Samsung Galaxy Note Edge heading to the UK but would I buy one?

I will be the first to admit that I was excited by the prospect of the Edge becoming real and official. Now that my gadgety giddiness has subsided, would I actually go out and buy one?

First, the good news. Vodafone is bringing the Note Edge to these shores, which is pretty cool.

For those unsure why this is cool, then, here goes. You know the Galaxy Note 4 phablet? Well, the Note Edge is like that but with one side of the screen curved around which gives you one more surface to play with than other smartphones.

You see, that extra bit of screen can be used to display notifications and app shortcuts whilst you use the phone, or when you’re lying in bed and the phone is on your bedside table it can display a clock which you can read without raising your lazy head.

Vodafone has added the handset to its coming soon area on the company blog, so why aren’t I overwhelmed by a need to splash my cash?

Granted, the £650 SIM free price I have heard being bandied about does take a slight edge (sorry) off things. But, in a rare moment of using head over heart, it stands to reason why such a purchase should be approached with caution.

I was initially drawn by its unusual looks – some of my previous phones were bought solely for their design, or over-design for that matter. I am looking at you Motorola V70. The thing is, the more I think about that little strip of screen, the more I ask myself “how useful is it actually going to be?”.

Even though Samsung has released an SDK (software development kit) for the feature, so that developers can build it into their apps, how many apps are actually going to support it?

Word is that over a billion Android devices will be sold this year, how many are going to be the Note Edge given that this was first pinned to be a limited edition effort? This will obviously set off one of those hard-to-break loops – developers won’t develop for this limited feature for a limited audience and people won’t buy a Note Edge because there’s no special features to show off how natty that side screen is. That means the developers won’t develop for this limited feature for a limited… you get the idea.

Also, there’s the inherent dodginess of first generation releases. Even though the Note Edge is a Note 4, the bit that makes it the Edge, ie the edge, is the first outing of the feature.

Sorry Samsung, I don’t think you’ve reeled me in on this one, just yet.

How about you good gadgety reader?

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