iPhone X Analysis

With the iPhone X, the first idea that comes to mind may not be the right one: some of the things I thought about the first tests we did at Cupertino, now – a month later – using it thoroughly I don’t consider them so important, and another that I didn’t give importance to a, yes. Actually, it’s like rediscovering what it’s like to live with an iPhone, only relying on the experience that we all have ten years after using different generations.

Keep in mind that we come in different sizes: the arrival of Plus models since the iPhone 6 generation made many of us accustomed to using them and wearing them despite their size. The larger screen is something that many users liked, in principle reluctant – among which I include myself – but that after taking them several days you can already understand that there is no going back. And after all those Plus models, Apple launches a smartphone with smaller wingspan but larger screen – it’s the optimization of the concept, and it’s something we’ve all been grateful for holding the iPhone X in our hands for the first time.

-The iPhone X has the ideal wingspan and screen size, on the way between normal models and Plus-

With a contained weight but with the perfect size in hand – at this level it doesn’t differ much from the iPhone 8 of this same generation – but the screen takes all the prominence and gives it a certainly different look. From the glass that Apple covers both the screen and the new back, Apple tells us that it is the toughest ever used on an iPhone, but «resistant» eye doesn’t mean unbreakable, and this new phone requires having some extra care to keep it in perfect condition. Surrounded with forged stainless steel with the highest levels of quality and precision to achieve a diaphanous design, in spatial gray or silver (depending on the color of the back of the model). Both designs give very good visual results, and in my opinion the blank model evokes certain memories to the first generations of the phone, with very good sensations. However, we are facing an iPhone all screen and she is the main protagonist of the phone – and in most respects, the soul of the new iPhone X.

-The new design gives all the prominence to the incredible screen and its new glass making that allows wireless charging-

Apple’s strategy

Steve Jobs wanted the original iPhone to have no button – and Jonathan Ive convinced him to at least have one that would serve to guide the user. At the time, the technology on mobile devices was very button-based, and it was necessary to give the new user of a phone as innovative as the iPhone an element of trust and familiarity: the famous «Home» button, whose design was not only used to set the Apple phone, also to differentiate it from any other.

-On iPhone X, Apple gives more weight to the operating system as a closer and familiar element to the user, leaving behind the buttons-

With the iPhone X, Apple cuts full with familiar elements from previous generations – and changes strategy, giving more weight to the operating system as a familiar element: people no longer need to feel comfortable with physical buttons because it has a operating system that in eleven iterations has evolved with users without bands on the route map. And this is where Apple has remained strong for all these years, maintaining and perfecting an operating system without altering its base foundation – those are the foundations that will allow future iPhones with technologies we haven’t seen yet to be so easy to use as it was the first, or this.

In my opinion, this is why it sometimes seems that iOS doesn’t throw itself into the void with drastic changes like competition – they just seek to draw attention to the first impact but fail in the record of everyday life – and it is perfectly understood what is q That Apple is building. For me, it’s a very brave job and this iPhone X has shown us how the company is connecting the dots backwards, with iOS being the cross axis that gives meaning to the platform.

The demonstration is that anyone using an iPhone X will understand it almost at first glance, both its philosophy and the way we work with the operating system. The most impactful change is the Home button by the swipe up gesture, but since the first tests it is already understood that it is much more natural than pressing any button: that’s why Apple hasn’t built any «virtual» buttons – like the flashlight button, or the camera on the unlock screen. The natural thing when you want to move a screen away is to slide it: it’s what we do when we turn the page of a book.

-The new natural gestures on iPhone X improve its use beyond pressing a button: we won’t want to go back-

Not even Touch ID under the screen would have been useful here, as the sensor should recognize our fingerprint anywhere on the screen with a giant sensor – notice that just exposing the idea already seems coarse. It was time to look for something different, invisible and bordering the edges that technology offers: Face ID, which we’ll talk about later. All combined makes the familiar iOS become more natural and does not impact an artificially altered usage curve towards the user.

An amazing iPhone X Display

The screen is amazing. In each generation of iPhone Apple contains the specifications, adapting them and creating screens that work very well in combination with the software – in the sense of energy saving, quality and color depth. However, the Super Retina HD display is something I encourage you to watch live if you haven’t already. Apple has built the perfect display for the iPhone, for the first time with OLED technology and a contrast of 1,000,000:1, resolution from 2,436 by 1,125 to 458 dots per inch, which although not the one with the highest resolution on the market, is one of the best in color accuracy, contrast and definition. Apple improves the weak points oLED technology and presents graphics with closed black and deep colors, which the P3 film cutting colour range is responsible for expanding and the True Tone with ambient whites to round. It’s also the first HDR screen on an iPhone (neither the iPhone 8 nor the iPhone 8 Plus are).

-The screen quality is amazing: the new contrast and the improved OLED panel make the iPhone X stand out above other generations with the Super Retina HD display-

The brightness of 625 cd/m2 helps a lot to use the phone even in direct exposure to the sun, and the large screen to display contents impresses at first sight when we have the phone in hand. I liked the speed of developers adapting their apps to the new iPhone X, which got to work when Xcode was ready for the new device. Overall, developers have bet heavily on this new Apple flagship, adapting Face ID to prepare for the phone’s launch and creating user interfaces that further leverage the canvas Apple offers them for their apps.

Let’s talk about the controversial «notch», peninsula or upper rectangle where True Depth cameras are stored, the architects of the pure magic of Face ID. I didn’t like it when I saw it at the presentation, although when I was able to try it in hand after the press area it didn’t bother me too much. In any case, I came out of there with the feeling that that rectangle could have been avoided if Apple had wanted to. Days later, it was Apple itself that explained to developers that this area should not be hidden (with black backgrounds, or similar, in the apps) but even highlightit it, use it. The famous motto «embrace the notch» had arrived, using almost as a flag something that only the iPhone X had.

And that was the key. In press several articles told us that Apple was purposely looking to turn the screen into a differentiating element of the competition, and it would not have been possible if they created the same rectangular screen that everyone has. After all, the iPhone’s silhouette is practically an icon in the smartphone world, and it’s a very important symbol for the brand that didn’t have to be lost. It can work as an explanation for Apple’s decision – at least until the new San Gréal of this new decade we’re getting into is found: screens that can hide sensors behind them.

-Apple decided to turn the «notch» into a symbol that outlines the figure that will distinguish a new generation of iPhones, from the rest-

However, how does it work on a day-to-day basis? I have to say that it bothers rather little to use: in portrait mode the gap occupied by it is empty and we do not notice much change compared to an earlier generation of the phone. It’s horizontal when we watch a full-screen video – we can also adjust the screen to show from it – when it appears to us on the left: but honestly, the spectacular edge-to-edge screen makes that rectangle look insignificant there . Surfing the internet in landscape mode is a bit annoying at first with the «notch», which scrolls all the content to the right, but it is also not something serious because there is more space to take advantage of the other side and after using it several times this notch almost Disappears.

-Apple should improve aspects that the «notch» cover, such as status icons, which sometimes confuse the user-

I come up with several solutions: maybe you could completely remove the operator’s name on the unlock screen, and show these icons there – or even we can customize which ones we want to see there. You could also take advantage of the huge screen to visually display all this, even if then in the top bar you won’t see them. There are options that Apple should explore and give solution, as it is especially annoying at times. Watching videos in full screen, or browsing the internet or using everyday apps with this «rectangle», honestly, doesn’t seem to me a problem.

In hand the phone looks as if it were out of a sci-fi film: not only is it easily recognizable by anyone – this is where this differentiating peninsula works very well – but it conveys great quality in the materials and it is very comfortable to have in hand , no slipping, with good grip and an amazing OLED screen that is enjoyed from minute one. The new – but familiar – iOS prepared for the iPhone X enhances these sensations because the use with gestures is very nice and comfortable: so much, that if you return to another phone you will no longer press another button and you will make the swipe gesture to open also on them. This is where we understand that Apple has been right with the combination of hardware and software, and the natural and lag-free, jerking or problems that we might come to think of in a new technology.

-The phone design works: it looks like it came out of a sci-fi movie – and the use is natural, fluid and perfectly combines hardware and software-

Face ID

One thing that will define this generation of the iPhone X is Face ID, the facial unlock that Apple has inserted into this model that starts from the purchase of the company PrimeSense, the responsible one behind Kinect. It’s amazing to think about how all that technology has managed to get better and miniaturize inside a sensor bar the size we have on this phone, just five years later. TrueDepth sensors are really eight: a 7MP FaceTime camera, infrared camera, dot projector, IR illuminator, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, speaker and microphone.

This new sensor bar is used to project and analyze more than 30,000 (invisible) points that create a three-dimensional map of each face, even in the dark thanks to the infrared light illuminator. The infrared camera then analyzes the dot pattern of the face, captures the image and sends the data for verification to the Secure Enclave, the secure chip – which does not store any data outside the phone – so that the A11 Bionic chip confirms that the pattern is that of the user registered Aryan. All this is done in a mind-blowing real time that is practically instantaneous, even if we change attire, wear beards or have sunglasses. In all my tests it has worked, even with some models of polarized glasses.

-Face ID is an amazing technology that not only serves to identify us, we will also use it in apps, games and discover new ways to use our iPhones-

This again makes such a complex technology virtually invisible to the user, that it doesn’t even have to realize that it exists to see that it works. And it works as long as there’s nothing partially covering the face, like a blanket or the like – although it does work with scarves if they’re out of this area. In any case, Face ID uses adaptive patterns that, in case of doubt, will ask for your password in case of doubt and store new patterns that will be compared incrementally to detect and anticipate changes. It’s truly amazing how we have this way, in a first generation, on a phone of this size: and it’s the architect of a new form of natural work with gestures with the phone that makes it – honestly – let’s not miss any buttons and make Touch ID look like a thing of the past.

Special mention for things that might come in the future: facial recognition for apps, games, the famous and fun Animojis, the messages that come to us but that are hidden by privacy – until we look at them. It’s a little thing that add to the set that Apple wants to achieve with the product, and it’s a perfect user experience – and that seems like a real leap forward rather than just evolution. If you want to test the power of these new TrueDepth sensors, I encourage you to download an app like MeasureKit and choose the Face Mesh tool that measures and maps the faces in real time: without any delay or stop, it is able to sample the face and overprint it on the video it captures.

Generational technology

This year we have had two protagonists in the iPhone range: the iPhone itself of this generation – the iPhone 8 – and a statement of intentions for the future such as the iPhone X. This causes this new model to share many of the keys of the iPhone 8, beyond the proprietary technology that defines the iPhone X, such as the A11 Bionic chip – the real architect of everything that uses a neural engine to process photos, face patterns in Face ID or speed up certain operating system tasks.

On the iPhone X, the A11 Bionic chip also helps to conserve energy: performance is squeezed to the maximum but containing the power consumption dictated by the chip that works in perfect harmony with the operating system. The result is a very noticeable improvement in the battery of this iPhone X – it also has a larger size divided into two blocks – which makes it able to use it about two hours more than on average compared to the iPhone 8 or previous generations.

The cameras are also practically the same as the iPhone 8 Plus, except for the opening of the telephoto camera, on the iPhone X it has less aperture of the iPhone 8 Plus. The iPhone X gains points by giving dual optical image stabilization to the cameras, for the first time on an iPhone – which helps to improve photos especially with low luminosity or fast or moving photos. The video recording parameters have exactly the same features as the iPhone 8 Plus – in short, some improvement in the cameras on paper compared to what we discussed in the analysis of the iPhone 8 Plus, but nothing tremendously groundbreaking that differentiates between ranges, getting the same excellent results as its generation partner.