Samsung Galaxy Round: The first Curved Smartphone

Samsung has just officially revealed their curved-screen device on Samsung Tomorrow. The phone goes by the name Galaxy Round, which is a little weird sounding, but I guess it ties in with the unique curved screen. As for the specs, well, it’s basically a Galaxy Note 3 minus the S-Pen.

The screen is the main attraction here, and definitely the most unique with the curved screen. Specifications wise, it is of a size of 5.7 inches and a 1080p resolution, it’s similar to the one found in the Note 3 plus a bit of curvy Super AMOLED magic. Samsung says that the design enables the large screen to be easier to use with one hand. Overall dimensions are a little smaller, thanks to the expansion in the 3D space, with the phone taking up more depth. It is really a gimmick, and aligned with Samsung’s push for features that are generally not too useful, the phone also has at least one software enhancement that takes advantage of the unique shape of the screen and body. With the Galaxy Round lying on a flat surface, the user can tilt one side of it up for a quick look at notifications and status, a la the Active Notifications in the latest Motorola devices. You can also go backwards and forwards in the photo gallery or music app with short rolls to either side (which Samsung is calling Bounce UX).

The rest of the specs are top-notch for an Android device: the processor is a 2.3Ghz quad-core (make unknown for now – with LTE Advanced, it may be a Qualcomm) plus 3GB of RAM, and it’s got the same 13MP rear camera from the GS4 and Note 3. Excluding the curvature, thickest point is 7.9mm. Software is Samsung’s TouchWiz Nature UI plus the aforementioned goodies on top of Android 4.3. Look closely and you can see that it uses the same faux leather style as the Note 3.

It’s technology advancing, but albeit not too useful now I feel. Will be interesting to see how they take this further. The challenge for now is that the rest of the parts, like the battery etc probably aren’t too foldable yet.

At the moment Samsung has only announced the Galaxy Round for release in South Korea tomorrow at a price of 1,089,000 won – roughly $1000 USD, and about the same price as the Galaxy Note 3. The company may be using its home turf as a testing ground. International releases are usually announced later on, so we wouldn’t be seeing the Galaxy Round in Singapore anytime soon.