Hardware needs software. Ideas need follow-through. The Yotaphone ($692, but not for you, since it's not sold here) is one of the coolest, most unique, most groundbreaking smartphones I've seen in years. With its LCD front and secondary e-ink display, it's a boon for anyone who needs a map, a book, or a train schedule when they're out on the streets. But just as we saw with other groundbreaking display ideas, Yota is going to need third parties to sign on to make the Yotaphone the revolution it could be.

This isn't a starred review because the Yotaphone, in its current incarnation, will never be sold in the U.S. As an import, it's a poor solution for mainstream U.S. consumers because it won't connect to our carriers' high-speed networks. (In the U.S., it's strictly a 2G phone.) Yota Devices has also said they can only make about 10,000 of these a month—that's one 1700th of the number of iPhones sold in a current month. That may change next year, though, when the second-generation Yotaphone (which we checked out at MWC) comes to the U.S.

Physical Features and Call Quality

The Yotaphone is oddly shaped. Straight on, it looks like a typical rounded rectangle: 5.28 by 2.63 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and 5.2 ounces, sporting a 4.3 inch front screen surrounded by a quite sizeable bezel. Turn it edge-on, though, and you can see it tapers towards the top; or, you could say, it has a bulge in the middle. The main camera is on the bottom, not the top of the back, which as you'll see later causes no end of trouble.