Maybe I have lower expectations than others but I'm not finding FaceID to be as lackluster as others here. Is it as fast as TouchID on the last 2 gen of iPhone? Nope. But it's not that much slower, not enough where I feel like I'm waiting. I usually swipe up before I even glance at the display so it's opened by the time I'm ready to use it. I've also had pretty good success with using it at angles off from center. I just tapped the screen to wake it while looking at it from probably 30-45 degrees below the display and it opened right up. I tried using it from either side and was successful from roughly the same angles. My Apple Watch is presently re-pairing to it and while it was mounting in a vertical style dock, I woke it in a very dark room from probably 2 feet back and maybe 15-20 degrees off to the right and it opened right up.
Having to swipe every time is admittedly a bit irritating but I have to do more than that (double tap screen or press side wake button, then swipe) to open my Pixel 2 XL every time I don't pick it up and reach around back for the fingerprint sensor while its on smart lock.
Again, these are just my very first impressions while going through the initial setup/updates. We'll see how I feel about it after some more extensive use. I'll check back in later with an update.
Yeah its not terrible, just annoying. Many times when I swipe up face ID is still working on it. I've found I can be 45 or so degrees off to the side and it works, so it works in my car cradle which is in the center of my dash. But anything past 30 degrees or so if the phone is flat in front of me doesn't work, which sucks because it pretty much lives on my desk all day.
I'm getting into the habit of just swiping up first, makes it seem quicker and helps with my muscle memory from using touch ID.
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Some next to the Essential.
Not sure on my thoughts just yet.
THIS is what the X should have been, reminds me I have to try and find a semi cheap Essential. Whatever happened to the fast updates though, no Oreo yet.
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I'm a few hours in with the X, so here's a few observations:
- Face ID works really well. The biggest drawback is if it's on a table and you want to glance at something requiring you to open your phone. However, I have encountered the exact same issue with my Pixel XL and Note 8, so that's not really a thing for me. Otherwise my fail rate with Face ID has been at or near zero. Also: the move is swipe up immediately once you raise to wake. It unlocks as your swiping up. It's like your phone isn't locked.
- Gestures rock. I have no idea why any tech bloggers were suggesting app switching needed some getting used to. They're morons. The move isn't to move up and stop, it's move up midway and swipe right. Boom. Done. And flipping back and forth by swiping the indicator at the bottom is cool.
- I. Do. Not. Notice. The. Notch. So I'm officially in the camp that it's not a thing. I've watched videos in full screen. It doesn't really register for me.
- It *is* weird readjusting to a smaller phone after using the Note 8. The software does mostly profile as the smaller iPHone. That might actually be a thing for me, I don't know yet. Typing feels a little cramped, but again I'm so used to the king of the jungle of phones I want to give myself a bit before coming to a firm conclusion.
- Animojis are cute and I'm already over them. I don't think they're going to be a big deal, but I do think they serve as a kind of proof of concept for developers to think about what they can do with the camera system.
That's about it for now. It's still an iPhone, still uses iOS 11. Downloaded 11.1, so we'll see if it's more stable than the initial release. No idea about battery. It seems worse than the Pixel XL, but I've been using it a ton so dunno yet.
wow, great tip on the app switcher, MUCH easier to swipe up and right. My only gripe is to force close an app you have to long press then slide up, just an extra step.
I notice the notch a LOT, mostly when in landscape mode. But having the sides colored in just looks terrible. I thought I could get used to it, but it's hard. It's really bad with apps where it blocks your view such as safari.
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iOS is too confining for the type of screen they're going for. If an app isn't optimized for the ratio, you're stuck with a box. Case in point: Amazon Prime Video isn't optimized. So it runs in both letter and Piller box. Thus there is zero advantage to the screen size. And I can't stand the regular iPhone size software.
SO...not for me. Maybe next year when they produce a plus size. Pixel XL 2 wins my daily driver sweepstakes.
Which pretty much means most non apple apps. I've only found a few that work, and the devs mostly just stretched up the titlebar into the notch area so they are still iPhone 8 sized apps. I have a feeling that laziness will be pervasive in the dev community. Google doesn't have squat optimized for the X, but I guess that doesn't surprise me. Microsoft optimized their apps though, so they look a bit better.
