That analogy got me too... A better analogy would be to put a piece of duct tape over the top of your windshield so you can see less. The notch just eliminates some of the viewable area of the rectangular screen.

The notch, IMHO, is simply bad design. The small bit of screen to the right and left of the notch is essentially useless. The notch itself is barely more than a marketing gimic.

Ironically, screen real estate is being lost. I used to use my status bar to display additional information about my device, namely, network traffic speeds (don’t remember what the app was called that displayed it).

The top row of the screen becomes less functional for the sake of a gain so small the users wouldn’t notice it if it weren’t highlighted by the notch’s presence. I use nearly the full width of my status bar routinely, giving up the middle third of that is lost functionality.

The notch is not utilitarian like a side view mirror. The notch is a purposeful design element meant to allow a uselessly tiny amount of extra screen real estate be squeezed into the phone. The notch is a visual clue that you have gone so far as to compromise in other areas in the name of maximizing screen/body ratio…

I think the need to eliminate the bezel has gone past its logical conclusion. As it stands, my phone already has such a small bezel that it’s hard to swipe the screen edges with a case on. I guess Samsung is getting my next phone purchase, again.

Does this really measure reliability though? There’s no mention of major repairs or engine/tranny replacements. Anything can run for 200k miles if you throw enough money at it. Well anything except a Fiat anyway.