E-ink-toting YotaPhone 2 finally heading to a release

In what feels like ages ago, Russian-based phonemaker YotaPhone announced the second generation of its e-ink screen device at MWC Barcelona, in February 2014. The pebble-shaped YotaPhone 2 had greatly improved specs, a sleek design, and a full-touch secondary e-ink 960×540 screen on the back.

Unfortunately, there’s been almost zero news about the YotaPhone 2 since MWC – except a rumor about YotaPhone looking into setting up shop in Canada, the silence surrounding this unique project was deafening. But that’s changing.

YotaPhone announced on Twitter that the YotaPhone 2 will launch by the end of the year and that the – real, hopefully – release event will take place in London on December 3. YotaPhone has not specified the markets where the device will be available, though back at MWC they mentioned Russia, Europe, and the Middle East as part of the initial rollout wave.

Currently, YotaPhone has online stores running in a number of European markets, as well as India and Malaysia.

YotaPhone initially said the dual-screen e-ink device will sell in the US by the end of the year, but judging from the long delay in getting it out in Russia and Europe, the outlook for North America doesn’t look that good.

E-ink screens offer the benefit of high visibility and low battery consumption (energy is consumed only when the image is refreshed.) On the downside, e-ink has a low refresh rate, which doesn’t make it suitable for displaying smooth animations. YotaPhone 2 suggested various uses for the e-ink screen on the back, like displaying notifications, stock data, fitness data, and social updates.