TCL Waterfall Tech Demo: Screen Edges Done Right

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• CaedenV - Thursday, September 5, 2019 - link

  I still don't understand this design of having curved displays on the front of a device. Other than looking kind of neat at first glance, it is a pain to live with in the day-to-day, and I avoid all phones that have this 'feature'. People buy them, but they buy them because they are Samsung devices, not because of the curved display tech. In fact, I would say they buy Samsung in spite of the curve, and they would have even more business if they went back to a flat face on their high-end models.

• goatfajitas - Thursday, September 5, 2019 - link

  Its nice because you have no edge - great screen to body ratio. I like it and, quite the opposite, I bought the screen in spite of the "Samsung".

• BurntMyBacon - Friday, September 6, 2019 - link

  I have a Samsung Galaxy S8, because the phone is work provided. I find it hard to get excited about parts of the screen that I can't use. The screen to body ratio may be good, but the usable screen to body ratio is nothing special and the usability suffers. On the other hand, I accept the idea that I may not be holding/using it in the most optimal manner. Given that you don't seem to have issue, perhaps you could help me out here.

• s.yu - Sunday, September 8, 2019 - link

  I'm on Note8 (though soon probably defecting to NEX3 in protest of the headphone jack removal) and I don't find the curves unusable. They're minimally intrusive for viewing and in terms of touch operation I find them more comfortable to scroll than a flat screen. I'm using a Rhinoshield case so in fact if the screen were flat the case would somewhat get in the way of touch operations on the ~3-5mm edges of the screen.

• stevechipgfxguy - Sunday, September 8, 2019 - link

  Its actually to cover up an issue. The LED panels need a wide border to seal the OLED against water contamination (a single molecule acts as a catalyst and can destroy a lot), so by folding it over (curved edge) you can hide the wide border.

• speculatrix - Friday, November 29, 2019 - link

  I agree, I bought a Note 9 despite the curved edges. I always use a book-style cover/case and finding one that held the phone securely without obscuring the screen wasn't entirely trivial.
  
  I've moaned about modern phone designs being to capture the blogger and tech reviewers attention in just the first minutes of use, rather than for long term ownership. Thus explains fragile glass phones, thinnness, lack of replaceable battery etc.

• Quantumz0d - Thursday, September 5, 2019 - link

  So tell me one thing, how do you put a case on this ?
  Second being, how can I the form over function lost screen space ?
  
  It's a bad gimmick, Samsung already mastered the Edge technology with minimal edge and looking better with good palm and finger rejection. Add a HiFi DAC and an SD slot and goddamn fill that notch space with a Bezel, you can add Stereo Speakers, Soli tech, STMicro 3D Face Scanner and maybe 3 cameras too if you want, Anything left ?

• goatfajitas - Thursday, September 5, 2019 - link

  You put a case on like any phone. Buy a case and slip it on. It works perfectly. Not sure why its so confusing, nor am I aware of any lost functionality.

• Death666Angel - Thursday, September 5, 2019 - link

  The case usually has to grip on something to be secure. Here, it would only have two securely gripped sides with the other two being half sides. And there would be no complete encapsulation by the case without obfuscating some of the screen, thereby either making the screen warping useless of making the case less secure. Not sure why that's so confusing, nor am I aware of any way to have all the functionality of a non-curved phone/case combo.

• Death666Angel - Thursday, September 5, 2019 - link

  *[...]useless or making the case less secure[...]