View Single Post
Old 11-09-2016, 02:04 AM   #13
Sweetpea
Grand Sorcerer
Sweetpea ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Sweetpea ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Sweetpea ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Sweetpea ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Sweetpea ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Sweetpea ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Sweetpea ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Sweetpea ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Sweetpea ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Sweetpea ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Sweetpea ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Sweetpea's Avatar
 
Posts: 9,707
Karma: 32763414
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Krewerd
Device: Pocketbook Inkpad 4 Color; Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Quote:
Originally Posted by james_ View Post
The Yotaphone2 is a great device and I owned one for a couple of weeks until I managed to brick the device while upgrading it to Android 5. Without a physical on/off button you can really come unstuck in that respect! You're getting Kitkat 4.4 from Gearbest, and I'd advise you not to upgrade unless you really have to. Android 5 is a lot more power hungry and the problem with this design is that the processor is sandwiched between two bits of glass, so tends to cook and die. These are not relaible phones in my personal experience anyway! The glass also breaks and is unrepairable...

I am tempted to get one nonetheless again as it is a lovely thing, just deeply impractical. It does hoover up battery even under 4.4 because there is an app on the phone from a Yota partner that is a dictionary... you can't get rid of the service and it is constantly connecting to Russia to update them on your whereabouts. No diffferent to Google obviously, but this constant monitoring is a bit of a drain on the battery. I am really not James Bond... honestly...

The wireless battery charging is cool and works well. Outdoor reading on the greyscale screen is magic and the mirroring from front to back works well (ie running android desktop on eInk) The real problem comes with the design itself. There is no 'back' to the phone that you don't care if it gets scuffed. Which means that you can't put it down anywhere. You need to get hold of a 'Yotabumper' to go round the side. I have two alloy ones I bought that I need to resell, but they are useless because they cut the signal strength on the phone, so I'm not sure I want to visit those on anyone else!!

So a flawed device then, but it is something special in a sea of android look alike phones. The colour screen is very nice as well.

Personally I think you're better off ignoring the novelty factor and getting a phone and an e-reader. You can at least put them down on something without scratching one of your displays!
I didn't buy from Gearbest, so the one I'll be getting already has 5.0. And I won't be using it as a phone, so signal strenght won't be a problem (I already have a phone I'm very happy with).

That bumpercase is a good point though, I'll need to look for one.

The wireless charging is indeed very nice, I've been using that for 3 years already, and wouldn't want to buy another phone that doesn't have it...
Sweetpea is offline   Reply With Quote