Next-generation YotaPhone with 4.7-inch E-ink display, Snapdragon 800 unveiled

Yota Devices has on Monday unveiled the next-generation of the YotaPhone at Barcelona, MWC 2014, with the new smartphone's biggest highlight is the full-touch control for its always-on E-ink display, something missing in its predecessor. The YotaPhone 2 will launch Europe in late 2014, and thereafter in 2015 make its way globally. For now, no pricing details have been given.

The Russian networking giant also announced the YotaPhone 2 will be more 'intuitive and interactive', with new hardware and software features. It is also much faster, featuring a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor. The E-ink display is larger as well, apart from supporting touch, at 4.7-inches (compared to the first generation YotaPhone's 4.3-inch).

The smartphone is Android-based, and as for version, Yota Devices is only saying 'latest' for now. The front display, a 5-inch AMOLED offering, bears a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels, with a pixel density of 442 ppi. The next-generation YotaPhone is powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 processor with an Adreno 330 GPU, coupled with 2GB of RAM.

The YotaPhone 2 features 32GB of built-in storage (no details about microSD card slot). It sports an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. 8.9mm thin, it weighs in at 140 grams. It is a nano-SIM device, and features 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, USB 3.0, Bluetooth v4.0, GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS, and NFC connectivity.

Yota Devices has given the new YotaPhone 2 wireless charging, though not much has been detailed about this feature yet. It features a 2550mAh battery, with no talktime and standby time ratings. The new YotaPhone will be available in Black and White variants at launch.

"The future of smartphones is always-on displays allowing users to stay connected without turning off the real world and disrupting the people around you. The next generation YotaPhone takes this totally innovative concept in smartphones and makes it even better. Now, with two full-touch displays, the next generation YotaPhone is twice as smart, twice as useful and twice as beautiful," said Yota Devices CEO Vlad Martynov.


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