You heard me! I’m not calling it the iPhone X (ten), it will be officially called the “X”, as in “ex”!
BECAUSE IT SOUNDS COOLER.
Yes, indeed, the “One More Thing…” thing happened again, and they had to… you can’t open the Steve Jobs theatre without his iconic line! Was the reveal worthy of that phrase?
YES!
The iPhone X was revealed to be a stunning piece of engineering, and like most Apple products, until you get ahold of one, you won’t know just how stunning it is. One upping the Samsung S8 and Essential phone, the new model features a true edge to edge screen… corner to corner in fact. Instead of the just stretched rectangle like the latter two Androids, the iPhone X screen truly hugs the edges and curves of the screen in every dimension. There is a notch at the top, but in the usual Apple fashion, they’ve done well using the space.
“Android had edge to edge displays first!” – Android users
Yes, congratulations, the Galaxy S8 was released 5 months ago… but if you want to get smarmy, it’s no more than a variation of their Edge display, just really narrow top and bottom bezels. Even the Essentials phone has a bezel on the bottom. Once again, Apple has taken the “idea” and implemented it in a more polished fashion. A TRUE edge to edge display. Oddly though, I haven’t seen a lot of complaining about the uniform, albeit wider bezel around the entire device? Technically speaking, the two Androids mentioned could be said to have a more “edgeless” display then the iPhone X, but do you know at what cost? Look!
Screws! Lovely, accessible screws!
Apple seems to be pretty serious about that whole environmental thing… they have retained the pentalobe screws that allow easy access.. meaning screen replacements won’t be near as expensive or difficult as those Androids! But that is nothing new….
iPhone X – Addressing The Proboscidea
As usual, the media is tearing at the new phone, and it main gripe this time is it’s price tag of $999… or $1,350 in Canuk Bucks. In fact, that seems to be ALL they want to talk about. There is no mention of the iPhone 8.. which is priced pretty much the same as the 7, 6, 5s was in the past… it’s like the X is the ONLY phone to have been released. Furthermore, they have yet to mention other high-end premium phones… such as the Samsung Note 8… priced just $20 less. They also don’t care to mention the iPhone 8 is over a $100 less than the Galaxy 8!
So, what is with the high price point anyway? It boils down to tech… and there is some serious Star Trek level tech in there, crazy sensors, optics, a processor that runs circles around it’s competitors, and that fancy AMOLED screen isn’t cheap! Photon torpedo launcher is an option due in November I believe. Think about this like the iPhone Pro, a more feature rich extension of an existing consumer product. However, one serious oversight seems to be the fact it uses the same processor as the iPhone 8, and not an “X” variant like the iPad Pro’s do. This has actually made the iPhone X SLOWER in benchmark tests then the iPhone 8! The difference will be barely perceptible most likely, but the fact it’s there at all is disappointing for sure.
It takes all of these gadgets to suck your soul out safely.
Technology & Security
Those cool sensors and optics I was talking about being so expensive? Well, they are used to unlock the phone… for now. Using infrared cameras, dot projectors and some serious processing oomph, the iPhone X detects and maps your facial features to unlock your phone, use Apple Pay, and have some serious fun with a new type of emoji.
“Android had FaceID first!” – Android users
Well, you are wrong, they had something equivalent to fire where Apple is using a Phaser (TWO STAR TREK REFERENCES!). The future of this camera system is pretty wild, the hardware is usable to developers though ARkit, and Snapchat has already developed for it to place extraordinary Augmented Reality masks and such onto your ugly mug. It’s going to be exciting to see what developers will do with this technology. Apple has already implemented some pretty fun emojis that can mimic your facial expressions, allowing you to animate an emoji and send it as a message… the demonstration gave us this pure gold…
The iPhone X has a host of additional high-end features, water proofing, dual camera system with some amazing portrait abilities. The same camera system is used for some amazing Augmented Reality apps.For the first time Apple will allow wireless charging with an open source system. The edge to edge display is a newer generation AMOLED, giving better colour accuracy and wider gamut. They are calling the processor the A11 Bionic, a 6 core beast that puts out 600 billion operations a second. This thing is as fast a desktop-class MacBook Pro! They have even started making their own graphics processors, combined with Metal, gaming and graphics intensive tasks like AR are going to scream on this machine.
This is a highly detailed 3D game projected into the real world.
Just as before with TouchID, people are wringing their hands about FaceID in worry.. forgetting that Apple is one of very few companies who care about your privacy. Just like TouchID, your facial recognition data NEVER LEAVES THE PHONE. It’s locked away in a secure enclave on the phones processor. This information is not readable by any outside app or transmitted in any way. In fact, it’s more secure then TouchID… since there was a 1 in 50,000 chance another person could have a similar enough fingerprint to get into your phone… they claim that number is now 1 in 1,000,000 with FaceID. Though, if you have encountered your mirror universe doppelgänger (THREE!!), it’s not recommended you allow them to get ahold of your phone.
Conclusion
Yes, it’s expensive, but comparable to similar featured phones on the market. The FaceID is secure and is going to have some amazing applications in the near future. The cameras and processors allow amazing tech like Augmented Reality that will change our lives once developers try something more than games. It’s a GREAT buy if you are upgrading… and if it’s too much, there is always the 8!
And yes.. I’m getting one. 🙂
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