Measuring the bezels of the iPhone X - can Apple win the bezel-less war?
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- Viper17
- LJm
- 09 Nov 2017
Mree, 08 Nov 2017Some people here are pathetic. Going all the way out to def... moreBless your soul u took the words from my mouth! These famboys live their lives defending the brand as if their life depends on it. People buy whatever phone they feel like purchasing. Like u said. It's their money.
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- Anonymous
- kD3
- 08 Nov 2017
"As you may have noticed, we didn’t include the Galaxy flagships as their curved screens are difficult to measure but also exacerbate the accidental touch issue."
Um.... this is 1000000000% bias on the authors behalf. This article has absolutely nothing to do with "accidental touch issues". If you want to touch on that (pun intended), then write a separate article. The fact is the bezel on the sides are NON-EXISTENT because there IS no bezel.
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- Anonymous
- 6mt
- 08 Nov 2017
Why didn't you go further with this test ?
Where are Samsung's phone ? Essential phone ? HTC U11+ ? And the latest Nubia Z17S with clearly no side bezels ?
And the final screen-to-body ratio ? (without forget little piece of screen of Iphone X top sides display)
Too bad ! But never too late to update this article (mayby with Oneplus 5T launch !)
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- AnonD-714316
- E6x
- 08 Nov 2017
Linas, 08 Nov 2017"In short, Apple’s engineers deserves kudos" - but wait... ... moreI know samsung made the oled screen though, but apple utilised its potential through its software. just take a look at the htc and the pixel, same phone different softwares
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- Mree
- RK3
- 08 Nov 2017
Some people here are pathetic. Going all the way out to defend another manufacturer? LOL. I hope you all know that you're just a money source to the manufacturers, nothing more. They don't take your word for their next design anyway. So stop defending phone makers. If people want to buy iPhones, let them. If others want to get Samsung, LG, Essential, etc., then let them. It's their money not yours. You will not gain anything over defending Android phone makers.
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- Anonymous
- 6XU
- 08 Nov 2017
Make durable reliable smooth phones not bezel less ones.
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- AnonD-190634
- a3S
- 08 Nov 2017
I think iPhone-X is a whole new level! but after having my s8 for a few days it gets normal after like 2 days trust me. the only thing that still remains nice and useful and fun is the aspect ratio! even with the bezels having a wide/tall aspect ratio is super amazing! it's soooo useful! when using keyboards you can now still see the chat normally! Multi window is finally actually useful and browsing net Instagram and all that is so much easier!
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- D man
- LaT
- 08 Nov 2017
The iPhone X is a great phone. But it’s not worth the ridiculous price tag. Maybe around £699 for the 64GB and £849 for the 256GB. Also why didn’t Apple make a 128GB version. Surely recording at 4K resolution will chew up that 64GB. I believe it’s just a way for Apple to force their iSheeps to the more expensive package. I’m a fan of Apple products but I honestly want them to fail. They are just taking the piss. I’ve got iMac iPhone and iPad so I enjoy some of their products. But I cannot imagine spending over £1000 on a smartphone. I mean let’s up that into context. At the end of the it’s still a phone, maybe a bit more refined.
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- Striker
- Sc8
- 08 Nov 2017
Linas, 08 Nov 2017"In short, Apple’s engineers deserves kudos" - but wait... ... moreBecause, my friend - BMW is made in Turkey, Belgium, UK, Germany and USA. Whose credit for the brand engineering it is, hm? Get my point? Samsung is the best for cheap and qualified workforce and manufacturing oled displays in large quantities, nothing more. The engineering of the display is entirely by Apple. You guys keep ranting this for more than 10 years, read first, then think, then speak, not the opposite!:)
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- Linas
- QPU
- 08 Nov 2017
"In short, Apple’s engineers deserves kudos" - but wait... who made the display? It was Samsung right?! So why apple engineers deserves something Samsung engineers has achieved? I am puzzled...
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- Flossy420
- dZt
- 08 Nov 2017
You boys seem to forget the LG G2
2.6 mm side bezels
The phone was too advanced for it's age but unfortunately, lg started fuc*ing up
- S
- Striker
- Sc8
- 08 Nov 2017
tech_junkie, 08 Nov 2017where's the Galaxy S8 ????Where it usually is - in the repair shop! LOL!
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- Vegetaholic
- StU
- 08 Nov 2017
One of my friend just naught iPhone x for 1200 dollars 256 gb version and 100 dollar official case, loyal apple follower, and just admitted that has been robbed, phone is nothing special or does offer anything special than competition for abnormal price, just went to shop to return it, does say a lot about how bad iPhone X value for price is
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- AnonD-704058
- L3D
- 08 Nov 2017
I don't know, when the closest phone, design wise, to the iphone X is Essential PH1 and it is left out of the comparison (as it would beat iphone top and sides, losing only bottom) and you argue that you cant measure the S8 sides because it is curved when you clearly can measure it, it makes the whole article suspicious. For me, a clear attempt to bump the iphone X.
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- Kangal
- uCX
- 08 Nov 2017
According to GSMArena's calculations, the phone with the best Screen to Body ratio is the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2.
However, for anyone that is interested, I went to check phones with dual-front stereo loudspeakers... almost a must-have feature for high-end phones in my professional opinion, and the shortlist is the Pixel 2, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 6, SONY Xperia Z3+, Alcatel Idol 4, Alcatel Idol 3 5.5, Alcatel Idol 4s, ZTE Axon 7.
The winner from this short list is the ZTE Axon 7. But how does it compare to the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2, the proclaimed winner from GSMArena?
...well, surprisingly GSMArena's editors are wrong and I'm actually correct (again). I know this sounds like bragging, but I want to approach this from an educational point of view.
Axon 7, watching a video:
12.62cm × 7.10cm = 89.57cm² (slightly larger visual)
Mi Mix 2, watching a video:
12.07cm × 6.79cm = 81.96cm² (slightly smaller visual)
Axon 7 total 2D size:
15.17cm x 7.50cm = 113.75cm² (slightly smaller phone)
Mi Mix 2 total 2D size:
15.18cm x 7.55cm = 114.61cm² (slightly larger phone)
Axon 7 Screen to Body ratio:
89.57cm² / 113.75cm² = 78.74%
81.96cm² / 114.61cm² = 71.51%
So what can we conclude?
The ZTE Axon 7 has a slightly larger display AND a slightly smaller phone bezel/body. An overall improvement of +10% can be seen on the Axon 7. This is especially true when looking at 16:9 content, which is by far and large, the majority of the content (>99%) on the Android ecosystem. Also, the Mi Mix 2 is listed as having 80.8% StB... which should mean the Axon 7 deserves a 88.97% StB, but it doesn't. That's the wrong way to look at it, we should see the Axon 7's listed StB of 72.2%, and work down to state the Mi Mix 2 should have a 65.57% StB.
Whilst weird 18.9:9 or 20:9 aspect ratios sound cool on the spec sheets, and the marketing renders look sleek. But once in your hands, you realise the experience hasn't improved that much, in fact, it has regressed. Its because the bezels from 2015 are still there in 2017, they are just disguised by the aspect ratio... the phone hasn't gotten smaller, the thin display is just covering more.
And to make matters worse, devices like the Samsung Galaxy S8 which curves the corners and the sides makes them unusable at the extreme points and introduces glare and distortions, which means practically they have a smaller usable screen with the same body size. A double-whammy. And lastly, devices with weird notches not only look weird they affect the usable screen area which means they, again practically, have reduced StB ratios even if sites like this do not take this into account.
And the worst part about this?
Even with a device like the ZTE Axon 7, we still have room for improvement but we are regressing. Imagine a device with 4mm side bezels on both sides identical. And 8mm bezel identical on both top/bottom sides. That's very good, but still not the best possible shavings. Those proportions could still house two webcams, proximity sensors, and speakers in the bezels. And on a device with a 5.7 inch display, we're effectively talking about 80% StB on phone dimensions of 143mm x 79mm x 7mm.
Bezels matter, they should be there as they help ergonomics (ie/ holding, gripping, avoiding accidental touches) and they actually aid shock protection in making a more durable device. Again it all comes down to balance and compromises, not too little and not too much. Trust me when I say this, as this is coming from the professional who has asked for larger displays and smaller bezels as back as 2010.... back when most other experts deemed me mad, championed bezels and smaller one-handed screens. Yes, this precedes Steve Job's famous rant about "people sanding their fingers" and that "no one's going to buy that [phone, with a large display]", which editors agreed with. Now, Apple's main iPhone/revenue is their Plus models. Thank you for reading.
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- tech_junkie
- BiT
- 08 Nov 2017
where's the Galaxy S8 ????
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- Vbaptista
- p6T
- 08 Nov 2017
Anonymous, 08 Nov 2017Essential phone bezels are much bigger than iPhone X, I mea... moreIt's GSM Arena that says in the phone specs that the PH-1 has a bigger screen to body ratio... And i belive that they are right. Essential side bezels are smaller, and the notch is way smaller than the iphone X
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- Vbaptista
- p6T
- 08 Nov 2017
sa11oum, 07 Nov 2017Because the Essential phone is garbage. It's very expensive... moreYou my friend are still stuck in August. Essential is cheaper than the OP5 and has much less bugs and problems.
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- AnonD-292897
- J1i
- 08 Nov 2017
You can't measure the screens in that way any more!
Put it on the white or solid color background (glowing background would be perfect), put the white screen on and once you get the bw image, use algorithm to compare black and white portion excluding the background