, sun morning. First bit of the week I was absent mindedly using the LED screen, from Wed I've tried to just use the eink screen. Seems to roughly double the batter life, so 2-3 days, rather than 1-1.5 using the led screen. So that's a big difference but also not revolutionary as I'm almost always somewhere I can charge each night anyway, but if you're struggling to get through a day then it'll make a big difference to you. I'm sure it'll make a big difference to me when I'm on a train and I've forgotten my charger or if I find myself out and about all day needing internet. Battery takes about 2 hrs to fully charge from flat.

I've found that the eink screen needs larger font size, possibly because of the ghosting (which I'll come on to), or maybe just the nature of an eink screen. I've set the accessibility setting to large which set the font to huge and maybe some other things and it's much better, I've also set the android home screen to a plain black background which looks weird on the led screen but much better than a patterned background on the eink side. I also prefer white text on black background.

*What I've been using the eink screen for*
Urban/tapatalk, texts (with the android app not the native eink app), gmail, notifications, clock

*What I've been using LED screen for but can do on the eink screen*
Phone calls (because it's weird to make/recieve a call and need to flip the phone over for the mic/speaker).
Camera and maps because the resolution/colour makes a huge difference and also with the camera you have to use the front camera with the eink screen which means low res and no flash.
anytime I can't see something I think should be there when I'm using yotamirror
anytime I'm in low light

*What I've found I can't use the eink screen for*
nothing. I've used maps and the camera on the eink screen, I've watched videos and looked at photos, and it's useable, especially maps. Some photos/videos don't work (edit: I mean they display/play but can't really make them out cos b/w + low res) but I can take a picture just fine only it's with the front camera so lower resolution and no flash. I won't ever use the eink screen for them (unless I'm running low on battery), but I can, just it's much better on the led screen due to colour/resolution/better camera.

*Downsides*
There's no denying that the led screen offers a better experience in most ways - better touchscreen, higher resolution, colour. Some of the problems with the eink screen would be resolved if it was the primary or only screen such as with phone calls. It's annoying to have to move in and out of yotamirror, just because it adds extra steps and you have to unlock the phone twice (once for the eink screen and then again when yotamirror puts the android screen up, I'm assuming it is using the cast screen function to do this). I'd prefer it if the eink side just had an always on lock screen and then unlocked directly to the android screen.

In theory it'd be better to have all eink native apps but the reality is that the apps/widgets that are on the phone are mostly not as good as the android ones - phone, clock, date, battery life are all good, but the text message app (and anything else) won't use swype which kills it for me, I find swyping so much quicker and easier. The music player widget is shit, doesn't click through the the mp3 app (I thought android had a native one but couldn't find it so donwloaded one from the store) and although once you've got an album selected you can play/pause and fwd/rwd track, sometimes it loses this and if you press play without anything selected it just plays shuffle. MP3 player is, in terms of time, the most used function on my phone so this is really important to me. I have no interest in the other eink apps like the fitness app or the games (2048, solitaire, something else).

The ghosting on the eink screen, it doesn't refresh that often, always at regular points, usually when you hit back but not always. So with urban in tapatalk it only refreshes when you move in and out of urban, not when you go in to read a thread, or go back to unread posts/subforum. So when you're scrolling down threads, it leaves a ghost of what was there before, nothing like screenburn, because the text overlays it completely so it becomes a patterned rather than flat black background which is not as nice to read off. For other people this effect might make the eink screen unreadable in certain programs, which would also include general internet use - anywhere that you are scrolling. I'd try to get some photos of this but the only camera I have now is on my phone  I'll put some photos up when I can borrow a camera, or rig up an elaborate set of mirrors 

The touchscreen has a lag - I'm assuming this isn't actually the touchscreen but down to the lower refresh rate on the eink screen - friend says it's better than the kindle touchscreen though. It needs getting used to. It's not disastrous at all.

The phone itself is a little too big, and I haven't had the "bumper" (protective case) yet which'll make it wider. Maybe I just need to find a different way to hold it but it's slightly to large to hold and use in one hand for any period of time. It only needs a few mm less width and it'd be fine. There's also a huge bezel at the bottom, which may be needed for the bumper to grip on of course.
I miss physical home/back/overview buttons, I think they've not got them here because they need those buttons to show on the eink screen when you're in yotamirror.

e2a: also no external sd card slot which I'd really like. Not being able to swap the battery not so much of an issue with the increased battery life and the amount of external battery packs you can get these days.

*Upsides*
Battery life is a big improvement.
I prefer reading eink rather than led and most of my phone usage is text or voice so the eink screen works really well for me. If you're more visual, photos video etc then I don't think this'll work, certainly an eink only screen phone wouldn't work for you.
All the apps/functions/widgets I use work perfectly well on the eink screen, there's nothing that I couldn't use, although I'll use the led side for maps and camera.

The always nature of the eink display is fantastic - I can just glance at it to see the time (my phone is my watch) and can do things like lock it on the kitchen timer app when I'm cooking and it updates so I can see the timers without having to touch my phone. I've got it set to show yotamirror for 20minutes before reverting to the eink lock screen.

The phone itself is light and slimmer than my s3 mini despite the extra screenage. It feels well built, high quality. The led screen is fantastic, really bright vivid colours, great resolution, superb touchscreen, much better than the S3 mini. Larger screen is good too but as said, bit too large for my hands.

*Overall*
From that it seems like the downsides are bigger than the upsides but that's not right. If the eink screen was the primary or only screen and went straight to the standard android screen, the first two paragraphs of the downsides would be gone. The phone could be smaller (something in between the S3 mini and this would be perfect for me). The only downsides which can't be sorted are down to the nature of eink vs led screen - black/white display, lower resolution, lower refresh rates and the ghosting - so it depends how much any of these matter to you.
Also, the downsides are all pretty minor really (aside from the lack of colour) whereas the upsides - the battery life and eink display - are huge. If eink screens take off then we could see more apps being developed for eink screens which would improve things but I think I'd still prefer the phone go directly to the standard android stuff with all apps running from there, and just a different lock screen because of the always on factor.

So I'm very happy. When this phone dies/gets broken I would go for an eink only phone if it was significantly cheaper, or a dual display phone again preferably with the eink screen being the larger/primary screen. Although more likely I won't be able to afford a phone like this again and I'll be back to £100-£150 smartphones.


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## Chz (Sep 20, 2015)

Great review!

Normally, on the Kobos and Kindles, there is a setting somewhere for how often to refresh the screen. It's to personal taste how much ghosting you can take in exchange for battery life. I set mine to refresh after every 3rd page. Even then, in direct bright sunlight, it can be annoying. But indoors it's not too bad after even the 5th.


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## BigTom (Sep 20, 2015)

Maybe there is here too I shall have a look - I haven't used a touchscreen kindle, only one that refreshes every page change so haven't seen the ghosting on those - I'd guess it's exactly the same as on my phone so if you can deal with that, you can deal with this.

edit: no, can't see one, but when I give them feedback on the phone I'll mention this to them, perhaps they can add it in.


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## BigTom (Sep 20, 2015)

Some photos of my cats here, using the front (2.1mp) and back (6mp) cameras: Album - it's a big, big difference in quality. Wouldn't be a problem if the eink screen was the primary display though.

Also something I meant to mention in the review, when I got the phone I had a couple of hassles - when I put the simcard in and restarted the phone it went to a "downloading...." display, with no movement indicating something was happening. After a couple of hours I was worried, left it overnight and still the same so stopped the migration from my old simcard cos I thought it had crashed. Couple of hours later it finished, I haven't had a reply from yotaphone about it so I assume it's regular and does need a 12 or 15 hour download when you first put in the sim card.

Then I didn't know I needed to set up the Access Point Name (APN) so didn't have data connection, got a text from EE saying I'd put my old sim card in to a 4G phone and to contact them for a new sim card, which I did and they said to go into the shop so they could activate it there and then and I wouldn't lose my phone whilst the migration happened, but in the shop they saw I had a 4G sim and needed to setup the APN and then get customer services to push the re-activation. Took minutes to actually sort but meant I didn't have a data connection for a few days because I thought the problem was something else and I've never needed to setup anything on previous phones.


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## BigTom (Feb 10, 2016)

Just thought I'd update this after a few months of using the phone. My review up there is basically right, except that I rarely use the eink screen (aside from the always on display which is amazing), pretty much only when my battery is low. This is simply because it takes at least one extra step to get to the android stuff after unlocking the eink screen, and sometimes I have to unlock the phone twice. I *really* want a phone which has the eink screen as the primary screen, and maybe an led screen as a secondary screen for photos/video. Every time I use the eink screen I think I should make the effort because it's much more pleasant to read/use, but the reality is that I never do. Make of that what you will, the always on display is worth it alone (but as what prompted me to post this was the thread about always on displays coming to android that's not really a usp anymore).


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 10, 2016)

The next step will be the Led and e ink of the same screen in different layers.


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## Throbbing Angel (Apr 26, 2016)

Yotaphone2 now down to £229.
Yotafone 2 Dual Sided Screen 5" 1080p  OLED  + HD  E-INK Smartphone £229 delivered @ Yota Phone
Rumours of a v3 coming out  in collaboration with ZTE


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## BigTom (Apr 28, 2016)

they properly slate it in the comments - I'm not a heavy user and upgrading from a cheapish smartphone so I'm very happy with the performance of the phone, £229 is a much better price obviously but it all depends on how much you want the e-ink screen as to whether it's worth it. I was expecting the upgrade to android 6 but I don't care that it hasn't happened either. I can't imagine needing a new phone by the time they bring out the yotaphone 3 but I'd certainly be looking at them whenever this phone runs out of life, hopefully there'll be some more phones on the market with e-ink screens by then too.


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## Saul Goodman (Mar 14, 2017)

Necrobump:
I recently bought one of these from Gearbest in China for about £80. 
It seems YotaPhone sold a controlling share to a Chinese company, and in order to fund the YotaPhone 3, they're dumping stock, and at that price it would have been wrong not to get one.
I only bought it for the gimmick value and to see now good/bad it was, but I'm now using it as my main phone. It does everything I want it to do, and more.


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## Saul Goodman (Mar 30, 2017)

Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow has finally been released for the Yotaphone 2.

[OFFICIAL] Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 - Yotaphone 2


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## editor (Mar 30, 2017)

Saul Goodman said:


> Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow has finally been released for the Yotaphone 2.
> 
> [OFFICIAL] Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 - Yotaphone 2


Better late than never!


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## Saul Goodman (Mar 30, 2017)

editor said:


> Better late than never!


Yeah, seems almost pointless at this stage but I'm installing it anyway


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