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Those clever Ruskies!

Despite the best efforts of companies such as Apple, Samsung, HTC and others, the smartphone hasn't really seen any new killer-features in a while.

Although Apple did introduce fingerprint authentication and everyone is working hard to bring us bigger and brighter displays, the fundamentals of smartphone design have become evolutionary rather than revolutionary of late.

But now, wouldn't you know it, the Russians have come out of the blue with a very smart idea that might just cause the others to sit up and pay attention.

The new Yotaphone has two displays. One is the traditional power-hungry full-colour, hi-res, backlit LCD we're all familiar with but the other is an e-ink unit which allows the persistent display of data in a way that doesn't suck the life out of the battery.

Given that the battery life of modern smartphones is only slightly better than "awful", this is a very smart idea. According to the manufacturer, the Yotaphone will deliver more than two days of continuous operation using the e-ink display.

The Yotaphone has 4.3 inch displays which puts it smack between the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5 in terms of size.

Although the LCD is high resolution (1280x720), the e-ink screen is a just 640x360 but apparently this is more than good enough for the less interactive data that it is supposed to display.

The phone comes with good connectivity, with GPS *and* Glonass support (woohoo!).

Priced at around 500 euros, this phone is obviously positioned to compete with the other "big names" in the smartphone market although right now its only being pitched to Russian and European markets. The launch will take place later this month but the website is accepting pre-orders.

Word on the street is that by the time the phone is made available in non-European markets it will be updated with extra features and functionality.

Engadget posted a very early sneak-peakthis video review of the Yotaphone.

What do you think? A worthy competitor for Samsung or Apple?

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