I didn’t actually go to CES, but one gadget did stand out to me from the outside: the YotaPhone. Made by Russia’s Yota devices, it brings a pretty revolutionary element to the table: an e-ink screen on the back. What can this do, you ask? Let me explain.
Scenario 1
You’re in a foreign country, are using your phone as a map, but you realise you forgot to charge it at the hotel and the battery is getting low. With the YotaPhone, one swipe will put the map on the e-ink display, and even your battery goes flat, the e-ink will continue to work as it doesn’t need power.
Scenario 2
You’re driving and want to keep in touch with your Twitter feed. Normal phones would require you to go through the process of opening the app and refreshing it, and after that constantly unlocking your phone to see if anything new has popped up. With the YotaPhone you can put your auto-updating Twitter feed on the e-ink display and have a glance at the lights.
Scenario 3
You don’t want to miss out on important notifications. With any other phone, you have to turn it on to see what they are. With the YotaPhone you just glance at the e ink display.
I know this is getting very sales pitchy, but it has so much potential. I’m not saying it’s there yet, but it’s definitely a device to keep an eye on for the future.
Here are the rest of the specs: dual core Qualcomm 1.5Ghz chip, runs 4.2 Jelly Bean, 4.3 inch HD display, LTE, 32 or 64GB storage, and a 12MP rear facing camera. Now those are some pretty competitive specs in today’s smartphone market, and on paper, or e-ink paper, it looks impressive.
It isn’t yet available, and it will only be going into mass production in February, but I might try and get hold of one when possible. It will be very interesting to see if it is able to deliver in practice what it states on paper.
