I have been reading several reviews on the iPhone X that have come out over the past few days. My general summary of them going into the arrival of my iPhone X yesterday (Friday) was this: “The best smartphone ever built — but only 10% of Apple’s consumer base will accept it this year.” (Maybe that is what the 10 is for?) Put another way, they may have let a few features out of the warehouse a bit too early for consumers to really be ready to embrace them — despite how well they work.
Remember the ad campaign that helped us learn how to use the original iPhone? Now imagine giving someone who had only been using the original iPhone for several years an iPhone 4, without the benefit of seeing the phone evolving either themselves or via the phones of those around them. They would have missed the introduction of the App Store completely, introduction of the precursor to Siri, and be expected to understand why the Retina screen is such a big deal for apps (which is now a new concept) or what the heck FaceTime is all about. The iPhone is intuitive in part because it depends on the socializing of its evolutionary approach to feature development. With the iPhone X, Apple decided to skip a few steps in that evolutionary process.
Now, I am getting older (not too old mind you…) so I was pondering a bit if I might find some of this a bit too much for me on my day-to-day phone and perhaps be in the 90% not quiet ready for it yet (I recognize family and friends are laughing at this idea — but I worried after spending $500 on a down payment with T-Mobile). Would I be able to live without the home button? Would the notch on the top bother me as some friends indicated it would them? Would the need to do something other than just stare at my iPhone to unlock it disappoint?
Fortunately, at least for me, I have been very pleased to discover that I seem to squarely fall into the 10%, and I suspect that number may in reality turn out to be far larger. I have not yet had the device for long, so these are early impressions, but a few things stand out:
- Face ID works as promised. What can I say? It works. The setup takes seconds and it just knows who you are based on you looking at it from then on. We tested it a little and unlocking had already become so natural for me I almost feared it would just work for anyone. It was kind of fun to see it not react the same to other faces.
Some may be disappointed that you have to swipe up to complete the unlock. But as someone that actually looks at the lock screen before I want to dive into my phone — I actually appreciate this and so far have found myself accidentally breezing past the lock screen faster than I meant to (a common problem for me and Touch ID).
Something many of the reviews I read missed, perhaps because it was not their primary device, is how great this feature is when it comes to opening apps or using features which were setup to utilize Touch ID for login or verification, and now are able to use Face ID instead. It was pretty cool having my bank apps and other more secure apps just open and log in very quickly without my having to do anything but do what I was going to do anyway — look at the phone as the app opens.
- Setup was a breeze. Now I recognize this has more to do with iOS 11 than iPhone X, but I still think it is worth noting that the ability to upgrade seems to get easier each year. As an annual upgrader and someone that winds up setting up a lot of other devices throughout the year, I appreciate that.
- The screen is better than iPhone 7, not sure about iPhone 8. It is a noticeable improvement over my iPhone 7’s screen. However, a couple of quick comparisons with a friend’s iPhone 8 screen leave me thinking more comparing is necessary. At the very least, I suspect it handles grayscale, white balance, and texts a bit better, but perhaps our eyes have just gotten so use to the other screens this will in fact somehow look worse? Need to use them both a bit more to have a better sense.
- The camera is fantastic. I love the improvement to Portrait mode, and that you can now take Portraits using the front facing camera. The rear facing camera’s Portrait mode also appears to be faster and more robust (in terms of when it can be used) than I anticipated. The ability to change lighting settings of Portrait mode seem to work as promised, but I suspect I will generally be happy with using mostly 1 or 2 of them.
- It looks beautiful. I love the glass back and look of the iPhone 8, but I do feel the size and slight tweaks to the iPhone X make it the standout this year in terms of overall “wow” visual factor.
- It is fast! It installed all of my apps (over 500) much faster than with previous setups, and once that was done — it is fast! Apps are noticeably more responsive and the whole OS just feels more fluid with the robust processing power of the iPhone X.
For what it is worth, T-Mobile has been a great carrier and source of my purchase. This was the fastest and easiest iPhone preorder I have experienced. With the small exception of one of their staff calling it the “iPhone x” instead of “iPhone 10” over the phone — and their email referring to Touch ID instead of the new Face ID — they were on top of this launch in an impressive way.
I am happy with my purchase — despite being a couple hundred dollars more than I usually would spend on an iPhone. It feels like a preview of future models, but impressively here today and fully functional. I am not sure it is a “must upgrade” for many, or a better option than the iPhone 8 for people already planning to upgrade — unless you love trying out the latest gadgets or have a reason for wanting a great camera. However, if you do purchase it (whatever your reasons), I think you will be happy and find it easy to use after a little getting use to. After less than 24 hours of use, I am already finding it to be a comfortable and smooth upgrade.