You can expect a device with rounded corners and--at least when playing games--a horizontal display.
Instead, Kindle 2 mimics the rounded corners and white simplicity of an Apple device.
The phone has a solid feel, with a durable hinge and comfortable rounded corners.
This is how Apple can now lay claim to a patent on a rectangle with rounded corners.
FORBES: If Apple Can Copy Braun Then Why Can't Samsung Copy Apple?
It's a stubby little thing with well-rounded corners and a clearly defined bezel around the 7-inch display.
ENGADGET: Barnes & Noble's Nook HD 7-inch Android tablet, hands-on (video)
The case even extends to whether the device and its on-screen icons are allowed to have rounded corners.
It has the iPad's rounded corners and dark black frame around the screen.
For example, Apple has been granted a patent on a mobile device which is rectangular in shape and has rounded corners.
FORBES: Is This Apple Abusing The Patent System Or The USPTO Abusing It?
The statement added that it was "unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners".
Up to and including the idea of a rectangle with rounded corners.
It runs contrary to the design obsessed Apple, which wants to sell you rounded corners as much as it does actual abilities.
Or, dare I say it, whatever glitch it was in the system that allowed Apple to patent a rectangular shape with rounded corners.
How much of a legal leap is it from the assertion of owning squares with rounded corners to asserting that we own the rectangle?
Rounded corners give them a slimmer form factor for reduced desktop space, while LED lights at the bottom of the drives indicate their operation status.
ENGADGET: Samsung spices up the USB 3.0 hard drive party with three new models
Samsung argued that Apple could not claim the rights for all rectangles with rounded corners or other basic geometric designs used for phones and tablets.
FORBES: Apple Delivers Crushing Blow to Google in Patent Dispute; Ghost of Steve Jobs?
's BlackBerry Torch, a smartphone that uses grids of images to represent its applications, but the images are not set in uniform squares with rounded corners.
But HTML has at last evolved into HTML5 (and CSS3), which allow web designers to use custom fonts, gradients, rounded corners and transitions, among other uses.
When someone is able to ban production of something simply because it is rectangular with rounded corners then the balance between encouraging original innovation and secondary innovation seems to have been upset.
FORBES: Links 22 August: The Smartphone Patent Fight Fight Fight
It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies.
FORBES: Samsung Slides 7% In Korean Trading On Apple Verdict
But they are about minor details of the implementation of how you build and operate a smartphone (well, OK, rectangles with rounded corners aside) not about the very concept of one at all.
"There are lots of external design similarities between the iPhone and Galaxy S, such as rounded corners and large screens... but these similarities had been documented in previous products, " a judge at the Seoul Central District Court was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.
The curved edges and rounded-off corners mean it'll never dig into your palm when you're holding it one-handed.
ENGADGET: MSI Slidebook S20 review: MSI's flagship Windows 8 Ultrabook has a flawed design
Other features such as the brushed aluminum barrel hinges, metallic trim and rounded edges and corners shows the attention to detail given to this fashionable new line.
ENGADGET: Gateway trots out bargain-minded 15.6-inch MD Series notebooks
As for the home screen, apps will no longer have gloss, shadows and shine applied to the icons, but their corners will remain rounded.
应用推荐