Geek picnic and weekday Yota Devices concept office

Hello! Last weekend, Yota Devices participated in the Geek Picnic festival of technology, science and art , held in St. Petersburg on Elagin Island. We came to St. Petersburg to see how the world of geeks and applied high tech lives, to communicate with representatives of companies of various profiles and with everyone who is interested in the latest technologies. There was a lot of interesting, entertaining and informative, but for us, of course, the highlight of the event was a lecture on the life of the YotaPhone concept office, which was delivered by Daniil Zykov, HW engineer at Yota Devices at the Geek picnic.

How it was

Life-size transformers.

From all sides there were tents of different companies that offered to get acquainted with their inventions. The YotaPhone stand turned out to be very spacious. Everyone could get acquainted with the YotaPhone and, importantly, get a discount of 3,000 rubles for the purchase of a smartphone.





People crowded at the stand almost constantly. Many were interested when they heard the phrase “the first Russian smartphone,” someone already knew about its existence, but everyone was curious to hold the brainchild of Russian engineering in their hands.

On the second day of the festival, Daniil Zykov, an HW engineer at Yota Devices, gave a lecture on how YotaPhone is created and developed. This is a very non-trivial process, in which experts in various fields are involved: radio, electronics, materials science, industrial design, etc. And here is what our specialist told:





Currently, the smartphone market is in crisis. It sounds very absurd, since we regularly observe the release of new generations of popular models, accompanied by an improvement in their technical characteristics. So what is the crisis, you ask? In ideas and concepts. More precisely, in their absence. Since Apple launched the first iPhone, the concept of a "candy bar with a touch screen and a minimum of buttons" has become virtually the standard, and eventually the curse of the smartphone industry. Products began to resemble each other more and more, losing both visual and functional identity. The development of mobile communication devices has completely stopped in terms of innovation, all changes come down to a quantitative increase in megahertz, megapixels and inches.

New term

Many people remember the time when the concept of “smartphone” began to penetrate into everyday life. After all, a new term was needed to emphasize the differences between this new device and a conventional mobile phone. And with the release of YotaPhone, there were signs that his name could become a new household name.

Everyone calls YotaPhone “the first Russian smartphone”, sometimes adding “with two screens.” So, this is not entirely correct. YotaPhone is not a smartphone. Yes, of course, all the functionality of a modern premium Android smartphone is inherent in it. But, most importantly, it provides a QUALITY new user experience. You will never repeat on a regular smartphone what you can do on a YotaPhone. But on the contrary - please. Therefore, we reserve ourselves with patience - perhaps very soon, another term will appear in the world of gadgets.

Briefly about the main thing

Let's take a closer look at what YotaPhone is all about. Of course, I’m not going to list here all 143 patent applications that we have filed, but will focus only on the most obvious and cardinal innovations that we implemented in the first generation of the device.

First of all, this is the second display. Although I prefer to call it not “second”, but “additional”. “Second” means duplicate, and “additional” means expanding. It is the second option that fully describes the purpose of the rear display. I will not describe the popular ways to use the second display, they are all well known.



Next - curved glass Gorilla Glass, which protects the secondary display is no worse than the protected front. Have you ever seen a curved Gorilla Glass anywhere else? Sure no. It was first produced by an exclusive order of Yota Devices. And under this glass is located no less unique flexible EPD-display.



The antenna, or rather the antenna system (there are 6 in all) deserves special mention. Due to the presence of an additional display, the traditional antenna architecture could not be applied in our device. Therefore, our RF engineers from scratch have developed an antenna system that is fully compatible with the second display. People familiar with radio engineering should understand that this is very, very difficult.



There are also such nice little things as a SIM card tray combined with a power button: they got rid of the buttons, and the hunt for “holes” began.

And finally, I mention that a YotaPhone with a battery of less than 2000 mAh can work without recharging up to 60 hours.

Difficulty creating

Many of you have seen a disassembled smartphone: it is a kind of sandwich. In our case, another “slice of bread and sausage” was added in the face of the second screen and its protective glass. Despite this, it was very important to keep the YotaPhone thin and elegant, so there was a fierce struggle for hundredths of a millimeter! In particular, this significantly affected the design of the printed circuit board and the selection of components. Having reduced the thickness of the battery, we had to increase its length and width, which, in turn, led to a decrease in the printed circuit board, since it is located in the same plane with the battery.

When placing components on the board, it is necessary to be guided by their functional features, compactness considerations are always in the background. In our case, they advanced significantly. In addition, it was necessary to correctly position the connectors for connecting displays to simplify the assembly of the device. The combination of all these factors set us a difficult task, which was successfully solved by us (HW-Team) together with a team of mechanics.

From idea to counter

Now I want to shed some light on how the development of a smartphone proceeds from an idea to entering the market.

In the beginning, there is always a certain set of ideas that are not related to each other and often contradictory. And above all, this totality must be turned into a system of ideas. What is the difference? For example: “And let's make the device shiny, but velvety to the touch ... Ah, yes ... it should still be red ...” If you can still come to terms with the color somehow, then the velvety and matte touch cannot be visually glossy. Two ideas contradict each other, therefore, this is a set of ideas, not a system. In the system, ideas are coordinated and built in accordance with a certain hierarchy.



Having finally built ideas inside the system, we get a product concept that is still very naive and hardly realized, but nevertheless perfect in its abstractness. Then comes the stage of criticism, when each of the teams of specialists, on the basis of their own expert knowledge, explains to others why this or that solution is impossible (or completely unprofitable) to translate into reality. Thus, the abstract concept acquires specificity, and the ephemeral image of the device acquires material features.



After developing a sufficiently capacious idea of ​​the device, one of the most painful stages begins - the balance stage. At this time, often, you have to part with your beloved, carefully cherished ideas. Everything is as simple as dramatic. If we pursue manufacturability and accessibility, we will get a “brick”. Having made accessibility and aesthetics the main factors, we will create a toy with a bunch of bugs. And if you pursue manufacturability and aesthetics, then simply no one will buy the product.



After we have balanced the main features of our device, the modeling stage begins, during which the antenna efficiency is analyzed, a 3D-layout of the printed circuit board is developed, a virtual drop test is performed, and the design is also worked out in detail.

At the end of the modeling phase, the so-called “zero prototype” is released, which, in fact, represents a set of individual elements and is completely different from a phone. The kit includes: a functional printed circuit board, a visual physical layout and a chassis. On the zero prototype, the operation of the antenna is tested. Based on the results of various tests, the design is being amended to produce a prototype 1, which is already a smartphone in essence and appearance. On this prototype, the bulk of improvements are worked out until it turns into a pilot version of the device.



Here I would like to note the fundamental difference in the style of our company from many dubious manufacturers originally from China, hiding under brands of varying degrees of harmony. Having bought the products of these companies, you simply get a prototype 1 and become "beta testers" for your own money.



After the smartphone is “finished” to the ideal, the certification stage begins. We prove to the operators of the networks in which our product will be used that it is worthy of this in its characteristics. Then the product goes on sale, and this is where the work of the development team ends.



I would also like to dwell on the view of the YotaPhone in the context. As you can see, due to the design features of the case (rounded shapes), it becomes a very difficult task to correctly position the components with the most efficient use of the available volume.

Going beyond the boundaries of traditional architecture, one always has to face significant difficulties, and a lot has to be done “from scratch”, to take responsibility for unconventional decisions and to be prepared to face high production risks. Moving on knurled rails is always much easier. However, nothing pleases the engineer as much as the feeling that you CREATED, and not copied.