Yotaphone 2 Usage, Tips & Hints

pdurrant · 11-07-2016, 04:00 PM

The Yotaphone 2 is currently (Autumn 2016) available at a huge discount from its original retail price, e.g. from GearBest

Here's a thread for people to discuss their use of the Yotaphone 2, firmware updates, app compatibility, etc, etc.

Have at it! I hope to join in once my second one arrives. (The first had an unfortunate encounter with a gravel driveway.)

Tech specs:

Spoiler:

andyh2000 · 11-07-2016, 04:30 PM

I was getting hugely frustrated trying to upgrade the firmware on mine to Android 5 (kept on getting stuck at "waiting for device"). I was using a Surface Pro 3 (Windows 10) and eventually came across a posting somewhere suggesting that flashing might not work via a USB 3 port. I installed the Yota firmware flashing tool on an ancient Dell desktop (Windows 7) that barely has USB 2 let alone 3 and it worked first time.

Andrew

trocchietto · 11-07-2016, 06:07 PM

I eventually would be curious to know which sw you use to SYNC the great but small eink screen with other devices as tablets or other home android eink ereaders.

After quite an extensive research, I found Mantano as the best candidate BUT you need to pay monthly fees to sync. The others or miss google drive( because dropbox is "only" 2 gb on the base profile), or the pdf reflow function with highlight/dictionary offline.

So far I examined the Moon+Reader, FBreader with pdf plugin Mantano,Xodo,Ezreader and some minor ones. I feel to state that so far there is not a free or at least one fee( not monthly) solution

barryem · 11-07-2016, 07:59 PM

Moon+ will sync through Dropbox and you only need a free Dropbox account do do that. I do it all the time. It's very fast and easy. I also have some Kindles which I sync with Whispersync and Moon+ syncs faster and easier.

However, I'm finding that since I like to read on a Kindle, a Kobo and a phone manually syncing is also fairly easy. I've developed little techniques that work well for me. Syncing Moon+ or the Kindle is easier but not by much.

Barry

Sweetpea · 11-08-2016, 01:41 AM

So, as a prospective Yotaphone owner, I'll post here to say I'm highly anticipating it. I already saw it when it came out, but the high price was just too much. Especially as I wouldn't want it as a phone, but only as an Android device.

But, as we've been looking for a cheap Android phone for about a year now, on and off, not continually!, this one just fit the bill perfectly. You don't often find previously high-end phones at a cheap price, without it being second-hand (refurbished, or otherwise not brand new).

It should arrive somewhere next week, I think, and it should already have Android 5.

trocchietto · 11-08-2016, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barryem

Moon+ will sync through Dropbox and you only need a free Dropbox account do do that. I do it all the time. It's very fast and easy. I also have some Kindles which I sync with Whispersync and Moon+ syncs faster and easier.

However, I'm finding that since I like to read on a Kindle, a Kobo and a phone manually syncing is also fairly easy. I've developed little techniques that work well for me. Syncing Moon+ or the Kindle is easier but not by much.

Barry

issue of Moon+ combined with the small screen: 1) does not take into account that reflow pdf( allowing at same time highlighting) is an important feature 2) dropbox does not have enough storage only 2 GB. I collect digital books, I buy also the ones I read years ago in paper. I need at least 15 GB.

Mantano allows reflow pdf and has a dedicated cloud service that would cost me 50 euro per year.
I would rather pay even 40 euro but giving me the possibility to use google drive that is 15 gb instead to pay apart for a google cloud service The problem in general is that developers prefer dropbox because has an easy API to integrate with the own code.

My only hope at the moment is that FBreader will have reflow with highlight in the future, but is not a trivial feature. If there are developer interested we could push small commitments all of us.

as it is opensource

underscore · 11-08-2016, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The Yotaphone 2 is currently (Autumn 2016) available at a huge discount from its original retail price, e.g. from GearBest

is it dual sim ?

Terisa de morgan · 11-08-2016, 09:59 AM

No, no es dual sim

pdurrant · 11-08-2016, 11:15 AM

I've added the tech specs from the web site to the first post.

Tikker · 11-08-2016, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trocchietto

I need at least 15 GB.

you read 15gb worth of books concurrently?

store all your books on your pc via calibre, and just import the ones you need to dropbox

you can set up calibre so that you can access it from the interwebz np, and just import books as you need

they live permanently on the pc, but in dropbox for on the go sync

Tikker · 11-08-2016, 04:43 PM

hah holy moly, price jumpted $30 while i was browsing

initial surf showed $181, now it's listed at $209

james_ · 11-08-2016, 06:50 PM

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!

Sweetpea · 11-09-2016, 02:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by james_

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...

fozzedout · 11-09-2016, 05:49 AM

I bought one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01AOUJ2G8

It comes with 2 front screen protectors (nothing for the back unfortunately).
And it does add some excellent grip to the device.

The only downside is that the case is shiny rather than matte, so it can be distracting in the sun.

edit: and I forgot to mention: if you use your gps, *don't* get the aluminium bumpers - apparently they degrade reception and block the gps.

pdurrant · 11-09-2016, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fozzedout

I bought one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01AOUJ2G8

Snap! I bought one of those a couple of days ago. It'll probably arrive before my new mobile.

11-07-2016, 04:00 PM	#1
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 49,648 Karma: 170330303 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Voyage	Yotaphone 2 Usage, Tips & Hints The Yotaphone 2 is currently (Autumn 2016) available at a huge discount from its original retail price, e.g. from GearBest Here's a thread for people to discuss their use of the Yotaphone 2, firmware updates, app compatibility, etc, etc. Have at it! I hope to join in once my second one arrives. (The first had an unfortunate encounter with a gravel driveway.) Tech specs: Spoiler: DIMENSIONS: 144.9 x 69.4 x 8.95 mm ALWAYS-ON SCREEN 4.7” Electronic Paper Display 960x540 16-level gray scale full capacitive touch 235ppi Corning Gorilla glass 3 COLOUR SCREEN 5” AMOLED Full HD 1920x1080 16M colors full capacitive touch 442ppi Corning Gorilla glass 3 OPERATING SYSTEM: Android™ 4.4, KitKat® CPU: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 801 2.2 GHz quad-core FORM FACTOR: Monoblock with full touch capacitive screens on the front and back OPERATION TIMES Stand-by time: 2G, mobile data off: up to 16.5 days (397 hours) 3G, mobile data off: up to 17 days (406 hours) LTE, mobile data off: up to 16 days (387 hours) Talk time: audio call, 2G: up to 41.8 hours audio call, 3G: up to 26.0 hours audio call over Skype, LTE: up to 13.7 hours video call over Skype, LTE: up to 1.8 hours Reading with Yota Reader (3G): up to 109.3 hours Video streaming playback time: LTE: up to 5.5 hours Wi-Fi: up to 5.8 hours Local video playback time: up to 9.5 hours Audio streaming time: LTE: up to 5.4 hours 3G: up to 17.8 hours Audio playback time, local: headset: up to 92.0 hours speaker: up to 62.4 hours Web browsing: LTE: up to 4.5 hours Wi-Fi: up to 4.4 hours MEMORY: 2GB RAM, 32GB eMMC CAMERA Main: 8MP AF, LED Flash Front: 2.1MP SENSORS Accelerometer, compass, gyroscope, proximity sensor, amibient light sensor POWER MANAGEMENT 2500mAh lithium-polymer battery Qualcomm® Quick Charge™ 2.0 Wireless Charging AUDIO 3.5mm AV connector, FM radio Audio formats/codecs: AAC LC, HE-AACv1 (AAC+), HE-AACv2 (enhanced AAC+), AAC ELD, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, FLAC, MP3, MIDI, Vorbis, PCM/WAVE. Supported files types/container formats: 3GPP (.3gp), MPEG-4 (.mp4, .m4a), ADTS raw AAC (.aac), MPEG-TS (.ts), 3GPP (.3gp), FLAC (.flac), MP3 (.mp3), MIDI Type 0 and 1 (.mid, .xmf, .mxmf), RTTTL/RTX (.rtttl, .rtx), OTA (.ota), iMelody (.imy), Ogg (.ogg), Matroska (.mka), WAVE (.wav) VIDEO Full HD 1080p 30fps Video formats/codecs: H.263, H.264 AVC MPEG-4 SP, VP8. Supported file types/container formats: 3GPP (.3gp), MPEG-4 (.mp4), MPEG-TS (.ts), WebM (.webm), Matroska (.mkv). NETWORK GSM/EGPRS 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz WCDMA, DC HSDPA (rel. 8, cat. 24) HSUPA (rel. 7, cat 7) bands 1 (diversity), 2, 5 and 8 LTE (rel. 9, cat 4) bands 3, 7 and 20 CONNECTIVITY WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (VHT20, MSC 8) MicroUSB 2.0 (SlimPort®) Bluetooth® 4.0 NFC A-GPS + GLONASS Nano-SIM Last edited by pdurrant; 11-08-2016 at 11:15 AM.

11-07-2016, 04:30 PM	#2
andyh2000 Fanatic Posts: 599 Karma: 1745608 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: UK Device: Samsung Galaxy A3 phone / Kindle 4 Black / Kindle Paperwhite	I was getting hugely frustrated trying to upgrade the firmware on mine to Android 5 (kept on getting stuck at "waiting for device"). I was using a Surface Pro 3 (Windows 10) and eventually came across a posting somewhere suggesting that flashing might not work via a USB 3 port. I installed the Yota firmware flashing tool on an ancient Dell desktop (Windows 7) that barely has USB 2 let alone 3 and it worked first time. Andrew Last edited by andyh2000; 11-07-2016 at 04:36 PM.

11-09-2016, 05:49 AM	#14
fozzedout Guru Posts: 632 Karma: 2143019 Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Manchester, UK Device: Onyx M96, Kindle Basic 2014, Onyx T68 Lynx, Icarus Illumina E653	I bought one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01AOUJ2G8 It comes with 2 front screen protectors (nothing for the back unfortunately). And it does add some excellent grip to the device. The only downside is that the case is shiny rather than matte, so it can be distracting in the sun. edit: and I forgot to mention: if you use your gps, don't get the aluminium bumpers - apparently they degrade reception and block the gps. Last edited by fozzedout; 11-09-2016 at 05:52 AM.

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11-07-2016, 06:07 PM	#3
trocchietto Addict Posts: 375 Karma: 2038458 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Amsterdam, but I am neapolitan Device: sony 650 ,T2, samsung 7.7, ipad2, ipad mini2, yotaphone2, galax tab s2	I eventually would be curious to know which sw you use to SYNC the great but small eink screen with other devices as tablets or other home android eink ereaders. After quite an extensive research, I found Mantano as the best candidate BUT you need to pay monthly fees to sync. The others or miss google drive( because dropbox is "only" 2 gb on the base profile), or the pdf reflow function with highlight/dictionary offline. So far I examined the Moon+Reader, FBreader with pdf plugin Mantano,Xodo,Ezreader and some minor ones. I feel to state that so far there is not a free or at least one fee( not monthly) solution

11-07-2016, 07:59 PM	#4
barryem Wizard Posts: 1,235 Karma: 23113356 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Paperwhite 2	Moon+ will sync through Dropbox and you only need a free Dropbox account do do that. I do it all the time. It's very fast and easy. I also have some Kindles which I sync with Whispersync and Moon+ syncs faster and easier. However, I'm finding that since I like to read on a Kindle, a Kobo and a phone manually syncing is also fairly easy. I've developed little techniques that work well for me. Syncing Moon+ or the Kindle is easier but not by much. Barry

11-08-2016, 01:41 AM	#5
Sweetpea Grand Sorcerer Posts: 9,191 Karma: 28204808 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Krewerd Device: Dell V8Pro; Asus Zenpad S8; Onyx Boox T68; Kobo Aura One	So, as a prospective Yotaphone owner, I'll post here to say I'm highly anticipating it. I already saw it when it came out, but the high price was just too much. Especially as I wouldn't want it as a phone, but only as an Android device. But, as we've been looking for a cheap Android phone for about a year now, on and off, not continually!, this one just fit the bill perfectly. You don't often find previously high-end phones at a cheap price, without it being second-hand (refurbished, or otherwise not brand new). It should arrive somewhere next week, I think, and it should already have Android 5.

11-08-2016, 09:59 AM	#8
Terisa de morgan Wizard Posts: 4,229 Karma: 4547629 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madrid, Spain Device: Kobo Aura, Kobo Aura One, XiaoMI 5, iPad, Huawei MediaPad, YotaPhone 2	No, no es dual sim

11-08-2016, 11:15 AM	#9
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 49,648 Karma: 170330303 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Voyage	I've added the tech specs from the web site to the first post.

11-08-2016, 04:43 PM	#11
Tikker Zealot Posts: 105 Karma: 2329890 Join Date: Jul 2014 Device: Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, Galaxy S 4, Asus Transformer Prime	hah holy moly, price jumpted $30 while i was browsing initial surf showed $181, now it's listed at $209

11-08-2016, 06:50 PM	#12
james_ Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2012 Device: Kindle DXG, Kindle 3, YotaPhone2, Netronix 13.3, Kobo Mini & Touch	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!

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