Samsung Galaxy Round Curved Phone Just a Prototype Device

By Jane McEntegart
published

The Galaxy Round may be even harder to get than we first thought.

Talk of curved smartphones has been ramping up over the last few weeks, and Samsung just announced its own curved phone, the Galaxy Round, last week. The company is releasing the Round in South Korea and has yet to mention plans for an international launch. Is that because the Galaxy Round is more of an experiment than anything else?

 

According to SamMobile, the the phone is more of a test device to see how the new form-factor fairs in the market. SamMobile cites a source that says Samsung has only produced a limited number of the Galaxy Round because it is a prototype device to test the curved OLED displays. Samsung did the same thing with the Samsung Jet SCH-W850 and the Galaxy S II HD LTE SHV-E120S, both of which were only produced in limited quantities to test AMOLED and HD AMOLED displays. This makes sense when you consider the fact that the Galaxy Round doesn't really bring anything new to the table aside from its curved display (the specs are pretty much the same as the Note 3). We imagine Samsung will take what it's learned from the Round and apply it to a more serious effort.

The Galaxy Round features a 5.7 inch 1080p Super AMOLED display powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC (MSM 8974) clocked at 2.3 GHz, 3 GB of RAM and a 2800 mAh battery. The device also provides 32 GB of internal storage, and a microSD card slot for up to 64 GB of additional storage.

Samsung is not the only company dabbling in curved displays. LG apparently has its own offering, the LG G Flex, which it plans to launch next month.

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Jane McEntegart
11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • michael908
    It must be annoying to watch a video when the phone is horizontal.
    Reply
  • clonazepam
    Talk about a curved phone. Make a prototype. Hope the competition goes full bore with their own curved phone, so they can find out whether consumers really care or not, without over-committing.
    Reply
  • WithoutWeakness
    I'm actually not even upset that this is just a "test the waters" device. It looks great and has solid specs but I'd want a more subjective review from people who have owned the device and their thoughts on the form factor before I purchased one myself. Hopefully some review sites can get their hands on one and take it for a spin for a week or two so we can get their thoughts on a curved screen vs. a standard flat one.
    Reply
  • thecouchguy
    I'd buy one so long as they cease this region locking business.
    Reply
  • husker
    I always thought a prototype device was a device that was not sold to the public, but only used for internal testing. If they are selling it in South Korea, then I think it is a limited production device rather than a prototype. Aside from that, a curved phone seems like it will just add expense to everything. In addition to a more expensive to produce phone, we will need curved batteries, curved cases, etc.
    Reply
  • Rajeshwar Maini
    Wouldn't it be awkward carrying a curved phone in your pocket?
    It maybe fine as long as you are using it but I think due to the curved design it will bulge outbox your pockets.
    I think companies must focus on bigger issues like improving the battery life of their super smart phones.
    Batteries should be made more powerful yet small rather than spending so much on RnD of a curved phone
    Reply
  • Rajeshwar Maini
    Wouldn't it be awkward carrying a curved phone in your pocket?
    It maybe fine as long as you are using it but I think due to the curved design it will bulge outbox your pockets.
    I think companies must focus on bigger issues like improving the battery life of their super smart phones.
    Batteries should be made more powerful yet small rather than spending so much on RnD of a curved phone
    Reply
  • ubercake
    I want a phone with a 5" screen that I can fold up and keep in my wallet.
    Reply
  • teh_chem
    I see zero ergonomic or technological benefits of a curved phone. Maybe I'm dumb. Even the Samsung Galaxy Nexus' curvature was unnecessary; just a way to differentiate itself from the other devices.
    Reply
  • robochump
    Makes sense. Its good practice to not release a phone that may fail miserably and only release a few prototypes first.Sure the curved display is a gimmick but at least it is a progressive design. Would hate to see what happens to it if I sit on it...lol.
    Reply