Samsung Galaxy Round Review
Samsung Galaxy Round – hands-on
Introduction
Samsung Galaxy Round is the first smartphone in the tech world with a curved display. It puts the beginning of the fast growing new trend for mobile devices with bended screens. The fast development of the technologies will soon bring to the world more advanced foldable OLED displays working on smartphones and wearable devices. Being the pioneer mobile device with a curved display in the tech world, Galaxy Round raised high expectations amongst users. It sports a unique design with a horizontal curve that reminds to a boat, or as the more romantic souls would say, to a smile. The size of the display is 5.7-inches. It is powered by a quad-core CPU clocked at 2.3GHz, runs on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and comes equipped with a 13MP rare camera.
Design and Display
Samsung Galaxy Round stands out with its extraordinary body and innovative OLED display. In terms of size and design, the smartphone reminds to Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The curve of the 5.7-inches OLED screen is from side-to-side which provides unique visual experience, especially when it is used outside in a very sunny day. The resolution of the display is 1080p, with the same pixel density of 3886ppi as its sibling Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Galaxy Round delivers clear picture with vivid and bright colors for fulfilling experience. The curved shape of the phone feels simply great in the hand. It follows the curve of the face which makes it very comfortable for the main function of the smartphone – using it as a phone.
It weighs only 154 grams which makes it easy to fit in pockets and purses. The side-to-side curve creates the impression for a smaller size of the phone and makes it more comfortable for work with one hand, compared to Galaxy Note 3 that comes with the same size. Galaxy Round is built from high-quality plastic with leather pattern on the back for more superior appearance. It is available in one color option – Luxury Brown for now. Among the advantages of the curved screen of Galaxy Round is the depth of the picture with similar to 3D effect. Samsung claims that the scree provides more convenient swiping.
The extraordinary look of the phone is only one of the benefits that its interesting shape provides. Samsung aims to make the best of the curve of Galaxy Round’s body by introducing the “roll effect”. It is a brand-new feature that makes it easy to see some sides of the screen like the date, the time and the battery information among others by rocking the phone on its axis. The most impressive about this capability is that it works even I the home screen is locked. This is great power saving and time saving feature that will certainly be appreciated by the most active users.
The “gravity effect” is another new awesome feature in Samsung Galaxy Round. It is designed to enrich the gestures control with the new possibility to see your tunes in the phone by just rocking it with a finger. It is dubbed Bounce UX and has the ability to control the music player shortcuts even when the homescreen is in sleeping mode. The curve of the display is very useful for an easy playing to the next track by pressing on one of the sides, or for playing the previous track by pressing on the other side of the OLED screen.
Hardware
Samsung Galaxy Round is powered by a quad-core 2.3GHz processor with WQualcomm Snapdragon 800 chip under the hood and the impressive 3GB RAM. It stands out with a great performance for multitasking. The built-in storage in the handset is 32GB. There is a microSD slot on board for enriching of the memory.
The battery of Samsung Galaxy Round is with a capacity of 2800mAh. Samsung promises that the device will last for up to 16 hours in talk time.
Camera
Samsung Galaxy Round is equipped with a primary camera with 13MP on the back. It can record a 1080p HD video. The camera assures autofocus and LED flash among other features. It boasts abundance of modes, including 360 panorama. On the front panel of Galaxy Round is located a 2MP front-facing shooter.
Software and Connectivity
Samsung Galaxy Round runs on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. It boasts similar capabilities to Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The phone works over the TouchWiz interface. Something missing in Galaxy Round is the S Pen feature.
In terms of connectivity the extraordinary smartphone supports Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth, 3G and 4G LTE-A connectivity. It is not purposed for international launch, so the phone most likely will not work on the bands of carriers outside of South Korea.
Availability and Price
Samsung Galaxy Round is manufactured as a limited edition. It was officially launched in October in South Korea. The entering price of the device is KRW 1089000 (equal to $1000). For now Samsung is not planning a global release of Galaxy Round. It is expected to be available in more color options soon.
Conclusion
Samsung Galaxy Round is an impressive smartphone, with unique capabilities and great package of features. It is still not sure how much more practical the curve display is compared to the flat smartphones. Samsung has chosen to integrate the side-to-side curve for its first phone with OLED screen. The main rival of Galaxy Round is LG G Flex which sports a curve from the top to the bottom. The first players on the arena of the OLED-equipped devices have a lot to offer to users. It is already clear that the next generation handsets with OLED displays will arrive with unbelievable capabilities that will fascinate the mobile world. We are looking forward to the future devices. Meantime the Galaxy Round can be yours for $1000. If you find the price reasonable to buy the device, don’t miss out to share your impressions with us, here in PhonesReview.com
