
Yotaphone - rnl
http://www.yotaphone.com/#/en/
======
BrechtVds
The "Scroll down" hint wasn't obvious enough for me. I'd also show both
screens as soon as you land on the page, as that is the unique feature of this
phone and it took me quite some time before I actually found it.

(If you don't scroll but just click on the links you just see 1 screen at a
time. If you aren't really paying attention you don't notice that there are 2
different ones)

~~~
Trufa
It drives me nuts this new fashion of braking the scrolling, it's completely
uncalibrated on chrome, I scrolled down the equivalent of a freaking book to
get to the end.

~~~
archgrove
Doesn't work at all with 2-finger scrolling on Safari for Mac.

~~~
jonknee
Or Chrome. I had no idea it could scroll at all and closed the tab before
seeing these comments.

Update: even weirder, it does scroll somewhat, but gets stuck and won't
respond to two-finger scrolling. All in all a terrible idea for navigation.

~~~
hoers
Why not just use the links on the left?

Misses some animation but still gives you all the info.

~~~
jonknee
For starters, the links on the left never show that there are two screens
(even with scrolling that is harder to see than in should be). Why not just
make a site that works?

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tbarbugli
Looks like everyone is bitching and only talking about the scrolling issue
(very common HN meta feedback). I find the use of eink screen brilliant! I
hope they manage to go on the market (and in EU too!)

~~~
basicallydan
Ditto. I'm kinda fed up of people focusing on websites when the story is
clearly about a cool new phone with an advanced display.

If folks would spend a few seconds ignoring the site and thinking about the
product they might enjoy themselves a bit more. By all means critique the site
but don't let that be your only contribution.

~~~
jscheel
True, this is a cool technology that deserves discussion, but if the
presentation gets in the way of people even understanding or _seeing_ (note
all of the people who didn't know they could scroll and closed out the window)
the cool new technology, then something is definitely wrong. Imagine when less
tech savvy users open the site, they definitely aren't going to scroll. About
the tech, I'm not so sure the required act of flipping your phone around to
the right side to view a message is a great implementation, as opposed to a
normal screen lighting up for a few seconds. It seems like it could become a
hassle for users.

~~~
tbarbugli
yes I agree and I think its ok if _few_ people points that there is an issue
with the presentation. Right now there are 2 screens full of comments about
this issue.

------
ryanwhitney
The scroll changes the smartphone display instead of moving down the page, and
more often than not lands between transitions.

If you'd like to sell a phone, hire a web designer that shoots for real goals
instead of trendy bullshit.

~~~
Scriptor
I feel like a lot of this trendy stuff comes out because it demos very well.
The designer shows it off in a controlled setting, everyone's wowed and
impressed and glad they hired a "good" designer, and nobody bothers to check
whether it's actually useful at all. Someone should've pointed out the website
is there to sell the product, not to showcase the FE guys's skills.

~~~
GalacticDomin8r
> I feel like a lot of this trendy stuff comes out because it demos very well.

You've expressed a thought, not an emotion. Please use "think" instead of
"feel".

[http://www.wildmind.org/applied/depression/distinguishing-
th...](http://www.wildmind.org/applied/depression/distinguishing-thoughts-and-
emotions)

------
girvo
Go check out Engadgets hands on with a prototype of it on YouTube. I'm on my
phone otherwise id link it myself.

It's certainly interesting, but I think the eink back looks a little... Well,
ugly. Would be neat if reading HN on it would not drain my battery, but the
radios suck down most battery after the screen, so I think offline documents
would be better suited. Think not needing a kindle... It's really different.

(why the downvote? I normally never ask, but I'm confused as to what I did
incorrectly and would love to know so I can avoid it in the future)

~~~
highpixels
Link:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wAKFc_hFN0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wAKFc_hFN0)

~~~
StavrosK
You, sir, are my nemesis!

------
aparadja
It took five full middle finger mouse wheel scrolls to get to the portion
where the first map popped up on screen. It looks cool and all, but this is
just ridiculous.

------
adamors
Looks cool but I couldn't bother spending more than 30 seconds on that page.
Do you seriously expect your users to scroll for 2 minutes to present
information that could be put into a slideshow/GIF/video?

~~~
easytiger
Well for most people just a simple page is better than a slideshow/video/gif.
Which are not optimal

------
jspc
Phone aside I can't be the only person who finds the whole scrolling/animation
thing just a bit obnoxious, can I? Such a slow way to get to the information.

~~~
choult
I swear Logitech were onto something when they built flywheel mousewheels...

~~~
vincentkriek
Especially the ones that had you select between flying en normal

------
cipher0
How much does it cost? I can't find it anywhere on the website, not even on
the preorder page.

~~~
witek
From their fb page:

YotaPhone goes on sale at 19,990 rubles or 499 euros.

For our Russian fans, it is available for order now on YotaPhone.com.

From mid-December it will be available in retail stores in Germany and Russia
and in the online store in Austria, Germany, France and Spain.

In January 2014, it will be available online and at retailers in the UK,
Greece, Cyprus and the Czech Republic, as well as in the Middle East (Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and Egypt).

YotaPhone will be available initially through the following international
distributors: Ingram Micro Inc., Brodos and Jumbo Electronics Company Ltd.

In Russia, it will go on sale at Evroset, Svyaznoy and Yota Retail.

~~~
dmxt
I'm in Russia and I paid less than that for the Galaxy S4. Seriously, how come
Yotaphone is so expensive? Are they one of the flagship phone?

------
hbbio
Maybe it's just me, but at first it reads like "Yet Another Phone"...

~~~
RossM
It wasn't obvious to me until I watched the hands-on with Engadget - the
unique bit is the e-ink always-on screen on the back.

------
kgarten
Do people think having notifications on the back of a phone is a good idea? I
just imagine several strange situations in the subway etc.

------
kalstars
Can you use the device in e-ink only mode all the time? For all apps and phone
calls etc?

~~~
thesadman
That's what I want as well. Problem is that most apps would need some
retooling to be optimized for E-Ink.

------
adnam
What was that about "You Can't Build a Smartphone"?

[http://joshondesign.com/2013/12/02/nosmartphone](http://joshondesign.com/2013/12/02/nosmartphone)

~~~
realrocker
He probably meant "You can't build a Mobile OS"

~~~
adnam
Well the site is giving a nice Express.js error, bit IIRC he said you could
make a cheap Android phone but were then engaged in a "race to the bottom".

------
iansinnott
Cool idea, but the large bezel on the sides makes this phone instantly ugly by
todays standards. Unless it's outrageously cheap, the design will likely keep
most people from buying this.

------
moreati
Slightly offtopic, a photo of an early mockup/protoype for this phone showed a
physical vibrate-mode switch ala the iPhone. The final production module
doesn't.

I've puzzled before why no Android phone (that I've seen) has a physical
switch for vibrate. I can only assume Apple has a patent, but I've never found
hard evidence. Anyone know of a phone other than the iPhone that has such a
switch? Or the reason only the iPhone has it?

~~~
micampe
BlackBerrys have had it forever.

------
Doublon
Some issues with the scrolling on my MBP with Chrome.

Otherwise it looks nice!

~~~
nrj
Same. I had to drag the scroll handles to get it to work.

------
kirk21
Cool design. Going to stick with Popslate
([http://www.popslate.com/](http://www.popslate.com/)) so I can keep my iPhone

------
darklrd
I missed the fact that each link has multiple screens and you need to
"scroll". I was clicking on one section at a time. Otherwise it's awesome.

------
rodolphoarruda
"Hi Honey! Do you remember about our Dinner?"

"Oops, sorry dear... I got this new phone now and its so entertaining that I
really forgot about our Dinner."

~~~
pidg
I'll be waiting for you in our Lovely Place.

------
dethstar
Great user design, great ux, found everything immediately 10/10 would buy from
these ui/ux experts. /sarcasm

------
skrebbel
This would be a phone that I'd actually be willing to move back to Android
for. If the e-ink display API would be designed no worse than Android's main
API, I'd hack all kinds of homegrown apps for it.

------
wil421
Some sites are enjoyable when they use the scrolling down animation effect,
this site was horrible. It wasnt clear that I even should scroll down and when
I did it never ended.

------
nor-and-or-not
I wonder why there's no Ogg Vorbis besides MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, AMR, MIDI
and WAV in the audio specifications.

------
gagege
Hacker news should be renamed "Start-up Web Presence Critics" I think.

------
scotth
I think it's kind of fun. I love that it has an always on wallpaper.

~~~
maaaats
Nokia used to have this, and they recently added it to their newer Lumia
models, called "Glance". It's cool, can show time, wallpaper and
notifications.

Example image:
[http://www.wpcentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/styles/la...](http://www.wpcentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2013/10/glance_background_beta_lead.jpg?itok=VjD83VSQ)

~~~
mbq
Still, it just turns off a half of all pixels -- this way the energy
consumption is significantly higher than for e-ink.

~~~
maaaats
Yes. But at least for amoled, it can backlight only the shown pixels.

My Lumia 920 has IPS LCD, so it need to backlight the entire screen. But
still, the energy consumption isn't that high. It turns off the screen when in
the pocket. I have more than enough juice left at the end of the day.

------
Ihmahr
So the phone's first feature is the fact that it is always on?

------
tmikaeld
The phone is upside down and even the phones logo....

(From the first page under "Never Miss A Thing")

[http://i.imgur.com/7w427r8.png](http://i.imgur.com/7w427r8.png)

Seems like a real work in progress type of phone ;-)

~~~
darklajid
Uhm.. I fail to understand your point.

The screenshot you post is of the BACK side of the phone, with the eInk/EPD
display, right? Which puts the camera (the 'back' camera) at the bottom.

The picture you're comparing to that is probably the FRONT of the device, with
another (..front) camera and no logo.

Did you miss the whole point of the phone or did I miss the source of your
amusement?

~~~
tmikaeld
Oh, did i forget to write sarcasm again?

Seriously.. they need to fix the scroll.

------
dsschnau
Argh why can't I just have a cheap e-ink phone!

~~~
Millennium
Too tough to push apps onto people.

~~~
whichdan
That, and the refresh rates are still way too slow.

~~~
Millennium
The refresh rates are fine unless you want to run apps, but that's precisely
what makes them unappealing to manufacturers. App stores have become quite the
revenue stream, and the people who want E-ink displays are, by and large, not
buying into that revenue stream.

------
optymizer
Scrolling doesn't work on Chrome 31.0.1650.57 on Mac OS X 10.9.

------
stefantalpalaru
I'm curious how a smartphone with only one (e-paper) screen would behave.
Better if it's high DPI. So far I've found only the announced Onyx phone[1]
with no technical details about the screen.

[1]: [https://onyx-boox.com/coming-soon-e-ink-news/e-ink-
smartphon...](https://onyx-boox.com/coming-soon-e-ink-news/e-ink-smartphone/)

------
natch
Some cool ideas here. Not new ideas, but if they are put into a shipping
product, that will be good.

Then they have "Stand out from the crowd," ugh. This is an unfortunate bullet
point, just for its lameness.

The screen doesn't look like a paper display to me. What am I missing? Are
there color paper displays now?

~~~
calinet6
They should have this as the first graphic everyone sees -- drag the slider
below the phone:
[http://www.yotaphone.com/#/en/techspecs/](http://www.yotaphone.com/#/en/techspecs/)

Or this for a static image:
[http://www.yotaphone.com/#/en/images](http://www.yotaphone.com/#/en/images)

