The Samsung Galaxy Round is the world's first phone with a curved display, beating LG's rumored handset out of the gate.

But is this eye-catching device any better than the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 or the multi-million selling Samsung Galaxy S4?

Will the new design and the functionality that goes along with it improve the way we use a smartphone?

See how the Galaxy Round compares to the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy S4 below...

Samsung Galaxy Round vs Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy Note 3 - Design

The Galaxy Round is essentially a customized version of the existing Samsung Galaxy Note 3. But where the Note 3 has a flat 5.7-inch display, the Round features a concave 5.7-inch 1080p panel - the first of its kind in a commercial handset.

The back of the Round is also delicately curved, enabling various 'tilt'-activated functions when placed onto a table. You can tilt the phone to quick-peek at key lock screen info (i.e. date, time, missed calls), tilt to skip tracks or to browse through photos.

The eye-catching curved design makes a difference to the size and weight. The dimensions are almost the same - 151.1 x 79.6 x 7.9mm for the Round, 151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3mm for the Galaxy Note 3.

The Round, however, is noticeably lighter, tipping the scales at 154g compared to the 168g bulk of its forbear. It's just a guess at this point, but the curved design of the Round should make it more comfortable to hold than the Note 3.

Like the Galaxy Note 3, you'll struggle to fit the Round into a pocket - it's more tablet than traditional phone.

The flagship Samsung Galaxy S4 is still the smaller, lighter handset, measuring 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9mm and weighing 130g. Note how the Round matches the tiny waistline of the S4.

Finally, the Galaxy Round is initially available in what Samsung has dubbed 'luxury brown', while the Note 3 comes in black, white and pink hues.

Samsung Galaxy Round vs Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy Note 3 - Display

As previously mentioned, the Samsung Galaxy Round catches the eye with a curved 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixel) resolution.

It has the same technology, resolution and pixel density (386 PPI) as the Galaxy Note 3 and comes with the same S-Pen stylus for point-perfect touch control. Like the Note 3, the Round is also capable of running applications in multiple windows.

How do the two devices compare to the Samsung Galaxy S4? The S4's 5-inch screen is 0.7 inches smaller, but uses a similar 1080 x 1920 Super AMOLED panel that has a sky-high PPI rating of 440.6. The S4 also supports Samsung's Multi Window functionality.

Samsung Galaxy Round vs Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy Note 3 - Camera

Away from the curved display the Galaxy Round, Note 3 and Galaxy S4 match each other for imaging technology. All three feature a 13MP lens on the back and a 2MP front cam.

Features include autofocus, an LED flash, face and smile detection, HDR, image stabilisation, panorama mode and 1080p video recording, plus clever Dual Shot and simultaneous video/image capture modes.

Samsung Galaxy Round vs Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy Note 3 - Connectivity

With the Samsung Galaxy Round debuting in Korea, it comes with LTE-A (LTE Advanced) connectivity where the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S4 are equipped with LTE chipsets. It's the only core difference between the phones, which all boast 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC options.

Samsung Galaxy Round vs Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy Note 3 - Processor and software

Again, there are no surprises here - bar its curved display, the Galaxy Round is a variation on the Note 3, not a revamp.

Consequently, the Samsung Galaxy Round comes packing the same 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chip as its flatter brother, ably assisted by the Adreno 330 co-processor and 3MB of RAM - 1MB more than the S4.

The Galaxy Note 3 can support the Exynos 5 Octa 5410 silicon that was pegged for the Samsung Galaxy S4, so we'd expect the Galaxy Round to be just as flexible if it catches on with consumers.

In terms of software, expect to find Android 4.3 on all three phones.

Samsung Galaxy Round vs Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy Note 3 - Storage

Where the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy S4 are available in 16, 32 or 64GB capacities, the Samsung Galaxy Round comes in a take-it-or-leave-it 32GB option.

That said, it features the same microSD slot as the other two Samsung devices, enabling the storage to be boosted to as much as 96GB with the addition of a 64GB memory card.

Samsung Galaxy Round vs Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy Note 3 - Battery life

As far as battery life is concerned, the Galaxy Round seems to feature a smaller 2800mAh battery, compared to the 3200 mAh cell in the Galaxy Note 3. This is obviously a disadvantage of the new curvy design.

That said, the Galaxy Note 3 didn't gobble up battery life as expected, especially considering its 5.7-inch display. The Galaxy S4 hides a 2600mAh Li-Ion pack.

So performance should be similar - Samsung rates the Note 3 with a standby time of 420 hours and a talktime of 21 hours. Use the Round for email, web browsing, music playback and all the other things that a smartphone is capable of doing, and you'll easily get a day's use on a single charge.

Samsung Galaxy Round vs Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy Note 3 - Early verdict

Far from being a new super-phone, the Samsung Galaxy Round is essentially a curved-screen version of the Galaxy Note 3. Bar LTA-A and 14g of weight loss, the two tablet-phones are almost identical, differentiated by the Round's flexible screen and the tilt functionality that it enables.

The screen itself isn't any better (or worse) than existing displays and it's hard to see the populist value in the new design.

If Samsung had debuted a truly flexible display, we'd be clamoring to own one. As is, the Galaxy Round is hardly going to change the game.

• Why not check out our Galaxy Note 3 review? It's flat but built for power users.

OK, so gold phones are quickly coming close to being passe, but the HTC One Gold edition is something different: it's a proper 18ct gold edition.

Designed for the MOBO awards, the HTC One has been gold plated to deliver that 'hyperbling' experience that marks it out from the rest.

Apart from being the most reflective phone we've ever tried to photograph (and we've tried to do the same thing with chrome phones), the most remarkable thing about the handset is that it doesn't weight more than 4g more than the normal HTC One.

It's essentially the same device, although HTC did admit it was working out some of the connectivity issues that come with gold plating. However, thanks to its efforts into antenna reception in making the all-aluminium HTC One there are apparently no issues with getting a spot of 3G or 4G to play with.

So there you have it: it's an HTC One with the most bling-tastic covering you'll ever see. Don't hanker after it too much, as it not only costs £2700 to make, but sadly it's never going to see shop shelves. Well, sadly for those that have just sold a mid-sized coupe and feel the need to waste the cash, that is.

Have a break from stocking up on 200 Marlboro and enough whiskey to fell a small cow and grab yourself a cuddly Android KitKat from the duty free next time you go abroad.

OK, that's the plushware out of the way. Can we have the software now please?

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• Limited edition Gold HTC One trumps iPhone 5S and Galaxy S4
• Desks begone! 55-inch monitors new norm at Fox News

Find the rest of TechRadar's blips here.

In less than two weeks we're off to Abu Dhabi to see what Nokia has been teasing us all about - will it be the first Windows Phone with a quad-core processor and full HD display?

What we're hoping for, and almost expecting, is the announcement of the rumoured 6-inch Nokia Lumia 1520 and new details emerging today via NokiaPoweruser sheds some more light on what we might see.

A questionable screenshot was posted on Twitter claiming to be taken from the Open Mobile Alliance, and according to this listing it "confirms" the Nokia Lumia 1520 name, as well as that much talked about display.

Full HD on its way

The good news is the screenshot shows that the Lumia 1520 will come packing a Full HD, 1080 x 1920 screen, which will be sure to excite the many movie loving enthusiasts. This puts it on par with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, albeit a whole 0.3 inches larger.

With the Nokia Sirius tablet also heavily rumoured, the Lumia 1520 might well be the sign of things to come after the Finnish brand merged with Microsoft.

For full details of the launch you'll have to check back with us on October 22, but in the mean time why not check out everything that we know about the Nokia Lumia 1520 so far? Go on, you know you want to.

Update: Samsung official announced the Galaxy Round, straight-up declaring it to be the world's first smartphone with a curved display.

It's anything but straight, though. The concave phone has a unique 5.7-inch AMOLED screen, which makes it the same size as the recently launched flat Galaxy Note 3.

Of course, even if you're due for a Galaxy handset upgrade, Samsung has thrown a bit of a curveball when it coming to buying the Galaxy Round. So far it's only going to be available in the company's home territory, South Korea, on Oct 10.

Until Samsung announces the Galaxy Round for other regions (if it ever does), the rest of the world can be memorized, or perplexed by this video of the phone's wobble effect.

Previous story...

Samsung's curved smartphone may be around the bend, as new high-resolution promotional photos allegedly show what the rumored Galaxy Round smartphone looks like.

The unconfirmed handset we see here appears similar to company's Galaxy S4, judging from the two images from evleaks. The only (major) different is the display sports a noticeable inward curve on its vertical axis.

This backs up recent comments from Samsung executives that teased a curved smartphone set to be announced in October.

It also correlates to the SM-G910S mystery device that was discovered to have gone through testing a week ago.

What a curve could do for you

Nobody seems to be holding off on buying devices like the iPhone 5S and Galaxy S4 because of their flat high-definition screens. So what's the point of a curved display?

Well, Samsung could make a virtually unbreakable screen in a world where countless smartphone owners have had to replace or live with cracked screens.

T-Mobile even based its upgrade twice a year Jump plan advertisements around consumers getting stuck with broken devices for the duration of a two-year contract.

A curved screen, never touching the ground even if the handset falls face-down, could decrease the number of busted phones out there.

Samsung also has reason to make its curved phone concept a reality sooner rather than later. LG is producing curved OLEDs too and is rumored to be launching the LG Z1.

• Read our Galaxy Note 3 review. It's flat but built for Samsung power users.