The Samsung Galaxy Curve: The Greatest Thing since Sliced PVC

A few days ago I watched a strange article from The Verge titled LG starts producing curved displays to cure dull phone design scroll by in my RSS reader, but paid it little attention. Then, last night, another item caught my eye: Is this Samsung’s curved smartphone? Although still unconvinced as to the form factor’s upsides, I nevertheless opened the article. Shortly thereafter, to my delight, the last piece confirmed the rumor: Samsung announces the Galaxy Round, a smartphone with a curved OLED display. From Sam Byford’s article:

“The potential benefit of this screen technology isn’t quite clear yet,...”

Clearly the author has never experienced this device. The phrase, “Once you go Curve, you can never go back” doesn’t exist for nothing, after all.

“...but Samsung is touting a new feature called ‘Round Interaction,’ which allows you to look at information such as missed calls, battery life, and the date and time when you tilt it on a flat surface with the screen off....”

Fascinating. Not only can I check for missed calls, I can also roll my phone around the table to see battery life, the date, and time as well. Excellent.

“...Samsung also claims that switching between home screens will feel like one continuous transition,...”

Samsung thankfully tackling the hard problems like a champ. At least someone in this space realizes the actual issues facing today’s smartphone consumers.

“...and has worked on new tilt-based interactions for the music and photos apps.”

All things considered, if I had to choose a single word to describe this device I would say “unashamedly curved.”

I see great potential for the Galaxy Round in the market of people who must carry marbles great distances without touching them. Traditionally done with PVC pipes during teamwork activities at children’s camps, Samsung has brought its synergistic nature and creativity to bare in an unprecedented level by effectively destroying the sliced PVC for teamwork activities at children’s camps market with a single, stunning entrant. Some may criticize the device’s lack of four edges thereby greatly complicating the process of marble transportation, but at just $1013 I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t simply buy two. And to anyone complaining about the price, that’s just 1013 of those over-priced Apple apps, or about ten days playing a game with in-app purchases.

The only downside I see to this phone is that, given its curvature, it will likely prove a sub-par doorstop. However, for those Apple fanboys who keep holding this minor design oversight up as indicative of Samsung’s pending doom, turn the phone upside down. Problem solved.