Yota –  a dual display smartphone manufacturer, goes bankrupt as declared the Cayman Islands Supreme Court in a recent ruling. According to the local newspaper, Cayman Islands Gazette, Yota requested for liquidation per local laws a few days ago.

The court appointed FTI Consulting employees – David Griffin and Joshua James Taylor as the Joint Official Liquidators of the company. Yota creditors have 21 days to establish any title they may have under the Companies Law. Failing to comply with the order within the given time, the creditors will be excluded from any benefit or distribution made.

Hi-P Electronics, a Singaporean company and display supplier of Yota Phone also filed a lawsuit against the company for not fulfilling the subscription contract. After the initial settlement of $17 million, the Hi-P electronics still cites non-settlement of claims.

Yota Phone was established in 2011 to develop new generation modems, routers, smartphones. It was developed by the Russian telecommunications company Скартел and is licensed under the Yota trademark. They partnered with various companies to supply its network equipment before testing their hands in the smartphone market. The company’s Yota Phone – dual displays smartphone gave wings to Yota’s smartphone division. Later, Yota announced some more smartphones but failed to keep with the users’ aspirations.

• Read More: YotaPhone 3 is Official with $360 Pricing; Features Like Dual Screens, SD 625, 4 GB RAM

With a stake of over 50%, the Chinese Consortium including Trinity World Management and China Baoli has a controlling stake. Precisely, the Chinese Consortium holds more than 50% stake whereas the Telconet (company’s initial majority shareholder with 64.9% stake back in 2013) still has a stake of around 34.9%.

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Last month we posted an article that talked about the Yotaphone 3 and the fate of its production. The team behind the dual-screen Yotaphone and Yotaphone 2 had confirmed on its Instagram page, that the phone is still in development.

Today the Russian phone startup released a teaser of the upcoming device on its official website. The teaser shows a faint outline of the sides of the phone in a fashion similar to a mirror image. We can make out the curves of the phone and a physical button on one of the sides. There is not much to make out from the teaser apart from the info that says pre-orders begin this summer which should begin in June. So we have two whole months before the Yotaphone 3 is official.

Hopefully before then we should know more about the device. The Yotaphone 3 is expected to feature bigger screens and a better processor. The RAM and storage may also get an upgrade.

That’s not the only good news from Yotaphone. Last week, they also announced on their Facebook page that the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update for the Yotaphone 2 is now available. If you own one, all you have to do is head to the “About Phone” section under settings and tap on “System Update”. If the update has reached your phone, then you should be able to download it. The change-log wasn’t provided but at least you get a new android version. We do hope the Yotaphone launches with Android Nougat.

(Source, via)

The post Dual-Screen Yotaphone 3 Teased, Pre-Order Starts This Summer appeared first on Gizmochina.

There are so many smartphones these days and a lot of them are similar in one way or another. However, some phones are truly unique. The Yotaphone 2 was released almost 3 years ago and it used to cost over $800. Now you can get it for just about $120 and it is probably the most unique cheap smartphone out there. Learn more in our full review.

VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqdhTcH5UMI[/embedyt]

UNBOXING

It all starts with a premium presentation. The phone a comes in a unique box that nicely unfolds and inside of it, all the items are actually packed in separate boxes.

The list of accessories includes a nice USB cable, some paperwork, a fast charger, a SIM ejector tool and a pair of earphones, which look kind of nice but the quality of sound is just meh.

DESIGN

The Yotaphone is a unique device not only because of its secondary 4.7” E-ink display but also due to its rounded shape, which may remind you some of the old Nexus devices. What is also kind of unique is that the phone is very compact according to today’s standards and that it mainly due to the 5” 1080p AMOLED panel.

Speaking of that display, I can say that it is punchy, vibrant and it offers deep blacks – like most of the AMOLED panels. Both displays are covered with Gorilla Glass 3 for scratch resistance.

As for cameras, we have just an 8MP shooter on the back and 2MP on the front. Oh.. you can actually use the main camera with the LED flash for selfies and see yourself on the e-ink display.

Since the Yotaphone used to be the high-end phone, the loudspeaker quality is one of the best you can find in this price range.

Overall, the device is well made and it sits comfortably in the hand. However, we don’t have any premium materials like metal, there is no notification LED light, there are only the on-screen navigation buttons and last but not least the volume rocker rattles quite a lot. Well, it may be due to the fact that there is a single nano sim card tray inside the button.

SECONDARY DISPLAY

The question is what can you do with the secondary display and why is it there?

Well, you can do a lot of things. First of all, you can see all your notifications and access some frequently used apps that sit on the on the Yotapanels, which are highly customizable.

You can access your calendar, contacts, play the music and so on. Everything can be highly customized but…. I think that’s the boring stuff. You can mirror absolutely anything you want on the secondary display. The possibilities are endless here… You can play some pre-installed games or use the display for your movie tickets.

Not sure if you want to watch videos or even play some games on the black and white display that has much slower refresh rates but it is kind of fun and it saves a ton of power.

Speaking of the power, you can enjoy reading a collection of e-books for a whopping 100h using the e-ink display and the built-in Yotaphone’s power management tools. However, if you prefer using the Yotaphone’s main display more often, you will get just over 3 hours of screen-on time. At least, that was my result on kind of intensive use.

USER INTERFACE

The secondary display definitely looks like an innovation even in 2016 but the Yotaphone is a 2-year old device after all. My Chinese review unit runs the outdated Android 4.4 and I know that a lot of folks may be disappointed.

On the other hand, the stock-looking UI is pretty fast and I just had a few minor hiccups over the time.

HARDWARE

For just $130, you are getting and old but still capable Snapdragon 801 chip. If you add 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, you can enjoy playing some 3D games even on the highest graphics with just a few skipped frames.

IMAGE QUALITY

The image quality is kind of average. The daylight images could have more detail and sharpness, the dynamic range adjustment is kind of poor and the HDR mode leads to unnatural looking colors. Still, you can some nice pictures that can rival some newly released phones in this price range.

Where the Yotaphone 2 is better than your average $130 phone is the low-light. The photos are not the best but are definitely usable.

The selfie image quality leaves a lot to be desired.

The 1080p video looks kind of okay but don’t expect any stellar-looking footage from the phone this cheap.

CONNECTIVITY

When it comes to connectivity, the phone lacks the microSD card slot, it comes with just 1 sim card tray but there is NFC, a stable wifi connection and the good quality earpiece that assures a great call quality.

If you add the wireless charging feature, you may live with the previously mentioned shortcomings. Ohh.. and almost forgot, the GPS is very accurate for navigation.

CONCLUSIONS

That leads us to the final conclusion and we should answer if the Yotaphone is worth buying in 2017.

I think it is. $130 will get you a phone that is truly unique mostly due to its secondary display. Whether you love reading books or want to mirror the entire main display, the Yotaphone has you covered.

However, this device is 2 years old and you get the outdated hardware, software, the volume rocker rattles, there is no notification LED light, just above average camera, and you are stuck with just 1 sim card tray..

Even with those shortcomings, I think that the Yotaphone is still a one of a kind device at this price point. It’s up to you to decide whether that blend of uniqueness and outdated hardware is worth your money.

The post Yotaphone 2 Review – Amazing Budget Smartphone for just $120! appeared first on Gizmochina.

The original Yotaphone was released in 2013 as the first smartphone in the world with 2 screens. It had a 4.3-inch 720p primary display and a second always-on 4.3-inch grayscale screen on the back. It was followed by a second generation model that had a larger 5.0-inch 1080p screen on one side and a second 4.7-inch grayscale screen on the other hand.

The Yotaphone 2 was supposed to be followed by a cheaper version called the Yotaphone 2C but that didn’t happen. They also had to cancel a North American release of the Yotaphone 2 in 2015. Just before the end of 2015, the Russian company announced that it was partnering with ZTE to release the Yotaphone 3 in Q1 2016. Up until this moment, the device hasn’t been released.

Most folks would have already given up on the device, but a response on the official Instagram page says the Yotaphone 3 is still in development. No details of the upcoming product were revealed but if fans of the brand have to wait this long, we believe it should be worth the wait.

READ MORE: Elephone Z1 with 6GB RAM Takes Multitasking to Another Level

Possible specs we might see on the Yotaphone 3 may include the Snapdragon 821 chipset, a better camera, and a bigger battery. It will also make sense if it launches with Android Nougat. These are all speculations though and the final device might sport something different entirely.

(Source, via)

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November 11th is called a Singles’ Day in China and a lot of online retailers have quite a few discounts on numerous products. Although it is just a one day holiday in the far east, most of the shops tend to “celebrate” this day for a longer time and offer some generous discounts. There are quite a lot deals at Gearbest and we wanted to share with you some of them we think are worth your attention.

Lenovo ZUK Z2

We have reviewed the ZUK Z2 5 months ago but it is still quite a compelling offering. In fact, it is one of the cheapest Snapdragon 820-powered smartphones you can get at the moment. In addition to the powerful processor, the phone sports 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage that are packed in a beautiful and compact body. Learn more about the ZUK Z2 in our full review.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4

Some of us may have already lost the number of phones Xiaomi released this year but the Redmi Note 4 is the latest model in their budget Note lineup. It sports a premium all-metal build, great specs, feature-rich user interface and as we said in our in-depth review, if you are in the market of solid budget-friendly phones, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 should be definitely on your list as it is an easy buying recommendation.

Xiaomi Smart LED Desk Lamp

Another great product that we have already reviewed is the Xiaomi smart LED desk lamp. At the time of our review, we said that it was the most beautiful desk LED lamp. It sports a very nice-looking minimalistic design, it has tons of features and it can be controlled via Wifi using your phone.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 may have been released quite a while ago but we still believe it is a great smartphone for the price. The Note 3 Pro is actually a more powerful model that sports a Snapdragon 650 chip, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. All of these specs are packed into a beautiful metal shell and the phone is powered by a beefy 4000mAh battery.

Yotaphone 2

The last device in our list is the Yotaphone 2. Obviously, it is not the newest phone on the market but even in 2016, it still looks very innovative since it has 2 displays. One display sports a conventional 1080p LCD panel and the other has the e-ink panel that is not only power-efficient (reading time up to 100 hours) but also easy on your eyes. Finally, the phone sports some decent specs for such a low price: Snapdragon 800 chip, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

The post Top deals at GearBest 11.11 Sales Storm! [COUPONS INSIDE] appeared first on Gizmochina.