Bezels are a necessary part of screens, although in some cases they actually detract from the overall design as they can be too thick. Over the years we’ve seen bezels shrink to the point where it’s almost invisible, but at the same time what this means is that manufacturers are looking on the ability to use bezels as a means of interaction.
Bezels are a necessary evil for large handheld devices as otherwise the supporting hand will cover the displayed content on the screen, and also cause spurious activation. Nokia has been granted a patent for making bezels a touch more useful by making them touch sensitive. Nokia has of course shown off multiple prototypes through the years of bendable and deformable devices which takes input through force sensors. It may be that Nokia is finally getting ready to bring such a device to market.