Samsung planning Galaxy phone with wrap-around display for 2014 launch
Samsung is said to be developing a new device for launch in 2014 with a flexible display that envelops the device's edges, allowing users to read messages when the device's main display is at a non-viewable angle.
A Samsung concept device featuring Youm display technology
The three-sided display will be manufactured using a new iteration of Samsung's proprietary Youm OLED displays, according to a new report published Friday by Bloomberg. The publication's sources were mum on a release date, but intimated that it could hit shelves as soon as the second half of 2014.
Samsung showed off a prototype of such a device during the company's keynote address at January's CES trade show in Las Vegas, where they also introduced the display technology that is said to form the foundation of the new smartphone.
Youm is a flexible OLED technology that uses plastic, rather than glass, as a substrate for the display's transistors. Samsung has said that the current generation of 5.7-inch Youm panels --?which many believe power the company's recent Korea-only Galaxy Round smartphone -- are just 0.12 millimeters thick.
Curved displays are a growing trend in smartphones, but it remains to be seen whether the trend is here to say. So far, only companies that also have a manufacturing interest in flexible display technology --?namely Korean conglomerates Samsung and LG --?have released devices with the feature, and even then only in the companies' home market of South Korea.
Apple is also said to be exploring devices with curved glass displays, but the technology's real future may lay with wearable devices like Apple's rumored "iWatch," which many believe will make use of flexible displays to wrap around users' wrists.
A Samsung concept device featuring Youm display technology
The three-sided display will be manufactured using a new iteration of Samsung's proprietary Youm OLED displays, according to a new report published Friday by Bloomberg. The publication's sources were mum on a release date, but intimated that it could hit shelves as soon as the second half of 2014.
Samsung showed off a prototype of such a device during the company's keynote address at January's CES trade show in Las Vegas, where they also introduced the display technology that is said to form the foundation of the new smartphone.
Youm is a flexible OLED technology that uses plastic, rather than glass, as a substrate for the display's transistors. Samsung has said that the current generation of 5.7-inch Youm panels --?which many believe power the company's recent Korea-only Galaxy Round smartphone -- are just 0.12 millimeters thick.
Curved displays are a growing trend in smartphones, but it remains to be seen whether the trend is here to say. So far, only companies that also have a manufacturing interest in flexible display technology --?namely Korean conglomerates Samsung and LG --?have released devices with the feature, and even then only in the companies' home market of South Korea.
Apple is also said to be exploring devices with curved glass displays, but the technology's real future may lay with wearable devices like Apple's rumored "iWatch," which many believe will make use of flexible displays to wrap around users' wrists.
Comments
The skeptic in me wonders how long that screen will last when it falls and impacts on it's side.
?Gimmick much?
A bit lame creativity wise, but possible if you have the money and resources.
Solution in search of problem.
sometimes innovation is that.
Post-It Note Glue found a problem... (the original purpose was to find a 'permanent' non-toxic adhesive.)
Viagra 'found' a problem;-) (original trials were for hypertension... when that trial failed the Phase II male research subjects absolutely did not want to give back any of the pills).
Minimally, it's like 3d printing... early production attemts drive manufacturing efficiencies downward.
While I think this is silly (multi-touch nav over that much edge will be tricky at best)... slightly curved outward (convex) to reduce glare or inward for more of a 'form fit' to face and pockets may be of some appeal. a very slight convex arc on an iPad may provide better viewing angles and increase space inside and centered to improve center of mass and lower the perceived weight of a device.
But all in all, I can't for the life of me 'want' what I'm seeing in the picture above.
What's the point? In the concept, the part of the screen that bends would normally be flat. It's not like it really goes around the sides. It just takes screen area away from the front, rather than adding it.
A wrap-around screen might make sense if it truly wraps around the entire phone. You'd do certain type of activities on the front and certain on the back. But the phone would have to know which side you're looking at so that it ignored touches on the other side.
Or, there'd be an easy way of unwrapping the screen, so you could have this really big screen when you wanted it that you would then push back closed around the phone when you weren't using it or didn't need it.
Personally, rather than a screen that bends for the sake of bending, I'd rather see a screen that goes fully to the front edge, at least along the long edges of the phone. I think we'll see that within a year or two.
A problem looking for a solution.
I just want a phone implanted in the back of my hand although the thought of sticking a charging cable up my ass is not at all appealing.
It's not the electricity you have to be worried about, it's the radiation.
Both were developed for one problem but solved another problem. Totally different than this curved screen. It's not like pharma threw some chemicals together and then had a wide range of testing to see what it cures/resolves.
This is a truly stupid idea, about as dumb as Samsung's flop of a watch.
What use is the wrap around display on a phone, to allow people sitting to the left and right of you on a bus to more easily read your messages?
Watching any sort of content on it will suck. Gaming will suck on it. Browsing will suck on it. Everything will suck on it.
Not that long ago, TV's were curved, but that wasn't because it was a deliberate design choice, they had no other choice.
There might be a usage for curved displays in certain products, but this phone gets two thumbs down from me.
?Gimmick much?
Yep, this is what passes for innovation in the mobile (now commoditized) market.
I wonder if this is just an Apple head fake to have Samsung be the first to test the market and, if it fails for Samsung, well then,
it couldn't happen to a nicer Korean chaebol.
I wonder if this is just an Apple head fake to have Samsung be the first to test the market and, if it fails for Samsung, well then,
Even if it were to fail for Samsung, that would tell Apple nothing, just look at Samsung's horrible watch. That doesn't mean that Apple doesn't have a watch of their own that they will eventually release.
Apple's execution would obviously be a million times better than anything that Samsung could do. Apple actually thinks about what they release, Samsung just releases random crap. And if the Samsung random crap product for this week fails, they'll just release another random crap product next week.