At the Taiwanese Computex exhibition that ended on Saturday, cases for iPhone and Samsung Galaxy smartphones from Hong Kong Gajah under the InkCase brand were presented. Such a case adds another display to the phone based on “electronic ink” (e-ink) – like those used in Kindle or PocketBook readers. Screens with e-ink have low energy consumption, so the second screen should save battery consumption: you can display SMS, messages from social networks, and e-book texts on it. Visitors to the exhibition write in blogs that the cases will go on sale in 3-4 months for $100-130.

In Russia, Gajah sells Texet and Iconbit readers and tablets.

Back in 2012, the idea of placing a second e-ink screen on the back of a smartphone was proposed by the Russian Yota Devices, which separated from the Scartel operator. In December, it presented a prototype of the YotaPhone based on Android, which became one of the main new products at the January Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This phone should go on sale before the end of 2013 and will cost 15,000–20,000 rubles.

Yota Devices CEO Vladislav Martynov does not consider Gajah or the American PopSlate, which is also preparing to sell smartphone cases with a second screen for $130 in October, to be competitors. Two screens combined in one case fundamentally change the user's interaction with the phone, Martynov is sure: the e-ink screen is an integral part of the device, and any information from the operating system can be displayed on it. And InkCase, unlike YotaPhone, uses the energy-intensive Bluetooth channel to connect the second screen, which reduces the battery life, he explains. It was not possible to get comments from Gajah.

The only thing the YotaPhone and the cases have in common is e-ink technology, agrees Eldar Murtazin from Mobile Research Group. And the vice president of commerce at Euroset, Viktor Lukanin, considers both devices technically interesting, but not intended for the mass market.

YotaPhone has found a copycat