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Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Curvy, Cool, Curious

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US | B 13 comments

As with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, we got a chance to get our hands on the Galaxy Note Edge. The phone is exactly the same as the Note 4 on the hardware side. However, what makes this phone stand out is the flexible screen, which wraps around the right edge of the phone. It's worth noting that this is not simply a curved screen -- it's actually a flexible OLED display.

To be honest, this is a cool phone, but it remains to be seen if this wrap-around design will catch on and be truly useful. The screen on the side provides what could only be described as taskbars, and users can flick through five of them by swiping to the right.

These bars are customizable. For instance, the user can add any app to these toolbars, thus reducing the amount of clutter on the Home Screen. Users can also add things like sports tickers, weather notifications, and special messages like "This is my phone." Users can even change the wallpaper on the curved side.

The whole purpose of the side bar is so that users can get to their apps and items faster. The good news here is that Samsung has released an SDK so that app developers can create solutions that take advantage of the new and unique curved side. This should prove interesting to say the least.

A Samsung rep pointed out in a short demo that the phone stays somewhat active while it's asleep. This is made apparent through the use of the night clock, which tells the time along the rounded edge. Users can set the time for when the clock comes on and goes off, and during that time, the screen will go black save for the rounded edge, which will only show the time and the weather, if desired.

As previously stated, this phone's hardware is the same as the new Note 4 -- save for the display, which in the case of the Note Edge is a 5.6-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED (2560 x 1400 + 160) screen. (That's the same resolution as the Note 4 but just a hair smaller.)

Other specs include 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage, Qualcomm's quad-core Snapdragon 805, Wireless AC and Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity, and a microSD card slot for adding up to 64 GB of extra storage. There's also a fingerprint scanner, 8x optical zoom and Android 4.4 "KitKat."

Although this phone looks to cater to the right-handed crowd, lefties still have an option: They can merely turn the phone upside down, and the screen will rotate 180 degrees. The drawback, of course, is that the buttons will be on the top instead of mounted at the bottom. Still, as a leftie, I didn't find the normal setting all that difficult to manage.

Overall, this was probably my favorite of the two phones due to the unique form factor. Again, it's possible this could end up being a one-time deal; whether customers will flock to this device or not remains to be seen. Still, the rounded side is rather cool, and I'm anxious to see what app developers do with the SDK.

Follow Kevin Parrish @exfileme. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

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  • 1 Hide
    SchizoFrog , September 3, 2014 2:13 PM
    It'll be interesting to see how case designers get around this...
  • 1 Hide
    becomecooler , September 3, 2014 2:24 PM
    goodbye alarm clock. hello note 4
  • -3 Hide
    anthony8989 , September 3, 2014 2:33 PM
    Seems odd how they orientated the text on the curve. You'd have to have your phone face down to read the text on the side. I always try to avoid placing my phone face down from fear of the screen scratching.
  • Add your comment Display all 13 comments.
  • 5 Hide
    Cash091 , September 3, 2014 4:19 PM
    Now that we have flexible OLED, it would be nice for them to wrap screens around a bit more, putting the bezels on the sides. We could have a true bezel-less display.
  • 4 Hide
    eriko , September 3, 2014 7:48 PM
    Quote:
    ...more gimmicks from Samsung. How did that watch turn out?..lol


    The Gear 2? Great! I wear mine everyday, and will continue to wear a smartwatch for the rest of my life...

    Did YOU try one yet? I expect not...
  • 3 Hide
    soldier44 , September 3, 2014 7:55 PM
    Samsung haters lol. Wait till I go to town on the craphone 6 next week, going to give it my all and then some. The Note Edge will be my next phone for at least another year since I upgrade every year.
  • 2 Hide
    Cons29 , September 4, 2014 12:15 AM
    when samsung creates familiar looking phone, people shut it down, saying nothing is new. now that there's something new, the same thing happens, if you don't want to buy it don't. im just happy someone is trying to bring in something new.
  • 0 Hide
    SchizoFrog , September 4, 2014 1:41 AM
    This phone would work really well with Windows Phone too as they already incorporate a side bar on the right... There are rumours that new WP devices are coming before Christmas, if nothing is as cool as the edge then I may just go for that instead, I have waited too long as it is for WP.
  • -1 Hide
    shahbaz200 , September 4, 2014 2:23 AM
    Leftie can rotate phone to 180 degree and add navigation bar for on screen buttons :D  But seriously, no leftie guy will buy it.
  • -4 Hide
    Ninjawithagun , September 4, 2014 3:45 AM
    Correction to author of this article: MicroSD card can add up to 128GB of additional storage.

    I love the new Note 4 Edge, but was extremely disappointed in the 'regular' Note 4. Seems more like a very minor incremental upgrade. Whereas, the Edge gives me just enough reason to buy one. Samsung is going to find out quickly that their regular Note 4 is going to be a failure. With the iPhone 6 just around the corner and it's availability guaranteed at launch, Samsung is going to be sucking in the fumes of rapidly growing Apple sales figures. Let's not forget to mention Samsung's absolutely horrible and sloppy product release presentation yesterday. I am not an Apple fanboy, so I would hate to see Samsung fail here, but they are being very sloppy right now in their overall sales strategy and product sales marketing...
  • -1 Hide
    gaborbarla , September 4, 2014 5:44 AM
    I wonder why they didn't do this on both sides, it would look even more awesome, and add even more possibilities in UI design and usability and screen real estate.
  • 0 Hide
    wtfxxxgp , September 5, 2014 12:20 AM
    Quote:
    I wonder why they didn't do this on both sides, it would look even more awesome, and add even more possibilities in UI design and usability and screen real estate.


    It's more than likely a "watch this space" type of strategic move - Next one may be all screen with 3 curved sides. Who knows... I quite like what Samsung is doing though, this is a nice idea and could work out very well for them in terms of Professionals who may want to get RSS-type feeds about different automated processes they're responsible for. What about using it as a visual indicator about the type of message that has come through - if the message has been deemed to be "important" then make the background glow red or something. There are so many ways to use this added space.
  • 0 Hide
    SkyBill40 , September 6, 2014 9:55 AM
    As nifty as the premise is, I don't know how well it will catch on. While I do greatly enjoy and appreciate my Note 3, I don't see this version of the note to be all that viable to me personally nor do I feel the very slight changes made internally to be worth it in terms of an upgrade. Perhaps when I get an opportunity to see and use this first hand will I truly consider it.
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