Yotaphone 2 Usage, Tips & Hints

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

Which are the advantages of lollipop in this phone, if you don't mind explain, kacir?

On 5.0 there is configuration file called /storage/emulated/0/TitaniumManager/mirroring.cfg
. Here you can configure what waveform Yotaphone is supposed to use for particular app. Some apps you will want to use fast, 16Hz refresh, with only Black and White. Some apps, such as e-book reading apps will work much better on 16 shades of gray with 2Hz refresh.

The YotaReader on 4.4 is *very*spartan. Two font choices, portrait mode, very little configuration.
YotaReader on 5.0 has 8 fonts to choose from and I did manage to put in into landscape mode (but only on the e-ink screen).
Yotareader on 5.0 has one setting for Amoled and other setting for e-ink. You can have white text on black on Amoled and black text on white on e-ink.

There is discussion on XDA-Developers.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/yota...one-2-t3490354

Here is demonstration of white Yotaphone 2 with Lolipop. In Russian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3Y1rHUSah0

5.0 is supposed to have better battery management

There are more settings for e-ink display apps - events notifications.

In 5.0 you can unlock phone by a double tap on the display you want to use and lock it by touching it with 3 fingers.


Please note that regardless of the Android version Yotaphone can be charged wirelessly using generic Qi charger. I have not tried it yet, but guys at XDA-developers report it works. You have to charge it with e-ink screen pointed downward.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by kacir

Please note that regardless of the Android version Yotaphone can be charged wirelessly using generic Qi charger. I have not tried it yet, but guys at XDA-developers report it works. You have to charge it with e-ink screen pointed downward.

I bought a wireless charger and charge my Yotaphone with it.

[trocchietto]

I am using the YP2 since long time now, and resolved all the problems.

The biggest plus are
+ I have in one device a reader and a phone
+ eink is really fast and responsive
+ cost is really low

The minus points are
- screen could have been a big bigger
- to set a good battery length you have to hack a lot the settinga
- you have to find your own way to manage how to read epub,pdf, sync, manage highlights, notes and library. This is also positive because you have a degree of customization that people that buy normal ereader not based on android usually do not have.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by kacir

Please note that regardless of the Android version Yotaphone can be charged wirelessly using generic Qi charger. I have not tried it yet, but guys at XDA-developers report it works. You have to charge it with e-ink screen pointed downward.

Yes, that was the tipping point (beside the price and e-ink screen). I don't think I'd want another phone that couldn't be charged using a Qi charger. Ever since I got my first phone that supported it (more than 3 years ago) I've loved it.

[Tikker]

dumb question, can you use any epub reader on the e-ink screen, or just the baked in yotareader?

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Tikker

dumb question, can you use any epub reader on the e-ink screen, or just the baked in yotareader?

Any epub reader.

[crimsonsnow]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I bought mine from Gearbest. The price listed was the price I paid, and there were no import charges.

Hello,

Thanks for this, I ended my agony when it said it's back after it said it's out of stock (I think it's a marketing trick), ended up buying it. I guess my older phone can be put in backburner if I manage to keep this one intact.

Originally Posted by kacir

I wanted to post my experience so when you do attempt to flash you won't spend agonizing 30 of so minutes looking at hopelessly frozen PC and fearing the worst as it is flashing the third image.

Please do! I will try it under the default Android first to check, but if I can do it I want to update it.

[kacir]

I couldn't find any info about the formats YotaReader supports.
So I have created a simple book and converted it to a number of formats using Calibre and other programs.

I was surprised.
YotaReader opens:
azw3
epub
FB2
mobi
rtf
txt
odt (Libre Office, OpenOffice.org)
doc

It did not open:
docx
lit
pdb
htmlz
html

I am VERY impressed.

[crimsonsnow]

Originally Posted by kacir

YotaReader opens:
azw3
epub
FB2
mobi
rtf
txt
odt (Libre Office, OpenOffice.org)
doc

I am VERY impressed.

Okay, this is pretty interesting. Able to open azw3 but not html, hmm. If it could support TTS as well that'll be a very good surprise.

What's the difference between using Yotareader and mirroring you reader-of-choice except the Widget support?

[kacir]

Originally Posted by crimsonsnow

Okay, this is pretty interesting. Able to open azw3 but not html, hmm.

Well, priorities I guess.
You can always open html in the browser that is installed on the phone by default.
And the vast majority of html files are better readable on the other side of the phone with smooth scrolling and zooming of images IMHO. Not e-books, I know. But e-books in html format are much rarer nowadays then 15 years ago.

Originally Posted by crimsonsnow

What's the difference between using Yotareader and mirroring you reader-of-choice except the Widget support?

There is quite a difference.
I will have to play during the weekend with the setting of the apps for e-ink screen - B/W vs 16 levels of gray for the other apps.
There is quite a lot of ghosting in my AlReader when run the way I have set it up using app I wrote about a few posts back.
FBReader goes belly-up when you try to activate e-ink from the menu in app (not mirroring), because the functionality was developed for YotaPhone 1. I think that they used that modified FBReader as a base for YotaReader (haven't looked inside the *.apk file yet). This might be the reason YotaReader supports such surprisingly large number of formats.
CoolReader behaves very weird on the e-ink display. I suspect I have screwed something up when I tried to set mirroring.cfg for CoolReader. It doesn't refresh the display properly.

Here is the app you can use to modify the e-ink refresh and "color" depth and waveform for individual apps on e-ink. Please note, it only works on Android 5.0
http://forum.xda-developers.com/yota...1-0-0-t3326208
MAKE A BACKUP of the configuration file
/storage/emulated/0/TitaniumManager/mirroring.cfg
before you start playing, you might want to go back to the original setting or use the original file and automatically generated file to make changes by hand.

Any other reading app I have tried to use on the back screen you have to start from the Android main screen[s] or menu, or place a button on the e-ink widget screen. When you switch the phone off the app will remain for a while on the back screen and after a certain time (20minutes ?) the back screen will revert to a default Widget screen, so if you pick up the phone after certain time and want to continue reading you will have to start the app again, or switch on the mirror functionality.
I like to read in landscape and with other reading apps I never know how to turn the phone when flipping it, so I always end up having the app upside down when I flip the phone. I expect that when I settle on one particular app I will get used to that and will learn the flip the phone the right way. The phone will function as my ad-hoc, out-of-house reading device 90% of the time.
YotaReader will revert to displaying the cover of the book you are reading on the e-ink screen after certain time. I miss the option to display the author and title on the status line, so I like this functionality as a replacement. With e-books it can be difficult to remember the title and author of the book you are reading - especially if it is a book by some previously unknown [to you] author. On the other hand, if I liked to read racy bodice rippers, or whatever controversial book, I would have to use Calibre to replace the cover with something generic

YotaReader has two distinct modes - Amoled and e-ink. It remembers settings for each side, so you can have white text on black background on the main screen and black text on white on e-ink. Sadly, it haven't found out how to switch it to landscape on the Amoled. I also miss the ability to tweak the light level directly from YotaReader and independently from the main Android UI - the way other e-book reading apps let you set it.

I am a power user and a tinkerer and in general I strongly dislike e-book reading apps that I can't set to my liking. For this reason I strongly dislike Kindles, for example.
Very surprisingly, I have found the default (and the only possible) setting on the YotaReader quite reasonable, and I have been using the app for reading almost exclusively since I got the phone. Especially after the update to 5.0. Before that the YotaReader was *WAY* too spartan.
I do miss some options in YotaReader, like having time in the status line, so I am going to spend some time trying to set up other e-book reading apps on the YotaPhone the way I like them.
One thing that baffles me is: most of the e-book reading apps I have tried behave differently on different Android devices. Even the same version of the app.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by crimsonsnow

Able to open azw3 but not html, hmm.

There is an app for YotaPhone that works as a widget for e-ink screen for reading html pages and browsing the web optimized for e-ink
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...kindustry.wlab

Unfortunately you can't just search google play store for Yota. Well, technically you can, but you will be amazed how many apps there are for Toyota cars
Plus, as I have learned, there is a mobile provider in Russia called Yota and they have a few apps for finding out the coverage and getting the best 3G connection.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yota
One of daughter companies of the Yota mobile provider - Yota devices is responsible for YotaPhone and a few other devices for mobile phone networks without e-ink screen.

You can search for YotaPhone in the store and when you find an interesting app that was actually written for YotaPhone 2 you can search for other apps written by the same author.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=CkEsc
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ta+Devices+LLC
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ander+Finoshin
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...id=Alex+Archen

Just look at this calculator:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...henko.yotacalc. Much better than the basic one made by Yota Devices LLC (the manufacturer). It is also supposed to work like widget.


If you are afraid to update Android to 5.0, try installing the newest YotaReader from the play store https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ne2.yotareader
I can't try that, because I have updated to Android 5.0
Let us know whether it is possible to have a better YotaReader without updating the Android.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by kacir

If you are afraid to update Android to 5.0, try installing the newest YotaReader from the play store https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ne2.yotareader
I can't try that, because I have updated to Android 5.0
Let us know whether it is possible to have a better YotaReader without updating the Android.

Sadly:
"This app is incompatible with all of your devices."


Edit:
it's weird, none of those apps are compatible with my device yet they all say they require 4.4...

[jj2me]

For the Snapdragon 801*

$120 at Gearbest.

$126 at Tinydeal.

$130 at Zapals.


For the Snapdragon 800*

$119 at Banggood.

$120 at Tomtop.

Varying low prices at Aliexpress, depending on your country. $112 to U.S.


*From this 2014 Engadget review, the Snapdragon 800 produces less heat than the 801.

"According to Yota, the reason it didn't opt to put a newer Snapdragon chip like the 801 or 805 in the YotaPhone 2 was due to potential problems with heat management that could mess with the E Ink display."

[trocchietto]

Originally Posted by kacir

Any other reading app I have tried to use on the back screen you have to start from the Android main screen[s] or menu, or place a button on the e-ink widget screen. When you switch the phone off the app will remain for a while on the back screen and after a certain time (20minutes ?) the back screen will revert to a default Widget screen, so if you pick up the phone after certain time and want to continue reading you will have to start the app again, or switch on the mirror functionality.
I like to read in landscape and with other reading apps I never know how to turn the phone when flipping it, so I always end up having the app upside down when I flip the phone. I expect that when I settle on one particular app I will get used to that and will learn the flip the phone the right way. The phone will function as my ad-hoc, out-of-house reading device 90% of the time.
YotaReader will revert to displaying the cover of the book you are reading on the e-ink screen after certain time. I miss the option to display the author and title on the status line, so I like this functionality as a replacement. With e-books it can be difficult to remember the title and author of the book you are reading - especially if it is a book by some previously unknown [to you] author. On the other hand, if I liked to read racy bodice rippers, or whatever controversial book, I would have to use Calibre to replace the cover with something generic

do not agree, you just press the lateral hardare button and then is swipe to unlock the default Widget screen. No need to revert the phone to the amoled side. And still much way faster than resuming on the majority of the ereaders. it takes me less than 2 sec to go back to the reading point. Also I am not sure if you can set a delay even bigger than the let's say 20 minutes.

Regarding the books secrets you do not want to show, you can just press the soft button home screen, going back to the book will take you two small taps.

Regarding the portrait landscape mode, the easiest way is to use a sw that set the landscape and portrait directly like moon+reader, it really depends by the apps, but if I well recall there are also some general settings to block the screen, depending i guess by the version you have, but not remember that

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by jj2me

$120 now on Gearbest, and I just watched 13 purchased in about an hour.

Also same price at Tomtop.

I'm tempted to buy another one and see if I can put 5.0 on it (the Tomtop is €4 more expensive than the Gearbest, don't you love the various exchange rates companies use )