Abstract: A couple of years ago, the smartphone manufacturers were busy pushing the boundaries to create the thinnest devices possible. When their obsession with the thickness lost heat, they began looking for something new. While it can be said with certainty that companies had been putting their efforts into creating the devices with smallest possible bezels for years, the real outcome of those efforts is now being seen.
Then came the notch. A notch is essentially a cut-out, at the top, of a part of the screen display. Its advantage: It offers the ability to retain the display space on either side of it, for information such as date, battery statistics and more, and for apps.
The notch is the outcome of two trends. The first is the shift towards minimal bezels—most of the phones launched since 2017 have had thinner frames around the display, so they are more compact—and phone makers can increase display size. This makes the phone an even better productivity device, since the extra display space can be particularly useful with apps such as document editors, or sharing screen space among two apps.
Second, phone makers have also made the shift to taller screens with a 18:9 aspect ratio. Shaving off the bezels further would mean there is no space left for hardware, such as front-facing cameras, speakers and sensors. These sensors then have to be connected to the main circuit-board. Optical and audio hardware can’t be placed just anywhere either, or neither will work as expected.
Phone makers, then, were left with two options. Either stop reducing bezel thickness and leave enough space for the hardware or cut away a part of the display to find space for the hardware.
Concept PIXEL ZERO is an attempt to achieve full screen-to-body ratio smartphone with current technological limitations .The notch has been separated from the screen by incorporating slide mechanism, where the front facing camera and other sensors are hidden behind the screen on a separate panel.One has to slide open the back panel in order to access the front camera and other equipment like IR scanner module. The front camera module is placed at an angle for better ergonomics while taking selfies and unlocking the phone.
Published in YANKO DESIGN
