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Samsung's kookiest smartphones ever (pictures)

Never shy about taking design risks, Samsung has come out with some...inventive smartphone designs in the recent past, some more successful than others.

Jessica Dolcourt
Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Commerce & Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Commerce, How-To and Performance Optimization. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began leading CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).
Jessica Dolcourt
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1 of 10 Sarah Tew/CNET

Samsung's phone design experiments

In a world of cell phone sameness, it's hard to stand out. Yet Samsung, above all other phone-makers, seems to take special pride and joy in doing different, even if it's only to do different.

Editors' note: This story originally published on October 14, 2013, and was last updated on September 18, 2014.

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2 of 10 Sarah Tew/CNET

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge

Take the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge. A bend in the right side of the screen shows off a neat waterfall effect, one that might actually have some practical use. This rounded rim will highlight shortcuts, widgets, and menu options for a whole heap of apps, and it contextually changes depending on what you're doing.

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3 of 10 Sarah Tew/CNET

Samsung Galaxy Note 4

By the fourth time around, the Samsung Galaxy Note series isn't so large or out of place. In fact, it's helped popularize a whole new category of phone. Not so in its early days, when the then-monstrous 5.3-inch behemoth with a throwback stylus didn't know if it wanted to be a phone or a tablet or a digital-art pad. It didn't help that the old-school stylus had problems with sensitivity and accuracy.

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4 of 10 Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom

Remember the half-camera, half-phone that was the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom? It's baaaack. Sort of. 2014's Samsung Galaxy K Zoom is a less bulbous sharp-shooter than last year's attempt, but the smartphone-camera hybrid is still awkward and has limited appeal, despite the promise of an optical zoom lens.

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5 of 10 Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Round

The Samsung Galaxy Round may have been the first smartphone to feature an arched display beneath its surface, but it wasn't as well distributed as its chief rival, the LG G Flex, which bends in the opposite direction, from top to toe, rather than from side to side like the Round. And while you can't rock it to sleep, you can rock it awake.

Samsung Galaxy Beam 2
6 of 10 Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Beam 2

The niche Samsung Galaxy Beam 2 inserts a projector into the top of the phone, so you can beam videos, photos, and presentations onto a wall, wherever you are.

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7 of 10 Josh Miller/CNET

Samsung Galaxy Beam

The Beam 2 is the slimmer, sleeker sequel to the Samsung Galaxy Beam, which, when it debuted in summer 2012, was a brighter, boxier midrange Android with a yield-sign-yellow, sporty-chic finish.

Samsung Hennessy
8 of 10 Samsung

Samsung Hennessy

I still haven't had a chance to go hands-on with the Samsung Hennessy, but believe me, I really, really want to. This crazy dual-screen handset for China puts Android on both sides of a retro clamshell design.

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9 of 10 Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Golden

South Koreans wanting Android inside and out will get the Samsung Galaxy Golden, which one-ups the Hennessy when it comes to both the size of its two Android screens and its internal specs.

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10 of 10 Sarah Tew/CNET

Samsung Galaxy S Lightray 4G

What's that thing, right there, sticking up from that phone? Oh, yes, ladies and gents, it's exactly what you think. The antenna made a grandiose return in August 2012's Samsung Galaxy S Lightray 4G for MetroPCS. The pluses? The Lightray offered streaming digital TV and 4G. Unfortunately, the big, clunky, outdated phone only served up four channels.

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