Samsung’s crazy curved Galaxy Note Edge is really real

Photo: Samsung

Photo: Samsung

Samsung didn’t just announce one Galaxy Note at its Unpacked event in Berlin today, but also a second with a crazy curved display. It’s called the Galaxy Note Edge, and although its similar to the Galaxy Note 4 internally, it’s still unlike any smartphone you’ve ever used before.

The Galaxy Note Edge’s curved AMOLED panel essentially provides a secondary display that runs along the edge of the device. It works almost independently of the main panel, displaying handy little widgets and shortcuts to your favorite apps, and it’s completely customizable, so you decide what lives there.

The side panel can include multiple pages that you scroll through by swiping your finger up and down the display, and Samsung is allowing third-party developers to build widgets that will work with it. So you might have some shortcuts to various apps on one page, and widgets that display things like weather information and breaking news headlines on another.

Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

 

Although it looks pretty funky, that curved display actually sounds like a pretty neat idea — and probably a very practical one once you get used to using it. It’s a shame that Samsung only curved one side of the device, however, making it look like a slightly deformed Note 4.

The Galaxy Note Edge’s display is slightly smaller than the regular Note 4’s at 5.6 inches, and its battery capacity isn’t quite as big, either. But other than that, both handsets are pretty much identical under the hood, with the same Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and 16-megapixel rear-facing cameras.

Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Samsung hasn’t yet confirmed when the Galaxy Note Edge will be available, or how much it’ll cost.