I like the Notch. Do You?

[KaminKevCrew]

So, I like the notch on the top of some phone screens, and I'm curious about what others think. A lot of reviewers don't like them, but I do.

 

I should preface this with a statement that I don't like some notches. The notch in particular I'm referencing is the one on the LG G7 ThinQ. 

 

The reason I like the notch is that it allows me to have essentially a full size screen on the front of the phone with none of the drawbacks of the way that other phones do it. With the G7, the screen is a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Because of this extended ratio (over the currently more typical ratio of 18:9) I can watch movie aspect ratio videos without having the notch block any of the image. I don't really take that many photos or selfies on my phone so honestly, I could go for a full screen phone with no notch and no front facing camera without issue. However, most people cannot. The reason that I like the notch from a consumer standpoint is that it is (imo) the best compromise between screen to body ratio and moving parts. Moving parts fail. All of the phones (that I'm aware of) that currently have a full face screen, and no notch have some kind of actuator to move the selfie cam in and out of the body of the phone. That means that you have a moving part on a phone. The big advantage of current phones is that, aside from 3-5 buttons, there are no moving parts. That means that they're less likely to break than something with more moving parts. Adding something to the phone that moves is an invitation for disaster when you're trying to take a good selfie, and drop the phone. The notch (in the case of the G7) takes up the space that the notification bar would normally occupy. I tend to stay very up to date with my notifications, and as such, never have any in the middle of the screen. As such, I haven't actually missed anything by gaining a notch. 

 

So, I like the notch because I feel like I gain something at the cost of nothing. How do you feel?

[Guest]

I don't like it or hate it. It's there, I understand why it's there. I never watch anything on my phone, though if I did, I'm sure my opinion would be different.

[PlayStation 2]

Third option. Although admittedly, it doesn't bother me at all.

[jiyeon]

I just feel the whole notch thing is halting any progression in smart phone screens since it's essentially a meet-me-halfway between having a bezel-less phone and having the front camera and sensors.

[ARikozuM]

Doesn't matter to me, but I would like to see phones come with an option to ignore the screen near the notch when viewing landscape content. 

[Tabs]

34 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Doesn't matter to me, but I would like to see phones come with an option to ignore the screen near the notch when viewing landscape content. 

I've only got experience here of the iPhone X and no android notch devices, but this is the default landscape config for the iPhone X. You have to double tap or zoom to expand to fill the whole screen under the notch when viewing media.

 

I just assumed android devices worked the same way.

[ARikozuM]

2 minutes ago, Tabs said:

I've only got experience here of the iPhone X and no android notch devices, but this is the default landscape config for the iPhone X. You have to double tap or zoom to expand to fill the whole screen under the notch when viewing media.

People make it sound like the notch covers video content. I had no idea that was default. 

[dizmo]

I don't mind it at all, as long as it's well coded for. Which seems to be the case now. I honestly don't think it'll be around for long though. Maybe a couple of years at most.

I don't understand why people hate it. If you were to get rid of the notch, you'd just have a bigger device. It's not like it interferes with much. Maybe if you absolutely have to see a ton of notifications spread out across the top of your screen. The phones that let you hide the notch don't even move that information lower, they just black it out. I just see it as people who can't handle change being vocal.

 

1 hour ago, Densetsu said:

I don't like it or hate it. It's there, I understand why it's there. I never watch anything on my phone, though if I did, I'm sure my opinion would be different.

I don't think it really affects content unless you let it.

1 hour ago, MiNy said:

I just feel the whole notch thing is halting any progression in smart phone screens since it's essentially a meet-me-halfway between having a bezel-less phone and having the front camera and sensors.

Kinda. It let's companies show some improvement while they figure out how to bury everything else behind the display, which I can only imagine will cause a reduction in battery capacity

1 hour ago, ARikozuM said:

Doesn't matter to me, but I would like to see phones come with an option to ignore the screen near the notch when viewing landscape content. 

Most do, no?

[KaminKevCrew]

19 hours ago, ARikozuM said:

Doesn't matter to me, but I would like to see phones come with an option to ignore the screen near the notch when viewing landscape content. 

That's how the G7 handles it. AFAIK, there's no way to actually have content that will affect the notch on the G7 - the aspect ratio is sufficiently wide that even cinema aspect ratio films don't get interfered with by the notch.

19 hours ago, Tabs said:

I've only got experience here of the iPhone X and no android notch devices, but this is the default landscape config for the iPhone X. You have to double tap or zoom to expand to fill the whole screen under the notch when viewing media.

 

I just assumed android devices worked the same way.

Is that the case with wide aspect ratio media as well?

13 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Notch is there so we can keep the front camera and sensors

I don't hate the notch

I hate the front camera and sensors

 

Blackberry is pretty much the only company who will consider ditching front camera and sensors

If they can do that we will have a full screen device without fancy front camera workarounds that raise production and component cost. Leaving us with a less costly, yet beautiful and privacy minded phone.

I agree with that entirely. I personally only take selfies when my friends/family request one, so I generally use their phone. I like having a back camera, but I use the selfie cam once every couple hundred times, so I wouldn't be bothered by not having one.

[PlayStation 2]

13 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Notch is there so we can keep the front camera and sensors

I don't hate the notch

I hate the front camera and sensors

 

Blackberry is pretty much the only company who will consider ditching front camera and sensors

If they can do that we will have a full screen device without fancy front camera workarounds that raise production and component cost. Leaving us with a less costly, yet beautiful and privacy minded phone.

Well, the target market for, say, the iPhone X will likely be one that does take a lot of selfies. I know a lot of people here don't care for front cameras, but to be completely frank, it's a minority compared to the majority which does put the front camera to use.

[KaminKevCrew]

On 6/24/2018 at 1:13 PM, Dan Castellaneta said:

Well, the target market for, say, the iPhone X will likely be one that does take a lot of selfies. I know a lot of people here don't care for front cameras, but to be completely frank, it's a minority compared to the majority which does put the front camera to use.

While that's true, I think that's something that's pretty widely understood, and they were just voicing their own opinion on the matter.