Apple “has positioned iPhone X as a blueprint for all handsets to come. But is the iPhone X that significant? Is the future actually here — for real this time, after that marketing suggestion has been thrown around so much that we’ve tuned it out? And even if it is, is it worth the potential pains of early adoption for newer technologies like Face ID and OLED?” Samuel Axon writes for Ars Technica. “I’ll give you a hint: this phone does three notable new things, all in one device. As a certain turtlenecked man once said, ‘Are you getting it?'”
• First, the iPhone X adopts the more natural OLED and HDR screen technologies and places them in a screen format that, despite the notch, generally succeeds at reducing barriers to our relationship with digital content and functions.
• Second, the iPhone X takes the facial recognition that other phones have tried out, plus the promising-but-not-quite-there concept behind Microsoft’s vibrant but short-lived Kinect experiment, and lays the groundwork for myriad new ways to interact with our devices, from frivolous social features to profound security implications.
• Third, the iPhone X combines a robust suite of sensors, good cameras, exceptional mobile performance, and mature software to deliver the first great, viable, mass-market AR platform. This may very well break the levies for a flood of innovative applications, changing the way the physical world and the digital layer we’ve built for it relate to one another.
“Every individual component of the iPhone X’s version of the future has been seeping into the recent past here and there,” Axon writes. “But this future can’t actualize unless the components work well, individually and together, all in one device.”
“The original iPhone made the future happen by the same approach a decade years ago, and the iPhone X does it again. Of course this phone is not as revolutionary as the first iPhone was — starting a new chapter is never going to be as big a deal as opening a new book. And there are reservations around battery life, durability, and first-generation Face ID usability. As always, the second iteration of a new design will surely be more refined, and cautious buyers who wait for year two will probably be rewarded for their patience,” Axon writes. “But the iPhone X is nevertheless easy to recommend if you want a glimpse at what’s going to be exciting in the next 10 years.”
Tons more in the full review – highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: iPhone X is the world’s best smartphone. By a wide margin.
iPhone X is far more than just a notch above.
SEE ALSO:
iMore reviews iPhone X: The best damn product Apple has ever made – November 2, 2017
TechCrunch reviews Apple’s iPhone X: ‘Like using the future of smartphones, today’ – November 1, 2017
Tim Bajarin’s first impression of Apple’s iPhone X: Face ID worked flawlessly – November 1, 2017
The Verge reviews Apple’s iPhone X: Clearly the best iPhone ever made, despite being marred by its ugly notch – November 1, 2017
Above Avalon’s first impressions of Apple’s iPhone X: ‘An entirely new iPhone experience’ – October 31, 2017
The Independent reviews Apple’s iPhone X: ‘This feels like the future’ – October 31, 2017
David Pogue reviews Apple’s iPhone X: ‘The best thing is its size’ – October 31, 2017
Forbes reviews Apple’s iPhone X: Opulent, gorgeous, classy; the best iPhone yet – October 31, 2017
CNBC reviews Apple’s iPhone X: ‘The best smartphone on the market’ – October 31, 2017
I can respect that… it’s still amazing to me that the store didnt open back up until 20-22minutes after the hour and I was “on it”, however after 7 or 8 attempts, switching it up from iPhone 7+ to MBPro in succession after failed attempts, was only able to hit Dec 5… Still totally excited to get this new iteration of Steve Jobs relentless dedication to pushing the Universe to expand it’s hardened persona… hence the iDent.
My Dec. 8-16 delivery window dropped to Dec. 1-8 today, you’ll probably get yours in three weeks or less.
ARS Technica review is correct. There are many pros and cons. Face id isn’t always convenient. I think many people will be very happy with notch free iPhone 8 models
These headlines are so stupid.
“A glimpse at the future…”. Really?
If the iPhone X is here now, why is it still the future?
Idiots.
I was gonna post the same thing, until I realized the obvious, they are implying its the future of all smart phones. But I suppose then the Samsung whatever phone, which is also “all screen”, is also the future. Or a rip off of the future 🙂
Apparently the future consists of a Samsung OLED display with facial unlocking that has been sold for 2 years. But this one has an Apple logo, so we must worship it.
The “Samsung” OLED display is stop gap towards Apple’s own micro-LED displays, which will more than likely be manufactured by LG, hence Apple’s recent investment in LG. I’d also like to point out the OLED display is not an off-the-shelf part, it is specifically manufactured for Apple by Samsung, using a lot of Apple’s own IP in display technology.
Second, the facial recognition in the iPhone X has not been sold for two years. It’s implementation is very new in the smartphone market. Also, Apple’s use of it is very different from others; it is a new level of “awareness”… If your phone knows you’re looking at it, it can act differently, in a much more convenient manner.
Probably because a lot of the technologies are not ready for mass production that would make them “common” in a smartphone. They’re basically saying these things shipping in the iPhone X may become commonplace in smartphones at some point in time.