Curved Samsung Galaxy Round (Unofficially) Coming to USA

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

Online retailers are carrying the curvy phone.

The Droid Guy has discovered that many local online retailers plan to offer Samsung's shapely Galaxy Round smartphone, including Negri Electronics. The company began taking pre-purchase payments a week ago for a hefty $1,129.50, an insane price even if the shape is somewhat unique. The curvy unlocked phone is expected to ship in Black starting this week.

The Galaxy Round features a 5.7 inch 1080p Super AMOLED display powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (MSM 8974) SoC 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.

Additional specs include Wireless N, WiFi Direct and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, NFC, USB 3.0, GPS+GLONAS, and Samsung KNOX, making this device Enterprise-ready. The device is 7.9 mm thick, weighs 0.34 pounds, and includes a 13MP camera on the leather-and-stitch designed back. Google's Android 4.3 "Jelly Bean" is the OS of choice.

The device launched in South Korea via SK Telecom on October 10 in "Luxury Brown" for 1.09 million won, or roughly $1,000 USD. At the time, a Samsung insider claimed that the company was merely testing the curved display, that the device was a prototype, so only a limited number of the Galaxy Round will be made, even in South Korea. That should explain the interestingly high $1,000 asking price.

Samsung pulled a similar stunt with the SCH-W850 and the Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE (SHV-E120S). These were reportedly produced in limited numbers in order to test the AMOLED display in the former device and the HD AMOLED display in the latter model. Thus, if the Galaxy Round is merely a prototype, chances are the phone will not be made available outside South Korea.

The point of the prototype is likely to see if a device with a curved display can handle the same wear and tear that a typical smartphone with a flat glass display endures over its lifespan. The Galaxy Round screen is reportedly based on a plastic substrate, so it won't crack into several pieces if the phone is dropped. The screen will also be light, thin and very durable.

Negri Electronics currently has the phone on backorder, while over in Australia MobiCity has the phone listed as "out of stock, backorder or contact us for ETA." While these may be unofficial means of acquiring the phone, for a hefty price, you could be one of a limited number of individuals owning this unique "special edition" device that was originally sold in South Korea.

Kevin Parrish
11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Avus
    i still dont see the point of this super expensive phone...
    Reply
  • NightLight
    me neither, same software...
    Reply
  • seshysama
    "Ok guys, lets take our flagship phone, add a slight, useless curve thats only a wow factor, then DOUBLE the price!" Samsung, your products are top notch, but you have such a terrible advertising and PR group..
    Reply
  • Darkk
    I'll wait for a phone that I can roll it up like paper.
    Reply
  • tburns1
    Yeah ...a phone I can roll-up and wrinkle. Might be fun to play geo-caching with my son using a "real" treasure map. Argh!
    Reply
  • Dreadeye
    Wireless N ??!! For that price Wireless AC better be an option.
    Reply
  • dns7950
    11892242 said:
    "Ok guys, lets take our flagship phone, add a slight, useless curve thats only a wow factor, then DOUBLE the price!" Samsung, your products are top notch, but you have such a terrible advertising and PR group..

    You have absolutely no clue what you are talking about, you're bashing something you have never even seen. The curve is not just some gimmick, it is there for a reason.

    http://www.extremetech.com/computing/169757-why-curved-smartphone-screens-massively-increase-image-quality-reduce-reflections
    Reply
  • milktea
    @dns7950
    doesn't matter if it cuts down on the reflections, I'm still not going for the 'fixed' curve display.
    Things look better when they're laying down flat. I'll wait for the flexible screens.
    Reply
  • WithoutWeakness
    I don't think the price is expensive due to it's rarity. I think it's an effect of the low volume of these units that they're manufacturing. With the Note 3 or S4 they sell millions and millions and they can lower costs of manufacturing to lower the price of the phone. For a phone like this with a screen and battery tech not in any other phone they make the cost of production per phone rises and so does the cost to the consumer.
    Reply
  • dns7950
    11892677 said:
    @dns7950
    doesn't matter if it cuts down on the reflections, I'm still not going for the 'fixed' curve display.
    Things look better when they're laying down flat. I'll wait for the flexible screens.
    To each his own. I personally think a flexible screen would be more of a gimmick than this. I can't imagine a situation where I would need or want it, and it probably would make the phone weaker rather than stronger. This, on the other hand could have an obvious advantage if it were the same price. But I don't think anybody should bash the phone before ever seeing one. That ridiculous price is just for this first shady looking online retailer, there's no way it will cost that much when it is released officially. It is just a bent Note 3, after all.
    Reply