Does ‘X’ mark the spot for Apple?
The iPhone X is a wonderful device — but it’s not without its flaws. We analyse what makes this the most polarising smartphone mankind has ever seen.
Where do we even start with this? Doubling down on what I’ve said some days back, this is the most polarising smartphone mankind has ever seen, dividing opinion even between Apple users.
After testing the iPhone X, we’ve uncovered some interesting stuff about it. We’ll try to keep it straightforward and simple — otherwise, we’ll be here forever.
Design
It comes in two colours: silver and space gray. And both have surgical-grade, stainless-steel chrome edges and an iPhone 8-esque glass back. Apple says that, coupled with other finishing enhancements, this is the strongest glass ever on a smartphone.
The usual suspects are on the edges: sleep/wake (side) button on the right, and volume rocker and mute/unmute to the left. The Lightning port remains below.
And everybody knows that the beloved Home button is gone. Kaput. How much will this affect those who’ve grown accustomed to it?
New presses and gestures
Here’s how: you’ll have to familiarise yourself with some new moves to make up for the loss of the Home button.
To take a screenshot, you have to press the side and volume up buttons at the same time. To call Siri, you need to press and hold the side button. To reboot the device, or soft reset, quickly press the volume up and volume down buttons in succession, then press and hole the side key until the Apple logo appears. To switch it off, you need to press and hold the side and either volume button simultaneously.
With the Home button gone, here’s what you need to do to navigate your way through the iPhone X. To exit an app, slide from below. To open the recent apps tiles, slide from below, hold it, wait for the tiles to show up and swipe to the right. To close an app, you need to hold a tile until red minus signs appear on top of them; this is an extra step, as it would’ve been more convenient if Apple retained the previous method of just swiping a tile up to get rid of it.
Which also means you can’t access the Command Center from below. And where is it? See that notch on top that houses the front camera and earpiece (which isn’t exactly sitting well with everyone)? Swipe down on the right of it and you’ll find it. Swiping down from the left side, meanwhile, reveals notifications.
Oh, and to wake up the iPhone X — assuming Raise to Wake is disabled — you can either press the side button (as always) or simply give the screen a little tap. To unlock it is an entirely different thing.
Face ID
Which leads us to this: the feature that led to the demise of the Home button and, with it, Touch ID.
Face ID is Apple’s latest answer to the biometric wars on smartphones. And it doesn’t just merely take a snap of your face: to register your likeness, you have to rotate your head gently — ‘draw a small circle with your nose’, as they say — twice. When capturing your face, the new TrueDepth camera system — plus the new, more powerful A11 Bionic chip inside — underneath that notch blasts out 30,000 infrared dots to get a very accurate image of your face. Apple says this is virtually foolproof, and won’t be bypassed by photos and even Hollywood-grade, just-like-the-real- thing masks. Apple says Face ID will work with most sunglasses or even if you have things like a scarf or hat on. If your face changes — say, for example, you had a huge beard and decided to shave it off, it will ask for your passcode to verify that it’s you.
And does Face ID accurately work? Yes, it does — although there are a number of times that it actually didn’t, for some reason, taking two or three times before it finally recognised my looks. Otherwise, it’s quick to react — even in total darkness.
One interesting thing: Face ID needs to capture your entire face — especially the eyes, nose and mouth. If you close your eyes, it won’t unlock — when closed only one eye, it still worked. I tried covering my mouth; sometimes it worked, most of the time it didn’t. Covering your cheeks won’t affect it, apparently.
I also tried Face ID while holding the iPhone X in landscape and inverted manners — it didn’t work.
Face ID also replaces another key duty of Touch ID: verifying your identity for Apple Pay, as well as logging you in to specific apps that have this feature.
Also, when in standby mode and a notification pops up, it will only show its contents once Face ID verifies you. One more thing before we leave Face ID: apparently, after five failed attempts to recognise your face, it will then ask for your passcode.
Display
The iPhone X sports an OLED panel on its 5.8-inch Super Retina HD display, bigger than the 5.5 inches of the previous iPhone Pluses but still smaller overall, with a screento-body ratio of about 83 per cent, thanks to the ‘all-screen’ design.
Two things about that all-screen thing: one, the bezels still seem too thick — three millimetres, according to my trusty ol’ ruler. I personally think that a one-millimetre bezel would’ve made it even more glorious.
And remember that notch we mentioned a while ago? This is another thing that takes away the full monty of the all-screen display. But it’s understandable that there may have not been any other choice — but, again, Apple could’ve made it even slimmer, just enough to accommodate the front camera and earpiece.
Here’s one more thing about that notch: when you zoom in on an image or video while using the iPhone X in landscape mode, you will find that notch a bit weird dangling from either side.
Ditto for some apps that have not been optimised for the iPhone X. For example, Angry Birds 2, which runs in landscape mode, leaves almost 19 millimetres on both sides, and Super Mario Run, which works in portrait, has 15-millimetre blackholes on top and below. Using these apps makes me feel as if I was using a 4.7-inch iPhone instead, as it appears to cram the app toward the centre.
I’m quite sure that app developers are scrambling to optimise their apps to make full use of the iPhone X’s screen.
Camera
The dual-lens camera is back, and both are now armed with optical image stabilisation. It also sports a larger and faster sensor, a new colour filter and deeper pixels. The telephoto camera now has a f/2.4 aperture, meaning it can absorb more light.
But the biggest news is on the other side. Of course, aside from everything Face ID, the front snapper now also has Portrait Lighting, meaning you can now also omit the background when taking shot of yourself (available in two of the five filters available).
Shots are generally great, but you can expect some noise when you zoom in or if you’re in a little dim situation.
Animoji
Animoji is a whole new way to express yourself. To use it, go to iMessages, pick out a contact (who has iMessages) and tap on the Animoji icon below. The TrueDepth system tracks 50 muscles on your face, which mirrors it to the emoji you’ve chosen. You can record your facial expressions along with your voice and send it using iMessages.
You have to remember though that you and your recipient must both have iOS 11 installed. But here’s a bit of good news: your recipient does not need to have an iPhone X to receive an Animoji. So go ahead and pepper them with Animojis and make them green with envy. Currently, there are only a dozen emojis to choose from, but we’re quite sure more will be added to this in the future.
Fun fact: the poop emoji is the only one with eyeballs. You can express yourself more with it (rolling eyes, anyone?).
Battery
This is simple: I started using it at around 8pm, the 10 per cent warning message popped up at around 10:30pm the following day and it conked out shortly after midnight the day after. So with the way I use a phone — calls, messaging, lots of games, surfing, not much of social media (only use it for work) it’s safe to say it’ll last well over a day.
And as far as charging is concerned, it took me less than a couple of hours to get it fully up and running.
One thing I noticed: shortly before the juice ran out, I noticed — for about a couple of minutes or so — the iPhone X started stuttering a bit. I guess that’s its way to tell you that it desperately needs a charger already.
Oh, and like the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, it also supports wireless charging, and works with any Qi-backed mat.
And so…
The iPhone X is a wonderful device — but it’s not without its flaws, though most of them are on the software side, which should be corrected soon enough) Well, it should justify its Dh4,099 (64GB) and Dh4,729 (256GB) price tags, right? Which is what’s mainly going against it: ‘X’ is for ‘expensive’. A lot of people are balking at this, but at the same time may be convinced that it’s worth it. If you’d ask me about upgrading from a pre-iPhone 8 device, now’s the right time to do so.