Trend - Notch In Top of Screen - Good or Bad?

consultant · Dec 11, 2018

Now I know anyone with the latest greatest $900 Smartphone is going to be biased on this one, but I was thinking about the notch on the top of the screens in these new phones and I am wondering if they are actually more of a negative than a positive?

Based on the screenshots I've seen, it looks like the status/notification icons on these screens then get divided to either side of the notch? Obviously this would me less room to display these icons. I don't know about you but I typically have a ton of these displaying at any one time and they are mostly giving me useful status info. They wouldn't all fit sometimes with the notch there?!

I think there's the option to mask the notch, in that I think that basically turns off the screen display to either side of the notch and moves the status icons down below the notch where they used to be.

This trend of trying to squeeze as much display space on the phone as possible seems to me more of a marketing gimmick than something that's actually improving the functionality of the phone. Reminds me of how digital camera manufacturers kept upping the number of megapixels when in reality they were degrading the picture quality in some instances as the higher density sensors had more noise in the images.

Now if there's the option to basically still have the same row of status icons BELOW the notch, all the way across the screen, and not turn off the display to either side, then you could use the display to either side for things like a clock and maybe other information, or special wider icons. Do these phones have that option to move the status bar down but keep the screen on to either side of the notch?

Hadron · Dec 11, 2018

The "notch" is a temporary trend to create the impression of an "all screen" phone. I say temporary because it's already clear that next year it will be replaced by displays with a small hole for a camera, and we've also seen other alternative designs appear (pop-up camera, slider, display on the back so you can use the rear camera for selfies/video calls and do away with the front camera). My own guess is that in 2 years' time Android phones with a notch will be history, one way or another, and even this time next year they will look old-fashioned (especially large notches like the Pixel 3XL).

For phones that have a notch, the option to "mask" the notch simply turns the display either side black. It does not move the status or notification icons down, so you still have restricted space for the icons, it just makes the black cut-out less visible. There isn't an option to create a second row for notifications, and you are the first person I've seen suggest it (personally it's not something I would want at all).

consultant · Dec 11, 2018

Hadron said:
For phones that have a notch, the option to "mask" the notch simply turns the display either side black. It does not move the status or notification icons down

If turning the screen to either side of the notch off doesn't move the status icons down, where do they go?

no one · Dec 11, 2018

Can't say if it's good or bad. I do not like it one bit though.

consultant · Dec 11, 2018

Was Apple the first major brand to do it on a flagship phone on the iPhone X? I remember all the TV advertising for it. It's typical herd mentality that all the other manufacturers follow suit - whatever Apple does is "cool" to the consumers so we better follow suit. Marketing trumps functionality.

lvt · Dec 11, 2018

There are launchers that can create a fake black row at the top of the screen to hide that notch

mikedt · Dec 11, 2018

consultant said:
Was Apple the first major brand to do it on a flagship phone on the iPhone X? I remember all the TV advertising for it. It's typical herd mentality that all the other manufacturers follow suit - whatever Apple does is "cool" to the consumers so we better follow suit. Marketing trumps functionality.

I remember Samsung's TV advertising as well.

But Samsung is one of the very few Android phone manufacturers that's refrained from notches, so far...

consultant · Dec 12, 2018

lvt said:
There are launchers that can create a fake black row at the top of the screen to hide that notch

I'm wondering what the reasoning behind that would be. Seems it's just purely an aesthetic decision based on personal taste? The only reason I would do that on a "notch phone" would be if I needed more room for the status bar being all the way across instead of divided by the notch. Not to "hide" the notch. I definitely think Apple's iPhone X is the main driver. The notch becomes like a status badge that it's a flagship phone like the iPhone X.

lvt · Dec 12, 2018

consultant said:
I'm wondering what the reasoning behind that would be. Seems it's just purely an aesthetic decision based on personal taste? The only reason I would do that on a "notch phone" would be if I needed more room for the status bar being all the way across instead of divided by the notch. Not to "hide" the notch. I definitely think Apple's iPhone X is the main driver. The notch becomes like a status badge that it's a flagship phone like the iPhone X.

I think the notch is not for everyone, especially screen manufacturers, but they have no choice because almost all major phone brands have phones with notches, you can't make a phone without front camera and ambient light sensor.

consultant · Dec 12, 2018

lvt said:
I think the notch is not for everyone, especially screen manufacturers, but they have no choice because almost all major phone brands have phones with notches, you can't make a phone without front camera and ambient light sensor.

I think they do have a choice... The choice is not to extend the screen up past the front camera.

It sounds like you are equating the word "notch" that we are using here in the thread to mean the area on the phone where the front camera is. While that is true, what we really are referring to as "notch" is a cutout in the top of the screen.

Hadron · Dec 12, 2018

consultant said:
If turning the screen to either side of the notch off doesn't move the status icons down, where do they go?

They stay right there. They just display on a black background rather than on the wallpaper.

Here's an example (LG G7), normal on the right, masked on the left:

Hadron · Dec 12, 2018

consultant said:
Was Apple the first major brand to do it on a flagship phone on the iPhone X? I remember all the TV advertising for it. It's typical herd mentality that all the other manufacturers follow suit - whatever Apple does is "cool" to the consumers so we better follow suit. Marketing trumps functionality.

The Essential PH-1 beat Apple to it by several months. But they used a very narrow notch for a single camera, whereas Apple used a wide one for the two widely-separated Face ID cameras.

Hadron · Dec 12, 2018

consultant said:
It sounds like you are equating the word "notch" that we are using here in the thread to mean the area on the phone where the front camera is. While that is true, what we really are referring to as "notch" is a cutout in the top of the screen.

Yes, that is exactly what people mean when they talk about the "notch": a cutout on top of the screen containing at least the camera, sometimes other sensors and the earpiece speaker as well.

As for why, I don't think it's simply "copying" Apple (some of the notched phones were definitely in development before Apple released theirs, and Apple weren't actually the first to do this). It's to create the impression of filling more of the front with the screen. Apple may have "legitimised" the idea to an extent, but it was already coming. And it does create more usable screen space in that it moves the signal, battery, wifi indicators and clock higher up on the phone, leaving more space beneath free, at the cost of having a dead space in the middle. But as I say, it's a transient thing, and will go away (at least in Android) before very long.

consultant · Dec 12, 2018

Ahh, I see how it works. That makes sense. It's essentially a trade off for slightly more screen real estate and the expense of losing about 1/3 of the available area for the status icons.

lvt · Dec 12, 2018

Hadron said:
They stay right there. They just display on a black background rather than on the wallpaper.

Here's an example (LG G7), normal on the right, masked on the left:

It definitely looks better without the notch

Trend - Notch In Top of Screen - Good or Bad?

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