04.12 Russian Tech Firm Launches 2-Screen Smartphone

MOSCOW, December 4 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian tech company on Wednesday launched a new smartphone with an imagination-bending feature – two screens. 

The Android-based YotaPhone, from modem developer Yota, features a full-color LCD screen on one side and a black-and-white electronic paper display on the other.

YotaPhone creators said the function will help save battery power by letting users check notifications on the e-ink screen without activating the energy-intensive LCD display. 

The head of state-run technologies company Rostech, Sergei Chemezov, presented a visibly pleased Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with the new gadget as a gift in a televised encounter Wednesday.

The YotaPhone, the first smartphone ever created by a Russian company, is now available in Russia, Austria, France, Spain and Germany for 19,990 rubles ($600). 

Yota said the device, which won a Best of Consumer Electronics award from American tech website CNET earlier this year, will be available in 20 countries in the first quarter of 2014.