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The two sides to YotaPhone (pictures)

You've never seen a smartphone quite like this before, with full-fledged Android on the front and battery-saving e-ink in the rear.

Jessica Dolcourt
Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Commerce & Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Commerce, How-To and Performance Optimization. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began leading CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).
Jessica Dolcourt
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1 of 5 James Martin/CNET

Meet YotaPhone

LAS VEGAS--I had heard about the YotaPhone, an Android smartphone on one side with an e-ink display on the back, prior to CES, but the confab marked the first time it was shown in the U.S. Gestures navigate you around both sides.
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2 of 5 James Martin/CNET

Front and back

From the front, you use YotaPhone like almost any other Android 4.1 smartphone (L), and when you need to conserve battery power, you flip it over to access information on the low-powered e-ink back (R).
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3 of 5 James Martin/CNET

Specs

The YotaPhone has a 12-megapixel camera on the rear, a 1.3-megapixel lens on the front, a dual-core processor, and plenty of storage at 32 or 64GB capacities. Or it will, anyway, after it cycles through several prototypes and launches sometime in the latter half of 2013.
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4 of 5 James Martin/CNET

Not your ordinary power button

In addition to pouring on the e-ink, Yota Devices also wanted to give the YotaPhone some efficiencies, including merging the power button with the SIM card slot.
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5 of 5 James Martin/CNET

Curved Gorilla Glass 3

Look closely and you can see that the phone's back is curved. Before Corning announced Gorilla Glass 3 just before the show, YotaPhone had it custom-make this surface.

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