Who would have thought a phone
would come along that could make even the mighty Samsung Galaxy Note 4 seem
boring? For all its top-notch features, the Note 4 lacks the one big thing that
its new sibling brings to the market - a curved screen. It's instantly iconic:
the gentle glass that seems to flow right off the edge of what should be the
front of this phone. The seamless continuation of pixels is truly remarkable,
and anyone who sees this phone for the first time will gape and stare, turning
it around in their hands and holding it up to their eyes for closer inspection.
That's the kind of draw it has.
In a world
of cookie-cutter smartphones (to which Samsung is probably the most prolific contributor), the new Galaxy Note Edge really
does stand out. We're really eager to see what purpose the curved screen
serves, and whether this phone's functionality matches its appearance. Look
and feel
Finally, Samsung has been forced to do something different with the physical
design of one of its phones. The gently tapered right edge is certainly
interesting, but you might not really see what's going on at first glance. Most
of all, it's the asymmetry that really catches the eye. A metal rim frames the
screen as it curves around, but it protrudes a bit on the right to protect the
screen and therefore also digs into your palm. Phones usually have gentle
curves on the back so that they fit comfortably in a hand, but there's no way
to do that on the screen side of the Galaxy Note Edge.
The rest of the
design is typical Samsung - an oblong Home button ringed with silver beneath
the screen, a silver earpiece with the sensors and front cameras clustered
nearby, and patterned plastic all around. The rear also has the faux leather
texture that has been a staple of Note devices for ages now. A heart rate
monitor is integrated into the flash cutout right beneath the rear camera lens,
and the Home button's surface doubles as a fingerprint reader. If not for the
screen, this phone would have been utterly boring to look at - in fact, Samsung
might not have done its new showpiece justice by giving it such uninspired
surroundings.
As a result of
the unique design, the power button had to be moved to the top. While most
phones had their power buttons here till oversized screens became the norm,
it's especially difficult to reach with one hand because of the uncomfortable
right edge. The volume buttons are on the left side, and the Micro-USB and
3.5mm ports are on the bottom and top respectively, as usual. The S-Pen silo is
also on the bottom and there's a cutout on the rear to help you pull it out
with a fingernail.
This is a large,
hefty phone, even by today's standards. Left-handed people will have trouble
holding it in one hand while using the S-Pen. Despite the use of Gorilla Glass
3, we're really uncertain about how the curved screen will hold up if the phone
itself is dropped.
Specifications
The most interesting part of the Galaxy Note Edge is of course its screen. It
has a total resolution of 1600x2560, divided into a standard 16:9
1440x2560-pixel area for the main interface and an additional 160-pixel-wide
strip on the side. There is no visible seam between the two areas - it really
is one single continuous panel. The divisions you see are purely down to how
the phone's software handles things.
Even
without the curve, this would be a very impressive screen. It measures 5.6
inches diagonally, which accounts for the extra width compared to the 5.5-inch
1440x2560 screen on the Galaxy Note 4 (Review | Photos). It's bright, crisp, and easy to read in all kinds of
environments. The Galaxy Note Edge is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm
Snapdragon 805 running at 2.7GHz, with integrated Adreno 420 graphics. There is
3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which can be bumped up by 128GB using a microSD
card.
There's a
3,000mAh battery and a whole raft of sensors. You also get Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac,
Bluetooth 4.1, Infrared, NFC, and GPS.
Software and
usability
Samsung ships the Galaxy Note Edge with Android 4.4.4
and a version of its well-known TouchWiz UI skin tailor-made for the curved
screen. In terms of the S-Pen stylus, the Galaxy Note Edge has all the same
features and functionality that the Galaxy Note 4 has - no features have been
reserved for either device.
The Galaxy Note
Edge is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 running at 2.7GHz, with
integrated Adreno 420 graphics. There is 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which
can be bumped up by 128GB using a microSD card.
There's a
3,000mAh battery and a whole raft of sensors. You also get Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac,
Bluetooth 4.1, Infrared, NFC, and GPS.
Software and
usability
Samsung ships the Galaxy Note Edge with Android 4.4.4
and a version of its well-known TouchWiz UI skin tailor-made for the curved
screen. In terms of the S-Pen stylus, the Galaxy Note Edge has all the same features
and functionality that the Galaxy Note 4 has - no features have been reserved
for either device.
We quickly set
about experimenting to see how the extra strip of screen space (called
"Edge Screen") could be put to use. Seven shortcuts are visible, though
you can have up to 20 if you're willing to scroll. A grab handle on the top can
be pulled down to reveal non-customisable shortcuts to the voice recorder,
torch, stopwatch, timer, and of all things a ruler (that is presumably
calibrated to the exact screen density of the Galaxy Note Edge). A handle on
the bottom shows a shortcut to the overall Edge Screen settings.
Swiping left or
right will cycle through the available panels, and you can choose which ones
show up. There's the main notifications panel, a pedometer display, Twitter
trends, quick contacts, assorted topical news feeds powered by Yahoo, and even
a memory match game. A "Now Playing" panel pops up when you use the
default music app.
Samsung has
considered its next steps in this regard and so there's a link to download
additional panels. These are typical little widgets, including a task manager,
RAM usage counter, data usage counter, weather readout, calendar, CNN news
feed, and a few more games.
Functionally,
there isn't much difference to Edge Screen panels and ordinary widgets. The
main thing is that you get to use them while other apps are running. The Edge
Screen is also designed to be visible when the phone itself is in a case, or
just lying on your desk.
Panels are a
little wider than the 160 extra pixels the screen provides. When apps are open,
they disappear to be replaced by a black strip, and if you swipe left or right,
they'll slide back in with a slight overlap. The black strip can be customised
with text that's always visible, but this made no sense to us since it was
severely distracting when we tried playing full-screen videos and games.
You can also
create a custom panel that will show up when the screen is locked. Ideally, you
should use one of the default wallpapers which will line up perfectly with the
primary screen's wallpaper. We aren't sure why Samsung doesn't allow the
primary wallpaper to extend to the Edge Screen area, since it's part of the
same continuous panel.
Samsung has also
come up with other ways to use the extra screen space. For example, all
controls in the camera app are moved to the curve area - honestly, this isn't
much of an improvement since the Galaxy Note Edge is even harder to hold than
regular large phones, and this puts most buttons out of easy reach. While the
Music panel overlaps the music app and offers duplicate controls, the Videos
app displays its primary playback controls in the "spillover" screen
area. Very few other apps seem aware that there is extra screen space and it is
unclear whether Samsung will give third-party developers the ability to extend
into it.
Notifications
and incoming messages show up vertically on the Edge Screen, which can be a bit
annoying since you wind up twisting your neck or fumbling with the outsized
device. When your phone rings, caller ID info is displayed here and you have to
swipe up or down to answer or reject calls. This means you have very small
touch targets, that too in a place that's awkward to reach.
ncidentally, the Android status bar isn't
visible when you rotate the phone into landscape with the Edge Screen on top,
but is the other way around. This can be a little confusing.
There's also one
major issue with the curved glass - it is absolutely impossible to avoid
reflections. Usually you can find an angle that works for you, but with the
Galaxy Note Edge there will always be some part of the screen that reflects too
much. Your eyes are also automatically drawn to the curve, which can be
distracting.
Other than the
Edge Screen, there is of course Samsung's S-Pen functionality and all the usual
TouchWiz extras. You can read all about them in our review of the Galaxy Note
4.
Performance
The Galaxy Note Edge has flagship-class hardware and did not fail to impress us
as far as performance goes. The QHD screen is just flat-out gorgeous, and is
easily at par with the one on the Galaxy Note 4. Being a part of the Note
family, we obviously have high expectations of the Note Edge. Samsung didn't
have to go super-high-end with its first curved screen but it did, and there
have been no compromises in order to accommodate it.
We had a
generally pleasant experience with the Galaxy Note Edge throughout our time
testing it. Sure, it's a little awkward to hold and we were much more worried
than usual about dropping it, but we couldn't help but fidget with the Edge
Screen and just run our fingers over the curved glass from time to time.
Benchmark scores
were very good across the board which should come as no surprise since the
hardware is pretty much the same as that of the Galaxy Note 4. We recorded
49,198 points in AnTuTu and 25,099 overall in Quadrant. GFXbench ran at 26fps
on the QHD screen, which is pretty impressive. 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme maxed
out, and Unlimited gave us a score of 19,736. SunSpider was also very snappy,
finishing in only 782.3ms.
Videos look
great and we had no problem running heavily encoded samples. The main problem
was that the Edge Screen curving off into the distance and the resulting
asymmetrical border around the screen are even more distracting in landscape.
Your eyes are just automatically drawn to the curve. Full-screen games become
awkward thanks to the phone's unususal grip, the reflection problem, and the
fact that a little bit of the primary screen area tapers into the curve.
Verdict
Buyers have not had something truly unique to experience (and to show off) in a
very long time. The Galaxy Note Edge represents a remarkable technological
achievement and is exactly the sort of product that will make people do a
double-take when they see it for the first time. In that way, it successfully
breaks out of the mold.
However, it
seems as though Samsung is grappling with multiple ideas of what the Galaxy
Note Edge is supposed to achieve. The Edge Screen panels are just sort-of there
because something needed to be done with the curve. They could work just as
well as panels on a secondary screen, or a dedicated area of any normal flat
screen. We did not see any app that truly took advantage of both, the extra
screen space, and the dimensionality of the curve.
Even in terms of
functionality, the Edge Screen panels are more similar to what you might find
on a smartwatch than to regular Android homescreen widgets. There's also a lot
of duplication, which makes the Curve Screen feel more disjointed than it actually
is. Wider support is desperately needed - though of course now that Samsung has
successfully mass-produced this screen, only imagination can limit where it
will go from here.
In many ways,
Samsung is stuck because it is dependent on the Android ecosystem which really
doesn't accommodate such unique features. Until the curve and screen space are
truly exposed to third-party apps, we'll likely see more disjointedness.
All
of this means you might want to think very carefully before spending an
enormous amount of money on what is essentially a first-generation experimental
product. The Galaxy Note
Edge is
undoubtedly one of the coolest-looking phones of its generation, and if that's
the only thing that matters to you, then by all means, go ahead and buy it. If
not, you can get pretty much all the same benefits and also save a ton of money
by going with the woefully one-dimensional though still excellent Galaxy Note
4.
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