The One Thing Nobody Has Told You About The Samsung Galaxy Note8

David Phelan

Samsung Galaxy Note8 with its edge-to-edge display.

‘The One Thing Nobody Has Told You...' is my occasional column touching on a tangential, but interesting, detail that has been lost or under-reported in the news. Sometimes it’s a ground-breaker, sometimes just a piece of trivia that might enliven a dinner party conversation…

Samsung’s approach to design development is different from Apple’s. Not least because while Apple usually releases an iPhone on an annual basis, Samsung has two separate top-of-the-range handset series in its Galaxy brand, the S and the Note.

So design specialties, like sloping-edged screens, for instance, can be refined on a more frequent basis.

There was the Galaxy Note edge three years ago which introduced us to the idea of a screen with a slope, so you could see light from the display even if the screen was face down on your desk. There was only one sloper on that phone. These days, though, if you want a premium Galaxy phone, curves are your only option: you can have any number of sloping edges, so long as it’s two.

David Phelan

Samsung Galaxy Note8 with the ruler in the Quick Tools edge app.

Features have come and gone in the past, like the brilliant ruler edge app from an earlier handset which vanished for a phone or two but then came back. It’s on the S8 and Note8 with extra functionality in the Quick Tools edge feature, where a compass and torch are also built in.

And the new Note8 has several design improvements. True, the one thing we all wanted Samsung to change – the placement of the fingerprint sensor next to the camera – hasn’t happened, but at least the introduction of a dual-sensor camera has at least had the effect of distancing the lens from your greasy finger by just a little.

The Note8 is the first Note to have the 18.5:9 screen ratio that the Galaxy S8 introduced earlier this year. Which means the phone manages to squeeze in a six-inch display without stretching the average hand all out of shape. This is a big step forward.

So what is this key design development?

It’s the curvature of the screen edges.

‘Oh, come on’, I hear you impatiently say, ‘I’ve read about that already.’ Sure you have, but what has been barely reported, and what I’m on about, is just what a game-changer this tiny adjustment turns out to be.

David Phelan

Samsung Galaxy Note8 showing the bottom edge with steep curves.

The slope is something that has changed on every phone since Samsung introduced it. The S6 edge was curved at the front, almost flat at the back. It was okay, but not comfortable. Things looked up with the S7 edge and were more hand-friendly yet on the S8.

But now, on the Galaxy Note8, the edges are steeper, with snugger curves that wrap right round to the back of the phone.

This has two effects, both of them quietly transformative. First, the display loses the distortion it had on earlier slopes, so it looks better.

Secondly, and more importantly, it feels fantastic. It helps to make the phone feel much more manageable than a six-inch display ever sounds like it could be, and it’s a much smoother experience than previous Galaxy phones have managed.

David Phelan

The Samsung Galaxy Note8 (left) and the Galaxy S8+, showing the tighter curves on the Note8's edges.

So, if you fancy rolling it in your hand like a worry stone, you can do so, better than any other phone I’ve handled.

Which, I’d say, is the best way of assessing exactly how good a phone feels in the hand.

This tight curve makes the Note8 just about the most comfortable phone I’ve held in my hand. And given that we carry and fondle our phones so much of the time these days, that’s a pretty good thing to achieve.

Oh, and the steep edges look better in one other way, too, offering the clean fidelity of a flat screen but with the cute eye candy of a display that spills over the edge exuberantly, as though it just can’t contain itself.

It’s a real design win for Samsung.

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David Phelan

Samsung Galaxy Note8 with its edge-to-edge display.

‘The One Thing Nobody Has Told You...' is my occasional column touching on a tangential, but interesting, detail that has been lost or under-reported in the news. Sometimes it’s a ground-breaker, sometimes just a piece of trivia that might enliven a dinner party conversation…

Samsung’s approach to design development is different from Apple’s. Not least because while Apple usually releases an iPhone on an annual basis, Samsung has two separate top-of-the-range handset series in its Galaxy brand, the S and the Note.

So design specialties, like sloping-edged screens, for instance, can be refined on a more frequent basis.

There was the Galaxy Note edge three years ago which introduced us to the idea of a screen with a slope, so you could see light from the display even if the screen was face down on your desk. There was only one sloper on that phone. These days, though, if you want a premium Galaxy phone, curves are your only option: you can have any number of sloping edges, so long as it’s two.

David Phelan

Samsung Galaxy Note8 with the ruler in the Quick Tools edge app.

Features have come and gone in the past, like the brilliant ruler edge app from an earlier handset which vanished for a phone or two but then came back. It’s on the S8 and Note8 with extra functionality in the Quick Tools edge feature, where a compass and torch are also built in.

And the new Note8 has several design improvements. True, the one thing we all wanted Samsung to change – the placement of the fingerprint sensor next to the camera – hasn’t happened, but at least the introduction of a dual-sensor camera has at least had the effect of distancing the lens from your greasy finger by just a little.

The Note8 is the first Note to have the 18.5:9 screen ratio that the Galaxy S8 introduced earlier this year. Which means the phone manages to squeeze in a six-inch display without stretching the average hand all out of shape. This is a big step forward.

So what is this key design development?

It’s the curvature of the screen edges.

‘Oh, come on’, I hear you impatiently say, ‘I’ve read about that already.’ Sure you have, but what has been barely reported, and what I’m on about, is just what a game-changer this tiny adjustment turns out to be.

David Phelan

Samsung Galaxy Note8 showing the bottom edge with steep curves.

The slope is something that has changed on every phone since Samsung introduced it. The S6 edge was curved at the front, almost flat at the back. It was okay, but not comfortable. Things looked up with the S7 edge and were more hand-friendly yet on the S8.

But now, on the Galaxy Note8, the edges are steeper, with snugger curves that wrap right round to the back of the phone.

This has two effects, both of them quietly transformative. First, the display loses the distortion it had on earlier slopes, so it looks better.

Secondly, and more importantly, it feels fantastic. It helps to make the phone feel much more manageable than a six-inch display ever sounds like it could be, and it’s a much smoother experience than previous Galaxy phones have managed.

David Phelan

The Samsung Galaxy Note8 (left) and the Galaxy S8+, showing the tighter curves on the Note8's edges.

So, if you fancy rolling it in your hand like a worry stone, you can do so, better than any other phone I’ve handled.

Which, I’d say, is the best way of assessing exactly how good a phone feels in the hand.

This tight curve makes the Note8 just about the most comfortable phone I’ve held in my hand. And given that we carry and fondle our phones so much of the time these days, that’s a pretty good thing to achieve.

Oh, and the steep edges look better in one other way, too, offering the clean fidelity of a flat screen but with the cute eye candy of a display that spills over the edge exuberantly, as though it just can’t contain itself.

It’s a real design win for Samsung.

More on Forbes

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Week In Wearables: New Apple Watch 3 Rumor, Samsung And Fitbit Revealed, TomTom's Fitness Points

New Apple Watch 3 Leak Hints At Heightened Purpose For Apple

Samsung Surprises With Two Smart Watches And Smart Earbuds, Follows Apple Down Fitness Route

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