Samsung Galaxy Note Edge - Review

Samsung first turned the world on its ear when it first introduced the mammoth Galaxy Note back in 2011. Though mocked at first, the Note series sold, and now everyone from HTC and Nokia to Apple is making phablets, and phones are almost never smaller than 4.7 inches.
Although Samsung recently expanded the lineup with the Note 4 this past September, the company is also bending its horizons with another new and risky innovation: the Galaxy Note Edge, a phone with a screen that literally spills over onto its side.
The first time I saw the Galaxy Note Edge, I thought it was cool, but couldn’t really imagine why it’d be useful. Most dismissed it as a gimmick, but others raved about it. After living on the Edge for a few days, I realized that Samsung has struck gold again.
An extra bit of flair
Just like the recently released Note 4, the Note Edge has a Super AMOLED screen with a Quad HD resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. It’s slightly smaller, coming in at 5.6 inches instead of 5.7 inches, even with the added edge. As such, the pixel density is a tad higher and the extra curved edge adds 160 pixels to the width. Overall, the Note Edge has a fantastic screen, though pixel purists will quibble that the colors are oversaturated.
The Note Edge has an aluminum metal frame just like the Note 4, but it’s coated with magnesium. That makes it feel more plasticky, but it’s also grippier, which is definitely a good thing when you’re trying to hold on to such a large phone. I liked the way the curved edges felt in my hand, but I was always conscious of trying not to curl my fingers around the edge and accidentally touch one of the apps located on the panel.
Unique screen aside, the Note Edge has almost all the same specifications as the Note 4. It’s powered by the same 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor from Qualcomm and 3GB of RAM. Samsung packed 32GB of storage into the device, which you can expand with a MicroSD card up to 128GB. Like the Note 4, the Edge has a heart-rate monitor, fingerprint sensor, and S-Pen.
For a risky experiment, the Galaxy Note Edge sure is expensive.
In benchmark tests, the Note Edge proved to be a touch slower than the standard Note 4. It managed a score of 24,898 in the Quadrant benchmark, which fell just below the Note 4’s score of 25,781. The 3D Mark Ice Storm Unlimited test yielded similar results, with the Edge coming in at 19,951 and the Note 4 hitting 20,667.
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