Samsung announced three new devices on Wednesday in a global simulcast presentation, showing off newer and better screens for the ‘selfie taking world.’

Trotting out Adam Levine onstage in New York and demoing a new Galaxy Note 4, Note Edge and a virtual reality headset in the Gear VR, the company fired its latest shot at Apple in the high-end smartphone race.

Galaxy Note 4

The biggest device announcement is the new Note 4, the big-screen flagship smartphone for Samsung. It’s still going for more is better, as a company executive announced the phone will make for “selfies with even more people!” through its front and back cameras. 

The Note 4 has a Quad HD Super AMOLED display that will improve resolution and quality, though the actual screen size remains the same. The camera’s been beefed up to 16 megapixels. There’s a multi-window to take advantage of the screen’s large size and an S-pen to write.

The Note 4 launches in the U.S. in October, according to Samsung.

First-hand: The multi-window is a handy feature that at first feels a bit counter-intuitive. Holding the back button brings up a task bar with some basic apps like the camera and Facebook.

Dragging multiple of the icons onto the main screen, my phone splits into the multi-window to allow for easy multi-tasking. The camera can be layered even on top of that as a smaller window if you need to see for a quick photo without losing where you are in a task.

The functionality strains the Galaxy Note’s screen size, but it’s just big enough that the windows are still feasible enough to read that you might actually use the feature instead of trying it and abandoning it. The screen size is more reminiscent of an old BlackBerry or feature phone when split, but this is definitely a feature that would look cramped on an iPhone.

An Edgy Phone?

The Note Edge is a bit quirkier, a phone with a ticker-like bar that runs horizontally on the edge of the phone. That display can be changed to show email or other top-priority information like the weather, and turns into an alarm clock at night. Samsung also announced an open Edge SDK for developers to play with the new bar.

What’s perhaps strangest about the Note Edge–its edge is literal, one side curved to hold. The Note Edge will go on sale “later in the fall.” Like the Galaxy Note 4, it’ll be on all four major carriers.

First-hand: I’m not quite sure what to make of the edge part of this phone. It seems like a nice feature, but the real benefit of the edge appears incremental. You can read it at an angle, sure, but the edge itself is quite small. I can see some people finding it a nice way to check their alarm without having to pick up their phone, but it doesn’t feel like a major game-changer by itself.

Virtual Reality

The Gear VR device is made in partnership with Oculus VR and is Samsung’s push into virtual reality. The device has got initial partners like Marvel and Legendary Pictures, pushing a focus on entertainment. “It’s a virtual cinema,” says Samsung EVP John Pleasants. The device will be on sale later in the fall.

First-hand: the Gear VR feels more commercial and streamlined than any Oculus Rift devices I have tried to date. It works by connecting a Galaxy Note phone to the back of what appears like a pair of large plastic goggles. You tap and scroll a small screen on the right side of the goggles to navigate within the device.

I tried a demo of an ocean-scape of whales, fish and sharks. While the graphics left much to be desired, the effect was impressive. I didn’t feel disoriented and had a strong sense of place within the environment. For now, it seems like the Gear VR will be a fun (albeit perhaps gimmicky) way to watch movies and other content. I’m not sold, however, on whether it can handle games that are very robust, and between the goggles and the headphones you have to wear separately, it’s a pretty large setup.

Media partnerships

Last up in Samsung’s bag for Wednesday (it announced the Gear Circle wireless earphones and Gear S smartwatch last week) is a partnership with Milk Music.

The company trotted out singer Adam Levine and Maroon 5 bandmate James Valentine to quickly plug the partnership.

“We will have a ceremonial iPhone burning directly after this conference,” Levine improvised. The two plugged a new album released yesterday on the Milk store and Levine said he was excited to be working with Samsung. After some quick lip service, the two were off and Samsung’s latest major device event was abruptly over.