8 ms·
Yotaphone
- BrechtVds 13y agoThe "Scroll down" hint wasn't obvious enough for me. I'd also show both screens as soon as you land on the page, as that is the unique feature of this phone and it took me quite some time before I actually found it. (If you don't scroll but just click on the links you just see 1 screen at a time. If you aren't really paying attention you don't notice that there are 2 different ones)
- jstsch 13y agoI had no idea what everyone was talking about - on iPad you get some sort of mobile version.
- Trufa 13y agoIt drives me nuts this new fashion of braking the scrolling, it's completely uncalibrated on chrome, I scrolled down the equivalent of a freaking book to get to the end.
- archgrove 13y agoDoesn't work at all with 2-finger scrolling on Safari for Mac.
- jonknee 13y agoOr Chrome. I had no idea it could scroll at all and closed the tab before seeing these comments. Update: even weirder, it does scroll somewhat, but gets stuck and won't respond to two-finger scrolling. All in all a terrible idea for navigation.
- B3M1938 13y agoWhy not just click the mouse wheel and drag the mouse down?
- mirzmaster 13y agoLaptop users don't have a mouse wheel. Others may not have a mouse wheel on their mouse.
- romaniv 13y agoEven if it was perfectly calibrated, it's still wrong thing to do. Scrolling is for scrolling. As in, position. On the page. People shouldn't use it for flipping between slides or animation states for the same reasons they shouldn't use links for buttons, buttons for links, or implement fake radio buttons using checkboxes. This would be less of a problem if browsers/HTML had something built-in to manage pagination and page states. But hey, we got WebGL and sound APIs instead. Clearly, pagination (which is implemented in pretty much every single website on the web) is less important than rendering 3d objects.
- phaker 13y agoThere's a hint? I still can't find it. No, I'm not trolling. No indication that scrolling does anything, there's even a footer at the bottom of the page. Then _when_ i scroll nothing happens for a while until i scroll far enough.
- BrechtVds 13y agoThere is one in the top right corner (underneath the language part) for me. Although it does seem to disappear whenever you start scrolling.
- kenkam 13y agoDidn't know I had to scroll down till I read this comment. Maybe a stronger call to action to scroll would be nice.
- davidw 13y agoIf you have to "yell" at people to do something like that, it means your UI is broken.
- calinet6 13y agoIt should just start moving automatically. And it shouldn't be linked to scrolling, because what they're doing is not scrolling. What they want is an animation, with a nice timeline control or video-like scrubber. That goes for everyone who wrongly commandeers scrolling in the name of this new animated storyline fad.
- mradmin 13y agoWeird, I get a scrollbar showing I can clearly scroll. Are you an OSX by any chance?
- devcpp 13y agoI got a scrollbar too but the page is neatly arranged to fit the browser's window so I didn't pay attention to it. It's the first time I've seen a footer from the top of a scrollpage.
- benjamincburns 13y agoI am. Using a rMBP. No scrollbar on latest Chrome, and worse yet, two-finger scroll is broken. I have to attempt to two-finger scroll, mouse over the scrollbar quickly before it disappears (this took two tries because it goes away that quickly) and then click/drag to scroll (which I'm embarrassed to say is amazingly cumbersome now that I'm trained for the multitouch gestures).
- kenkam 13y agoI'm on Windows at work and the scroll bar was visible (when I went there the 2nd time) but either I didn't notice it or I ignored it. In any case I think the content itself just didn't look like it required scrolling. Instead I clicked on the features on the left.
- InTheSwiss 13y agoYeah I only gave the page a quick glance and didn't notice it had two screens until I checked the specs page! Fail from a design point of view IMHO.
- haversine 13y agoIt's interesting how often people talk about looking for the scrolling hint. Until (sort-of-)recently, the presence of the _scroll bar_ was the hint, and it worked well for the multiple decades it had been in use. I had mostly gotten used to the new super scrolly pages, but this site breaks it by looking like a one-screen site with a footer and sidebar.
- rkangel 13y agoI'd disagree - the hint was normally that content was disappearing off the bottom of the screen. I had entirely missed that you were meant to scroll. And even when I found out it was irritating - I'm on a desktop with a mouse with a scrollwheel, and the distance I had to scroll was enormous.
- Semaphor 13y ago> the hint was normally that content was disappearing off the bottom of the screen. Which is another reason all those great looking but horrible to use single page sites that make it look like what you land on is all there is are an atrocity.
- jonknee 13y agoAt least on OS X there aren't scrollbars visible until you need them (start scrolling). There is that small hint on the top right, but if the page is scrolled any amount--even an amount that doesn't move the page at all--the hint goes away and there are no visible scrollbars. It's a terrible UX.
- freehunter 13y agoYeah, I was calling bullshit several times when the text was going on and on about the e-ink screen right next to a picture of a beautiful, vibrant, full-color display. I was clicking each section rather than scrolling, so I never saw the back until I clicked "tech specs".
- ansible 13y agoYes, that is exactly what happened with me. I was thinking they had somehow make a fast color e-ink display, but the main screen looked like a regular LCD. Then I finally concluded that they were putting the e-ink on the back (which makes a heck of a lot more sense) and was able to confirm it by looking at the tech specs. Then I come to HN, and see I should have been scrolling down all along. So, yeah, I'm officially done with fancy scroll effects.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- calinet6 13y agoI had no clue it scrolled. Bad UI.
- cipher0 13y agoHow much does it cost? I can't find it anywhere on the website, not even on the preorder page.
- ArtifTh 13y agoAccording to russian news site[1] it will cost 19990 rubles ($600) in Russia. [1] http://hi-tech.mail.ru/news/misc/yotaphone-price.html http://hi-tech.mail.ru/news/misc/yotaphone-price.html
- haarts 13y agoLeaving your email address won't preorder the phone but lets them notify you when preordering starts. A bit unclear to me too.
- witek 13y agoFrom their fb page: YotaPhone goes on sale at 19,990 rubles or 499 euros. For our Russian fans, it is available for order now on YotaPhone.com. From mid-December it will be available in retail stores in Germany and Russia and in the online store in Austria, Germany, France and Spain. In January 2014, it will be available online and at retailers in the UK, Greece, Cyprus and the Czech Republic, as well as in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and Egypt). YotaPhone will be available initially through the following international distributors: Ingram Micro Inc., Brodos and Jumbo Electronics Company Ltd. In Russia, it will go on sale at Evroset, Svyaznoy and Yota Retail.
- dmxt 13y agoI'm in Russia and I paid less than that for the Galaxy S4. Seriously, how come Yotaphone is so expensive? Are they one of the flagship phone?
- hbbio 13y agoMaybe it's just me, but at first it reads like "Yet Another Phone"...
- RossM 13y agoIt wasn't obvious to me until I watched the hands-on with Engadget - the unique bit is the e-ink always-on screen on the back.
- girvo 13y agoGo check out Engadgets hands on with a prototype of it on YouTube. I'm on my phone otherwise id link it myself. It's certainly interesting, but I think the eink back looks a little... Well, ugly. Would be neat if reading HN on it would not drain my battery, but the radios suck down most battery after the screen, so I think offline documents would be better suited. Think not needing a kindle... It's really different. (why the downvote? I normally never ask, but I'm confused as to what I did incorrectly and would love to know so I can avoid it in the future)
- highpixels 13y agoLink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wAKFc_hFN0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wAKFc_hFN0
- StavrosK 13y agoYou, sir, are my nemesis!
- StavrosK 13y agoLooks like it's this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wAKFc_hFN0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wAKFc_hFN0
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- scotth 13y agoI think it's kind of fun. I love that it has an always on wallpaper.
- maaaats 13y agoNokia used to have this, and they recently added it to their newer Lumia models, called "Glance". It's cool, can show time, wallpaper and notifications. Example image: http://www.wpcentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2013/10/glance_background_beta_lead.jpg?itok=VjD83VSQ http://www.wpcentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/styles/la...
- mbq 13y agoStill, it just turns off a half of all pixels -- this way the energy consumption is significantly higher than for e-ink.
- maaaats 13y agoYes. But at least for amoled, it can backlight only the shown pixels. My Lumia 920 has IPS LCD, so it need to backlight the entire screen. But still, the energy consumption isn't that high. It turns off the screen when in the pocket. I have more than enough juice left at the end of the day.
- skykooler 13y agoThis is one of my favorite features of my Nokia N9.
- Doublon 13y agoSome issues with the scrolling on my MBP with Chrome. Otherwise it looks nice!
- nrj 13y agoSame. I had to drag the scroll handles to get it to work.
- adnam 13y agoWhat was that about "You Can't Build a Smartphone"? http://joshondesign.com/2013/12/02/nosmartphone http://joshondesign.com/2013/12/02/nosmartphone
- realrocker 13y agoHe probably meant "You can't build a Mobile OS"
- adnam 13y agoWell the site is giving a nice Express.js error, bit IIRC he said you could make a cheap Android phone but were then engaged in a "race to the bottom".
- manmal 13y agoNever believe one person on the interwebs. (including me ;))
- jspc 13y agoPhone aside I can't be the only person who finds the whole scrolling/animation thing just a bit obnoxious, can I? Such a slow way to get to the information.
- choult 13y agoI swear Logitech were onto something when they built flywheel mousewheels...
- vincentkriek 13y agoEspecially the ones that had you select between flying en normal
- ryanwhitney 13y agoThe scroll changes the smartphone display instead of moving down the page, and more often than not lands between transitions. If you'd like to sell a phone, hire a web designer that shoots for real goals instead of trendy bullshit.
- glanch 13y agoI love how angry HN gets at stuff like this. It's a trend. It'll pass.
- Scriptor 13y agoI feel like a lot of this trendy stuff comes out because it demos very well. The designer shows it off in a controlled setting, everyone's wowed and impressed and glad they hired a "good" designer, and nobody bothers to check whether it's actually useful at all. Someone should've pointed out the website is there to sell the product, not to showcase the FE guys's skills.
- GalacticDomin8r 13y ago> I feel like a lot of this trendy stuff comes out because it demos very well. You've expressed a thought, not an emotion. Please use "think" instead of "feel". http://www.wildmind.org/applied/depression/distinguishing-thoughts-and-emotions http://www.wildmind.org/applied/depression/distinguishing-th...
- aparadja 13y agoIt took five full middle finger mouse wheel scrolls to get to the portion where the first map popped up on screen. It looks cool and all, but this is just ridiculous.
- tmikaeld 13y agoThe phone is upside down and even the phones logo.... (From the first page under "Never Miss A Thing") http://i.imgur.com/7w427r8.png http://i.imgur.com/7w427r8.png Seems like a real work in progress type of phone ;-)
- ArtifTh 13y agoMan, standing on its head is the logo of Yota[1], so it's a part of the design ;-) [1] http://www.yota.ru http://www.yota.ru
- tmikaeld 13y agoOh, did i forget to write sarcasm again? Seriously.. they need to fix the scroll.
- darklajid 13y agoUhm.. I fail to understand your point. The screenshot you post is of the BACK side of the phone, with the eInk/EPD display, right? Which puts the camera (the 'back' camera) at the bottom. The picture you're comparing to that is probably the FRONT of the device, with another (..front) camera and no logo. Did you miss the whole point of the phone or did I miss the source of your amusement?
- tmikaeld 13y agoOh, did i forget to write sarcasm again? Seriously.. they need to fix the scroll.
- rodolphoarruda 13y ago"Hi Honey! Do you remember about our Dinner?" "Oops, sorry dear... I got this new phone now and its so entertaining that I really forgot about our Dinner."
- pidg 13y agoI'll be waiting for you in our Lovely Place.
- darklrd 13y agoI missed the fact that each link has multiple screens and you need to "scroll". I was clicking on one section at a time. Otherwise it's awesome.
- stefantalpalaru 13y agoI'm curious how a smartphone with only one (e-paper) screen would behave. Better if it's high DPI. So far I've found only the announced Onyx phone[1] with no technical details about the screen. [1]: https://onyx-boox.com/coming-soon-e-ink-news/e-ink-smartphone/ https://onyx-boox.com/coming-soon-e-ink-news/e-ink-smartphon...
- moreati 13y agoSlightly offtopic, a photo of an early mockup/protoype for this phone showed a physical vibrate-mode switch ala the iPhone. The final production module doesn't. I've puzzled before why no Android phone (that I've seen) has a physical switch for vibrate. I can only assume Apple has a patent, but I've never found hard evidence. Anyone know of a phone other than the iPhone that has such a switch? Or the reason only the iPhone has it?
- micampe 13y agoBlackBerrys have had it forever.
- adamors 13y agoLooks cool but I couldn't bother spending more than 30 seconds on that page. Do you seriously expect your users to scroll for 2 minutes to present information that could be put into a slideshow/GIF/video?
- easytiger 13y agoWell for most people just a simple page is better than a slideshow/video/gif. Which are not optimal
- tbarbugli 13y agoLooks like everyone is bitching and only talking about the scrolling issue (very common HN meta feedback). I find the use of eink screen brilliant! I hope they manage to go on the market (and in EU too!)
- basicallydan 13y agoDitto. I'm kinda fed up of people focusing on websites when the story is clearly about a cool new phone with an advanced display. If folks would spend a few seconds ignoring the site and thinking about the product they might enjoy themselves a bit more. By all means critique the site but don't let that be your only contribution.
- jscheel 13y agoTrue, this is a cool technology that deserves discussion, but if the presentation gets in the way of people even understanding or seeing (note all of the people who didn't know they could scroll and closed out the window) the cool new technology, then something is definitely wrong. Imagine when less tech savvy users open the site, they definitely aren't going to scroll. About the tech, I'm not so sure the required act of flipping your phone around to the right side to view a message is a great implementation, as opposed to a normal screen lighting up for a few seconds. It seems like it could become a hassle for users.
- tbarbugli 13y agoyes I agree and I think its ok if few people points that there is an issue with the presentation. Right now there are 2 screens full of comments about this issue.
- benjamincburns 13y agoI try very hard to overlook stuff like this in my own comments, but in this case it's so distracting. I agree that the culture here is a bit too strongly biased toward giving this kind of feedback, but as someone who's been on the receiving end of it, and as someone who's a complete design idiot and always looking to others mistakes as examples of what not to do, I find it incredibly valuable. I'd like to see the volume knob adjusted down just a tad, but not so much that I can't hear that sweet, sweet music. ;-)
- Ihmahr 13y agoSo the phone's first feature is the fact that it is always on?
- nor-and-or-not 13y agoI wonder why there's no Ogg Vorbis besides MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, AMR, MIDI and WAV in the audio specifications.
- kalstars 13y agoCan you use the device in e-ink only mode all the time? For all apps and phone calls etc?
- thesadman 13y agoThat's what I want as well. Problem is that most apps would need some retooling to be optimized for E-Ink.
- kirk21 13y agoCool design. Going to stick with Popslate (http://www.popslate.com/ http://www.popslate.com/) so I can keep my iPhone
- optymizer 13y agoScrolling doesn't work on Chrome 31.0.1650.57 on Mac OS X 10.9.
- wil421 13y agoSome sites are enjoyable when they use the scrolling down animation effect, this site was horrible. It wasnt clear that I even should scroll down and when I did it never ended.
- ddd1600 13y ago"Be surprised" video link opens a blank new safari tab on iOS 7
- ddd1600 13y agoAlso, if I hadn't already seen Yota demos at SXSW I never would have know by this page that the Yota has two sides. Esp with the video link not working on iOS. Seriously you yota guys need to do a bit more work on this page before you put a lot of money into a marketing or press campaign. Its a great phone but the site isn't educating me about it like you guys did at SXSW
- iansinnott 13y agoCool idea, but the large bezel on the sides makes this phone instantly ugly by todays standards. Unless it's outrageously cheap, the design will likely keep most people from buying this.
- skrebbel 13y agoThis would be a phone that I'd actually be willing to move back to Android for. If the e-ink display API would be designed no worse than Android's main API, I'd hack all kinds of homegrown apps for it.
- dethstar 13y agoGreat user design, great ux, found everything immediately 10/10 would buy from these ui/ux experts. /sarcasm
- kgarten 13y agoDo people think having notifications on the back of a phone is a good idea? I just imagine several strange situations in the subway etc.
- natch 13y agoSome cool ideas here. Not new ideas, but if they are put into a shipping product, that will be good. Then they have "Stand out from the crowd," ugh. This is an unfortunate bullet point, just for its lameness. The screen doesn't look like a paper display to me. What am I missing? Are there color paper displays now?
- luchs 13y agoThere are two displays.
- calinet6 13y agoThey should have this as the first graphic everyone sees -- drag the slider below the phone: http://www.yotaphone.com/#/en/techspecs/ http://www.yotaphone.com/#/en/techspecs/ Or this for a static image: http://www.yotaphone.com/#/en/images http://www.yotaphone.com/#/en/images
- dsschnau 13y agoArgh why can't I just have a cheap e-ink phone!
- Millennium 13y agoToo tough to push apps onto people.
- whichdan 13y agoThat, and the refresh rates are still way too slow.
- Millennium 13y agoThe refresh rates are fine unless you want to run apps, but that's precisely what makes them unappealing to manufacturers. App stores have become quite the revenue stream, and the people who want E-ink displays are, by and large, not buying into that revenue stream.
- fiatjaf 13y agoI really wanted a cheap e-ink phone with functional apps that didn't need speed screen refreshing. Really. I thought this was the phone I was waiting for, but it wasn't.
- gagege 13y agoHacker news should be renamed "Start-up Web Presence Critics" I think.