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We trotted to New York City today to get our hands on Samsung’s latest products. One such product was the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge, a new device that Samsung hopes will change the way folks use their phone. The difference between this and the Note 4 that we also got hands-on time with? It has a flexible display that folds over to the right, and that little sliver can be lit up independently of the main portion of the display.
What does this enable? Many interesting different things. For starters, at night time you can have it dimmed and use the phone as an always-on alarm clock. The phone will sip battery overnight so you can always see the time without having to turn the bright display on. The display might also be used for music controls, camera settings and shutter buttons, news, sports and weather info and more.
For some reason, it just doesn’t quite excite. It sounds like a slightly better version of Samsung’s Continuum, a smartphone that had a ticker display that served many of the same functions. The Continuum didn’t really take off for a couple of different reasons:
- It didn’t really bring considerable savings in the battery department
- It wasn’t intuitive
- It wasn’t open to developers
It seems at least two of those areas — intuitiveness and openness — have been addressed, but we wonder if it’s still just another gimmick that Samsung hopes will sell them a few more phones this year. The Note Edge doesn’t offer many advantages over the more traditional Note 4. But it’s there, and it’s coming to all of the United States’ major carriers later this fall.
We think it’s a decent device for what it is (the internals basically match up to what we have in the standard Note 4), but there doesn’t seem to be much reason to consider this over the other star of today’s show. Be sure to check out our hands-on video above.
Samsung Continuum 2.0
Wow.Samsung and Android have come a long way. That phone and UI is horrid.
I think the UI is one interesting feature on this phone.
It is getting more multitasking integrated that just a simple and plain row of icons.
damn i forgot about this phone its been so long lol
People will buy it because it’s different
that’s actually a nifty feature..
How would this work holding it with just your right hand? Your thumb would sit right on the display.
With some phones that have ridiculous edge to edge displays it has been demonstrated (not sure if it has been implemented yet, I am remembering this from a tech demo from a while ago) that software can be used to determine if it is an unintentional touch and thus ignore it. It’s an interesting design, that’s for sure.
Us lefties are just fucked, that’s how it works.
No issues with accidental side bar presses if you use the security dongle attached on the bottom of the device. That’s what I see anyway. ;) Get the edge Popsicle stick accessory and it’ll double as an auction paddle.
They should have kept the original prototype design. Curve edge on both sides. Just put in a locking feature where u can choose which side u want to lock. That way u can hold it with either hand or view notifications from either side.
Yet another answer to a question no one was asking.
Cool if not strange in theory. Unfortunately it looks like a user nightmare.
They left us left handed people out to dry…
Left-handed people ftw.
Kinda of pointless to spend tons of money manufacturing a whole other phone for a minority group in which only a small percent from that group may buy the phone.
Oh you mean like the whole point of making more than just a single phone for everyone without offering any other alternatives? Yah, no Android manufacturer would do something like that.
if anything, this might be a port siders dream come true if you have long fingers. A righty might accidentally thumb and palm press it. I guess you’d have to hold it to really see.
I am right- handed but hold my phone with my left. No-go for me.
Turn the phone up side down and it turns everything for the left hand.
I still want to be able to hold my device like a real TABLET. My thumb on the top, and fingers across the back, not gripping the whole thing from the bottom. Watch any episode of Star Trek, they wander around with it placed flat between the thumb (on top) and fingers in back, cradled in the palm of your hand, not wedged between all your stretched fingers like an exercise ball. No wonder so people people are dropping their phones (and large tablets), it’s not “natural” to hold them that way, we just got accustomed to keeping our spare fingers off the screen. Same when I write, I want “palm check” like laptops have, when I use a stylus. Is this really that difficult any more?
People might bash it, but Samsung are never afraid to take risks. This is innovation.
Thanks! People said the same about the OG Note, and it became their most popular phone line… You’ll never know what works and what doesn’t if no one tries anything new..
*2nd most popular
S line is definitely more popular
0_o Why aren’t both sides curved?!! Why aren’t both sides curved?!!!! (OCD) Don’t know what’s harder to watch? This YouTube video of this phone or the latest transformers movie..
Another great review video for those interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uALVIcQXH4Q&list=UUBJycsmduvYEL83R_U4JriQ
I love this device, i dont really care for the s pen. I have it on my Note 10.1 2014. Edge feature is really cool.
I’m not interested but nice to see new ideas out there.
I am liking it along w S watch. Too bad I have a OnePlus One and Note 3 paid for.
Ian B
That alarm mode sounds sweet, too bad he din’t actually demonstrate it. Guess I’ll wait for you guys to review the device.
If the screen size is the same as the Note 4 and part of the screen is being used for those shortcuts, what will be the aspect ratio of the rest of the screen when watching videos?
It’s a slightly different size, with 16:10 aspect ratio instead of 16:9. Videos in 16:9 would only use the flat part of the screen. The video jfelts posted below has a demo, it actually uses the Edge for displaying text during playback.
I checked the specs on gsmarena.com and you are right.
An interesting application of the curved bit of the screen would be to show the notification bar when playing a full screen video or game. That way you can see any notifications that come while your video player/game still technically runs in KitKat’s full immersive mode in the flat part of the screen.
Is the main screen not the same size as the Note 4 with the edge being separate?
According to Wikipedia it’s slightly (0.1″) shorter vertically.
Been waiting for something like this! Very excited. More so than note 4 and I’ve owned every Note. My buddies really want the Nedge
This is really goofy gimmick. Galaxys all use an OLED display which always light up just the parts of the display that is needed, this could have just been done on the main screen. And as a lefty, this wouldn’t be as usable.