This episode of WTVD is brought you by Toyota.
We're here with Vlad, who is the CEO of Yotaphone.
Now this is very interesting device
that's really quite one of a kind.
This is a phone that's double sided.
It has a phone screen on one side
and an E Ink Reader on the other side.
So tell us the basic rundown of what this phone can do.
Well, in addition to the obvious scenario where with eReading,
you can place the book on the backside and the reading
is much more comfortable, much longer.
And you can read outside on the sunlight.
And it's easier on your eyes.
But in addition to this, we developed a few very unique
applications.
For example, you can put the wallpaper on the backside.
And you can pick up a certain image you want.
It could be picture of yourself, or your family, or just
a picture.
And I can set up the dashboard, so you
can pick up certain information like exchange rate, latest
sport news, or the weather forecast,
on the backside of the phone.
Let me show you.
And basically it becomes a dashboard for you.
Also you can stream any data from RSS feed.
It can be Twitter, or Facebook, information from sport news
and breaking news on the backside.
And it is quite cool, because as soon as here,
it's updated in real time.
You don't need to wake up the phone every five minutes
to check what is there.
By the way, it just updated.
And so, it's quite convenient, because you
keep the phone in front of you-- in front of your eyes.
And you know what's happening there.
So it's convenient for something like you'd
have to reference constantly, like a schedule,
or a boarding pass, or a map, or something like that.
Basically, you probably have heard
there is a very bad habit developed with smartphones
called [INAUDIBLE], when we wake up the phone
every five minutes, and we ignore people around us
in favor of smartphones.
And I think they're always on display,
which is placed on the second side of the Yotaphone,
actually solved this problem.
Because now, you define what is important for you-- constantly
track in a virtual space.
And it's in front of your eyes, so you always see it.
You don't need to pick up the phone again,
wake up the phone, and any kind of ignore people around you.
So you can be there in virtual space,
but also here in real life with people around you.
So other than eBooks obviously, what
are some other examples of things
that you can flip over and read, as far as applications
or anything like that?
Well, newspapers.
I think, we also introduce applications
which can help you to bring newspapers on the backside.
And it's actually make again, reading much more comfortable.
And you can read much deep, in-depth articles.
You can really finish the article.
Because right now with smartphones,
we actually kind of have a habit to read highlights.
And again because we afraid the battery will be dead shortly.
So you can read the articles in any text, actually.
But also, this phone is quite unique
from another perspective.
Even when running out of battery, it's still useful.
For example, you have like zero battery.
If you place the image, like boarding boss or the map,
it's still useful because it's like a paper map or paper
boarding pass on the backside.
So you can see, we have a kind of opportunity
to find location, if you're using the map,
or to go for the security control,
if you use the boarding pass, or just the latest phone
number you need to call, or the address-- anything.
So it's quite cool.
As far as materials, what is it made out of?
Oh, it's two displays-- LCD display
from Japan Display and electronic paper
display from Inc. And it's covered by Gorilla Glass.
But it's also, the chassis made out
of plastic, which is reinforced by glass.
All right.
Finally, I understand it's available in Russia and Europe
currently.
Are there any plans to bring it to other markets?
Currently, it's available in Russia.
We start sales at the beginning of December last year.
And we are going to add 20 countries first quarter
this year, where we will be able to ship
the product through the on-line shop.
So people will be able to order online shop
and we will ship it to them in 20 countries.
Very interesting.
Thank you very much for talking to us.
Yeah, thank very much.
And thanks again to Toyota for sponsoring our CES coverage.