The dual-screen YotaPhone has been released in the UK.
The device, which features both a typical smartphone touchscreen on its front and an e-ink screen on its back, debuted at the MWC trade show in Barcelona last year. It was launched in December in a number of other markets including Germany, France, Austria, and Spain, as well as Russia, the home of the phone's maker Yota.
The YotaPhone's touchscreen is a 4.3-inch 720x1280 LCD display, while the rear screen is a 360x640 e-ink screen of the type more commonly seen on e-readers. The second screen is not a touchscreen, but does have a touch-sensitive area underneath for navigation and controls.
The idea behind the second screen is that it's a way of showing notifications, such as message alerts, without draining the battery as much as displaying them on the main screen would, according to Yota.
The handset also pack a 13-megapixel front-facing camera and a one-megapixel front-facing equivalent, a 1,800mAH battery, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. It's powered by Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2.
The device will sell in the UK for £419, around the same cost as it's been retailing for in mainland Europe — €499.
The YotaPhone will go on sale "later this month" in more European countries, according to its maker — including Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, and Scandinavia.
A second generation of YotaPhone is already in the works. Previewed at this year's MWC , the handset has a slightly bigger display at 4.7 inches, with a full-touch e-ink second screen. It's set to go on sale in December this year.
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