The Good
There are many things to like with the iPhone X. You can unlock it with your face. Animated emoji that you can program to speak like characters with your voice & face muscle movements :) A strong stainless steel case with stainless steel buttons & stainless steel grill covers for the holes that vent sound one way or the other for speakers and microphones. I look forward to seeing how this surgical grade steel holds up in the real world.
Symmetrical Lightning Port
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| This image from ifixit shows the two halfs of the main logic board separated. ' Normally stacked together to save space inside the iPhone. |
This modern marvel of electrical engineering represents the cutting edge of mobile phone logic design. The stackable layered motherboard saves enough space so that 2 batteries can fit inside for enhance runtime per battery charge. Lithium ion batteries like the one in the iPhone X are prone to fading over time, fading with every charge cycle, faster when exposed to heat hotter than 77 Deg F and they fade extra fast when you leave the iPhone connected to the charger after the battery is finished charging. I charge my iPhone SE for about 30min at a time to avoid overcharging the lithium ion battery. Lithium ion batteries should never be charged frozen, punctured, bent or damaged. Never expose the lithium ion battery to water or conductive fluids of any kind.
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| Dual Batteries + Compact Logic inside iPhone X ifixit images show the insides of the coolest gear |
Quasi-Practical Battery & Screen Replacements
The nice quasi-user replaceable batteries is held in with familiar pull tab adhesive strips, push pull connector on the cables that plugs into the logic. Screws holding down the steel cable connector cover. This setup makes screen repairs & battery replacements more affordable, practical & plausible to actually occur in the real world in a meaningful way.
The nice quasi-user replaceable batteries is held in with familiar pull tab adhesive strips, push pull connector on the cables that plugs into the logic. Screws holding down the steel cable connector cover. This setup makes screen repairs & battery replacements more affordable, practical & plausible to actually occur in the real world in a meaningful way.
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| Wireless Charging : Lots of Qi docks available that work :) 30 min will net ~20% charge : slower than plugging in ! |
Two 12MP images sensors combine with bright fast optics & optical image stabilization to give remarkable zoom & wide angle performance from that oval shaped glass with a steel bezel hump that sits off the back of the iPhone X. Like most modern phones the iPhone X functions well as a camera for still images and video capture.
Dual Core Neural Engine
State of the art machine learning & augmented reality accelerated by this new type of IC, enabling Face ID unlocking along with the amazing array of front facing sensors that gather the data to unlock your phone with your face. Animated emoji use the front facing camera array to put your voice and facial motions into a CGI emoji of your choice; choose wisely, all of this powered by the machine learning core. The neural engine also helps the camera by enabling a broad range of extended functionality. App developers will eventually be able to make use of this engine to enhance location, video, image stabilization, synthetic vision ID, games, utilities and other functions. Hosting Siri locally when the iPhone X is offline or unable to access data for example. When used for image recognition, this kind of neural processor is up to 20x faster than a traditional CPU or GPU.
Improved Networking Performance
Faster LTE via LTE advanced the iPhone X is missing Gigabit LTE Pro present on other high end flagship phones in late 2017. Improved WiFi with Mimo antenna setup in 802.11 AC + Bluetooth 5.0 + NFC reader. Wireless IO performance greatly affects the usefulness of a smartphone : faster is always better : waiting wastes time and we are all running out of time!
The Bad
State of the art machine learning & augmented reality accelerated by this new type of IC, enabling Face ID unlocking along with the amazing array of front facing sensors that gather the data to unlock your phone with your face. Animated emoji use the front facing camera array to put your voice and facial motions into a CGI emoji of your choice; choose wisely, all of this powered by the machine learning core. The neural engine also helps the camera by enabling a broad range of extended functionality. App developers will eventually be able to make use of this engine to enhance location, video, image stabilization, synthetic vision ID, games, utilities and other functions. Hosting Siri locally when the iPhone X is offline or unable to access data for example. When used for image recognition, this kind of neural processor is up to 20x faster than a traditional CPU or GPU.
Improved Networking Performance
Faster LTE via LTE advanced the iPhone X is missing Gigabit LTE Pro present on other high end flagship phones in late 2017. Improved WiFi with Mimo antenna setup in 802.11 AC + Bluetooth 5.0 + NFC reader. Wireless IO performance greatly affects the usefulness of a smartphone : faster is always better : waiting wastes time and we are all running out of time!
The Bad
The headphone jack again. Pushing for wireless audio products with market pressure by the world's most popular electronic product : iPhone : when Apple removed the Headphone Jack from their iPhone lineup they betrayed consumers by telling people you either have to use a stupid dongle that no one is going to keep with their phone, or you can buy wireless headphones or a new dongle for every pair of plug in headphones you already own (so you can leave the stupid dongle on the end of your existing headphone plugs). For $999 they should include 5 dongles : they know their customers own many earbud & headphone products with a standard 1/8" 3.5mm stereo connector. My iPhone SE has a normal headphone jack, just like the 5S that it replaced.
No Home Button
The touch id sensor equipped home button on the 5S & later iPhones made unlocking & controlling an iPhone super easy, especially for 1 hand use in normal sized hands as not everyone can control larger phones easily with one hand. The larger phones cause people with small hands to drop them, unable to securely grasp the frame effectively while also articulating the touch screen interface with their thumbs. People rarely discuss handling when talking about smartphones, but the size of a phone greatly affects how it feels & works in your hand : with built in push to activate & fingerprint reading functionality, the home button with its glass front became an iconic part of the iPhone design. Now all of this magical home button touch ID action is gone. The iPhone X can only be unlocked with your face or a password.
Production Delays
Integrating parts made by many different companies, including Apple's biggest iPhone rival manufacturer Samsung. The bespoke OLED used on the iPhone X was difficult to manufacture on a large scale quickly with good yield efficiencies. That means a lot of the the initial screens made were rejected because of QA:QC problems. When something is mass manufactured, sometimes the initial run has to be tuned & optimized to get output yield efficiency of good units up to some acceptable level of defects. This is done with a new processor production nodes at Intel for example to create more CPU's that work per platter. See CPU manufacturing on youtube for reference if that did not make sense! All of this translates into slowed production and shipping delays that are making many people wait for their new iPhone X's. The wait might turn out to be a good thing
App's Not Optimized for New Screen Ratio
The amazing new OLED display ratio diverges from previous designs, meaning that Apps optimized for iPhones before the X do not display correctly. It could take months or years before most of the Apps on the Apple App store are optimized for the iPhone X.
The Ugly
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| $549 to repair the back glass, the screen is expensive too! Glass on both sides means more expensive drop damage! |
Glass Front & Back
Plastic is the answer, with glass covers that can be easily replaced when broken. By making the majority of the exterior of the iPhone X out of glass, Apple succeeded in making the iPhone X one of the most expensive to repair phones ever released. Making the front & back out of glass also increases the likeliness of a glass breaking when your drop your iPhone X. This will almost certainly drive most owners of iPhone X to put their brand new glass & steel iPhone's into polymer protective cases, a boon for case makers who will sell millions of protective cases as a result.
OLED Burn in, Hue Shift & Fading Issues
The OLED screen more expensive to repair as well & covered in glass that breaks & shatters easily when the iPhone is dropped onto hard surfaces. Apple departed from the LED backlit LCD common on all previous iPhones and went with a bespoke OLED unit made by Samsung in the iPhone X.
OLED offering better color while using less power, and more pixels better pixels, enhanced contrast, deeper black. Despite their great efforts some image burn in issues remain unaddressed. They could enable "Screen Long Life Mode" with a software optimization that minimizes burn in problems creatively by moving the displayed image tiny amounts to fire up different pixels in different patterns without distorting the hand held image perception much. Such a setting could under an advanced tab if it caused problems for persnickety users if enabled by default.
Hue shifting, intensity fading, output decay & color changes accompany image burn-in problems with the OLED display. The proven well refined LCD from iPhone 8 and previous models offered many advantage over OLED, but OLED better initial color gamut space & contrast ratios make it something special to behold. Long ago Samsung mastered the art of OLED smartphone screens.
I used a Note 2 & 3 for years. LCD was (way brighter) but could never dim as nicely as OLED, never had pure black colors, and OLED offers something special in terms of hue depth, especially when the phone maker jacks up the saturation of the display like Samsung does in the Note 8 for hyper vivid colors ^^ Apple took a far more conservative approach with a "natural" color space setting that is more down to earth and less futuristic looking.
The notch in the OLED display of the iPhone X hides some interesting tech (special cameras & light sources + sensors to make Face Unlock and more possible) but made the manufacturing of the display more complicated, causing production delays. The Samsung made iPhone X display OLED unit was specifically optimized by Apple for the iPhone X. Sadly, despire Apple's additional design tuning, the OLED display of the iPhone X is plagued with problems. Not to say that LED LCD is perfect by comparison.
OLED offering better color while using less power, and more pixels better pixels, enhanced contrast, deeper black. Despite their great efforts some image burn in issues remain unaddressed. They could enable "Screen Long Life Mode" with a software optimization that minimizes burn in problems creatively by moving the displayed image tiny amounts to fire up different pixels in different patterns without distorting the hand held image perception much. Such a setting could under an advanced tab if it caused problems for persnickety users if enabled by default.
Hue shifting, intensity fading, output decay & color changes accompany image burn-in problems with the OLED display. The proven well refined LCD from iPhone 8 and previous models offered many advantage over OLED, but OLED better initial color gamut space & contrast ratios make it something special to behold. Long ago Samsung mastered the art of OLED smartphone screens.
I used a Note 2 & 3 for years. LCD was (way brighter) but could never dim as nicely as OLED, never had pure black colors, and OLED offers something special in terms of hue depth, especially when the phone maker jacks up the saturation of the display like Samsung does in the Note 8 for hyper vivid colors ^^ Apple took a far more conservative approach with a "natural" color space setting that is more down to earth and less futuristic looking.
The notch in the OLED display of the iPhone X hides some interesting tech (special cameras & light sources + sensors to make Face Unlock and more possible) but made the manufacturing of the display more complicated, causing production delays. The Samsung made iPhone X display OLED unit was specifically optimized by Apple for the iPhone X. Sadly, despire Apple's additional design tuning, the OLED display of the iPhone X is plagued with problems. Not to say that LED LCD is perfect by comparison.
$999 Base Price
The most expensive iPhone ever & not Made in America. Apple long ago complained that building the iPhone on an Automated line in Utah or Texas would increase the cost of the phone by 20-40%. The neural processor & imaging sensors for Face ID likely increased production costs, but Apple is known for the large profit margins they generate on hardware sales, especially from iPhone sales. They are actually saying "we could make it in America, and sell it for a profit, but doing so at price the moves 200 million units would erode the profit margins on every unit sale" and lets be reasonable when thinking about this; Apple is a for profit business, so it makes sense that they are trying to maximize margins on their most popular product lineup. The iPhone across all of its versions is one of the best selling durable products ever.
Extension
Get an iPhone SE that you can actually use in one hand & then use it sparingly to avoid thumb, wrist & neck problems. The iPhone SE costs less than the repair of the back glass on an iPhone X. The Xbox One X costs less than the repair of the back glass on an iPhone X. The iPhone X is expensive to buy & expensive to repair.
Some people are going to love the iPhone X, especially once apps are optimized for the new screen shape. The OLED screen on the iPhone X will deliver amazing color experiences that change over time & for some people that will be enjoyable. Unlock it with your face & capture 4K 60FPS video, the iPhone X offers some really cool sizzle, especially with all of that stainless steel! Glass on the front & back means iPhone X buyers get a chance to shop for protective cases, less they wish to experience glass shattering when the finger fumble the iPhone X.
I really like the headphone jack, one hand friendly design, great camera, fast performance, strong frame & good screen that make the iPhone SE a really good overall value. I am not telling you to avoid the iPhone X, but I am saying that I think the iPhone SE is much better overall value for most people!
If you want the latest greatest cutting edge phone tech, then go ahead and get an iPhone X. The iPhone X has some amazing features that caused people to line up and wait outside the stores. The buzz or spirit of the time around the iPhone X launch eclipsed the feelings created by the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 launch. I hope that my analytical wanderings help you to make a more informed buying decision.
Keep on thinking about it, those topics that cross your mental deck, your intellectual wheelhouse, your self aware conscious mind....... the information presented on the glowing screens of your electronic devices, iPhones, iPads, iMacs, Apple TV setups, Xbox's, Windows Computers, Linux, however you touch & see the information.... your mind is a battlefield, fight for something worth fighting for! I fight for truth, information that increases transparency, ideas that edify others in order to reduce confusion in the world. In the spirit of Ideas Worth Sharing at TED, I share this post with you!
Get an iPhone SE that you can actually use in one hand & then use it sparingly to avoid thumb, wrist & neck problems. The iPhone SE costs less than the repair of the back glass on an iPhone X. The Xbox One X costs less than the repair of the back glass on an iPhone X. The iPhone X is expensive to buy & expensive to repair.
Some people are going to love the iPhone X, especially once apps are optimized for the new screen shape. The OLED screen on the iPhone X will deliver amazing color experiences that change over time & for some people that will be enjoyable. Unlock it with your face & capture 4K 60FPS video, the iPhone X offers some really cool sizzle, especially with all of that stainless steel! Glass on the front & back means iPhone X buyers get a chance to shop for protective cases, less they wish to experience glass shattering when the finger fumble the iPhone X.
I really like the headphone jack, one hand friendly design, great camera, fast performance, strong frame & good screen that make the iPhone SE a really good overall value. I am not telling you to avoid the iPhone X, but I am saying that I think the iPhone SE is much better overall value for most people!
If you want the latest greatest cutting edge phone tech, then go ahead and get an iPhone X. The iPhone X has some amazing features that caused people to line up and wait outside the stores. The buzz or spirit of the time around the iPhone X launch eclipsed the feelings created by the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 launch. I hope that my analytical wanderings help you to make a more informed buying decision.
Keep on thinking about it, those topics that cross your mental deck, your intellectual wheelhouse, your self aware conscious mind....... the information presented on the glowing screens of your electronic devices, iPhones, iPads, iMacs, Apple TV setups, Xbox's, Windows Computers, Linux, however you touch & see the information.... your mind is a battlefield, fight for something worth fighting for! I fight for truth, information that increases transparency, ideas that edify others in order to reduce confusion in the world. In the spirit of Ideas Worth Sharing at TED, I share this post with you!
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