After being absolutely captivated by the original iPhone keynote, I have not missed an iPhone release — ever. iPhone, iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 4s, 5, 5s, 6, 6s/6s Plus, 7 Plus, and now iPhone X. I have never regretted the annual upgrade as Apple usually makes a lot of little changes that totally improve the experience. In fact, I find the S models to be the best upgrade since they always feel like more polished, perfected versions of the phone that came before it in ways the average user probably doesn’t even notice; yet, the user experience is consistently improved with every new model.
iPhone X, love it or hate it, is the most radical iPhone redesign ever. It’s evident consumers want new, but it comes at the cost of years of polish. It has more of a conceptual feel, like we are using a device before its time not totally dissimilar from the first iPhone. Apple took a new concept and ran with it for the first time in the history of iPhone, which is why it’s so successful — and also why it’s rough around the meticulously-engineered stainless steel edges.
iPhone 6 Plus felt like the culmination of years of iPhone design coming together to create the ideal phone, and was the climax for the original iPhone design. I remember using it for the first time and thinking it was nearly flawless. I’ll be honest: 7 Plus was a polished evolution of the 6 and 6s that felt surprisingly close to perfect, and I wasn’t really ready to give it up for the X since it was such a beautifully-engineered phone. Regardless, the X featured the two features I have wanted for years: a bezelless design and an OLED display.
iPhone X is a feat of engineering that is remarkably well-built and a natural next step of the iPhone design. That’s not to say it’s perfect — it isn’t and I still see a lot of room for improvement. Quite frankly that’s totally fine since Apple still has the next decade to perfect the design much in the way I’m sure that the iPhone 8 is the perfected version of the original iPhone design.
My first area of disappointment with iPhone X is single-handed usage. Having used a 4.7” iPhone 6s in the past before upgrading back to the Plus mainly for its superior features, I expected the single-handed usage and comfort to mirror that as it was the perfect size for it. To that extent, the width of the phone is probably ideal for it. But I’ve been straining my wrist from using iPhone X. Swiping up from the bottom just isn’t a natural gesture for single-handed use. The home button was in the perfect spot where I could naturally extend my thumb from the keyboard to the home button. To get home now, I’d have to either strain my wrist or pull the phone higher up in my hands to reach the bottom which doesn’t feel totally natural. I use my phone single-handed the majority of the time so I do view this as an issue that should be addressed in future iterations, hopefully with an ingenious new solution.
Seeing as iPhone X has a fairly large side button, it would be preferable to use it as the new home button which would also recoup some real estate at the bottom of the display. There would have to be a way to put the phone to sleep (maybe make the button capacitive), but it’s doable. In fact, a capacitive button that controls the menus as well could be a game-changer for the usefulness of the design.
(The visible bottom “home” bar serves no purpose and can be annoying, especially in landscape apps. If Apple is concerned users will get confused about where to swipe, they should have an option to disable it so that savvy users can choose to hide it.)
As much as I’ve wanted an OLED display in an iPhone there are some compromises to it even at this stage. Previous iPhones implemented a flicker-free display, while for the first time Apple was forced to use PWM which flickers the display in a way that’s not normally perceptible. For the average user this may not make a difference, but there is a percentage of the population that can experience eye strain from this including me. I’m sure Apple is prioritizing switching to a flicker-free OLED display as soon as possible, but this is a notable compromise to get iPhone X out this year. The display is gorgeous and perhaps the best ever in a smartphone, though I wish the display were coated a bit differently so that blacks appeared more inky. They look darker on the aluminum Apple Watch which in all fairness has a deep black jewelry-like appearance to its glass to begin with. The distinction is noticeable when compared to the black bezels. Not a huge deal, but for the sake of perfection I would prefer to see the screen coated a bit differently to display the totally inky blacks OLED is capable of.
Funnily enough, I thought the infamous notch was a quirky design choice that made iPhone X unique when I initially watched the presentation. I was team notch. When I actually started using the phone it bothered me a bit since the display looks more striking to me when the top area is blacked out with white menu text, plus technically this would afford more screen real estate since the menu items could be positioned to the very edges. I get why Apple chose to incorporate the notch as a design element since it makes iPhone X more distinctive and obvious. The edge-to-edge display works wonderfully for games and immersive apps, but in apps that require a menu bar I wouldn’t have minded if it were blacked out. (Personally I think the dynamic wallpapers would look better if they hid the notch.) Thanks to getting the menu bar out of the way, the top area is still very much functional and gives the illusion of a true edge-to-edge display when it’s blacked out. Apple went for uniformity across iOS though, which is also respectable.
I get why Apple chose the ultra tall aspect ratio that they did for the display, even if it is not conducive to single-handed use or video playback. In the notch-less future, Apple could pioneer a switch to ultra-wide content but for now the notch is more of an eye sore for video than I expected so users are stuck with a smaller 16:9 area than on the Plus models. I actually would have preferred a phone with a 16:9 area for video that’s just slightly taller to accomdate the notch and so that the corners don’t have to be rounded for full-screen videos, but I understand the reasons for iPhone X’s aspect ratio even if it makes the phone too tall for comfortable single-handed use.
FaceID is a great technology when it works, which is more often than not even if it is not yet as quick or as consistent as TouchID. It does feel like there is no passcode on the phone at all when it works instantaneously, which does speak to its potential to be an upgrade to TouchID. FaceID could be effortless if Apple let users unlock the phone with a glance, rather than also a requiring a swipe up. This simple change would make FaceID much better in terms of speed. There should at least be an option for an instant FaceID unlock when there are no new notifications, especially since many iPhone users are receiving notifications on their Apple Watch.
As much as I do love iPhone X otherwise, it is readily apparent this is the first iteration of a bezelless future. iPhone X feels like a new concept that needs refinement, not unlike the first iPhone. Its strengths do outnumber its weaknesses, even if this post seems overly critical. S model iPhones have always felt better in a lot of minor meaningful ways that come together to make the experience more seamless, sometimes significantly so, and I fully expect the same for iPhone X down the line as Apple refines the design.
I would not be surprised if iPhone 8 is the best iPhone has ever made from a usability standpoint considering how close to perfect iPhone 7 was, but that is only because that design has had over ten years to be perfected. (Apple has reused the particular form factor for four years.)
iPhone X serves as the framework for an innovative next decade of iPhone — and that is exciting news for Apple.
iPhone X, love it or hate it, is the most radical iPhone redesign ever. It’s evident consumers want new, but it comes at the cost of years of polish. It has more of a conceptual feel, like we are using a device before its time not totally dissimilar from the first iPhone. Apple took a new concept and ran with it for the first time in the history of iPhone, which is why it’s so successful — and also why it’s rough around the meticulously-engineered stainless steel edges.
iPhone 6 Plus felt like the culmination of years of iPhone design coming together to create the ideal phone, and was the climax for the original iPhone design. I remember using it for the first time and thinking it was nearly flawless. I’ll be honest: 7 Plus was a polished evolution of the 6 and 6s that felt surprisingly close to perfect, and I wasn’t really ready to give it up for the X since it was such a beautifully-engineered phone. Regardless, the X featured the two features I have wanted for years: a bezelless design and an OLED display.
iPhone X is a feat of engineering that is remarkably well-built and a natural next step of the iPhone design. That’s not to say it’s perfect — it isn’t and I still see a lot of room for improvement. Quite frankly that’s totally fine since Apple still has the next decade to perfect the design much in the way I’m sure that the iPhone 8 is the perfected version of the original iPhone design.
My first area of disappointment with iPhone X is single-handed usage. Having used a 4.7” iPhone 6s in the past before upgrading back to the Plus mainly for its superior features, I expected the single-handed usage and comfort to mirror that as it was the perfect size for it. To that extent, the width of the phone is probably ideal for it. But I’ve been straining my wrist from using iPhone X. Swiping up from the bottom just isn’t a natural gesture for single-handed use. The home button was in the perfect spot where I could naturally extend my thumb from the keyboard to the home button. To get home now, I’d have to either strain my wrist or pull the phone higher up in my hands to reach the bottom which doesn’t feel totally natural. I use my phone single-handed the majority of the time so I do view this as an issue that should be addressed in future iterations, hopefully with an ingenious new solution.
Seeing as iPhone X has a fairly large side button, it would be preferable to use it as the new home button which would also recoup some real estate at the bottom of the display. There would have to be a way to put the phone to sleep (maybe make the button capacitive), but it’s doable. In fact, a capacitive button that controls the menus as well could be a game-changer for the usefulness of the design.
(The visible bottom “home” bar serves no purpose and can be annoying, especially in landscape apps. If Apple is concerned users will get confused about where to swipe, they should have an option to disable it so that savvy users can choose to hide it.)
As much as I’ve wanted an OLED display in an iPhone there are some compromises to it even at this stage. Previous iPhones implemented a flicker-free display, while for the first time Apple was forced to use PWM which flickers the display in a way that’s not normally perceptible. For the average user this may not make a difference, but there is a percentage of the population that can experience eye strain from this including me. I’m sure Apple is prioritizing switching to a flicker-free OLED display as soon as possible, but this is a notable compromise to get iPhone X out this year. The display is gorgeous and perhaps the best ever in a smartphone, though I wish the display were coated a bit differently so that blacks appeared more inky. They look darker on the aluminum Apple Watch which in all fairness has a deep black jewelry-like appearance to its glass to begin with. The distinction is noticeable when compared to the black bezels. Not a huge deal, but for the sake of perfection I would prefer to see the screen coated a bit differently to display the totally inky blacks OLED is capable of.
Funnily enough, I thought the infamous notch was a quirky design choice that made iPhone X unique when I initially watched the presentation. I was team notch. When I actually started using the phone it bothered me a bit since the display looks more striking to me when the top area is blacked out with white menu text, plus technically this would afford more screen real estate since the menu items could be positioned to the very edges. I get why Apple chose to incorporate the notch as a design element since it makes iPhone X more distinctive and obvious. The edge-to-edge display works wonderfully for games and immersive apps, but in apps that require a menu bar I wouldn’t have minded if it were blacked out. (Personally I think the dynamic wallpapers would look better if they hid the notch.) Thanks to getting the menu bar out of the way, the top area is still very much functional and gives the illusion of a true edge-to-edge display when it’s blacked out. Apple went for uniformity across iOS though, which is also respectable.
I get why Apple chose the ultra tall aspect ratio that they did for the display, even if it is not conducive to single-handed use or video playback. In the notch-less future, Apple could pioneer a switch to ultra-wide content but for now the notch is more of an eye sore for video than I expected so users are stuck with a smaller 16:9 area than on the Plus models. I actually would have preferred a phone with a 16:9 area for video that’s just slightly taller to accomdate the notch and so that the corners don’t have to be rounded for full-screen videos, but I understand the reasons for iPhone X’s aspect ratio even if it makes the phone too tall for comfortable single-handed use.
FaceID is a great technology when it works, which is more often than not even if it is not yet as quick or as consistent as TouchID. It does feel like there is no passcode on the phone at all when it works instantaneously, which does speak to its potential to be an upgrade to TouchID. FaceID could be effortless if Apple let users unlock the phone with a glance, rather than also a requiring a swipe up. This simple change would make FaceID much better in terms of speed. There should at least be an option for an instant FaceID unlock when there are no new notifications, especially since many iPhone users are receiving notifications on their Apple Watch.
As much as I do love iPhone X otherwise, it is readily apparent this is the first iteration of a bezelless future. iPhone X feels like a new concept that needs refinement, not unlike the first iPhone. Its strengths do outnumber its weaknesses, even if this post seems overly critical. S model iPhones have always felt better in a lot of minor meaningful ways that come together to make the experience more seamless, sometimes significantly so, and I fully expect the same for iPhone X down the line as Apple refines the design.
I would not be surprised if iPhone 8 is the best iPhone has ever made from a usability standpoint considering how close to perfect iPhone 7 was, but that is only because that design has had over ten years to be perfected. (Apple has reused the particular form factor for four years.)
iPhone X serves as the framework for an innovative next decade of iPhone — and that is exciting news for Apple.
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