The YotaPhone might look like any other CES 2013 smartphone, but it might turn into something special-- turn it around and you will find 4.3-inch electronic paper display (EPD) on the back.
Designed to be always-on, the low power EPD shows anything from social media information and reminders to eBook files and images. An interesting application seen at CES is having EPD display a static map while the device is actually off.
Russian maker Yota promises it will soon release an SDK allowing developers to integrate dual-screen features into apps such as RSS feed readers.
Currently in prototype form, the YotaPhone has another interesting feature-- a gesture panel below the main display replacing regular Android on-screen buttons. Right-to-left swipes take the phone back to the home screen, a half-swipe replaces the back button and so on.
Other novel additions include a SIM tray and power button integrated into a single unit and a first consumer application of Gorilla Glass 3. Powering the device is a dual-core 1.4GHz Snapdragon S4 processor and 2GB RAM, with a modified Android 4.1 as OS.
Yota gives no release date for the YotaPhone, but we will check it out again soon enough at Mobile World Congress 2013.
Go YotaPhone
