Versus: For and against curved edge smartphone displays

The display is arguably the most important part of a smartphone. With text messaging pushing away calls as the main way of communicating and video becoming the go-to entertainment on your mobile device, the screen largely determines if you'll have a good time or not. A few years ago, Samsung decided to introduce a new type of display – one with curved edges.

The shape allowed for display borders to become thin and almost unnoticeable, giving the phones a sleek and eye-catching look. At the time, this design approach was little more than an experiment, but it quickly became the part of what Samsung's flagships are known for. Nowadays, more and more manufacturers are going for curved displays on their premium models. However, not everyone finds the curves attractive, including some members of our team. So we decided that our second Versus article will be about the pros and cons of curved edge displays. Now let's see what each side has to say!

 

Granted, those could be the only upsides of this controversial design element, and I admit that from a usability standpoint, devices with curved displays are not the very best ones out there.

Another cool feature that isn’t necessarily exclusive to phones with curved screens – but is found on many of them – is Samsung’s Edge panels. I admit that I’m a fan of Samsung, and every time I’ve used a Samsung device, I’ve offloaded some of my most common features and shortcuts to the Edge panels on the side. For example, instead of a cluttered home screen with tons of distracting colorful app icons, I put a dozen of those in the Apps edge. As an added bonus, I’ve recently been putting commonly used multi-screen combinations of apps in the Apps edge panel.

Technically speaking, a curved display is not a prerequisite for Samsung’s edge-related functionalities as proven by the Galaxy S10e, but saying that this feature is mostly exclusive to such devices wouldn’t be that long of a shot.

Against curved edge displays

I’ll agree with my colleague Peter on one point, and that is that there is an advantage in terms of looks. However, as soon as you turn the display on, that advantage pretty much disappears. What you’re left with are two lines of reflections and a slight color distortion along the curved edge of the screen, as if something has gone wrong with it. I think that when your phone is a device that’s almost entirely about its functions, it seems illogical to worsen your user experience for the small benefit of better looks. You’re basically losing parts of the display just for the sake of vanity, and as a result, the phone feels even taller and narrower than the display's aspect ratio already made it, but without the benefit of being easier to hold. 

As it was already mentioned, the only function that's closely related to the curvature of the display, the side-swipe menus, can be implemented in regular screens just as easily. The only reason this feature suits curved edge displays better is that the tab that you pull from the edge is somewhat hidden by the curved glass.