Product Listing

YotaPhone 2: When one screen is not good enough

By Cookie Monster - 30 Mar 2015
Launch SRP: S$1048

Performance Benchmarks, Imaging, Battery Life & Conclusion

Performance benchmarks

The YotaPhone 2 is driven by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.2GHz processor and 2GB RAM. This places it in the league of most Android flagship smartphones that are released in 2014. For this review, we compared the YotaPhone 2 against other 5-inch or smaller screen Android smartphones such as the ASUS PadFone S, HTC Desire Eye, Motorola Moto X (2014), Samsung Galaxy Alpha and Sony Xperia Z3 Compact.

YotaPhone 2 vs The Competition
  YotaPhone 2 ASUS PadFone S HTC Desire Eye Motorola Moto X (2014) Samsung Galaxy Alpha Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  YotaPhone 2 ASUS PadFone S HTC Desire Eye Motorola Moto X (2014) Samsung Galaxy Alpha Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
Launch SRP
  • From S$1048
  • From S$449
  • From S$728
  • From S$948
  • From S$798
Operating system
  • Android 4.4 KitKat
  • Android 4.4.2 KitKat
  • Android 4.4.4 KitKat with HTC Sense 6
  • Android 4.4.4 KitKat (upgradable to Android L)
  • Android 4.4.4 KitKat
  • Android 4.4.4 KitKat
Processor
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.2GHz
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.3GHz
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.3GHz
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.5GHz
  • Exynos 5 Octa (Quad 1.8GHz + Quad 1.3GHz)
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.5GHz
Built-in Memory
  • 2GB RAM
  • 2GB RAM
  • 2GB RAM
  • 2GB RAM
  • 2GB RAM
  • 2GB RAM
Display
  • Front: 5-inch / 1,920 x 1,080 pixels / AMOLED
  • Rear: 4.7-inch / 960 x 540 pixels / Electronic Paper Display (EPD)
  • 5-inch / 1920 x 1080 pixels / Full-HD Super IPS+, 441ppi / Corning Gorilla Glass
  • 5.2-inch / 1,920 x 1,080 pixels / Super LCD 3
  • 5.2-inch / 1,920 x 1,080 pixels (424 ppi) / AMOLED
  • 4.7-inch / 1,280 x 720 pixels / Super AMOLED
  • 4.6-inch / 1,280 x 720 pixels / IPS LCD
Camera
  • Rear: 8-megapixel autofocus with LED flash
  • Front: 2.1-megapixel
  • 13-megapixel / autofocus / Sony BSI sensor / F2.0 aperture / 5-element lens / LED flash
  • Secondary: 2-megapixel
  • Rear: 13-megapixel with BSI sensor, f/2.0, 28mm wide angle lens and dual-LED flash
  • Front: 13-megapixel with BSI sensor, f/2.2, 22mm wide angle lens and dual-LED flash
  • Rear: 13MP, autofocus, dual-LED flash
  • Front: 2MP
  • Rear: 12-megapixel
  • Front: 2.1-megapixel
  • Rear: 20.7-megapixel with pulsed LED
  • Front: 2.2-megapixel
Connectivity
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (VHT20, MSC 8), Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, A-GPS + GLONASS
  • WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, DLNA, GPS + GLONASS
  • Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5GHz), NFC, DLNA, Micro-USB 2.0,
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, MIMO (2x2), Bluetooth 4.0 BLE / ANT+, NFC
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC
Storage Type
  • 32GB internal storage
  • 16GB
  • microSD support up to 64GB
  • 16GB internal storage
  • microSD expansion up to 128GB
  • 16GB
  • 32GB internal storage
  • 16GB internal storage
  • microSD support up to 128GB
Battery
  • 2,500mAh
  • 2,300mAh
  • 2,400mAh
  • 2,300mAh
  • 1,860mAh
  • 2,600mAh
Dimensions
  • 144.9 x 69.4 x 8.95mm
  • 143.4 x 72.5 x 10 mm
  • 151.7 x 73.8 x 8.5mm
  • 140.8 x 72.4 x 4 ~ 10 mm
  • 132.4 x 65.5 x 6.7 mm
  • 127 x 64.9 x 8.6mm
Weight
  • 145g
  • 150g
  • 154g
  • 144g
  • 115g
  • 129g

 

Quadrant

Quadrant evaluates a device's CPU, memory, I/O, and 3D graphics performance. The YotaPhone 2 held its own in the Quadrant benchmark with a score comparable to the rest of its peers.

 

 

3DMark (2013)

Originally developed as a PC gaming benchmarking tool, 3DMark now supports multiple platforms including Android. The Ice Storm benchmark is designed for smartphones, mobile devices and ARM architecture computers.

For an in-depth understanding of 3DMark for Android, do head over to our article, "3DMark - Android Device GPU Performance Review." In a nutshell, it is an OpenGL ES 2.0 benchmark test that uses fixed off-screen rendering to run two graphics tests designed to stress the GPU performance of your device and a physics test to stress its CPU performance. The benchmark consists of three test portfolios: Standard (720p resolution rendering), Extreme (1080p resolution rendering with higher quality textures and post-processing effects), and Unlimited (disabled v-sync, display scaling and other OS factors that make it ideal for chipset comparison).

Since all the recent flagship smartphones max out the scores for the Standard and Extreme tests, we will only be looking at the scores for Ice Storm Unlimited. The YotaPhone 2 ranked last in the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited benchmark as it was the slowest clocked Snapdragon 801 processor. Additionally, we think the UI was a little more taxing and created a bigger gulf in performance when put up with other similarly equipped Snapdragon processor. Only the Samsung Alpha ranked close as it was using Samsung's own lower clocked octa-core Exynos 5 Octa processor.

 

 

SunSpider JavaScript

SunSpider JavaScript helps measure the browsing performance of a device when processing Javascript. It not only takes into consideration the underlying hardware performance, but also assesses how optimized a particular platform is at delivering a high-speed web browsing experience. The YotaPhone 2 delivered a mid-pack performance in this benchmark.

 

Putting aside the benchmark scores, user navigation of the YotaPhone 2 on the main display was generally smooth and fluid. As mentioned in the previous page, the user experience took a hit on the rear display due to the low refresh rates.

 

Battery performance

Our standard battery test for mobile phones includes the following parameters:

  • Looping a 800 x 480-pixel video with screen brightness and volume at 100%
  • Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
  • Constant data streaming through email and Twitter

 

The YotaPhone 2 fared very well by lasting close to 9 hours in our standard video test run. When compared to the 5-inch PadFone S and Desire Eye, the YotaPhone 2 performed 30% and 18% better respectively. This is attributed to the more power-efficient AMOLED display, slightly larger battery capacity and a slightly lower clocked processor.

 

Portability

We measure the portability of a device by calculating its battery life to (weight x volume) ratio. Among the 5-inch phones in this comparison, the YotaPhone 2 ranked top thanks to its better battery mileage. The Samsung Galaxy Alpha and Sony Xperia Z3 Compact don't really count as direct comparisons here as they have a small screen resulting in a more compact build and lighter weight. For an additional point of comparison, the 5.2-inch Sony Xperia Z3 came close with a 0.62 portability ratio.

 

 

Camera performance

You will find an 8-megapixel rear autofocus camera and a front-facing 2.1-megapixel camera on the YotaPhone 2. Unfortunately, when it comes to imaging quality of the YotaPhone 2, there is nothing to write home about. Color depth and reproduction is average and details can be murky.

 

 

Conclusion

Whether or not the YotaPhone 2 can succeed depends on customers' appetite for unique phone concepts, their willingness to fork out S$951 S$1,048 and developers' interest in making apps to utilize the second display. There are signs that consumers are open to new phone designs as Samsung reportedly sold over 630,000 units of the Galaxy Note Edge worldwide. Hitting the 100,000 milestone would be considered a good achievement for the YotaPhone 2, but for now, it is in danger of being overshadowed by the looming launch of new Android flagship smartphones from HTC, LG and Samsung. While all these phones pose no threat to YotaPhone 2's unique design and having a secondary display, the fact that the new phones cater to the mainstream phone upgraders with something familiar and from a familiar brand, gives them an unfair upper hand.

There's no two ways about it; the YotaPhone 2 is clearly aimed at a niche market segment where consumers are willing to try out unconventional phone designs.

In fact, the YotaPhone 2 seems, feels and looks more uncommon than the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge 4G+ with its single curved edge. The YotaPhone 2 will undoubtedly be a conversation starter or a head turner when you whip the phone out in public. The dual-screen design is paired with smooth performance and a rather competent set of custom software features to make use of the second display. If only the phone's photo taking capabilities were better, the YotaPhone 2 would come off as a much easier to recommend novelty smartphone.

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8.0
  • Design 8
  • Features 8.5
  • User-Friendliness 8
  • Performance 8
  • Value 6.5
The Good
Unique dual-screen design
Good battery life
Decent software features to make use of second display
The Bad
Average imaging performance
Awkward to hold the phone when using the Electronic Paper Display
Very expensive
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