Chinese smartphone maker Vivo may be developing a smartphone with no bezels, no notches, and no holes in the screen. According to Ice Universe, the upcoming Vivo NEX could be the first phone with an “over 100%” screen-to-body ratio.
Of course the only way that would be possible would be to have a screen that’s actually larger than the phone’s body. And I guess you could make a case that this leaks suggests that’s exactly what Vivo is doing.
Ice Universe has shared an image that allegedly shows the upcoming smartphone’s display. In addition to having no cut-outs, it’s designed to wrap around the sides of the phone, which means that if you laid the screen flat it would be larger than the phone itself.
Well… the front of the phone anyway.
If you account for the back of the phone, I guess the Vivo Nex 3 would have a 50-percent screen-to-body ratio. See, you can do all sorts of weird things when you start playing with numbers.
The point is, if Ice Universe is correct, Vivo might be working on one of the first smartphones that’s literally all-screen (on the front). But it feels silly to say it has a higher-than-100-percent screen-to-body ratio anyway.
It’s unclear where Vivo would hide the camera in this phone. It could hang out in a pop-out section of the phone. Or maybe it could be placed beneath the screen itself.
For now all we’ve got to go by are images of curved glass and an unsubstantiated claim that it’ll eventually cover a phone of some sort.
I’m pretty sure that in previous phones with curved screens like that there’s always been a bezel protruding slightly above the edges (that is, sideways), which will still likely have to happen in this case because otherwise, it’s going to be super easy to get fingernails and edges of tables and other stuff under the screen accidentally. If you really want to go beyond 100%, the glass on each side would need to curve more than 90 degrees.
I blame the “tech journalists ” who made such a big deal over bezels for leading to overly ridiculous concepts like this. As if having a bezel was ever considered a big deal by most people, personally I think bezels were practical for holding the phone and for buttons. The galaxy Note 8 has a curved screen and is one the few features I don’t like on the phone.
I knew this was coming.
Frankly this is a downgrade. As a human, you do not want 101% Screen to Body ratio. This design leads to the screen distorted on the curves, passive-light reflected off the curved angle, accidental touch registers, lower touch latency, more surface area of fragile/glass, less sturdy/durable device overall, higher difficulty repairs, more expensive repairs.
All this is going to cause people to buy cheap silicone cases, making the device larger than it needed to be, and looking/feeling worse just to be able to preserve some durability. Otherwise, its going to be a costly adventure where these devices are going to become more and more disposable… and eWaste is already bad.
What you want is some small slither of bezels on the long-sides, and a slim bezel on the top and bottom. That way you can have impact resistance on all-axis, better ergonomics, and a place to put the sensors and front-firing stereo loudspeakers. You want something designed for people to use in the everyday conditions, NOT something designed to look shiny for a lame poster/ad. To round off the details of a practical design (from cheap to pricey), you would use a proper Flat-Glass Frontplate (Dragontrail, Gorilla Glass 6, Sapphire), and a proper Metal Midframe (Aluminium, Stainless Steel, Titanium Alloy) and a proper Backplate (Polycarbonate, Aluminium, Kevlar).