Seoul: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Wednesday launched a variant of the popular Galaxy Note smartphone with a curved display, moving a step closer to introducing wearable devices with flexible screens.

The Galaxy Round's 5.7-inch 1080p (14.4-centimetre) display has a slight horizontal curve and weighs less than the Galaxy Note 3, allowing a more comfortable grip than other flat-screen models on the market, mobile carrier SK Telecom Co Ltd said in a statement. It's 7.9mm thick and weighs 154g. Its back cover features a leather-and-stitch-inspired design, just like the Galaxy Note 3.

Powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core processor, the Galaxy Round has a 13 megapixel camera and 3GB RAM.



Its Roll Effect feature enables users to check information such as date, time, missed call and battery by slightly 'rolling' the phone over towards one side when the home screen is off.

When the Galaxy Round's display is off while the music player is running, a short press to the left of the device will play the previous track while a short press to the right will play the next track.

Samsung Galaxy Round is available in Korea in Luxury Brown, and it will be available in more colours soon.

Curved displays open up possibilities for bendable designs that could eventually transform the high-end smartphone market by allowing mobile and wearable gadgets to take new forms.

LG Electronics Inc plans to introduce a smartphone with a vertically curved display in November, a source familiar with the matter said this week.

Samsung's new phone, available through South Korea's biggest mobile carrier SK Telecom, costs 1.089 million won ($1,000).

Ugly. When I read the title, I somehow imagined it curved the other way.

Yes,but then it wouldn't be the first one, would it?

First curved???

The faux-leather stands out nicely here, not so well on the N3.

Alls needed now... to mold your arse into the shape of the device !

Beautiful evolution.

We are allowed to hold a round shape once again.

The ergonomics of the touch screen remain to be tested to find out if this is a design gimmick or something useful for human's to love.

But it seems to me that a concave display shape prevents it to rest face down on the display coating.

Samsung announced it as LG had announced two days ago that they are already manufacturing a flexible display device. This is a "face saving" announcement from Samsung.

http://www.gizmag.com/mass-produced-...isplays/29304/

I wonder if flexible display will translate into flexible/moving devices.

Next step. Disc phone.

You can attach remove it and use it as a wrist watch.

Looks pretty cool to me! Imagine Sailfish on that one