A ‘notch’ higher
WE have to talk about the ‘notch.’ If you’ve been asking what a ‘notch’ means, it’s that supposed “bangs” on the iPhone X that interrupts the “bezel-lessness” of the iPhone X screen that accommodates the front-facing camera, microphone and facial recognition system. Bezel is the casual term for smartphone frames.
The thinner the bezel, the better for smartphone fashion so when the iPhone X was launched, Apple literally pushed the boundaries but left that space for the notch. Early reviews did not favor this move by Apple.
But all that has since changed.
Other brands have cloned the iPhone X and there are even wallpaper apps that make your non- iPhone X look like one. The deluge of knockoff notches includes the Asus Zenfone 5, the Noa N10, Huawei P20, Ulefone T2 Pro, Leagoo S9, Doogee V, Oppo R15, LG G7, UMIDIGI Z2, Oukitel U18, OWWO X, HOYWAV SYMBOL S3, Essential PH1, Blackview X, Aloes, Wiko Wave 2, Noa N9, Ulefone T2, Xiaolajiao S6, Goophone X, Ila X and Sharp Aquos S3.
Other sources argued that the world of Android did not copy the notch. Fastcompany. com noted in an article in March that the notch was hot topic at the recent Mobile World Congress.
“The dominant opinion is that those companies copied the Apple’s notch. But it’s not that simple. The truth is that the advent of edge- to- edge OLED displays on smartphones made the notch inevitable. To support both an edge- to- edge display and provide a place for the front- facing camera and other components, phone designers have two main choices: They can leave a stripe of bezel across the top of the phone, or they can carve a space out of the screen.”
Pointing out that it was more of a necessity rather than a smartphone design issue, the article explained, “The advantage of the full stripe is a cleaner look. The downside is the wasted bezel space and the loss of display space. The advantage of the notch is the ability to preserve the display space on either side of it.”
In short, the notch affords smartphone brands a larger display size and the right to claim that display advantage.
Today, the option is slowly geared towards which notchsuitsyoubest rather than tonotchornotto notch. A story from Cnet. com claims that the Huawei P20 has won the notch game over iPhone X. “The iPhone X may have the most famous notch but the best notch screen design doesn’t come from Apple at all. The honor [ now] goes to Huawei, whose P20 and P20 Pro let you quickly and oh- so- easily hop into the Display settings to toggle the notch off. It’s that simple.
The article raved, “Here’s how Huawei handles the notch naysayers. The notch stays on by default on the P20 and P20 Pro. When you do turn it off, the screen to the left and right of the notch goes black, making the bezels look larger and then area of the digitized screen look smaller.”
The smartphone rumor mill is ripe with hints that Samsung will come up with its own version of the notch phone. On April 16, Tomsguide.com reported, “Soon, it’s getting to be quicker just to name all the phones that aren’t planning on adding iPhone X-style notches to their front displays. At least, that’s how smartphone fans might feel if Samsung follows through