The Siswoo R9 Darkmoon is a dual screen flagship phone with better specs than the Yotaphone 2


siswoo r9 darkmoon

New kids on the block Siswoo have just sent details over of their new Siswoo R9 Darkmoon phone with dual screen set up, 64bit processor, 3GB RAM and LTE!

If we asked you to think of the dual screen phone you would most likely say the Yotaphone, but that is no longer the only 2 screen phone on the market. The new Siswoo R9 Darkmoon also boasts a secondary E-ink panel on the rear, while beating the Yotaphone 2 spec for spec.

The R9 Darkmoon is a 5-inch phone with octacore 64bit Mediatek MT6752 processor, similar to the Siswoo i9 Cooper we recently reviewed, but aimed at phone users who need more memory, and want the the benefit of a low energy E-ink display.

siswoo r9 darkmoon

Siswoo have given the R9 Darkmoon 3GB RAM, 32GB memory, an 8 mega-pixel front camera, 13 mega-pixel rear, dual SIM support and a 3000mAh battery. In comparison the Yotaphone 2 has just an 8 mega-pixel main camera, 2GB RAM and smaller 2500mAh battery.

The 64bit chip runs Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box on either the front 5-inch FHD IPS panel or on the rear 4.7-inch E-ink panel. An E-ink display uses much less power than a FHD display so users can switch to the rear panel for reading ebooks, browsing the web, reading emails etc saving power and extending battery run time.

siswoo r9 darkmoon

Connectivity includes GPS, Glonass, Beidou, navigation options, dual band 2.4Ghz/5Ghz WIFI, GSM (850/900/1800/1900Mhz), WCMA (B1/B2/B3) and FDD-LTE (B3/B7/B20). The R9 Darkmoon will come in either white or black colour options.

We’ve asked Siswoo if they can send over a sample of the Siswoo R9 Darkmoon for review, and we have also asked for pricing and availability news for this Chinese Yotaphone rival.

What do you think of the Siswoo R9 Darkmoon? Is a 2nd E-ink display something you would like to give a go?

[ Siswoo ]
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50 Comments

  1. Carlos T
    May 14, 2015

    shut up and take my money, this is like having my phone and my kindle joined together?? i wanna know how much will it cost ? :S

    • May 14, 2015

      Hopefully will have the price in the next few days. This really is an interesting device! Can’t wait to try it.

      • Carlos T
        May 14, 2015

        yea and i hope is not that much expensive too, i’ve just read the yotaphone 2 is like 700 euros or so. For that price i’ll just keep my normal phone and bring my kindle along 😛

        • Oz
          May 15, 2015

          And Yota is built like a Russian tank and looks like one too! Yota is about $A1000 in Australia.

      • justyfier
        May 14, 2015

        Geekbuying puts it at 499 usd

        • Muhammad Yasir
          May 14, 2015

          hory shet 🙁

  2. May 14, 2015

    If the price is right, this could be it. I love the idea of the 2nd E-ink display for energy saving when needed.

    • fangbanger
      May 14, 2015

      I love it too, but first I need to see the refresh rate and how it handles PDFs

    • May 14, 2015

      Its sold for $500. A bit on the steep side for me. I’d rather buy two different MT6752 phones and have some change too.

  3. Darevintage
    May 14, 2015

    This just gave the Yotaphone a TKO! Make one with a 5.5 inches screen pls and keep the price reasonable. Yotaphone at £440 is quite ridiculous to the ears

  4. kutrgmap
    May 14, 2015

    The 2nd e-ink LCD screen will be a very interesting selling point to end-users who read a lot. Personally, I like this idea as e-ink doesn’t eat your battery for displaying something.

  5. Jasper
    May 14, 2015

    “[…] and FDD-LTE (B38/B39/B40).”

    These are TDD-LTE bands, not FDD. If this phone doesn’t have FDD-LTE then not even an e-ink screen on the back can convince me to buy it.

    Source: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks#General_information

    • Jasper
      May 14, 2015

      Okay I just checked and it does say on Siswoo’s site: “4G: FDD-LTE B3/B7/B20”. Please fix the post Andi!

      • May 14, 2015

        yup, I read from the wrong side sorry about that

  6. Riccardo Benzoni
    May 14, 2015

    it’s very much like “Umi zero meets e-ink display on the back”. If the price is good, I believe it will have some following

  7. Muhammad Yasir
    May 14, 2015

    its REAL… now please be CHEAP !

    • balcobomber25
      May 14, 2015

      Resellers have it for presale at $499…

      • Yeti hand
        May 14, 2015

        “learning the news from balcobomber25 Muhammad Yasir died on the spot’

        DX

        • mf1gt3r
          May 14, 2015

          Hehehe. That’s hilarious ?.

      • Muhammad Yasir
        May 14, 2015

        there goes another one -_-…

      • Jeff
        May 14, 2015

        I need your advice regarding a purchase, Ibuygou has been able to stock again the Black MI4 3GB RAM WCDMA version sold at $300. They also have in stock the Black MI4 with 2GB RAM with FDD-LTE frequencies but sold at $310. Which version should I purchase? I am based in Europe and 4G is not optimal everywhere. Thanks

        • balcobomber25
          May 14, 2015

          If LTE isn’t a concern for you I would get the 3GB version simply for the fact that it has more RAM and is cheaper. I have the 3G version of the Mi4 and I get pretty good speeds on 3G+ in most countries.

          • Jeff
            May 14, 2015

            Thank you very much for your quick reply. I agree with you I will go for the 3GB RAM version. Better to have 3GB RAM and I don’t care a lot about LTE. You are a really nice dude. All the best. Cheers.

      • May 14, 2015

        My glob! hope that isn’t correct

        • balcobomber25
          May 14, 2015

          We see this often with resellers when they don’t know the official price. Before the Umi Zero price was announced, resellers were all over the place some had it for $199 (well before the price drops) others had it for $399.

      • hichaam
        May 15, 2015

        To2C are listing it with a price of 250$:

        http://www.to2c.com/siswoo-darkmoon-r9.html

        • balcobomber25
          May 15, 2015

          Prices are all over the place which usually happens when resellers don;t know, they guess. Here are the following prices I found:

          Antelife – $499
          Cooli Cool – $499
          Geekbuying – $499
          Gearbest – $499
          Comebuy – $518
          Minideal – $299
          Efox – 459 Euro ($522)
          To2c – $249

          • hichaam
            May 15, 2015

            Yes, all we can do now is waiting. I hope that it will be priced under 300$.

        • Kenshiro
          May 16, 2015

          That price on To2c is not final, don’t trust it.

  8. balcobomber25
    May 14, 2015

    Siswoo is really impressing me with each new release. I would actually love to try one of these out to see if the second E-ink screen provides any real world value. The good thing about Eink is it isn’t power hungry like a normal display.

    • Adam Irvine
      May 14, 2015

      And much much better in direct sunlight

  9. Kis Maike
    May 14, 2015

    Hello, Andi. I know this is not the place for this question, most would love to consider and give me an answer. My name is maike, I’m from Brazil. Bought a Nubia Z7 Max for some time and it does not work, then I tried to change ROM, the screen it simply does not light, there is only a sign of life when he plugo the outlet, the center button flashes red.Already I sought on some sites more did not get anything. Can you help me? Or anyone else can help me?

    • Kis Maike
      May 14, 2015

      Sorry my English. If you need, I can give more details.

    • balcobomber25
      May 14, 2015

      Tough to say from your description but sounds like you bricked it. Your best bet is to head over to XDA Forums (link for Z7 forums at bottom) and post pictures of what specifically happens when your turn it on and any screens that show up, someone there will be able to help you. XDA is one of the best resources to go to when you are trying to flash roms, root or have any issues.

      http://forum.xda-developers.com/zte-z7/help

      • Kis Maike
        May 14, 2015

        Thank you. I will check to see if I can get some help.

  10. Bruce S
    May 14, 2015

    From the Siswoo site they are saying this device (currently) will be based on the 64bit Mediatek MT6752 processor and not the MT6795 as first touted. So they are entering the already very crowded MT6752 space; the only real point of differentiation I’m seeing here is their E-INK screen. I suspect that unless they price this competitively; they will only have very limited success.

  11. helena
    May 15, 2015

    Crazy, it is $499

  12. Kamui
    May 15, 2015

    But how will you let that phone on the table? It has to come with a smart cover case that opens from both sides ?

  13. Jay
    May 15, 2015

    Sweet!

    The YotaPhone 2 is way too expensive.

    Though one has to give credit to the YotaPhone folks for innovation, it’s ultimately the value that customers get through products.

    @Gizchina:disqus, many thanks for notifying. Would be great if you could review this.

    If Siswoo can just price it right, I’m sold!

  14. May 15, 2015

    Me likey! I read so much on the MRT (Singapore tube), so this would be a godsend. I’m pretty sure it will be cheaper than the YotaPhone 2 to boot.

  15. Steven Fox
    May 15, 2015

    Would have been much better to opt for 720p screen and MT6735 to cut costs then sell the phone for 259$, it would have been an instant hit.

  16. Angry Mobile Nerd
    May 15, 2015

    Drop test! Who wants to call it before it hits the ground; LCD or e-ink?

  17. gadget_ocd
    May 17, 2015

    It’ll be rally interesting to see how apps make use of the e-ink screen!

  18. Abel Edison Zapata Romero
    May 22, 2015

    Siswoo R9 DarkMoon looks awesome, but it don’t have a TF card slot 🙁

  19. Nancy
    July 16, 2015

    Exclusive photos about Siswoo R9