I’m not sure if this is the latest enhancement in smartphone technology we’ve been waiting for, but Samsung Electronics has made the bold move to introduce the Galaxy Round, a curved screen smartphone, which has a bit of a bend in the middle making it more suitable to mold into a person’s facial contours.
The Galaxy Round Features
The Galaxy Round comes with a 5.7 inch, 1080p HD Super AMOLED display. It weighs 154g and is 7.9mm thick. Running Android 4.3, the device carries a 2.3GHz quad-core processor, 3GB RAM, 32 GB internal storage, up-to-64GB microSD card slot compatibility, and a 2800mAh battery. As far as the camera features are concerned, the device comes with a 13-MP rear camera with autofocus and flash, and a 2-MP front camera for 1080p HD video captures.
Roll Effect
This is one of the new features that will take advantage of the curvy screen. If you rock the phone when its on its back, it will activate the screen displaying the date, time, battery info and missed calls. So basically, you will be able to see some basic information without unlocking the phone.This effect will work even in sleep mode.
Gravity Effect
This is the second new feature you can see in the Galaxy Round. In this feature, you rock the phone to activate a music UI, the Bounce UX that displays music shortcuts so that pressing the screen on one side will play the previous track, while pressing the other side will play the next track. Similarly, you can also use the tilt controls to activate video playback and access your photo album content.
One Hand Operations
The large display doesn’t mean users should have to use both hands to get stuff done. One hand operations are perfectly possible by bringing the most commonly used controls to the side users want to access them from.
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Multi Window
Multitasking should also be easier with the multi window feature where users can open and run multiple apps simultaneously on the large screen and even drag and drop content between open windows to share content between applications.
Pricing and Availability
The Galaxy Round will initially be available in a luxury brown shade in Korea and will later become available in other markets in different shades as well. It is not clear how much the device will cost, but expect it to be around the price of the Note 3, which it closely matches in terms of tech specs.
Quick Look Tech Specs of Samsung Galaxy Round
| Tech Specs | Description |
| Processor | MSM 8974 Quad Krait 2.3 GHz |
| Display | 5.7 inch Full HD Super Flexible AMOLED |
| Memory | 32 GB+microSD up to 64 GB |
| RAM | 3GB |
| Camera | 13 MP AF with flash, 2MP rear |
| Camera Modes | Drama Shot, Sound & Shot, Animated Photo, Eraser, Best Photo, Best Face, Beauty Face, HDR, Panorama, Sports, Golf, Surround Shot, Life Effect |
| OS | Android 4.3 Jelly Bean |
| Connectivity | WiFi, a/b/g/n/ac; WiFi Direct, BT 4.0, USB 3.0, GPS+GLONASS, NFC |
| Dimension | 151.1×79.6×7.9mm, 154g |
| Battery | 2800 mAh |
There’s still no clarity as to the usefulness of the curved display and what advantage consumers will get from it; or even if that will be enough to sway them to make the move to a curved display. Either way, it looks as if Samsung won’t be alone in curvaceous phones as LG is soon set to launch its own curve display smartphone, the G-Flex, while Nokia and Apple have also been rumored to be working on their own curves.
What do you think of curved displays? Would you be willing to go for one in the near future or do you think this will simply be a passing fancy?
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