10 Thoughts on iPhone X

I’ve been fairly busy lately and haven’t had much time to blog but I recently bought the new iPhone X (pronounced 10 not X…don’t get me started on the weird naming convention). This phone is supposed to be the future of the iPhone. Now, many of these new technologies such as a full phone display, OLED, and even Face ID are not necessarily new but in true Apple fashion they try to build on existing technologies to perfect them. In the same way that the original iPhone didn’t introduce a touch interface but when the the debut of the iPhone was released it set the standard of what a touch interface should be. I think Apple did a similar feat with Face ID in the new phone. As I’ll explain below having Face ID makes it feel like the phone is never actually locked but in reality the phone is twice as secure as it was with Touch ID. Anyways, below are some of my initial thoughts on the iPhone X with a little over a week of use.

  1. As I stated earlier, Face ID makes it feel like the phone is never locked. If you look at comparisons around the web on the speed of Face ID vs Touch ID you’ll notice that Face ID is actually slower than Touch ID but in use not having to hold your finger on the home button and just looking at your phone naturally it feels quicker. Face ID continues to improve because each time it authenticated it learns more about you. I’ve been amazed that this works regardless of what I’m doing: sunglasses, hat, darkness, outside, inside, etc I rarely have an issue. I actually think I have more success than with Touch ID because times when my hands are sweaty, have food on the, gloves, and more Touch ID does not work. I’m sure I’ll be frustrated in the future but so far Face ID is an absolute success
  2. The OLED screen is fantastic. The fact that black is actually black and not black with an illuminated background that turns it somewhat grayish (if you can compare the back of the iPhone X and another iPhone and you’ll notice the drastic difference).
  3. You can now switch between recently used apps by swiping to the right from the bottom of the screen. I’ve found I am using this all the time when going back and forth from an app. This is much quicker than double clicking the home button and picking from the app switcher.
  4. The speakers around around 30% louder, which is really noticeable. I listen to many podcasts and audiobooks just from my phone without headphones or connected to the speaker and it is plenty loud.
  5. The optical image stabilization for the second zoom lens produced great looking photos in all types of light.
  6. I’m not one to take a lot of selfies but the portrait mode on the front facing camera works great.
  7. Animoji is fun
  8. The position of swiping from the top right of the screen to pull down Control Center is less than ideal. I’ve now added the Camera icon to the bottom right of my apps for quick access instead of using Control Center like I did previously.
  9. There was much talk about the notch at the top where the camera sensors are. In mockups this was very noticeable but when using my phone I don’t notice at all.
  10. Adjusting to not having a home button took less than a day. Swiping up to get back to home screen, swiping left to switch apps, swiping up and to the right to get to the app switcher, swiping from the top for notifications, and swiping from the top right for Control Center is all very fluid (except the Control Center one) and I quickly internalized it.

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