As widely expected, Samsung has announced the Galaxy Round, billed as “the world’s first curved display smartphone.” Needless to say, the key feature is its full HD Super AMOLED flexible display along with new features that take advantage of this curved design.
As a result of its unique curved design, users can take advantage of round integration experiences like the Roll Effect that enables the user to check information such as the date, time, missed calls and battery easily when home screen is off, and the Gravity Effect for creating visual interaction with the screen by tilting the device. For music, the Bounce UX enables users to control their music. When the GALAXY ROUND’s display is off while the music player is running, a short press to the left of the device will play the previous track while a short press to the right will play the next track. For pictures and videos, the Side Mirror feature enables users to gain access to list of the album content with a left and right tilt.
The video below shows off the Roll Effect which lets a user check information such as time or missed calls simply by tipping the phone:
http://youtu.be/UIEExKSjWi4
As for specifications, here is what we know about the Samsung Galaxy Round so far:
- Processor: 2.3GHz quad-core
- Operating system: Google Android 4.3
- Cellular connectivity: LTE-A
- Display: 5.7-inch Full HD (1080×1920) flexible Super AMOLED
- RAM: 3GB
- Internal storage: 32GB
- Rear-facing camera: 13MP
- Battery: 2,800mAh
- Dimensions: 151.1×79.6×7.9 millimeters
- Weight: 154 grams
- Colors: Luxury Brown
Here’s a picture that gives you a better sense of how curved the Galaxy Round is:
The Samsung Galaxy Round will be available in Korea starting on October 10 in Luxury Brown. More colours will be announced later. There is no word yet on a launch outside of Korea.
Sources : Samsung Tomorrow // The Verge
Looks like a beautiful phone, but it doesn’t seem like the rounded screen adds much to its functionality. Nice beginning though. I think there were some early android phones that were very slightly concave like this and it was designed to reduce glare. It never stuck so I guess it wasn’t worthwhile.