BARCELONA, Spain — The YotaPhone, a smartphone from Russia’s Yota Devices, has your run-of-the-mill screen on one side and an energy-saving e-ink screen on the other. But based on a new prototype we saw, the next iteration of YotaPhone is even better.
You still have a regular Android smartphone on one side, but you can send images, texts and other info to the e-ink screen on the back, which is easier on the eyes and uses a lot less energy.
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The new version, which will be available in Q4 this year, is bigger and doesn't have that slightly unusual “lump” in the middle. It also gives you a myriad of new ways to interact with the e-ink screen on the back. It’s now a touchscreen — the original YotaPhone only had a touch-sensitive area near the bottom — giving you the ability to scroll through articles and even “like” them on Facebook.

This is the device's front side, with the same image as on the back (above). Barcelona, Spain, Feb 24, 2014.
Image: Stan Schroeder, Mashable.com
The new screen also has an improved resolution, meaning you can send an image from the front of the screen to the back, and it’ll look surprisingly good.
Regarding the stuff you can send to the back of the screen, the new prototype seems nearly limitless. You can have live updates from a soccer game, weather information or notifications for missed calls, emails and SMS messages. You can even feed it data from a wearable device.
Though the concept needs a little time to get used to — spinning the phone around can cause inadvertent touches on the main screen — because it’s a drastically new direction for the smartphone. It does, however, have a huge number of use cases. Perhaps you just want to have your photo on the back of your smartphone. Or you’re out of battery and want to conserve as much as possible. Or you’re an avid reader who likes e-ink screens but doesn’t like to carry around an e-reader.
In any case, there’s a lot to like about the new YotaPhone.
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