Phone Bezels

TL;DR : Sorted from best to worst, not counting the intro.

Introduction

Since phone bezels have plenty of variations, here's where I write my phone bezel preferences.

Some short snippet of how I value stuff here :

• Landscape grip - the common grip when playing most games.
• Privacy mods - the best mod for this one is a mod you don't do. Failing that, it's either the obvious solution of sticky tapes or covering up the camera from the inside.
A questionable example for covering the camera from the inside would be to paint the camera. It works, but it's risky - you could break the camera, & you'll need to change it if you want to use the front camera.

• Aesthetics - how the entire front looks overall.

Gaming phones

The bezel type commonly found on gaming phone such as ROG, BlackShark, & also found on some normie phones such as LG V30 & Pixel 2 XL. Thin at the sides, with thicker top & bottom bezels (for gaming phones & Pixel 2 XL, they also feature a cutout for the front-facing speakers). The front camera can be found on the top bezel, along with an earpiece (and/or one of the speakers) & some sensors.

Offers the best balance between landscape grip, mods, & aesthetics.

• The landscape grip's fine enough to keep you from accidentally touching the sides without any issues, but may not lend enough place for the hands to rest on (for those with larger hands, that is).
• In terms of privacy mods (concern for front camera), it's not quite compatible with most traditional covers, but tape is still feasible.
• As for aesthetics, nothing to interfere with the display, but the "thick" bezels might put off cyber-normies. By thick, I mean thick for the current era, where manufacturers nowadays push thin top bezels.

16:9 (Sony)

The bezel type commonly found on Sony phones prior to XZ2, as well as Razer's phones. Speaker cut-outs on top & bottom, accompanied with a front camera on top (and probably some sensors).

Offers the best landscape grip & modifications, but kinda falls at aesthetics (for the normies, at least).

• The landscape grip's the best - plenty of space to rest your hand on. Speakers can only be covered on purpose, so there's that as well.
• In terms of privacy mods (concern for front camera), it's completely compatible with tape & most selfie camera covers.
• As for aesthetics, nothing to interfere with the display, but the THICC (by normie standards) top & bottom bezels will keep the normies away. Also, the top & bottom have speaker cutouts, which is nice IMO.

Zenfone 6

Also known as the thin bezel found on phone with flipping cameras (Zenfone 6, 7 series) / ones with pop-up cameras (Redmi K20 series, Poco F2 "Pro"). Just an earpiece slit up top, with some sensors hidden on the top bezel.

Offers the best mods (the best privacy mods on a display are no mods) & aesthetics, in return for some comproised landsape grip. With under-display cameras, get ready to dig into your phone.

• The landscape grip's fine enough to keep you from accidentally touching one side without much issue, but you'll have to be careful of the thinner side.
• No privacy mods required, unless you're also concerned with the rear camera - at which point you could just cover the camera without having any tack-ons on the display. However, if under-display front camera is present, get ready to dig into your phone & cover that sensor from inside, because whatever tape you're planning to attach on that camera will also cover up the display.
• As for aesthetics, nothing to interfere with the display.

16:9 (without buttons)

Found on the 1st Pixel phones, they are similar to their 16:9 bezel types, except that the bottom's an empty waste of space.

Offers the best landscape grip & modifications, but kinda falls at aesthetics (for the normies, at least).

• The landscape grip's the best - plenty of space to rest your hand on. Even better than the previous one, considering that the other big bezel's wasted space.
• In terms of privacy mods (concern for front camera), it's completely compatible with tape & most selfie camera covers.
• As for aesthetics, nothing to interfere with the display (except if the manufacturer stamps some branding or speaker cutout on either bezel), but the THICC (by normie standards) top & bottom bezels will keep the normies away.

16:9 (with buttons)

Similar to Sony's 16:9, but replaces the bottom speaker cutout with capacitive buttons (and fingerprint scanner that doubles as a Home button for OnePlus models before the 5T, as well as Samsung up to Note 7/FE).

Offers good modifications, but kinda falls at aesthetics (for the normies, at least). The landscape grip is half good, half crap.

• The landscape grip's half good, half crap - plenty of space to rest your hand on (for the side without buttons). As for the sides with the button, you might want to either find a way to disable the buttons while gaming, or readjust your grip.
• In terms of privacy mods (concern for front camera), it's completely compatible with tape & most selfie camera covers.
• As for aesthetics, nothing to interfere with the display (except if the manufacturer stamps their branding up the top bezel?), but the THICC (by normie standards) top & bottom bezels will keep the normies away.

Notched

Zenfone 6 thin bezels, but with a notch containing the front camera & other stuff (sensors, earpiece / second speaker).

Offers decent aesthetics, although mods get harder, depending on the notch size. Also, the landscape grip could get compromised on the notched side, depending on how thin the top bezel is.

• The landscape grip's fine enough to keep you from accidentally touching one side without much issue, but you'll have to be careful of the thinner notched side.
• Cutting a tape to cover the front camera is challenging. Alternatively, you could cover the camera from the inside, & it won't look as obvious as when you're doing it with a punch-hole display.
• The notch cuts into the display. On OLED panels, hiding it might not look obvious.

Under-display camera

Zenfone 6 thin bezels, but with the front camera hidden beneath the display. A part of the display (within the camera's region) will look worse (will be fixed in future iterations), & you can't cover the front camera from the outside, but at least covering it from the inside won't look as obvious when compared to the punch-hole.

Everything is similar to the punch-hole below & the Zenfone 6 above, except at least covering the front cam from the inside won't look obvious.

Punch-hole

Zenfone 6 thin bezels, but the front camera is cut into the display. Whoever made this punch-hole fad deserves 10,000 deaths.

Everything's similar to the Zenfone 6 above, but with a hole that interrupts the display. It's less natural than a notch.

• The only privacy mod you can do for this one is to cover the camera from the inside, & even then, it'll look obvious. Good luck cutting a tape for this one, if you don't want to get the repair tools out.
• That punch hole is constantly visible. Depending on the punch hole position, it will also cut into your game.

Phone recommendations

Index - cellphone

Main Page