back to article Yotaphone 2: The two-faced pocket-stroker with '100 hours' batt life

"Battery anxiety" is a mobile phone buzzphrase that has been bandied about for some time – highlighting the trade-off we've made with large touchscreens, multi-core processors and our obsession with using the darn things. Yotaphone 2 The Yotaphone 2: six-day battery life, anyone? Bigger form factors can slot in a bigger …

  1. Chris Miller

    Clever and innovative - rather like Apple used to be. I imagine they're manufactured in China/Taiwan rather than Siberia!

    1. jzlondon

      Or possibly Sevastopol.

    2. MacroRodent

      designed by ex-nokia guys

      The YotaPhone was actually designed in Oulu, Finland by a team which included ex-Nokia engineers.

      1. jzlondon

        Re: designed by ex-nokia guys

        Spoilsport

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: designed by ex-nokia guys

        It seems then that Microsoft really didn't get the good bits of Nokia.

        Still, I expect that Apple is even now demanding sanctions be applied to this thing in the US. Apart from the question of Russian naughtiness in Ukraine - quite different from US involvement in Allende's Chile, which resulted in no sanctions whatsoever - it incorporates an innovation which has not yet been introduced by Apple, and cannot be sold till Apple have thought of it second.

        Hopefully the price will have come down a bit by next May, which is my phone replacement month.

        1. handle

          Re: designed by ex-nokia guys

          Sorry, I'm no fan of American imperialism but I was unaware the US had annexed parts of Chile.

        2. Tapeador

          Re: Chile

          So Chile - whatever other empirical differences obtain (including fighting a seemingly life-or-death strategic battle against actual soviet military expansion following its then ongoing and now revived military subjugation of sovereign European states) - whatever other empirical differences obtain, there's a pretty obvious one you should note, and it's this:

          Chile was then. This is now. We live in a different world, sustained not merely or even necessarily by the ability to enforce our wishes, but actual moral principles of state-to-state behaviour. To claim that someone perpetrated an apparent evil long ago (even if it is a comparable case), does not to my mind make an argument that an "anything goes" doctrine should today be permissible. In fact it's an argument against. It's saying "we can do evil because you did evil". That's still a claim about evil. And one itself based on largely false premises: if you look at all US military actions since Clinton, you see overwhelming moral justifications for each (with the exception of some aspects of Bush II exceptionalism, a tragic era, but one characterised by a style of rhetoric targeted at appeasing domestic bigots, as much as anything else).

          1. Mephistro

            Re: Chile

            "We live in a different world, sustained not merely or even necessarily by the ability to enforce our wishes, but actual moral principles of state-to-state behaviour"

            I wish you were right here, but in my opinion it's sadly obvious you aren't. The rest of your comment is quite on spot, though I wouldn't consider some of the moral justifications too overwhelming. E.g. 'Granada invasion', 'Panama invasion', and 'Contra' .

            1. Chris G

              Re: Chile

              So where is the moral justification for the NED (National Endowment for Democracy) initially putting 5 billion dollars into the Ukraine to fund the Maidan Square and it's consequent revolution which resulted in getting rid of one lot of corrupt oligarchs who were pro Russian and replacing them with another lot of corrupt oligarchs who are pro US?

              Oh wait!

              Before that WMDs

              Killing an admittedly slightly crazy Gadaffi but who had turned a dump into one of the only islamic countries that supported women's rights and actively encourage them to study and achieve university degrees, had the best literacy rate in the Med and one of the longest life expectancies, a functioning health service. And then leaving the country in ruins.

              Afghanistan? Well what can you say? Trained the people that became Al Qaeda and the Taliban and who have morphed into a number of other things including ISIS.

              The US is no better than any other country that interferes with the politics abd sovereignty of another.

              1. Tapeador

                Re: Chile @Chris G

                You may be right with some or all of the negative results of intervening in Libya, but the intention was to stop the large-scale massacre by hired mercenaries of Libyan citizens, and it seemed to have succeeded. Even if we take a completely results-led view of the morality of that intervention (and ignore the intentions and feelings at the time about the awfulness of the massacre, which I think is a pure hindsight-based approach and not sound), then alongside the disorder which now plagues Libya, you have to place the lives of the people who seem likely to have been killed had the US not intervened. So, morally speaking, there are goods and harms there to weigh, and intentions and results.

                Afghanistan you're right about, but I don't see how that particular unforeseen result of an action taken to stop Soviet global expansion, bears on the morality of training people to defeat the Soviets. And I said post-Clinton anyway.

                As for Maidan, I'm sorry but I completely disagree about it installing the West's man. There was a popular uprising against Moscow's puppet Yuschenko, who fled, and the Ukrainian parliament (who appoints the government) appointed a new one, and the people elected a president who was more acceptable to them, one who had not Russia's nor the West's interests at heart but Ukraine's. I see nothing constitutionally controversial about that.

                WMDs were indeed problematic and I did indeed say Bush II argued poorly and provocatively for a war which we may today not even properly understand.

                The US today, since Clinton and with the exception I mentioned of some of Bush II's public claims, is not at all "no better than any other country that interferes with the politics abd sovereignty of another." That's nonsense. Moscow invaded half of Europe and Asia and kept it militarily subjugated for 70 years, and now it's doing it again with Ukraine. It's in that context that you have to view the US actions in trying to forestall socialism and Soviet dependency in Lat Am - although I agree it was unacceptable - but it was a long time ago, and America, unlike Russia, is not in the business of militarily expanding its territory.

                1. TechicallyConfused

                  Re: Chile @Chris G

                  So. . . . Anyway. . . . Nice idea. The phone that is.

                  Can you all take your armchair political history debate somewhere appropriate.

                2. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  Re: Chile @Chris G

                  >>> "Moscow's puppet Yuschenko"? was not he the one who said putin poisoned him with dioxin? some puppet. also he was the winner in the last overthrow of gov. You might be confusing him with yanukovich who was essentially extorting moscow with gas transit and now europe & uk is going to be footing the bill for that.

                  >>> "is not in the business of militarily expanding its territory", maybe they dont have to and miliarily expanding influence over a territory has the same effect, only cheaper.

                  >>> "which I think is a pure hindsight-based approach and not sound"

                  It took 16 years for gaddafi to get consensus of tribal leaders and essentially become elected, is not it obvious what was going to happen? especially after example of tribal conflicts in iraq.

                  >>>" you have to place the lives of the people who seem likely to have been killed had the US not intervened"

                  Yeah, a lot of us sponsored mercenaries would have died instead of fighting for ISIS/IGIL etc. thank god it did not happen.

              2. Bloakey1

                Re: Chile

                <snip>

                "The US is no better than any other country that interferes with the politics abd sovereignty of another"

                I say old chap, I rather like the cut of your jib. What, what!

          2. Riku

            Re: Chile

            By that reasoning the English would have stopped rubbing the German's noses in it years ago. If the English can stop mentioning the war (which would no doubt mean the demise of a few TV channels whose programming seems almost entirely devoted to the state of Hitler's bowels or whatever), maybe we can get on with dealing with the pressing issue of today's world then?

            1. fruitoftheloon
              Thumb Down

              @Riku Re: Chile

              Riku,

              blimey, how can you walk straight with a chip that big on your shoulder?

              J

            2. Mephistro

              Re: Chile(@ Riku)

              " If the English can stop mentioning the war..."

              In my opinion, this might not be the best of times to stop teaching the younger generations about WWII.

              Knowing and understanding Hitler, Stalin and their "business models" will come really handy for preventing a new wave of extremely dangerous sociopaths from reaching power in the most powerful/advanced nations of the world.

              "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"

              George Santayana

            3. JLV

              Re: Chile

              >the English would have stopped rubbing the German's noses in it years ago

              They should. Poor man. Imagine how horrible it is to be afflicted with multiples noses and then being being made fun of.

              Disgraceful.

          3. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Chile

            I agree with you; "whataboutery" is not a valid argument. But sadly I do not see a single moral justification, overwhelming or not, in US military interventions since Clinton. I see a desire to preserve relationships with "friendly" oil states as part of a general Eastern strategy, with a thin coating of moral justification.

            Bush 1 had some justification for the original Gulf War, though how much worse Saddam was than the Kuwaiti regime is open to doubt - when we assess Arab regimes we tend carefully to ignore the slave and indentured labourers who actually work in those States in considering their suitability to partner with the West.

            The US uses "whataboutery" all the time when it isn't playing the exceptionalist card. My view is that Ukraine should be a European-Russian local issue and the US should keep out rather than make mischief. US/Saudi manipulation of the oil price to hurt the Russian economy is a typical blunt instrument approach that may have very bad unintended consequences. I suspect that without US poking and prodding, Merkel and Putin would have got it all sorted by now. I may be wrong, but at least I'm not as big a fantasist as Applebaum.

            1. Tapeador

              Re: Chile @arnaut @Mephistro

              After Rwanda, people like Michael Ignatieff developed the "R2P" or Right To Protect doctrine, which held that where atrocity were to occur on a grand scale without military intervention, military intervention in a sovereign territory was permissible. This was the principle which for the US permitted Bosnia, Libya, and Kosovo, although it was more problematic in Afghanistan, and so Afghanistan turned on a self-defence/averting-failed-state-harbouring-terrorists rationale (the "they won't educate women" wasn't enough imho), and to this day I don't fully understand Iraq II - although think we should take an open view and disregard the less persuasive rhetoric used at the time to justify it.

              Grenada, Panama, contra etc were pre-Clinton and indeed they were pretty dubious. And yes I agree perhaps outside the military realm, countries aren't good to each other. But there ought to be some minimum standard for prohibiting military expansion of your territory, and I think it's largely obtained, between legally recognised states, since the fall of the Soviet Union, at least until Crimea/East Ukraine.

    3. Philanthropic Philanderer

      Clever and innovative - rather like Apple used to be. [..]

      Really? I've must been asleep in a coma during the last 14 odd years then..

      1. Tom 7

        No not in a coma

        just not aware of what was going on in non-apple land.

    4. James Micallef Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Excellent stuff, genuine innovation that has real-life practical use in a key area of the phone.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Not as surprising as it might seem. The Russians bought the Entourage eDGe* IP a few years ago and have been using the dual screen 10" slabs in a school project with reported very good results.

      * The eDGe is a dual screen (e-ink and LCD) tablet with the screens hinged together on the long edge.

    6. werdsmith Silver badge

      It's taken these people to stop pandering to idiot marketing people and number obsessed consumers and actually make a phone with something useful about it. I mean instead of just cramming in more useless pixels per cm. The actually useful priorities like long battery life and good sunlight visibility have been addressed! Why has it taken so long?

      If it has decent antennae and is resistant to impact then it is getting close to being a decent phone.

      I say getting close, because unfortunately they've gone for Android SOS.

      I hope that it is not locked down and the Android can be replaced with something less idiotic, at least make it dual boot. Please? Then it would be a compelling purchase.

      I really hope it drags the rest of the moronphone market along with it.

  2. Longrod_von_Hugendong
    Thumb Up

    A nice idea...

    no, I take that back - an excellent idea. I hope it sells well.

    Been the only driod device I have seen to date that I would buy.

  3. Zippy's Sausage Factory
    Thumb Up

    Oooh... like...

    Still hesitating over whether to get an iPhone 6+. Now I have another option. This needs SERIOUSLY thinking about.

    1. Phuq Witt

      Re: Oooh... like...

      I feel your pain.

      This has just thrown a spanner into my metaphorical works as well. I've been thinking of finally getting round to replacing my geriatric iPhone 3GS with the XiaoMi Mi4. But now it looks like another hat has suddenly landed in the ring.

      1. Zippy's Sausage Factory

        Re: Oooh... like...

        I know. About the only thing the iPhone does that the Yota doesn't is FaceTime and iMessage. Well I never use iMessage, but I still could on the iPad. And probably I'll upgrade the iPad sometime next year anyway, whether I get a 6+ or not.

        The only other thing I use is the health stuff... but I can always go back to my spreadsheets for that.

  4. Ossi

    Genuine Innovation

    Andy very welcome it is too.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And the best part

    It's not mentioned but of course e-ink is more readable in sunlight too. That alone makes the phone worth considering.

    1. tempemeaty

      Re: And the best part

      I was thinking the same thing. e-ink is one of the best things I've ever seen for reading text. Have another up vote!

    2. JLV

      Re: And the best part

      and excellent to read in bed as well.

    3. Lallabalalla

      Re: And the best part

      Not so sure about using it as an eBook: that curved screen looks like making reading the words either side of the page a PITA in bright light, or side-light, and I find that I have the paperwhite's backlight switched on *always* (at various levels).... my old Kobo didn't have a backlight and that was mostly OK, but having tried a backlit one I'd never go back.

      And finally.... I have an iPhone6 which was only £70 more expensive and has 62-odd Gb (of useable memory for apps as well as pics/music) and I really don't have an issue seeing the screen in even the brightest sunlight. Most of the time the brightness is set down to about 1/3rd of full power. Sorry, Apple-haters but the battery life is also very good (2 days+) even with wifi and GPS on permanently. Bring on the downvotes. Haters gonna hate, potaters gonna potate.

      1. JLV
        Thumb Down

        @ Lallabalalla

        >Sorry, Apple-haters but the battery life is also very good

        What's with the dumb fanboi-sm? I like iPhones too, but this is a genuinely clever technical innovation and it has nothing to do with Apple's capacity to innovate or not.

        Oh, of course you think that your clever arguments are gonna convince the heathens to come and worship @ Apple.

        Just like some of the other commentards apparently can't read a review of a clever Android-based phone without needing to bash Apple. Which of course is going to convince "the sheeple" to realize the errors of their ways and follow the one true way.

        Do grow up.

        1. Lallabalalla

          Re: @ Lallabalalla

          No, it's a discussion about whether we are looking at useful innovation or a gimmick, comparing it what is currently available and I know about i.e. the phone I currently use.

          If you would like to talk about the need to grow up I think you should look at your pathetic need to resort to cliches like "sheeple" (the use of which immediately marks you out as a brainless drone whether the expression is one you use or one you project onto other people because that's really how you think) and your saddening insecurity that a "clever remark" is somehow therefore invalid over the man-in-the-street stupidity of your own "argument".

          So you think having an eInk screen is genuinely clever? Bully for you. You are welcome to your opinion. I think it may be worthwhile but question its real value. That's my opinion and if you don't like it perhaps YOU could grow up enough to argue the toss without arguing like a tosser.

          1. JLV

            Re: @ Lallabalalla

            "the sheeple"

            Notice the parenthesis. Meant to signify irony.

            Do get a brain :-)

            1. JLV

              Re: @ Lallabalalla

              " != (

              i.e. I meant notice the quotes.

              1. Lallabalalla

                Re: @ Lallabalalla

                You're an idiot

        2. Lallabalalla

          Re: @ Lallabalalla

          Actually I'm ruminating on its usefulness as an e-reader when compared to a kindle, first and foremost - but don't let actually reading the post stand in the way of an ill-informed and boorish personal attack. This *is* the Internet, after all.

  6. TRT Silver badge

    Looks really nice.

    Great idea, and it's followed through.

    I wonder if Apple are working on integrating e-Ink pixels into an OLED display? They should be. This could give them a serious run for their money.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Looks really nice.

      More likely apple will reveal a patent for mobile devices with displays on both sides.

    2. king of foo

      Re: Looks really nice.

      You mean this ?

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: Looks really nice.

        Oh yeah! That's the one.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Looks really nice.

      Agreed, this actually looks like something I'd consider buying.

      Just one problem: where do I plug in the antenna? My last road trip there were a few places where such things were needed. (i.e. marginal signal with an external antenna plugged in. If I tried using a capacitive coupling it'd probably fail miserably.)

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Looks really nice.

      e-ink pixels are reflective or black, so they can't overlay an OLED and if they were to fit in between the pixels, the contrast of the e-ink would never be more than about 2:1 and the OLED would be dim.

  7. Major Ebaneezer Wanktrollop

    Doesn't matter how good it is, El Regs shite Android app will still crash constantly and lag like crazy on it.

    Yeah you El Reg app developers - pull your bloody fingers out!

    1. Cliff

      El Reg App? I find the regular/desktop site works perfectly well through most browsers - worth trying instead?

      1. cbars Bronze badge

        while I'm less aggressively against the El Reg App; it does leave room for improvement and I uninstalled it - offline reading would be nice. BBC News is brilliant for that when flying, or 'out of internet range' generally

        (so just get El Reg a cut of the old license fee and we can all benefit!)

    2. Sandtitz Silver badge
      Coat

      'appy as hell

      "Yeah you El Reg app developers"

      You speak in plural. Most likely the app was written by a single El Reg Hack.

      For all platforms.

      At the same time.

      And then the intern was let go.

  8. Arnold Lieberman

    And for the rest of us

    Not sure what the kernel/hardware implications are, but it would be nice to be able to replace the back cover of an existing phone for one with one of these displays in it. I'd happily sacrifice 3mm (or whatever) thickness for a 2nd display.

    There could be options such as replacement covers for the popular phones and stick-on screens for everyone else.

    Communication would have to be via BT, USB (if phone supports host).

    1. Arnold Lieberman

      Re: And for the rest of us

      I'm sure no-one is going to see this comment, but a while after this article was published I came across this item: http://www.gearbest.com/cases-covers/pp_116850.html ($66 with code GBINKCASE)

      Exactly what I was asking about on the first page. Shame it's after xmas and I'm skint.

  9. Lamont Cranston

    I really like this idea.

    Here's hoping they come up with a case that can protect against the usual bumps, but leave the rear screen readable.

  10. GregC

    Excellent stuff

    Very, very impressive. The price makes me wince a little, but at least in this case you are getting genuine innovation for your money, and in fairness it's a nicely specced phone too.

    This deserves to sell well, hopefully it will.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The price makes me wince a little

      plenty of russian exiles around london would pay more, especially for a blinged up version.

      1. Andy Davies

        Re: The price makes me wince a little

        Yes, I thought it looked quite interesting until I got to the bit about it costing five week's income for a single state pensioner!

  11. Justthefacts Silver badge

    I spy British tech innovation too...

    If I'm not wrong, the e-ink display is from Cambridge Display Technology!

    They started in the front of the pack well before Kindle, and but never quite got it together commercially.

    Then, maybe a couple years back, Putin's investment fund made them an offer they couldn't refuse, and they tech-transferred the manufacturing arm out to Russia. This also allowed them to get some Russian contracts - and the Yotaphone was born.

    I hope this succeeds for CDT. If only because I wouldn't want to be the one with bad news to tell Putin's investment fund.

  12. phil dude

    sailfish....

    Would be nice to sailfish on it, since Jolla already has the other half for E-ink....

    P.

    1. Ralph B

      Re: sailfish....

      > Would be nice to sailfish on it, since Jolla already has the other half for E-ink....

      What do you know that Jolla aren't saying? The Other Half appears to be merely a theme-change on the LED display based on the colour of the back that has been mounted. Nothing about e-ink.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    E-ink displays

    Quite a good idea for a phone, for those of us who would be happy with black and white of course.

    Most websites work quite well in black and white and I couldn't give a sh!t about angry birds or youtube videos.

    But didn't I hear they're rather flimsy? Has that been solved?

    1. Ralph B

      Re: E-ink displays

      > Quite a good idea for a phone, for those of us who would be happy with black and white of course.

      I'd be very happy with an eInk-only phone too. Unfortunately, I only know of one of these - the Midia InkPhone - and they seem to have sold out of however few they made of them.

      1. Ralph B

        Re: E-ink displays

        > Media InkPhone

        Having now seen a review of the Midia InkPhone I'm quite glad I didn't get to buy one.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: E-ink displays

          Hmmm.. particularly chugging that one, I'm sure I've seen faster e-ink than that.

          All the same, I still reckon it would be sufficient if it meant you got weeks of battery life.

  14. Jan 0 Silver badge

    Dual screen? Check. Dual core? Check. Dual SIM? Oh, no.

    See title. I was getting rather excited until I read the specifications.

    1. Smitty Werbenjaegermanjensen

      Re: Dual screen? Check. Dual core? Check. Dual SIM? Oh, no.

      Dual SIM is quite the turd for battery life, probably explains its omission on a battery-life obsessed phone.

    2. David Paul Morgan

      Re: Dual screen? Check. Dual core? Check. Dual SIM? Oh, no.

      dual sim needs to become 'the norm' - or GSM should now allow one or more 'logical' sims.

  15. Adolph Clickbait

    Popslate

    What happened to those guys? A an eInk case for iPhone(5?) with future Android (Samsung) versions too?

  16. sawatts
    FAIL

    { "isError" : false }

    Clicking through the "Buy" option on their website results in this reassuring message.

  17. David_H
    Meh

    100 hours?

    I charge my Samsung Galaxy 3S every second Friday, when it gets down to about 15% life left. 14 days rather than 4!

    How? I use it as a phone and SMS device, and turn off all the other power hungry crud.

    OK - I'm an atypical user for someone who frequents this site, but how much of the other stuff do you really need?

    1. Cliff

      Re: 100 hours?

      Alas I use my smartphone as a smartphone, so get nothing like that battery life. Must say I'm a little curious why you have a relatively expensive, bulky, fragile smartphone when you could get by with a Nokia 100 model for £10.99 (including £10 of credit)?

  18. Peb
    FAIL

    Blast!

    I was all set to flash the credit card (which is already starting to flinch at daylight) when I read some of the other reviews of this. Unresponsive, no ‘home’ button, poor ink display, camera. Need I go on? Damming with faint praises seems to sum up the overall feel.

    Again, blast

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Blast!

      No 'Home' button?

      Look at the picture in the article. There it is.

      If they can miss that then maybe the reviews need reviewing...

    2. Adrian Harvey
      Facepalm

      Re: Blast!

      From a quick look round the reviews, the one without the home button is the previous model - I think your search was too broad. This, their second go, seems to be much improved.

  19. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Eink Good

    Personally I would much prefer a phone with only an Eink display. I just use mine for speech and texts.

  20. Simulacra75
    Coat

    Re: Chile

    @Mephistro

    That "Granada" invasion. Was it the Mark I, Mark II or Mark III?

    Ta.

    1. Robert Baker
      Joke

      Re: Chile @Simulacra75

      Was it led by forces from Thames Television?

  21. ssssssssssssssssssssss

    White?

    Really interested in this, although the white version they were showing off on the website looked better, especially with the e-ink display. (Yes, the white v1 version is still there.)

    If it can be rooted (specifically for Greenify) I'm seriously tempted.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Battery life

    I think it's fairly obvious that (generally speaking) the more all-singing, all-dancing your phone is and the more bells and whistles it has, the less battery life you're going to get from the beast. I'm still running a miniature (by modern standards) elderly Nokia with a tiny basic screen that does nothing but actually make and receive phone calls (how novel!) and it even has a text facility (how about that!) and it's still on its original battery that just lasts and lasts. All the fancy colours, animations and other extraneous happenings on a modern, so-called smart phone will do the battery no favours whatever and I'm always somewhat taken aback when I hear folk crow that they get so many hours from their phone, whereas I'm counting in days! Horses for course, I suppose. :-)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Battery life

      By chance do you also sport a beard, a fedora, listen only to obscure bands on Vinyl and upcycle much?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Battery life

        Tried a beard once - too itchy. Don't like hats. Definitely don't listen to scratchy old vinyl and not sure what "upcycle" means! Sounds like an Americanism to me. I actually like my big boy's techie toys, (wouldn't be here otherwise!) but fancy phones leave me stone cold.

        Ah-ha! "Upcycle - reuse discarded objects or material in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original".........the answer is a resounding no!

  23. Oldfogey
    Coat

    Old fashioned.

    To solve the battery life issue, I carry 2 phones.

    An ancient "builders phone" Nokia on O2, which I use for most phone calls - battery lasts at least a weak.

    Smartphone, used as a personal assistant, MP3 player, Satnav, and occasionally for making calls on EE if O2 not available or credit/battery low.

    Satnav is power hungry, but plug it into the car and it's fine.

    I often find myself in poor reception areas, so I would be carrying 2 phones anyway.

    My wife is on Vodaphone for extra backup.

    Now which phone is where?....

    1. dominicr

      Re: Old fashioned.

      My solution to the battery issue is a 4800mAh 'fatty' battery for my Samsung Galaxy S2. Especially good with SatNav etc. £7 on eBay including a new back for the phone.

  24. Jimbo in Thailand
    Thumb Up

    Yotaphone's 2 faces... A very cool concept! Also a GREAT BIG THANKS to those who stay on topic!

    I think adding a separate e-ink display is very innovative considering it vastly extends battery life and actually provides true readability outdoors. My SG Note 2's 'super-duper' AMOLED display, in spite of Samsung's outrageous claims, is absolute shite outside, bright sun or not.

    Regarding the battery, Imagine if the Yotaphone designers had opted for a 3500-4500mAh battery. That would have been fantastic, even if ...OMG... it meant the phone would be slightly thicker. This obsession of smartphone manufacturers one-upping each other by releasing even thinner more anorexic devices when there is no longer a tangible benefit is... errr... ummm... wearing a bit thin.

    Finally, for those of you who get sidetracked so easily by politics, geographical locations, etc., ... PLEASE STAY ON TOPIC!!!! After all, this article was specifically about an innovative new product. Also, The Register is primarily a purveyor of tech related news/opinions, etc. There are plenty of political forums out there in the nether regions of the tubes to vent your pent-up political frustrations.

    Thanks!

    1. Boothy

      Re: Yotaphone's 2 faces... A very cool concept! Also a GREAT BIG THANKS to those who stay on topic!

      @ Jimbo

      I'm with you on the race to be the thinnest. I really don't see the point.

      My pockets are still the same size now, as they were back in the 80s, when I used to use a chunky tape walkman. The only difference now, is my jeans have less holes in them. Well, less purposeful ones anyway!

      I'd be quite happy if my current Nexus 5 was twice as fat, if it meant having a battery that was 2-3 times the current size. Unfortunately with the N5, no simple battery and back cover replacement option. :-/ Oh well.

  25. JaitcH
    Unhappy

    Brazil, China, Japan, Finland, France, Korea, Mexico, Russia, TaiWan, ISA can, so why can't ...

    the UK design or even manufacture smartphones?

    The Plesseys, GCEsn Marconis and STCs generated technological breakthroughs - yet now the UK can't even get on the cell phone bandwagon.

    But we are good at spying.

    1. David Black

      Re: Brazil, China, Japan, Finland, France, Korea, Mexico, Russia, TaiWan, ISA can, so why can't ...

      Well when I worked for Vertu we seemed to be doing all that.

      We often do a lot and don't have much recognition in the UK, like most of Nokia's design and Symbian for software were all UK and could be argued led the mass-market to smartphones.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: spying (and don't forget spivving)

      "... the UK design or even manufacture smartphones?"

      Not that long ago, we had Sendo, for a few years.

      Something went on between Sendo and the big boys. Sendo went bust. Who knows where the important people are now.

      GEC, Plessey and Marconi all ended up as part of one big outfit, an outfit whose long term top man (Weinstock, from 1963) had led an investment strike since becoming MD. GEC HQ seemed to have the view that revenue re-invested (in products, processes, or people) was money wasted that could otherwise have gone into the bank, or out again as dividends, and initially 'the markets' loved him for it. After all, if GEC needed something they hadn't got, they could buy it in or set up a joint venture.

      And for a long time, 'the markets' thought it was working. Insiders and smart outsiders knew different. Other companies naturally followed the GEC example.

      But once GEC's cost-plus contracts with the defence sector went away, and the cosy relationship with the incumbent telco turned so sour that GEC/GPT/Marconi didn't even make it onto the shortlist for BT's 21CN 'upgrade', there really wasn't anywhere left to go for GEC, and the shares fell from £12 to 2p or so in a matter of months. Other better-positioned companies who hadn't been playing to the City's tune (companies like Alstom and Ericsson) picked up some bargains from the wreckage of GEC.

      The name George Simpson also belongs in the GEC picture, but the list of companies he has destroyed as MD or similar is too long and painful to discuss here, now; for starters try

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Simpson,_Baron_Simpson_of_Dunkeld

      http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1551157/The-16311bn-wreckers.html

      STC (and ICL, and many others) were bought by (what became) Nortel who subsequently went bust in 2009. Nortel UK's tens of thousands of pensioners are still waiting for a clear settlement. Perhaps there's article fodder there?

      http://nortelpensions.com/acquired_companies.cfm

      tl;dr

      UK plc does spying and spivving (aka the City).

      A nation of shopkeepers, and even those are now being shown up by Aldi and Lidl and the goings on at Tesco.

      1. David Paul Morgan

        Re: spying (and don't forget spivving)

        ICL eventually were merged into Fujitsu, via the Fujitsu-Siemens interim company.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Computers_Limited

        I still miss my ICL Series 39 DX/SX machines. Had a trimetra for a bit - running unixware, NT4 & openVME on the same intel machine!

        (I also had an ICL TeamServer running unixware that survived the local government reorg and was still running unixware until a few years ago! a P100 intel processor, I think!)

  26. Misky
    Thumb Up

    Fantastic idea!

    What a brilliant concept. This phone deserves to do well. If it weren’t for the fact I love the big screen size of my Note3 I’d be really interested in one of these.

    As has been said it would be great if someone came up with an Eink phone cover to replace the back covers of phones to replicate this idea. But then I’d guess it would be a bit fiddly to hook it in as a second screen for most phones.

    I just hope this doesn’t die a death and some of the big firms licence the concept to come out with their own version. Having an Eink back on a Note3 size device would be incredible!

  27. crayon

    "it incorporates an innovation which has not yet been introduced by Apple, and cannot be sold till Apple have thought of it second"

    It would be more effective to let it be sold for a while then they can claim damages for "lost sales".

    "Sorry, I'm no fan of American imperialism but I was unaware the US had annexed parts of Chile."

    Crimea held a referendum (however flawed it may have been) the outcome of which was to (re)join Russia. Which is more than could be said for the US/EU backed mob that overthrew an elected government. The US/EU are all for self-determination when it suits them (eg Kosovo) but when the shoe is on the other foot they cry foul, and throw tantrums, and impose sanctions, and if the other foot is militarily weak they start dropping bombs on them.

    "This was the principle which for the US permitted Bosnia, Libya, and Kosovo"

    The UN resolution stated "to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack". The US/EU/Nato perverted it into a war for regime change.

    If the US/EU/Nato hadn't acted illegally with respect to Libya (that is taking a UN resolution that authorised specific, limited actions, and taking it as a mandate to wage war and regime change) then the UN Security Council might have had better chances gaining China and Russia's support in passing some meaningful resolution on the Syria issue.

  28. ClarkMills

    Readable in full sunlight (real advantage there!). Battery replacable? MicroSD?

    The real advantage of this is that you can read your ebook or The Register in full sun. On a normal screen you need to max-brightness the display and even then the results suboptimal on top of your massive battery drain. They don't seem to promote this for some reason which is a major oversight IMHO.

    Also, does the phone open? Is there somewhere for a microSD card or battery swap-out? Probably not and not a massive big deal but I am curious.

    Bottom line: I would buy one; useful innovation.

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