CEO of Hangzhou Jielan Information Technology Company Song Xiaodong (left), Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov (middle) and CEO and Co-founder of Yota Devices Vlad Martynov (right) participate in the press conference. Photo: Courtesy of Yota Devices

A press conference for the release of the world's first two-sided smartphone developed by a Russian company and manufactured in China took place at the Russian Embassy in Beijing on May 20.

The new phone, the Yotaphone 2, was released for sale in China for 4,888 yuan ($788) and is available on shopping platforms including tmall.com, most of China Unicom's online stores and the official website of Yotaphone. The Yotaphone 2 was originally presented by Russian President Vladimir Putin to President Xi Jinping as a gift at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November 2014.

As developer and producer of the innovative Yotaphone 2, the Russian mobile company Yota Devices announced a joint venture with Chinese company Hangzhou Jielan Information Technology Company in March. This joint venture will be in charge of promotion, sales and customer service for Yotaphone 2 in the Chinese market.

The company said Yotaphone 2 is the world's first dual-screen smartphone. One screen display is in color, while the other is a black-and-white electronic paper (EPD) display, which uses electronic ink technology. The EPD screen is designed to be gentle on the eyes and consumes significantly less energy than the color display.

With YotaMirror functionality, almost everything being processed on the color screen can be projected on the ink screen with an easy slide of the finger. Yotaphone 2 is also praised for its good battery-saving feature with a battery life of more than 100 hours in reading mode. When using basic functions of the phone, such as phone calls, SMS, e-mail and word processing, the device can be used for up to three days without recharging.

Meanwhile, the Always-On Display mode of the smartphone offers easy access to information. In other words, users do not need to pick up, turn on and navigate to access e-mails, social networks or text messages. The phone is like a wristwatch - all users have to do is look at it.

At the launch event, Vlad Martynov, the CEO and co-founder of Yota Devices, gave an introduction to the smartphone and expressed his confidence in its future sales. "Chinese consumers have comprehensive knowledge about electronic devices and we are confident that once they know about Yotaphone 2, they will embrace this innovation and become the early adopters of this trend and be part of a game-changing process," he said.