Radical Dual-Screen Smartphone, E-Reader Coming to U.S. This Year

A dual-screen phone that combines a smartphone and an e-book screen is set to come to the US for the first time in 2014.

The Yotaphone has a unique, low-power screen on the rear face for tasks that don't require full color, saving precious power when answering emails and text messages. And the e-reader face always stays on - even if the battery 'dies.'

The rear-facing display allows users to access applications without powering up the full color display, saving crucial battery life (Image via HK Strategies).

The front face is a standard AMOLED--active-matrix organic light-emitting diode--screen, and the applications are congruent with the Android network. But apps will have to be specifically coded for the rear face.

The Moscow-developed YotaPhone model will be the first available in the United States when it goes on sale "at the end of this year," an HK Strategies spokeswoman told TheBlaze.

"Yota Devices proved that there is an antidote to the always-dark smartphone screen,' Yota Devices CEO Vlad Martynov said. '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 unique-dual face phone will be available just before Christmas 2014 (Image courtesy HK Strategies).

Users will also be able to access social media sites like Facebook and Twitter without using the full-color screen and draining the battery. Even if the battery dies, the most recent information on the EPD will remain visible, and it can be used to save important information or reminders.

"Save anything from a route on a map, to a boarding pass or theater tickets," touts the YotaPhone site.

It's worth watching the 30-second video about the new model to really see what the surface looks like; it's easier to see the color differences and matte-like finish of the rear face in the video than in the marketing photos.

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(H/T: Daily Mail)

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