Understanding the Relationship between User’s Subjective Feeling and the Degree of Side Curvature in Smartphone

Abstract

To develop a flexible display, smartphones with edge screens with curved displays on both sides of the main screen have been used widely. Considering that small differences in the form of smartphones, such as length, width, and thickness, could affect user experience, the effects of the curvature of the edge screen should be identified. This study aimed to investigate the effects of the curvature of edge screens on subjective feelings of smartphone users and to find out the optimal curvature. In the experiment, four nonfunctional samples with different radii of curvature (4R/6R/8R/10R) were used as samples, and participants evaluated the five subjective feelings: grip/control comfort, front/side visibility, and stability of the samples with four usage patterns. Our results revealed that 8R is the optimal curvature for the edge screen based on subjective feelings in smartphone usage. Moreover, the effect of the curvature of the edge screen on grip comfort and control comfort varied according to the usage patterns. The results of this study can be applied to design of the curvature of edge screens in smartphones and it is expected that it will contribute to improvement of users’ satisfaction.

The Advancement of Electronic Gadgets in 21st Century

“…These experiments revealed that 8R is an ideal radius to be used on curved displays and that most users felt most comfortable using the corresponding sample. [5] Edzer Huitema's work focuses on the different applications, along with alternatives and the current status of the world of technology for foldable phones. The paper gives a better understanding of foldable phones, and the different technologies it uses, as well as the different problems solved by it.…”

Structural and Optical Characteristics of Flexible Optically Rewritable Electronic Paper

“…Having defined the equation of the circle, we can calculate its derivative for the top and down arcs. Assuming that ϕ| x=0,1 = 0 and ϕ y=0,1 = 0 , one can plot the solution of Equation (5). Without loss of generality, we assume that the azimuthal angle distribution is periodic along the (x; y) plane with the unit period.…”

“…This device represents an electrode-free reflective liquid crystal (LC) optical shutter with photosensitive surface. In fact, flexible substrates have gained a significant attention in recent years, owing to their unprecedented properties, such as light-weight, low cost, small thickness, easy processing and popularity of the devices incorporating flexible components [3][4][5]. Several plastic materials, e.g., polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonate and polyethersulfone, have been explored as substrates for different applications [6,7].…”

Flexible Optically Rewritable Electronic Paper

“…One of these devices is flexible optically rewritable electronic paper (ORW e-paper), which is a reflective display with a photosensitive substrate coated by an azo dye layer with a thickness of 10-15 nm [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. This display technology has gained significant attention from scholars due to its light weight, low cost, small thickness and easy processing [12][13][14][15]. A shining example of the recent application of liquid crystals with photoalignment technology is the ProMotion display technology, used in iPad Pro displays [16].…”