Samsung Galaxy S8 Screen-To-Body Ratio Could Surpass 90%, Near Bezel-Less Design (hothardware.com) 159
MojoKid writes: There aren't many phones on the market currently that can boast an edge-to-edge display with minimal or no bezel on top and bottom, save for perhaps Xiaomi's recently unveiled Mi MIX. However, word on the web is that the field will expand by at least one more next year, and specifically with Samsung's Galaxy S8. This runs contrary to a previous rumor that the Galaxy S8 might only come with a curved edge display. That would be surprising since Samsung needs to sell as many Galaxy S8 phones as possible after the Galaxy Note 7 debacle. Only offering a curved edge model could be counterproductive to that goal, though offering an edge-to-edge display could be the spark Samsung needs. Park Won-sang, a principal engineer at Samsung Display noted the division would roll out a full-screen smartphone display with a "display area ratio [that] reaches more than 90 percent next year," during the iMiD 2016 display exhibition in Seoul last week. The engineer added that Samsung may even extend the display area ratio to 99 percent in the years ahead, which would mean virtually the entire front of the phone would be the screen. In case you're wondering, most of today's smartphones utilize a display area to bezel ratio of around 80 percent.
Explosive news (Score:1)
Is it wrong that I read "screen to body count ration" ?
Re:Explosive news (Score:5, Informative)
Not if it comes to Samsung.
But to be honest - having the screen going close to the edge causes a different set of problems - that the fingers holding the phone are touching the display causing incorrect input. A problem for us with large hands.
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Samsung solved the fingers-at-screen-edge problem years ago when they introduced phones with curved screens. In fact many manufacturers were using it before that anyway, because with thin bezels it happens. I think Apple started doing it a few generations back too.
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The headphones to the rescue! Before impact, the headphone saves my phone from that shattering blow. SAMSUNG (With headphone jacks, not bluetooth-my-arse) FTW.
The cable is just long enough to about ankle height, so this phone-saving job is a caveat that has proven more effective than the toughest glass or case you can think of.
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Not gonna lie, I found a certain amount of amusement in the fact a story about a new Samsung phone was coming from a site called Hot Hardware too.
Oh Samsung, I know you want to move past this, but I think you have some work to do yet.
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I know I'm not buying a Samsung until I see the report from Underwriters Laboratory.
Tablet please? (Score:4, Interesting)
Can we get a high end tablet please? 12 inch - 15 inch, Android, with a stylus, a super fast processor and as many pixels as you can shove in it??
Really, now we officially have multi-windows, you can do it and make it work with all existing apps (none of that 'only for enabled apps' crap that Google are doing). Fix Google's shortcomings, particularly the idea that the person should rotate the screen to suit the app, instead of the app rotating to fit the user. With multi windows now you can make portrait windows sized to suit phone apps. So when you start phone apps, they don't force the tablet to be a 15 inch portrait fake phone, it can run multi phone apps side by side.
Also Google Android team are making multi-windows that split up full screen, which is probably the correct thing. Whereas Chrome OS/Android team are making desktop windows more suited to a desktop PC with mouse, complete with movable bars, resize zones and so on, using unfriendly drag operations from WIMP days.
Samsung can do it right, they don't have a CEO who keep trying to shove his Chrome crap into everything, so aren't stuck with the need to slap ChromeOS style windows around everything. They can official do a proper multi window Android on a tablet now.
Likewise, Google won't put in flash cards, because they're Cloud dicks, you can.
Likewise Google won't make it work with local network printers, only cloudy printers, again because they're cloud dicks, but you can fix that.
Likewise, why close every app, and shut every background service (as if the tablet is a small battery phone), like Google do. It's f*ing annoying, why can't I pin an app to stay loaded!?
Windows tablets are a meat market to run legacy apps, Android tablets are an untapped opportunity at the high end. Google are clueless, Samsung could get a clue.
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Likewise, Google won't put in flash cards, because they're Cloud dicks, you can.
Google just hates paying the Microsoft Tax on SDXC.
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And replace it with what, exactly?
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So you want Google to accept standard SDXC cards, while not being able to actually use the term "SDXC" due to trademark rules, and you want the Google tablet to reformat them to btrfs. Without even being able to check if they're full of photos.
Good luck.
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I too: I'm Brazillian :P
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I have a Surface Pro 3. When I first got it, I could watch a full video or stream ESPN for hours. I've watched a whole 4 hour NCAA Football game streaming, when it was at full power.
I can work on battery with no power for more than half the day, running Visual Studio. I can't quite work the whole day, starting at 9am around 3:30 to 4 PM, I am out of battery. If I plug it in while going to lunch, I then work the second half of the day on battery no issues.
It is now 2-1/2 years old.
So, while it is not as long
What about accidental drops?! (Score:3)
I do like the current trend of getting more and more display real-estate on the same phone, I really do. Plus getting the buttons outside the screen, Samsung is on the right track here.
BUT the fact that there is so little give means you can break your 600$/EUR phone just with a drop from the nightstand. Plus it's harder to hold it properly without touching the screen. I haven't had a phone with a case since pre-iPhone era, when Windows Mobile PDAs with large displays would crack even without while looking at them. It was all fine with 2010-2015 phones, stairs or concrete drops would just leave some small marks but nothing special. Now I've seen with the new S6/S67s so many cracked displays AND/or backs (glass back, really?!) that I had to think better and go back to using a case. And that defeats the whole purpose.
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These screens will make it impossible to put one in a case. I don't care how pretty the screen is if it's cracked.
Re:What about accidental drops?! (Score:4, Interesting)
I've got a very thin case with a glass screen protector, something that would work well even if it were 98% screen.
I accidentally throw my phone on the ground once or twice a month, usually pretty hard. It's been six years and I have never had any problem worse than shattering a $5 screen protector.
I have no idea how people manage to actually break their phones. At some point it has to cross over into complete negligence.
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you obviously do not have children.
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I accidentally throw my phone on the ground once or twice a month, usually pretty hard.
Throwing is a very intentional act. How do you "accidentally" do that?
He's actually aiming for the bucket of soapy water, but accidentally falls short.
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Quite simple. If you have something in your hand while moving your arms and you lose grip, the item will be thrown from your hand.
Re:What about accidental drops?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Thinner bezels are nice. Thinner phones are nice. Lighter weight is nice. They're all relatively minor things though.
I'd rather a slighter heavier larger phone with a bezel that has a better battery life.
I'd put Performance, storage, battery life, and a headphone jack above bezel size, thickness or weight. In reality, in 2016, most phones are thin and light enough already with small enough bezels. Whereas improving those things are nice, they're chasing diminishing returns on improvement by improving them.
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Too thin bezels are a pain because you can't effectively securely hold the phone without touching screen. So balance on your palm pretty much guaranteeing you will drop it repeatedly, so that's why they want thin bezels.
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3GB RAM, microSD, and a 4100mAH battery: 2+ days of usage. Android 5. Android 6 is available on other models, though I haven't checked if they have a micro-SD slot like the Redmi 3 does.
I flashed mine from AliExpress [aliexpress.com] with another ROM that has root, but I would recommend a different seller, it had a compromised file, "com.android.comp.download.mgrv11" which showed ads everytime the phone was unlocked. Even withhout flashing, it was easy enough to disable that
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It was all fine with 2010-2015 phones, stairs or concrete drops would just leave some small marks but nothing special. Now I've seen with the new S6/S67s so many cracked displays AND/or backs (glass back, really?!) that I had to think better and go back to using a case.
I've seen a lot of cracked phones for years, both Apple and Android. The marketing pressure creates delicate little snowflake phones, and a bezel-less phone is about as delicate as you can get. It's the "er" problem. Thinner lighter, bigger screen for the form factor.
And that defeats the whole purpose.
I think your purpose and the phone manufacturer's purpose and the marketing department's purpose are not the same. This march to fragility is what gives us bendy iPhones, and exploding Samsungs.
Unless a person is living a remarkably sedent
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It wouldn't be any worse than the existing Edge designs.
Now that's innovation! (Score:1)
Smartphones are getting better and better. Thin enough to cut through any pockets (at the price of awful battery life but something has got to give) and now we get great area for animated advertising (at the price of shattering whenever you drop it, but since you'll get a lithium fire anyway, who cares?). Who wanted to call people anyway? They are annoying.
The history of watches shows that the main income for watchmakers at the turn of the 20th century was turning of broken balance shaft replacements for
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About time! (Score:5, Interesting)
Therefore, I boughthttps://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/11/02/2135240/samsung-galaxy-s8-screen-to-body-ratio-could-surpass-90-near-bezel-less-design# an LG G3 a few years ago precisely because it was perhaps the only phone that met the above criteria at the time. After the G4, LG has lost the plot and done everything except optimise the screen-to-body ratio. My next phone will likely be a Galaxy S8, provided it does not violate no. 1 above.
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That's all fine "once a basic level of performance and functionality is met" but some definitions of "basic" are more basic than others.
Usability between phones still varies far too greatly to ignore.
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Usability between phones? Is that really a thing? Is it really that hard to understand the basic operation of a smartphone to someone who has learned how to effectively use at least one?
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If a phone only has enough disk space to install 5 custom apps, it's not very usable. If the CPU isn't fast enough to run the app you want well, it's not very usable. If you plan to use it for VR but the phone doesn't have a gryo, it's not usable. If you plan to use it for driving directions and it doesn't have GPS, it's not usable. Etc.
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Of course that includes that a fair amount is occupied by the system partition
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Galaxy S4? Sounds like Galaxy S4. Even with a custom ROM those fucking things don't have shit for space.
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I think the system image on them must be larger than normal, even with CyanogenMod. I have a love/hate relationship with that device... the space issue was a huge pain, and the camera complete shit but otherwise a decent device.
I'm stuck on an ancient S3 after my G3 took a shit (DAC fried for some reason, thing doesn't make any noise, period) and it's driving me insane.
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I'm living on the planet of people who aren't wealthy. None of my smartphones have ever had GPS. Only one of the 3 had a gyro. None of them can fit as many apps as I'd like, the most internal storage they've had is 1 GB and the vast majority of that is filled with unremovable crap.
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Usability between phones? Is that really a thing? Is it really that hard to understand the basic operation of a smartphone to someone who has learned how to effectively use at least one?
Depends on who you are. My wife is pissed off about the new double tap home button in iOs.
Another guy has a rotary dial app on his smartphone and swears it is how a phone should be accessed.
I think that a person who just figures out how to use a device without getting all pissy about it, is somehow the freak in a sea of normal people.
Hell No! (Score:1)
I normally hold a phone when I'm using it, I never lay it down on a table and poke at it. When holding the phone, you need a bevel around it else you'll make a ton of accidental input events along the edges. I highly doubt these phones will have a pop-out holding stick attached to the back of them so edge-to-edge screens are going to be usability nightmares.
And the article headline is complete bullshit. An edge-to-edge screen is only nearing 50% screen to body ratio not 90%. Why do we need the full back
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That's horrendous usability.
Re:Easy solution. (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, so that way apps that automatically scale up to the size of your display, and expect "edge swipe" gestures don't work very good because the edge is a dead zone... but only on a few phones that have hardware designed for marketing rather than function.
Good call.
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It seems you don't know what a telephone is. The primary means of user interaction is a speaker and microphone. A bezel is the best place for at least one of those.
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The primary interaction surface of a phone is the screen. Once a basic level of performance and functionality is met, the things that mattered the most to me is:
This is true; but it is fashion, not functionality that is driving the bezel-less thing. Sacrificing a few percent of the face area for structural reasons isn't going to make any measurable difference in objective HCI terms; the difference is how the way the thing looks makes you feel. I'm not saying this is stupid or anything like that; it's just the way people are. If something makes us feel good we overlook its faults and exaggerate its virtues.
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(maybe size is not a problem in your case, but the size problem still exists...)
Technological advances (Score:2)
Look, I think it's cool to see what can be done with modern technology but it feels to me like it has been possibly a decade since the last time they came out with something that actually made my life easier and was fun to use.
I realise that what I'd love to have in a mobile comunication device is probably not something for mainstream but it does get on my nerves how many compromises I have to make in my daily usage for devices costing closer to 1000$ than 500$.
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What I don't like on current phones is basically: battery size, amount of storage (16 GB get filled pretty fast with apps and Android doesn't let you install on external SD), lack of administrator permissions (manufacturer provided and approved, I don't want to keep looking for rooting methods for my different phones/firmware versiones).
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Current versions of android do indeed let you install on SD card.
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I would like to revisit the Nokia Communicator 9500 concept. I'd like it to be wider to accommodate a normal screen ratio. Instead of function buttons next to the screen, I want speakers. I want a Lenovo trackpoint on the full backlit keyboard.
Touchscreen is optional.
If we could have a full Linux or Windows OS on there, that would be great.
Screen resolution FullHD maximum (I could live with 720p)! OLED.
On the front the usual screen and phone keyboard we're used to from old phones (and the Communicator itsel
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Waterproofing the thing was the first feature I've seen in awhile that made my life easier. That was what, 3 years ago?
I've personally never cared about screen to body ratio or thickness, but that seems to be what manufacturers have been in love with improving for the past decade. I'd much rather have a thicker phone with higher performance than a thinner phone that performs about the same. And I'd much much rather have my speaker facing me on the front of the phone where it fucking belongs.
Part of me wishe
Screen to body ratio? (Score:2)
Why would I want this? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not a fscking TV, it's a phone, and a bezel is a feature, not a drawback. You know, an area that allows a case, (and my fingers), to have enough overlap to actually grip the phone securely - important now that the phones are so god-damned thin they bend in a gust of wind and are already hard to hold on to. Besides, it's not like anyone is making a video wall out of phones. Enough already!
Purpose of a bezel (Score:2)
It's not a fscking TV, it's a phone, and a bezel is a feature, not a drawback.
It's not a feature - it's a design compromise. The original purpose of a bezel [merriam-webster.com] has nothing to do with gripping a device. Bezels exist to hold the face of the device in place. The fact that it can help in some cases with gripping the phone securely without accidentally triggering the touch screen is a side benefit that has been actively exploited. Nobody actually wants the bezel but it turned out to have some utility due to other design decisions. It's perfectly possible to make a phone with basically z
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We could make a phone with zero bezel but it would require UI adaptations. It should be considered that taps at the edges of the screen could be accidental and shouldn't be registered. Interactive elements shouldn't be placed near the edge for this reason. The edge could be used for swipes if at least some of the path is within the active area. In the meantime, virtual bezels could be used for apps that don't respect these guidelines.
And yes, bezels are a feature. Just look at tablets, compared to phones, t
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Screen real estate doesn't necessarily need to equate to touch real estate. They could simply disable the touch area of the on the edge up to the old bezel width, but still include the display portion. This provides more visual area with the same touch area.
Misfeature (Score:2)
Um, so what? Seriously so frigging what? The original intent of a lot of things aren't what they're used for today.
The "so what" is that it IS a drawback in a multitude of ways. If you want to call it a feature it really is a form of misfeature [hacker-dictionary.com]. It makes the phone larger and more cumbersome, wastes space, costs money, is ugly, and it isn't even the primary purpose of a bezel. Furthermore it's not necessarily the best way to solve the actual problem of gripping the phone securely since there are other ways to solve that problem.
It appears that other people do want the bezel or you wouldn't have needed to post this.
No they want to be able to comfortably grip the phone without triggering the touch screen.
Vanity (Score:2)
And for good reason - I somehow doubt there's much appeal to a phone that comes with an integrated selfie stick for secure gripping.
Evidently you haven't seen a lot of teenagers on vacation. Many of them may as well have welded their selfie stick to their phones. Vanity is a powerful force...
Seriously though there are plenty of ways of securely gripping a phone that do not require a bezel in the design. Some of them are actually even attractive to look at. I would also argue that the utility of a wide bezel is somewhat overrated as a means to safely grip the device.
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Xaomi already released a phone with 92% screen to bezel ratio. The main advantage is that you can have the same size screen as a 5.5" phone but in a 5" phone form factor, for example. The lack of bezels is accounted for by the same finger detection mechanism as other phones have - bezels have been thin enough to need it for years now.
A lot of people on Slashdot have been crying out for smaller phones. Well, here is the best of both worlds, a large screen in a pocket size form factor.
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Now that you mention it....
http://youtu.be/mcSd2xH_vS4 [youtu.be]
Main problem is... yes, the bezels, and the chargers on the bottom.
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A 10% bezel is more than enough to have a case and use the phone with fingers. They only need to remove the top and bottom bezels which serve no purpose other than having the front camera and light sensor.
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It's not a fscking TV, it's a phone, and a bezel is a feature, not a drawback. You know, an area that allows a case, (and my fingers), to have enough overlap to actually grip the phone securely
I don't get it. How do you hold your phone that you need a bezel?
Here's how I hold my phone - http://imgur.com/a/FOuhx [imgur.com] - sort of how I hold a glass, with the bottom edge of the phone resting on my little finger, and the sides held in by my middle+ring fingers on one side and the pad of my thumb on the other. No need for a bezel.
Actually, I can't even imagine how I'd hold a phone that would need a bezel. I had a look online. Here's a study of how 1300 people hold their phones - http://alistapart.com/article [alistapart.com]
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I don't get it. How do you hold your phone...
In the second link you provided, the grip closest to the one I use is the one that shows the optimal screen area for thumb access. Interestingly, that grip seems NOT to be among those in the diagrams above. Also, the areas labelled "easy and accurate" and "okay" are almost reversed for me.
... that you need a bezel?
If my phone were more 'blockish', (as the older ones tended to be), I wouldn't feel the need to wrap my fingertips around to the front of the phone to get a good grip, so having all of the front viewable would probably wor
Screen ratio vs bezel depth (Score:1)
I'd trade more front-of-bezel real-estate for more bezel thickness. Hopefully one would offset the other in terms of fingers toggling the touchscreen, with the bonus of the phone not being too bendy and allowing a thicker battery etc.
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Besides, it's not like anyone is making a video wall out of phones.
good sir, you should search before making such bold claims! BEHOLD! The video wall of windows phones! [youtu.be]
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My guess is that this is what normals use it for anyway. But it needs to facebook and check my email so I need 4GB RAM and a $800 price tag.
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Please report to your Facebook re-assimilation node immediately.
Best feature (Score:4, Funny)
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People have been taking photos of themselves since the dawn of photography. The only thing the phone has done is made the self timer obsolete.
Perfect for watching videos! (Score:2)
For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
wonderful (Score:1)
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I agree. When I do not have my S7 Edge in a case it is difficult to hand it to someone without activating something.
too wordy (Score:2)
Nearly bezel-less?
From the same place that sold me a nice frame. The blank hemp-colored canvas indicated that it was a sketch of a knife that lost its grip/handle.
So where's the knife?
That's classified information
so, how do you hold the thing? (Score:4, Insightful)
I have a Note 4 at the moment, it is hard enough to hold that phone without accidentally touching the edges of the touchscreen. Between Samsung's insistence on their "edge" design, and this, there's simply no possible way to hold any of these devices anymore.
Despite my last bunch of phones all being Samsung, I've already decided my next phone won't be a Samsung, the reasons are listed below in no particular order:
- "edge" design (hard to hold on to, distorts images and videos)
- lack of removable battery (sure I don't change it often, but had I not been able to replace my $30 battery a couple months ago I would have needed a $1000 phone instead)
- lack of SD card support (though in fairness they seem to have backtracked on that one a bit)
- difficulties rooting and customizing (they've started locking things down more, and even when they don't, many root tools don't work on samsung like they do on other devices)
Not yet sure what I will get, my Note4 probably has a bunch of life left in it, but whatever I get won't likely be from Samsung.
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Not yet sure what I will get, my Note4 probably has a bunch of life left in it, but whatever I get won't likely be from Samsung.
Might I humbly suggest a Note 3? My Note 3 (Over 2 years old) has 28 days of standby time, is built very strong, has a good screen size with a properly sized bezel, has an SD slot, and a removable battery.
Why does only *my* Note 3 have 28 days of standby time? Because I installed a custom ROM on it and did not install any Google stuff, like the Play Store. That takes standby time from 2 days to 28 days.
The Note 3 was the last "perfect" phone. Buy one now while you still can.
No, I don't really need or want edge-to-edge (Score:2)
My M8 shows the slings and arrows of dings, drops, and bangs. I can imagine how an edge-to-edge display would be chipped and dinged similarly, and like My Nexus 7 (2013) leave me with edges that nick me. And look horrible.
And would every touch cause an action ? Can I have SOMETHING to hold without opening YouTube? Please?
Well, I guess grandpa never gets to touch it (Score:2)
...I already can't say "check out this picture" on my phone without him wanting to hold the phone (so he can see it), which invariably means he grabs it with a thumb somewhere on the face, thus closing/changing/fsking up whatever I'm trying to show him.
I think he thinks he's losing his mind, half the time I try to show him something the screen ends up blank.
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Smartphones need a handle.
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THESE FOOLS do not realize that the bezel is the ONLY thing keeping these screens from completely tiling over our reality! What the human race need now are wider bezels not thinner ones. The bezel should get a little wider every year... until eventually it closes in completely and we are all standing in the sunlight of a new day, looking around us at the simple, sublime reality of existence. There is hope even for you my friend. If they make bezels thinner just put electrical tape around the edges.
In Sovie
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Continually making dainty phones that are nearly all glass - and which have only slick, slippery, rounded edges - helps ensure that lots of people end up replacing them.
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The batteries will probably still explode and the phone will probably still run an outdated version of Android. Using one of those phones will almost certainly be hazardous to your privacy, security, and your health. Who cares about garbage Android phones? It's Linux, and Linux is shit.
Don't be so pessimistic. At least you'll literally be getting lots of bang for your buck.
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There are lots of good deals out there right now, Samsung is having a fire sale.
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it's called "prejudice", "bias" or "preconception" folks :P
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it's called "prejudice", "bias" or "preconception" folks :P
Nah, I'm pretty sure it's called "trolling".
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Just when I thought the presidential race couldn't get any weirder.
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This is Slashdot, you'll find there's still no essential difference there.
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* calm down, sir
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They should probably start with the top line of the customer survey, which is "phones that don't set my pants on fire"
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Because it isn't hard enough already to hand someone a phone to show them your pictures?