YotaPhone 2 release date, specs, features, price: Dual-screen smartphone with new E-ink screen features and Android 5.0 Lollipop update releasing soon in U.S.

The YotaPhone, a dual-screen smartphone from Russian manufacturer Yota Devices, has just received an upgrade and will go on sale in the U.S. this summer.

(Maxim Shemetov / Reuters)

The YotaPhone 2 sports not one, but two displays with a normal AMOLED 5-inch front screen having a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels, and an always-on, 4.7-inch E-ink rear screen with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels. The dual-screen smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 system chip, paired with 2GB of RAM, and offers 32GB of internal storage. The YotaPhone 2 has an 8-megapixel rear camera and is powered by a 2500 mAh battery.

The YotaPhone uses a combination of its YETI (Yota E-Ink Technology Integration) software that runs on top of Android with the rear e-ink display. A software update is also currently making its way to Yotaphone 2 handsets, which will be upgraded from Android 4.4 KitKat to Android 5.0 Lollipop in the coming weeks. A majority of the software enhancements in YETI 2.0 (Yota E-ink Technology Interface) will focus on improving the performance of rear screen, with a centralized home button introduced for easier navigation and better control. The Russian firm has also improved the YotaPhone's interface making it easier to use and more feature rich.

Apart from the earlier all-black model, Yotaphone 2 will now also be available in a white color option, and the colors on the E-Ink screen of the white model have also been inverted to give a lighter, brighter appearance to match the handset's white shade. The new white version also features brushed metal on the side and bottom where the power and volume buttons and charger/speakers are placed, though the front facing AMOLED side continues to sport a black frame around the 5-inch screen.

The YotaPhone 2 will be arriving in the United States in July 2015 through IndieGogo, a crowdfunding website, and is expected to be priced between $650 to $700.

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