Heroes of palm and pocket: 5 new phones with 75%+ screen-to-body ratio

Given that even lowly $200 midrangers these days come with octa-core chipsets, 1080p displays and 13 MP cameras, there are only a few metrics left where we really need a tangible breakthrough. Chief among those are battery endurance, and screen-to-body ratio. Given that the average screen size of today's smartphones is nesting in the 5-5.5" range, the amount that the screen occupies at the front when related to the overall size of the chassis, becomes one of the best ways to gauge how palm- and pocket-friendly the phone will be.

As a general rule of thumb, phones that come with at least 75% of theirs fronts occupied by the display, can be considered to offer superior handling and mobility, relative to their screen diagonal. Take the new Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+, for instance. Despite carrying big 5.7" display panels, they are barely larger than the typical 5.5-inchers, and sometimes even more compact than them (hello, iPhone 6 Plus). Samsung did a great job with making the chassis of its newest phablets the most compact there is for this screen size, despite offering premium design and features inside. 

Granted, the best screen-to-body ratios still belong to the undisputed leader Sharp with its headlessEDGEST design concept, but these are rarely available outside of Japan, so we'd rather list the latest and greatest from other screen-to-body champs, to help you choose the best when it comes to this all-important now metric.

The Samsung Galaxy Note5 brings a huge redesign to the Note series: it adopts the glass and metal styling of the Galaxy S6, but in a larger, 5.7" form factor that is represents one of the most compact phones with this display size out there, clocking in at 76.62% screen-to-body ratio.

Best described as a "super-sized" Galaxy S6 edge, the S6 edge+ mimics Note5 as the phone with the best screen-to-body ratio and the most compact chassis amongst the 5.7-inchers out there, flaunting the same 76.62% screen-to-body ratio as the Note5.

Motorola recently outed a trio of great value-for-money handsets, but that's not the only great ratio about them. Boasting one of the highest screen-to-phone-size percentages in the industry – 76.36% of its front is occupied by the 5.7-inch screen - the Moto X Style is packing a 1440 by 2560 pixels of resolution, too.

The otherwise mid-range Xperia C5 Ultra has an almost bezel-less design on the sides, and a slender, 8.2-millimeter profile. The phone's front is occupied by a large, 6-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080 by 1920 pixels, and a 13 MP camera with LED flash. By trimming the side bezels as much as possible, Sony has managed to achieve a width of 79.6 millimeters for the Xperia C5 Ultra, which, albeit still wide for comfortable one-handed usage, bring about the excellent 76.08% screen-to-body ratio of Sony's new phablet.

Last but not least, the Moto X Play in fact boasts the best screen-to-body mark of all five here - 76.85% - though with a plasticky and somewhat chubby 10.9mm design. It doesn't offer the front-facing stereo speakers of the Style, which explains the better screen-to-size ratio, but is still a very well-appointed upper midranger at a great introductory price.