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I still believe the notch is there for brand recognition. Otherwise, at first glance, it would be the same rectangular phone that's mostly screen like every other phone is becoming. Samsung has their "infinity display", which is a classic example of form over function. Apple lost the iconic circular home button and they needed another way for people to instantly recognize that the phone was an iPhone. They could've made the screen a square and lost a minuscule amount of screen space but then the phone would look just like every other one. Maybe I'm wrong and they'll shrink it down and get rid of it eventually but I don't think it will be before they develop some other differentiating factor.
 
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I really much prefer the very small bezels on the Samsung to the notch. I’ve had both an X and an S8+ and the Samsung display is more immersive, or would be if they would stop with the stupid curved edges that distort content at the sides.

Yes I was able to tune the notch out while I had it, but that doesn’t mean it’s a desirable feature. More like a necessary evil, and the sooner Apple can apply their engineering expertise to getting rid of it, the better, in my opinion.

Meanwhile, as an Android user, I do get sick of Google emulating Apple on things I think are annoying, like getting rid of headphone jacks and foisting dongles on us, and now apparently embracing notches and implicitly approving the cheap Chinese knockoffs. I may as well just stay with iOS exclusively.
 
It was the first phone with a notch and no other bezel. The reason others will copy Apple is because it’s clearly the best design choice available given the current technical constraints. Nobody wants a notch, but most would prefer the extra screen space the notch allows, as opposed to a full bezel.

This article is not about a bezel. It's about the notch and adjusting the OS to handle it.

I agree, iPhone was first with both a notch and bezel-less on all 4 sides
 
I never noticed it from the beginning
Total non-issue for me

Same, in-fact I like it - they pushed the bits of the screen you don't interact with up into the corners making the usable area even bigger - it's a great design decision. Plus you've got now two pull down hot spots clearly separated.

If it wasn't there - the info pushed either side of the notch would instead waste unusable screen estate at the top.
 
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Then where do expect to place the front cameras. I’m sorry by bezels ugly no matter how small. These phone truly look edge to edge versus a Samsung. Ugly is your opinion. Thank gid you don’t design our phones.
Edge to edge is your opinion as well. When I had the X I couldn’t help but notice it was ringed all around with a black “frame” and the notch was quite in my face, though I did overlook it. But anytime I did pay it any heed, any illusion of edge-to-edge was shattered.

Corner-to-corner bragging rights means bragging on a feature that is an acquired taste and many refuse to acquire it and I can’t blame them. On a Samsung, at least the display is a full one with nothing protruding into it. Which one any person prefers is up to individual taste. I wouldn’t myself call the notch ugly but I don’t think it’s by any stretch of the imagination an elegant design.

All that really isn’t the meat and potatoes of what @Shirasaki is upset about. Those of us who also follow Android development can’t help but notice Google and other Android based companies take way too many cues from Apple. Most annoyingly they often choose to emulate exactly what we as consumers want to see them reject and give us a better choice. We want less emulation and more innovation. Stop settling for whatever it is Apple sets as the plateau. Apparently that’s too much to ask of Google right now. Apple comes out of this smelling like roses, don’t worry.
 
What’s crazy is that android could have been the first to do this years ago.. and no manufacture released a phone with it

Android was the first to do it lol. Essential PH-1.Again,this article is about the notch.
 
The complaints about the notch are inherently dumb. You can either have the notch + some extra screen space OR a bezel that runs across the top and reduced screen space. The only way to avoid either of those choices is no Face ID hardware.
 
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Android was the first to do it lol. Essential PH-1.Again,this article is about the notch.
Technically you’re correct. But we probably have to acknowledge that Google wouldn’t be taking this step if Apple hadn’t turned the notch into the icon of future technology. The notch on the Essential is merely one camera lens. On Apple it signals a completely new form of biometric access and the predicted prominence of mobile AR.

Edit to add: Apple basically threw down the gauntlet and said embrace the notch or get left behind. For now anyway.

But the knockoffs pretty much have a notch on there for looks, and that’s what makes this a bit awkward. Frankly I’d rather Android/Google/Samsung look at other possibilities. Like making a statement that a small top bezel is better or something.
 
FYI, screen to bezel ratio

iPhone X: 82.35%
Galaxy S8: 84.26%
Galaxy Note 8: 82.98%

Good screen to bezel ratio can be possible without a notch - just sayin. Apple happens to have a bigger bezel around the edges compared to the (tiny) top and bottom chins of it’s competitors.

Also, iPhone X users “deal with,” “get used to” the notch. So, no, the notch is not a great design per se. Apple would have gotten rid of it had it been possible at launch. There’s no doubt it’s a compromise not a feature.

Just because you got used to it or don’t care (anymore) doesn’t make criticisms towards it any less valid.
 
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Technically you’re correct. But we probably have to acknowledge that Google wouldn’t be taking this step if Apple hadn’t turned the notch into the icon of future technology. The notch on the Essential is merely one camera lens. On Apple it signals a completely new form of biometric access and the predicted prominence of mobile AR.

Edit to add: Apple basically threw down the gauntlet and said embrace the notch or get left behind. For now anyway.

But the knockoffs pretty much have a notch on there for looks, and that’s what makes this a bit awkward. Frankly I’d rather Android/Google/Samsung look at other possibilities. Like making a statement that a small top bezel is better or something.

I agree Apple made it prominent. Regardless, those who have an Essential know software wise,Android needed to be updated to support it. What the notch is used for... camera only, face Id, etc, isn't the major concern right now.

Essential users just want the OS to not waste the space around it.
 
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Notch was there with Android mobiles before iPhone X in Essential phone.
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Not true. Like he said. Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone was the first bezeless phone with a notch available to US consumers.

Exactly!! Android was the first to have notch whether it is good or bad is a different story
 
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Come on, now. let's not act like the iPhone X was the first device with a notch.

Essential's (failing) PH-1 was first to the table. Notched phones existed in Android well before iPhone did. The iPhone is just much more prominent, both it's notch and placement in the industry.

Those with an Essential know Android needed to be formally updated to handle it. If others are going to copy, they'll likely copy Essential's minimal notch.

But who knows, ppl love ripping off Apple too, even it's poor design choices.

Hell, Essential even owns a patent for holes in LCDs. Maybe Apple will utilize it for their their LCD iPhones.

Failing? The Essential PH-1, despite it's hit or miss camera, is the only robot phone available currently that I'd consider owning (again; I had one).
 
I agree Apple made it prominent. Regardless, those who have an Essential know software wise,Android needed to be updated to support it. What the notch is used for... camera only, face Id, etc, isn't the major concern right now.

Essential users just want the OS to not waste the space around it.
Okay. I will take your word for it that it’s needed...if manufacturers are going to embrace the notch. Whether or not an Android manufacturer originated it, I did kind of want to see Android phones go on in a different direction, perhaps embracing a top “strip” so as to preserve the integrity of a full rectangular display rather than embracing features that intrude in on the display.

Maybe Android will do a more elegant job of embracing the notch, though, so that it doesn’t ever seem like there is an intrusion into the viewing area, even in landscape. I’ll try to keep an open mind about the possibilities. On the iOS side as well.
 
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Hahahahahahahahahahahahahha

so all android people were hating on the notch, and now google is making a notch possible in android

hahahahahahahahahahah
 
Of all the things to copy...

Bezels look better than notches. The desire for no bezel is just fashion not function. Fashion passes.
 
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Failing? The Essential PH-1, despite it's hit or miss camera, is the only robot phone available currently that I'd consider owning (again; I had one).

I own one too, and love it.But there's no denying their sales aren't strong.
 
Just because Android OS will support it, does not mean every company will will roll out the hardware. Google just making sure that if any third party company wants to roll out a notch, then they can easily do it without too modification to the OS code. That's all there is to it. Google does not control the hardware, nor it will pressure all the manufacturers to build phones with the notch.
 
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Just because Android OS will support it, does not mean every company will will roll out the hardware. Google just making sure that if any third party company wants to roll out a notch, then they can easily do it without too modification to the OS code. That's all there is to it. Google does not control the hardware, nor it will pressure all the manufacturers to build phones with the notch.

But Google is clearly responding to what they are hearing from their hardware manufacturers. Otherwise why would Google add notch support just out of the goodness of their hearts?
 
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