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Lenovo Teases a True All-Screen Smartphone With No Notch (cnet.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: Notches, it seems, are the new black. Originally seen -- and often criticized -- on the Essential PH-1 and iPhone X in 2017, the trend of adding notches to Android phones has only accelerated this year as phone makers look to maximize the screen size. But the Lenovo Z5 is going the other way: It's truly all-screen, and notch-free. At least, that's according to a sketch shared last Friday by Lenovo VP Chang Cheng on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform in China. Cheng's teaser post says (according to Google Translate) that the Lenovo Z5 is the company's new flagship phone. Besides that, the post leaves it pretty vague.
All-screen phones look cool, but they challenge the manufacturer to find a place to put front cameras, sensors and other hardware. That's why we see bezels on some phones and notches on others. It's not clear what Lenovo plans to do with the front camera on the Lenovo Z5. Cheng's post claims that "four technological breakthroughs" and "18 patented technologies" were made for the phone, but doesn't go into details. One of the first smartphones to launch with an edge-to-edge display was the Xiaomi Mi Mix. It launched with next to no bezel or notch, leaving many to wonder where the earpiece would be. What Xiaomi managed to do was use what it calls "cantilever piezoelectric ceramic acoustic technology." Basically, it's a component that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy to transfer to the phone's internal metal frame, which then vibrates to create sound. It's possible the Z5 relies on a similar technology, or bone conduction technology found in many headphones and some smartphones.
Aside from the front-facing camera and ambient light sensors, the other components that are typically found on the front of smartphones are relatively easy to drag-and-drop to different locations. For example, the speakers in the Z5 are likely bottom facing and the navigation controls are almost certainly software based. The question is whether or not it's worth having a true all-screen smartphone if it means there's no front-facing camera, ambient light sensors, or stereo speakers.
All-screen phones look cool, but they challenge the manufacturer to find a place to put front cameras, sensors and other hardware. That's why we see bezels on some phones and notches on others. It's not clear what Lenovo plans to do with the front camera on the Lenovo Z5. Cheng's post claims that "four technological breakthroughs" and "18 patented technologies" were made for the phone, but doesn't go into details. One of the first smartphones to launch with an edge-to-edge display was the Xiaomi Mi Mix. It launched with next to no bezel or notch, leaving many to wonder where the earpiece would be. What Xiaomi managed to do was use what it calls "cantilever piezoelectric ceramic acoustic technology." Basically, it's a component that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy to transfer to the phone's internal metal frame, which then vibrates to create sound. It's possible the Z5 relies on a similar technology, or bone conduction technology found in many headphones and some smartphones.
Aside from the front-facing camera and ambient light sensors, the other components that are typically found on the front of smartphones are relatively easy to drag-and-drop to different locations. For example, the speakers in the Z5 are likely bottom facing and the navigation controls are almost certainly software based. The question is whether or not it's worth having a true all-screen smartphone if it means there's no front-facing camera, ambient light sensors, or stereo speakers.
The question is whether or not it's worth having a true all-screen smartphone if it means there's no front-facing camera, ambient light sensors, or stereo speakers.
Absolutely NOT!
Until Apple does it, then it is a must-have and an obvious requirement.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
I'd rather have a good earpiece, not some crap workaround that uses the entire phone face as a speaker. I TALK on the phone, more than I use it as a pocket computer, so I want it not to sound like junk. What's the big deal about a 1/4" stripe without a display on top and bottom. It's a functional device, not artwork, for G-d's sake.
"Earpiece behind the screen" or "bone conduction" will always sound like utter shit compared to a good-quality earpiece speaker. Why sacrifice sound quality for bragging rights about screen size? Stupid. If you don't want the "phone" function, get a damn tablet and STFU.
Exactly. Give me a nice "third world" phone (Samsung J1 or J3, Moto G4 Play or G5) with removable battery, SD card. May be homely, but at least I'm not forced to buy a new phone every year by the planned-obsolescent unfixable design.
Cause the pictures show a big black "notch" that goes all the way across the screen.
You must've been looking at a different image than I was - the one I saw was definitely bezel-less. There was a mid-story link to another story about phones with notches, though.
In any case, I'm sure this one will be copying Apple's... price.
#DeleteChrome
Lenovo is the owner of Moto, the all American smartphone company that Google pumped and dumped after collaborating on the Nexus 6.
Have the front camera slide out from the top edge when in use.
If you don't have a bezelless phone, you don't have a bezelless phone.
But the key question remains unanswered: Why the fuck would I want that?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Maybe I am the exception, but none this is what I want in a smarthphone. I want standard physical buttons, I want a good front facing camera, I want a good speaker. I want a replacable battery. I want a longer battery life. I want a headphone socket. I want an easy to replace glass screen.
The size of the screen is not what is the most important.
But what I do NOT want is a curved screen or edge to edge screen that makes the screen more fragile and breakable. The screen is the most vulnarable part of the device so the primary design should be to protect the screen with edges and sides to cover the screen.
For illogical reasons, the "flagship" phones seem headed in the direction of form over function.
I think form over function is in the rear view mirror. I have an iPhone X and while it's a good device overall, some of the hardware design decisions are baffling. Starting with Apple's pursuit of thin at all costs. I would MUCH rather have a phone twice as thick with a bigger battery and a better camera both of which are largely precluded by making each device thinner than the last. They removed the TouchID for FaceID but there are a lot of circumstances where TouchID works better and it would have been nice to still have it even if relocated. The notch seems to me to be pure marketing BS with little actual utility. I don't personally care about the 3.5mm jack but many do and Apple provided no option for pass through connections in their Lightning interface so you can plug in your headphones or plug in power but not both at the same time.
Give me a larger, replaceable battery, not some phone that's hard to not drop.
I don't care about a the fact that the battery is built in but I think there is a better solution. Most of my complaints could have been solved if Apple provided an well designed expansion interface for cases. Think about a battery case with variants for stuff like better speakers or a 3.5mm jack or TouchID or cameras or other add ons would solve a lot of problems. Honestly I think Apple (and others) are leaving money on the table by ignoring cases as a tightly integrated expansion device rather than the afterthought they treat it as today. Keep the built in battery but make an option for cases to provide features missing.
I don't want a phone which makes it hard to not "fat finger" an unintentional/undisired change due to touching a screen edge,
The iPhone X screen goes pretty close to the edge of the device and in every day use the lack of a bezel hasn't proven to be a real world problem for me. I understand the concern but my take is try it before judging. For me at least the smaller form factor while maximizing screen size turned out to be a huge win. Your mileage may vary of course but I suspect you will find it to be less of an issue than you fear.
People use it for video chatting as well.
The future is here!