2017: The Year of the Bezel-less Phone
The Samsung Galaxy S8 in my hands.
The future is here. Sort of. The two large bezels on the top and bottom part of your phone would no longer be subservient to the high-end phones' decorum. The Xiaomi Mi Mix and the Samsung Galaxy S8 paved the way. I had the chance to work with the latter and we need to keep in mind that it is not only the aesthetics of the phones that are changing, the entire way in which we interact with our phones is shifting.
1) Phones now require two hands to operate.
The 2016 high-end phone generation did not require adroit handling with both hands. The iPhone 7 had a 4.7-inch screen size, the Google Pixel had a 5.0-inch screen and the Galaxy S7 had a 5.1-inch. Users were more than capable of pulling out the phone from their jeans and single-handedly browse the web. With a minimum of 5.8-inch, Samsung Galaxy S8 screams that this was erstwhile the case. In addition, to the screen being at least 0.7-inch bigger than last year's flagships, the fingerprint scanner is placed on the back next to the camera. In other words, you would most likely use the index finger of the hand holding the phone to access it, so you need your other hand to interact with the screen.
2) The aspect ratio is changing.
With its 1440 x 2960 pixels screen resolution and an aspect ration of 18.5:9, the Galaxy S8 completely changes the meaning of full screen for online video. A lot of the content on Youtube and other video platforms is still 16:9. The user has the choice either to view the 16:9 content in its original aspect with black bars on the edges of the screen, or to stretch it to 18.5:9. However, a legion of YouTube video makers is already taking note and shooting their videos in 21:9 aspect ration that allows unproblematic view on Galaxy S8's screen.
3) We need to do something about battery life. Fast.
The capacity of Samsung Galaxy S8's life is 3,000 mAh same as the capacity of last year's Galaxy S7. The issue is that the screen size has increased from 5.1 to 5.8-inch which drains the battery much faster as it requires a bigger screen area to be lit. I know that after the Galaxy Note 7's disaster, the Korean manufacturer would be parsimonious with its battery size but batteries need to fully charge in the matter of minutes, hold higher capacity and charge wirelessly to match with the innovation in screen size and phone design that bezel-less phones offer. The consumer will not brook an hour charge time and less than a day usage for much longer.
The recently released Galaxy S8 and the iPhone 8, which is expected to be introduced in the beginning of the fall would mark the beginning of changing the way we interact with our phone, consume content, and charge our phones. While often reprimanded for being a mere cosmetic change, the lack of the annoying bars on the top and bottom parts of our phones would be the biggest change that occurred in the industry for a long time.