IFA 2014: Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Note Edge, Gear VR and Gear S hands-on

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge

The Samsung Galaxy Note Edge was the surprise of the Samsung's UNPACKED event. Even though it was alluded to months ahead of IFA, it somehow managed to stay out of the rumor mill.

Well, the Galaxy Note Edge hasn't got the three-sided screen in the end that some of the rumors suggested, but is still utilizing the same technology.

Samsung Galaxy Edge

Specs-wise, the Galaxy Note Edge is absolutely identical to the Note 4, sans the screen and the battery capacity. Due to the bigger display, the battery had to be reduced down to 3,000mAh. Here is hoping the bigger display and lower capacity won't significantly reduce the battery life.

Galaxy Note Edge sides and rear

The Samsung Galaxy Note Edge also features a metal chassis, just like the Galaxy Note 4, the plastic rear cover with faux leather pattern is also present. The Note Edge is running on the same Snapdragon 805 chipset and will come in an Exynos flavor, too. Finally, the 16MP OIS rear camera is the same as well, and so is the 3.7MP f/1.9 aperture front cam.

The key feature of the Galaxy Note Edge is the curved display. The 5.6" Super AMOLED screen of QHD resolution continues seamlessly into an extra 160 pixels to the right side. This means the entire display has a resolution of 1600 x 2560 pixels and density of 539ppi. This is probably the highest resolution display on a smartphone to date.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge

The curved part of the display has various use cases. When locked, a swipe on this part of the screen will reveal the date, time and missed notifications. The main panel remains dark, only the additional 160px-wide strip will light up.

While you are on the lockscreen, you can use the additional strip for various purposes such as displaying stocks, weather, shortcuts (incl. flashlight), plus it can display a ruler.

Using the bent display space

Once you unlock you Galaxy Note Edge, the extra screen space can be used for displaying Twitter feeds, additional docked shortcuts, stocks. Various apps will be able to utilize those extra pixels for various purposes - the video player for example has playback controls there, while you are watching a full-screen movie. Samsung will release an official SDK to the developers later, so third-party apps can use it as well.

The S-Pen is the same as on the Note 4, with the same upgrades and compatible apps.

The Note Edge S-Pen next to the Note 4's

The Note Edge is obviously bigger than the Note 4, and the Note 3. It is definitely wider because of the bigger display, but is lighter.

Galaxy Note Edge comparted to Note 4

The Galaxy Note Edge will become available in Frosted white and Charcoal black, and will launch by the end of the year in select markets.

Galaxy Note Edge in Black

Galaxy Note Edge camera samples

We've managed to download the official camera samples taken with the front camera of the Galaxy Note Edge.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge selfie samples

And these are the some panoramic selfie samples, also taken with the front camera.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge panorama selfies

Next are the 16MP images taken with the main camera of the Galaxy Note Edge.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge camera samples

Here comes some HDR samples.

HDR off • HDR on

Finally, these are samples taken with the so-called High Clear Zoom. We'll spare our comments about the quality for the retail unit.

Regular sample • High Clear Zoom sample

Samsung's Camera app is also capable of various cool shooting modes including high-res 360-degree panorama, Drama, Panning shot, among others.

These are two panoramic samples:

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge pano samples

Here are two Drama samples:

Drama shots

And finally, you can check out these cool Panning shots.

Panning shots

Update: Hands-on video. Here is a brief hands-on demo we've made for you.