Not that those features or the article suggest the iPhone X is a bad product, or bug-ridden, non-usable, or anything else. But how in the world are people--is Apple--still not embarrassed pretending that this is a revolutionary device? Even if FaceID is intensely innovative and unparalleled new technology - that is just the feature that people use to get to the features they actually want to use. No one is going to buy a phone to play around with the unlocking mechanism, they buy it for what that phone can do for them once it's unlocked. Hyping on FaceID is like saying, "We are revolutionizing mobile computing by entirely overhauling the millisecond process by which you gain access to a slightly improved version of the product you already have."
On one hand this is pretty sad. There's no wow factor, no truly exciting product releases. On the other hand the frequent releases mean that you can upgrade whenever and you always get pretty much latest available technology thanks to the yearly incremental updates vendors are releasing.
I'm getting suspicious if anything revolutionary can happen in the consumer electronics space. Companies are too eager to release early instead of keeping the stuff under wraps until it is amazing. Take wearable augmented reality devices as an example. We saw Google Glass years ago and then Microsoft Hololens. Now if somebody actually delivers a reasonably good mass market device in 2019 it hardly feels revolutionary after these prototypes. Same thing with VR headsets and smart watches.
I bet at some point someone will learn from all the attempts at wearable devices and develop something users actually will like. Or maybe we will decide that something like Google Glass simply doesn't work and move on to something else.
I had an app called Vindigo on a Handspring Visor and later a Kyocera 6035 in the early 2000s that gave the location and mapped pretty much every restaurant, bar, and museum in New York long before maps were an obvious part of your phone.
I think the possibilities of AR are amazing, even though I don't think whatever the killer will be has been released yet.
What about in overlooked user interface technologies? I think FaceID would be great for unlocking the a MacBook laptop. Also, the face that Apple can now get ahold of those sensors for cheap and at scale probably opens up the opportunity for user interface innovation. People like to use touch for certain operations on current laptops with a touch screen, but some of those might be better done with a gesture away from the screen the doesn't cover up the view of the screen. (Or require the user to lift their hands up from the palm rest to avoid gorilla arm.)
Tablets existed before multitouch and the first iPad. It was a thinner form factor enabled by better battery and more frugal processors combined with multitouch which made the iPad what it is.
Imagine pointing your camera to find an A/C leak inside the wall, or scanning fruit for their ripeness, or measuring furniture at the store to see if it fits in your house/door. Hell, it could even alert you if you have bad breath.
Siri, TouchID, FaceID, capacitive touch screen, great cameras, app store, full fledged browser, LTE, etc...
Any of these features by themselves aren't "revolutionary" until you combine it all into a cohesive experience where you look at your phone to unlock it, take a photo that until very recently could only be produced by a DSLR, upload it nearly instantly to a social network within 5 taps, and then receive real time notifications when other people comment on it, all on a device you can hold in one hand.
Sure, you could say this is more evolutionary than revolutionary, but again, I don't believe there was this time where it was revolutionary to the extent you claim. It's always been a slow iterative process.
Tangentially, after seeing some NFL replay highlights this weekend, I really wish HD high-frame rate cameras had been invented when Barry Sanders (perhaps the most electrifying football player of all time) played.
It took competitors years to catch up, everyone's forgotten how much of a joke Android was until v4, and how Black Berry only caught up just as they were about to die. Things like low latency audio, large image support, GL, crypto, battery life, ...
The market was ripe as people realized they wanted to trade battery life for more powerful devices, after the success of the iPod and the iPaq (not a typo, the PDAs from Compaq/HP).
It was a revolution then, and it happened so fast Nokia and RIM were left in the dust.
The phone as a mini-tablet changed smartphones significantly.
If they complete the whole package and make it all work great, then like the iPod, it doesn't need to be first to market to be revolutionary. Just be better than all the other implementations and UX thus far. Though iOS 11 doesn't seem like that's all coming together super great but their pros still seem to outweigh all their competitors cons for what I want from a device. And of course, marketing is marketing.
The other features are largely irrelevant (except perhaps the inductive charging), but I'll get the X instead of the 8 because it will be 3-4 years before I update again.
For what it's worth, the 6S's 128 GB and bump to 2 GB RAM (making Safari usable again on JavaScript-clogged sites) were what motivated me to buy that one. The X, incidentally, bumps that again to 3 GB. The 8 remains at 2.
Yes, but not because of the mindless sheep angle you seem to want it to be. Lots of people are comfortable using iPhones and like how they work. They don't want to to switch to something else. The End.
If FaceID lives up to Apples claims it will have less friction and higher security, so win win, and I'm sure Apple are aware of how popular TouchID is, I don't see them replacing it with a dud.
Because it can be unlocked under the table or at a very low angle to be used in places such as a restaurant, meeting room, theater etc.
Because one can use TouchID for Apple Pay much quicker and more reliably in a crowded/rushed situation such as paying for public transport.
Becuase TouchID actually allows multiple users on the same device if if that is not an intended feature.
The list can go on....
I don't know that "Apple" had a first choice at all, and I suspect that there was diversity of opinion within Apple about which authentication method would be superior if both were technically feasible.
People might reasonably prefer fingerprint to facial recognition for speed reasons, allowing the phone to be unlocked by the time you look at it.
They probably figure that people should be using CarPlay, though.
I frequently unlock a phone that's flat on a desk that's at an arm's length. Now, to unlock, I suspect I'll need to lift and point that device towards my face in order to authenticate. Since I haven't tried the iPhone X yet, I'm not sure how liberal they are with the angle required to capture your face, but it seems unlikely this can be done with the device flat on a desk.
To me, that's unfortunate ... and it's a feature change that having TouchID integrated into the display, as was rumored to be their original intention, would have avoided.
This is all speculation of course - and likely outside of the scope of this conversation, hopefully I'm not detracting too much though :)
Project Tango looks amazing but will it ever get beyond the developer-edition phones and tablets and into our pockets?
As much as I admire them, Google seems to do hardware launches very badly.
As odd as the new design feels, Apple already owns this design, this buckle, this asymmetry.
Edit: Why the downvotes (just wondering)?
It wouldn't be the worst if Apple made it that iOS scaled everything so media wasn't blocked by the notch but instead if I get the iPhone X I have to wait for app developers to fix the issue. Seems like a poor decision.
The iphone had an instantly recognisable silhouette for 10 years: symmetrical forehead & chin, with a big round home button. Going to very thin bezels necessarily throws this trademark away. Making lemonade, as it were, they've chosen to embrace the notch to create a new trademark.
And because this screen has such a wide aspect ratio, in most cases you can zoom out and only have black bars on the notch side and opposite side (left & right when in landscape mode).
That being said, I do find the designs that “embrace the notch” (especially in landscape) repulsive. I’d much prefer if that area just stayed dark to blend in with the notch.
Only the app developers who don't follow the guidelines:
"Don't attempt to hide the device's rounded corners, sensor housing, or indicator for accessing the Home screen by placing black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. "
https://developer.apple.com/ios/human-interface-guidelines/o...
For what it's worth, the iPhone X doesnt have a 16:9 display, so by default video displays pillar-boxed. Just like on iPad (which also doesnt have a 16:9 display), if you zoom in on the video you can make it occupy the full display, but cutting off a portion of the video.
It is the only design that makes sense. The other manufacturers just put a bar down the bottom that has no purpose at all. No one cares about a notch. Obsessive personalities are just fixating on it.
1. Is the X worth the extra $200/$300 on top of the 8? 2. Is the X worth the $1k+
I know "worth" is relative and depends on your personal requirements, but from someone who's likely a software dev on this site, is it really worth spending that kind of money?
Having said that, I still preordered one. It’s sexy and highly desirable for no specific reason for me.
I appreciate your reply. Thanks!
For me, the major features are the look-to-unlock and water resistant features. Whether those are worth the $300+ premium, is certainly under debate in my mind... I guess I'll have to wait and reevaluate when the time comes to actually make the change.
I'm really not into the whole photography / Instagram scene, so the camera is less of a selling point for me, but you can't exactly get a phone these days without a camera, so it may as well be a nice one for those rare occasions when I do want to take a picture...
The only real point of concern I have is that for $1000+ (more, considering it'd be in CAD for me) how long is the phone going to last me? If it's on the planned obsolescence timeline of 2 years, that's a hefty fee... If, instead, they made it more truly "premium" and as such would last 3-4 years then it becomes a lot more agreeable. But I guess there's no way to know that without taking the plunge. :(
I just find it hard square claims of "the future of the smartphone" with reviews like "you get used to it".
(Also, all the various status bars will now finally have the same height; basically no software properly responds to the double-height status bar when something special is going on.)
"all the various status bars will now finally have the same height"
Pick one.
If you think of it as a "notch", sure. Another way to think of it is that the screen has a little extra space in the form of "ears", used for instruments (time, signal strength) that would otherwise eat screen space used by apps.
Like how our parents got "used to" prior technology's "annoyances"?
I'm not saying this is a "get off my lawn" annoyance, but... I'm curious to see how phones evolve after this notch.
It still has lots of stupid bugs. Calculator is just broken. Misaligned text. Rotated screen when awakening. Things like that.
Speed is fast on B5 also. Compared to the sh&$show that 11.0.X was it is refreshing.
In situations where with ios9 I could rely that I put my headphone on and push the button on the headphones the correct thing would start playing immediately this got worse with ios10, things started to not work always and with ios11 it's so bad that I can't bring myself to spend money on a new ios device. When my 6s dies I hope there will be something other then the duopoly available.
And they will unlock it while driving.
Using your phone while driving is reckless, regardless of the authentication mechanism.
"I would say similar to the amount now, and less than passcode-based unlock" -- For now this is just a claim. This is why I'm wondering... Yet, imagine needing to place your phone in front of your face, instead of just using your finger.
neither is a good idea but Apple recently pushed out lockouts for Do not disturb while driving. I have not tried this feature and it defaults to off. So how well it works, well it won't stop me from using the phone as it appears to be not allowing the phone to interrupt me.
Not to unlock for my kids in the back to play music.
This device seems to have a great screen in the perfect form factor for me.
I'm waiting to see some reviews before purchasing but the iPhone X is probably going to be my next phone.
Sidenote, anybody have any tips on migrating from android to iOS?
The S8 is slightly taller (5mm) and slightly narrower (3mm) with a very slightly larger screen at higher dpi. The V30 screen is 10% larger, higher dpi but at cost of additional 8mm height and 5mm width. For comparision, the diameter of a dime is 18mm. (data from GSMArena)
Think its a reach to say iPhone X competitors are some how 'ginormous' in comparison. Sounds like an iPhone 7/8 is more the physical size you are looking for if wanting to leave the Android world.
I'm still probably going to switch to Apple because I've been working towards being more privacy conscious in the last several months and Apple's stance on privacy and encryption is appealing.
Gotta take the bad with the good. Im optimistic.
I get that most people don’t work this way but for me it’s great.
I am an iOS developer, and i generally love apple product, but frankly it's time everyone, including hard-core apple fans, agree that apple has been under-delivering those last 3 years.
If i had to say "anticipated" about something, i'd say the watch 3 is far more interesting and opens more application use.
Apple Watch 3 — Holy crap that's amazing, I may get rid of my phone for this and just buy a nice stand-alone camera! Oh, you still need a phone. So much for that.
iPhone 8 — Meh. Not as big a jump as the 7. Looks... fine.
iPhone X, after the ultra-hype leading up the announcement — The hugely revolutionary, world-changing thing is a second, slightly better phone? Am I accidentally watching a parody?
iPhone X was especially a let-down after the almost-awesome but then totally-not Watch 3 thing—which was (the Watch 3, that is) still the most interesting thing they announced, despite being like 20% as interesting as it initially appeared to be.
Do people really not know Roman Numerals anymore?
That's Steve Jobs.
The notch is a compromise. The spec Apple needed was "no notch". Forcing developers to embrace a premature design decision based on a feature that they couldn't make happen is hypocritical at best.
If Jobs had come back to life, we would have been blown away by something from Apple by now. At this point, not sure which is more likely to happen.
-----
https://hbr.org/2012/04/the-real-leadership-lessons-of-steve...
The lack of a home button is probably the worst design decision. They should have gone with dedicated virtual home button or better yet, stick with the iPhone 7 style home button. iOS 10 and 11 already has too many problems distinguishing between "global gestures" and "application gestures".
EDIT: Oh please - tell me why you disagree and prove to me that you're not just an illogical, emotional mob. You think Apple never made a mistake? Pffffftttt! I just spilled my coffee.
"[Face ID] worked the vast majority of times I tried it"... (NOTE: Not ALL the time) - and "...it’s definitely faster than the first generation of Touch ID, though perhaps slightly slower than the second gen." - https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/31/review-the-iphone-x-goes-t...
In any case - I don't lock my phone and swiping will definitely, definitely, definitely be way more annoying than being able to click a button.
This is certainly the way Apple would like the X to be perceived, and Levy makes sense as someone likely to be on their wavelength.
You're not supposed to perform this action regularly.
> I knew I’d mastered the gestures when I found myself trying to use them on my iPad. Oops. My finger no longer drifts to the home button, but pathetically swipes upwards, to no avail.
This should work on iPad if you're running iOS 11.
I'd love to have a better camera, but not at 3x the price.
Yeah, this isn't an "Apple" comment. But it is a "US$800 - $1200" comment. And an "it's not really your device" comment. Not when we are at the "mercy" of vendors to provide necessary updates -- or, more often, not to.
On that front, Apple is clearly winning. But a grand is a lot to pay for it.
P.S. My G5+ has a headphone jack. Useful that now Bluetooth is borked until it receives the update/fix -- IF it ever receives it.
Yeah, I'm a broken record... But it's a song these vendors ripely deserve.
