What you need to know about the all-new iPhone X

The most talked-about, hyped-up, head-turning phone of the year has finally arrived. All hail Apple’s latest and best smartphone to date, the iPhone X, which was launched to celebrate Apple’s 10th anniversary.

The flagship device is a major shift from previous generations, one that will surely expose users into a whole new way of using the smartphone they've come to adore.

To know more about the newest talk of the town, here are the iPhone X’s amazing features that would make you upgrade or shift to an iPhone (if you're ready to splurge for it).

1. Design

It comes in two colours: Silver and Space Gray. Both have surgical-grade, stainlesssteel 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 iPhone X has the biggest iPhone display at 5.8 inches, though overall is smaller than the previous Pluses.

Moreover, everybody knows that the beloved home button is gone. This isn't without precedent: Apple infamously killed off the 3.5mm headphone jack on the iPhone 7, showing that they aren't afraid of giving the red card to one of its own. Also, it remains water, splash, and dust-resistant.

2. New presses and gestures

If you’re going to buy the all-new iPhone X, you'll have to familiarize yourself with some new moves to make up for the loss of the home button.

Here are the basics: To take a screenshot, you have to press the side and volume up buttons at the same time (side plus Home buttons). To call Siri, you need to press and hold the side button (press and hold Home). 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; this also applies to the iPhone 8 (hold side and volume down buttons until Apple logo appears). To switch it off, you need to press and hold the side and either volume button simultaneously (press and hold side button).

3. Face 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. When capturing your face, the new TrueDepth camera system plus the new, more powerful A11 Bionic chip inside 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 high-grade, justlike-the-real-thing masks.

Apple says Face ID will work with most sunglasses or even if you have a 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.

One interesting thing, the Face ID needs to capture your entire face, especially the eyes, nose and mouth. If you close your eyes, it won't unlock.

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.

4. Display

The iPhone X sports an OLED panel on its Super Retina HD display and has a 458ppi density. Its brightness is a pleasure to the eyes, and it should be, because Apple says that, while not the first phone out there with OLED, it's the first to rise to Apple's standards.

The display clocks in at 5.8 inches, bigger than the 5.5 inches of the previous iPhone Pluses but still smaller overall, with a screen-tobody ratio of about 83 per cent, thanks to the 'all-screen' design.

5. 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 color filter and deeper pixels. The telephoto camera now has a f/2.4 aperture - compared to the iPhone 8's f/2.8, meaning it can absorb more light 33 per cent more, to be exact.

6. 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?).

As I’ve said earlier, if you’re interested to have Apple’s in-demand flagship, brace yourself for its price. Telcos Smart and Globe have yet to announce its pricing, plan, and release date, but online seller Kimstore has posted the prices for pre-order: P80,000 for the 64GB version and P89,000 for the 256GB version. Another online seller, Widget City, also offers the the iPhone X for the same price.