Notch notch notch everywhere!

2016 is the year of 4GB RAM, 2017 is the year of dual cameras and high screen to body ratio. These previous additions are generally well-received, unlike the very controversial 2018 'notch design' seen everywhere now.


Notch should be the most-heard term in 2018 cuz each phone is classified into either yes-notch and no-notch. The most accepted definition of a notch design is that the upper left and right area contain no bezels, while the middle contains a long region of bezel to house the essentials like front camera, sensors, and earpiece.





Whether the notch is beautiful or not is solely a question of personal preference. An objective, undeniable fact is that the notch DOES, to a certain extent, make the screen to body ratio more impressive.
Let's take a look at the pioneers and variations of the notch and how they affect the front panel of the phone. 


The 'founder' of the notch design should be the Essential Phone and the Sharp S2 announced in early 2017. 


Essential Phone 2017

Sharp S2 2017







These two don't necessarily use a 'notch', but putting a front camera only (unlike the iPhone X which puts things like earpiece, camera and a whole lot of sensors into the notch area). Their designs are viewed as simpler and a bit more aesthetically good-looking because there aren't any long pieces of notch. But note that both phones have a chin (bottom bezels), which the one on the S2 is quite huge in order to accommodate the fingerprint sensor. 


iPhone X

Apple is the first large-scale world manufacturer to make the notch design in 2017 and influence a whole bunch of Android factories to follow in 2018 (hi Oppo Vivo ... ). To be honest, Apple's design is still the best because the whole front panel only consists of the notch, WITHOUT THE CHIN. The CEO of Oneplus revealed the truth behind this no-chin construction in an interview some months ago. And undeniably the no-chin is the best compensation for having a notch. 


Honor V10

Huawei P20 Pro

Honor 10

Huawei, Honor

Huawei seems to be having good use of the chin to be a fingerprint reader and multi use button while having the notch, retaining the solution of having high screen to body ratio TOGETHER with front fingerprint reader. Examples include P20, P20 Pro, Honor V10, 10. 

(It is a matter of personal choice again when it comes to the position of fingerprint reader of whether at the front, back or side)


Oneplus 6

Oppo R15

Vivo X21


Oppo, Vivo, Oneplus 6
These BBK subsidiaries adopt similar design languages, with the notch as their major selling point (is it even a good selling point -_-). But they make good use of the notch by adding shortcut apps and functions which is similar to the 'secondary screen' idea of LG some years ago. 



Xiaomi MIX 2s

Samsung S9+


~Exceptions~

There are always exceptions to trends. Samsung should be the only large manufacturer NOT to launch a notch phone for its flagships and other series till the date I write this article (don't know if they will give in in the future though). Motorola also 'keeps up with the Joneses' in 2018 but being a bit 'conservative' by allowing both upper and lower bezels to remain. Xiaomi, on the other hand, tries hard to put everything in the lower chin and keep a no upper bezel design in the MIX product line. (should we give them a big round of applause huh?)


There are still a bunch of manufacturers like Asus and LG and less famous producers who instantly follow the notch trend after Apple 'takes this courage' to apply this controversial design idea (just as controversial as the removal of 3.5mm earphone jack LOL). There's no way of going back to the 'conservative' notch-less design again, but in the future it is highly possible that no notch will be present at all. Producers like Vivo have been eagerly showing off REAL bezeless concept phones which successfully hide all the earpieces, front camera and sensors. Looking forward to this future!!!!

How do you think of the notch as the stepping stone to a true bezeless era? Raise your comments below!!!! :)







Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Smartphone Buying Guide (Mid April to Mid May)

The emergence of Xiaomi and its way forward?

Random Topic (1): the development of selfie camera (front camera)