At last the long awaited curved phones are here. Samsung has just announced the Samsung Galaxy Round which is basically Galaxy Note III with a concave curvature from side to side. LG that was planning to release a curved phone in early 2014, in the wake of Samsung’s announcement, seem to have changed its mind and will now avail a curved smartphone in November. Curved display offers the advantage of bendability in that you will no longer need to worry that the screen will break. The screens are made from plastic instead of glass so breaking them will be a hard call.
Here are some of the “feel good” features you may expect to get from the types of curved OLED displays.
LG’s Curvature from top to bottom
LG has announced that its curved display will be a 6 inch screen weighing a meager 7.2g and thin measuring just 0.44mm.
LG this morning explained the process in a press release:
LG Displayâs flexible OLED panel is built on plastic substrates instead of glass. By applying film-type encapsulation technology and attaching the protection film to the back of the panel, LG Display made the panel bendable and unbreakable. The new display is vertically concave from top to bottom with a radius of 700mm, opening up a world of design innovations in the smartphone market. And only 0.44mm thin, LG Displayâs flexible OLED panel is the worldâs slimmest among existing mobile device panels. Whatâs more, it is also the worldâs lightest, weighing a mere 7.2g even with a 6-inch screen, the largest among current smartphone OLED displays.
Samsung Galaxy Round
The just announced Samsung Galaxy Round is a 5.7 inch full HD Super AMOLED display, 3GB RAM, quad-core 2.3 GHz processor, 13 megapixel camera, and with S Pen functionality.
Galaxy Round also takes the advantage of rocking ability (when placed on a table the phone rocks side to side) and has included a software feature that will enable users to view information by tilting/rocking the device. You can even control music and navigate gallery by pressing down on one side while it rests on a table. The rocking motion plays previous or next tracks. The feature also lets the device to check other notifications such as missed calls and notifications when the device is asleep.
Why curved displays?
1. Making phone calls will be easy and comfortable. Curved displays let the phones fit comfortably on user’s face running smoothly from ear to mouth.
2. The curved display especially Samsung’s side to side curvature will be comfortable to keep in the pocket as the display will fit comfortably on the shape of the thighs.
Whatâs ahead?
Bendable screens, roll-able screens, and finally âdisposable displays that cost so little that they can serve as a replacement for paper,â according to the IHS press release.
You seem to get some facts wrong, the two displays are flexible, and that’s how we can achieve curved display. The LG display up here is not curved but flexible, it has no frame. The Galaxy Round on the other hand is both flexible and curved due to the shape the frame takes.
This goes to say that both can sell devices that are flexible, Samsung chose to start with a fixed curved screen powered by a flexible display. We have no information on whether LG will take the same route or include a flexible frame while at it.
The actual phone from LG expected in November will not be flexible but curved; but instead of being curved side to side like Samsung’s Galaxy Round it will be curved top to bottom for easy aligning with the shape of ear to mouth. Flexible LG phones might come sometime next year if they manage to work on the flexible battery.