* Tablets are rectangular because LCDs are rectangular.
* Tablets have rounded corners and bezels because it's difficult to manufacture the unit if the screen extends right to the edges.
* Samsung has been touting "slimness" and "world's thinnest" on their phones for almost a decade.
* Samsung has also been doing "non-cluttered" for a long time, e.g. they partnered with Porsche Design back in 2002 for some designs.
* A black front panel and steel rim was common on phones before Apple entered the business. An example from 2006: [1]
The obsession with button counts is sort of understandable, because Apple did pioneer the single-button phone (and they did an amazing job with it).
But they're not going to stick with that same design forever. If Apple moves to a buttonless design as has been rumored, should Nokia sue them because the N9 got there first [2]? Of course not.
I have to agree with this point. Apple's patent policy seems to be to throw patents against the wall and hope something sticks. At the end of the day, there are a limited number of ways to design a device efficiently, so of course Samsung will take obvious steps like making a rectangular, flat phone. There are also certain types of aesthetics which will be more appealing to customers. Why should Apple hold a monopoly on intelligent design? Did they invent the concept of slimness or simplicity?
> * Tablets have rounded corners and bezels because it's difficult to manufacture the unit if the screen extends right to the edges.
Also, my guess is that sharp corners may cause injuries and poke holes in things when they fell / someone hits oneself with it. Another reason for there being no real obvious alternative.
Slightly unrelated, but I think Nokia N9 is a perfect example of a phone design that doesn't have a flat front surface. The screen part is slightly thicker than the rest.
That's the screen part. Tables are not all screen. They have the surrounding area (bezels), buttons etc.
"""* Tablets are rectangular because LCDs are rectangular."""
That's the screen part. You can easily make a design with rounded corners to look say like (_) (add a top edge in there). You could also just make a square tablet (there were several phones with square displays, pre-iPhone at least).
"""* Tablets have rounded corners and bezels because it's difficult to manufacture the unit if the screen extends right to the edges."""
What does "difficult" mean? It is also more difficult to make a unibody aluminum computer that a plastic, segmented body one, but Apple also does that. It is also harder to produce a "retina" display, but again the iPhone has one. And it's not even a screen extending to the edges is unheard of: Apple does it for the iMac and some MBP's IIRC.
"""* Samsung has been touting "slimness" and "world's thinnest" on their phones for almost a decade."""
They seem to promote everything at once to catch every tiny niche of the market. For example, here are the models they currently sell in the US:
Yeah, the value slimness alright. They also value big screens, small screens, colors, blacks and white, thick bricks, you name it, they've got it.
"""* Samsung has also been doing "non-cluttered" for a long time, e.g. they partnered with Porsche Design back in 2002 for some designs."""
See above.
But really it's not any one of the design decisions taken separately that's the WTF. Sure, you can go and support each and everyone of them.
It's the total sum of them that's the WTF. All design decisions being similar is not a coincidence, it's a copycat design.
And no, NO bloody tablet/phone design is so "eternal" that no one can produce something different. Amazon does. Even Apple will do it in a year or so, and the Samsung will copy that too.
* Tablets are flat because LCDs are flat.
* Tablets are rectangular because LCDs are rectangular.
* Tablets have rounded corners and bezels because it's difficult to manufacture the unit if the screen extends right to the edges.
* Samsung has been touting "slimness" and "world's thinnest" on their phones for almost a decade.
* Samsung has also been doing "non-cluttered" for a long time, e.g. they partnered with Porsche Design back in 2002 for some designs.
* A black front panel and steel rim was common on phones before Apple entered the business. An example from 2006: [1]
The obsession with button counts is sort of understandable, because Apple did pioneer the single-button phone (and they did an amazing job with it). But they're not going to stick with that same design forever. If Apple moves to a buttonless design as has been rumored, should Nokia sue them because the N9 got there first [2]? Of course not.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_6233 [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N9