Bar the glaringly obvious curvature of the device, thanks to the flexible OLED screen, you could be wondering what the Samsung Galaxy Round has to offer that previous Samsung phones do not. Indeed, the Galaxy S4 is still the company's flagship handset in many countries, so, having come along five months later, is the Round more than just a gimmick?
Its initial release is for Korea only - you won't be able to get your hands on it just yet - but we decided to stack the Galaxy Round up against the Galaxy S4 to see if it's worth your waiting for a global rollout, or whether you should just go ahead and get the S4 right now.
Screen
Apart from the curved display, which Samsung claims gives the user a "comfortable hand grip feeling", the Galaxy Round does trump its older cousin in size. The Round's Super Flexible AMOLED display is 5.7-inches, while the Super AMOLED display of the Galaxy S4 is just 5-inches. In size, therefore, the Round is more akin to a Galaxy Note 3 than the S4.
They are both Full HD 1920 x 1080 displays which should actually mean that the S4 will look a touch sharper because of its size. It boasts 441 pixels per inch while the Round settles for 386ppi.
Power under the hood
In terms of processor, the Round wins again. It features the latest chipset from Qualcomm, a quad-core 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800. The 4G LTE version of the Galaxy S4 sports a quad-core 1.9GHz Snapdragon 600 processor and the non-4G edition, a 1.6GHz octa-core Exynos 5 CPU. However, we discount the latter as the Round is a 4G handset so it better matches the former.
The Round also features 3GB of RAM in preference to the S4's 2GB.
Storage
When it comes to variety, the Galaxy S4 actually takes one here as the Round is only available with 32GB of on-board storage. The Galaxy S4 is available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models. Both can be expanded through an optional microSD card by up to a further 64GB.
Read: Samsung Galaxy S4 review
Taking those family shots
Both smartphones have 13-megapixel rear-facing cameras with flash and all the clever software that Samsung likes to offer. And their front-facing cameras are identical too - 2-megapixel.
Android flavour
The Galaxy Round comes with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean from the box which, among many other things, ensures that it is compatible with the Samsung Galaxy Gear, the company's recently released Android-powered smartwatch. The Galaxy S4, however, is currently on Android 4.2.2, although Samsung plans an over-the-air update this month to bring it up to speed.
Colours
When it comes to style, bar funky and unusual handset shapes, the Galaxy S4 wins hands-down. The Samsung Galaxy Round is available in just one colour: brown. The Galaxy S4 has a myriad of differently coloured variants available around the world. As well as the black and white handsets released at launch, there are blue, purple, red, brown and pink versions knocking about.
Plus, you can choose from a variety of coloured S View covers to adorn your phone. And there are even fancy pantsy fashion designer cases too.
Conclusion
Seemingly, thanks to its size and power, the Galaxy Round does offer more than just a curvy body. But until we have one in our hands we still wonder what the point of the curved screen actually is. A curved OLED TV, such as the ones we've seen at CES, is curved horizontally in order to aid field of vision when watching a movie or the like. A curved screen vertically, we're not so sure.
It's an experiment for sure, but with the S4's price decreasing all the while, by the time the Round comes to these shores you'll probably find the current handset a far more appealing choice.