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The threads in this forum and responses in most of them are truly incredible.

I think it's safe to assume Apple wants to have an iPhone where the whole front is a screen. Problem is, there are several sensors, speaker, camera that need to go somewhere. Right now this is a fact.

For those who dislike the notch, I assume you would have preferred the image on the right - hiding everything using the OLED screen?

Notch.jpg


I would say that's actually a very cool and clean look. However, Apple has obviously decided against that. There's a few reasons I can think of that lead Apple to go with the layout on the left:

1) They really want as much screen on the front as possible. Covering the whole front as much as possible and squeezing all the sensors into one area allows them to go full screen into all 4 corners, with not only the screen, but also the app icons, dock, glass and steel maintaining the same corner radius. If you think about it, the attention to detail for just the corner of the device is pretty crazy. Icon, dock, screen, glass, steel all following the same curved radius:

corner.jpeg


2) Going with the right side image essentially makes the phone look like it has a top and bottom bezel, and it would really start to look like the almost bezel-less Android phones:

android.jpeg


3) In the new era of iPhone without a home button, they likely want a distinguishing look. Logically I think that's part of why they didn't try to hide the notch at all. They're using it in the new iPhone glyph, and it's something to help it stand apart from other phones:

x.jpeg




It's very easy to say "the notch is ugly" or "I hate it". I'm not trying excuse or rationalize anything. Simply trying to work through what Apple's thinking behind this might be. They're not just going to do something for glory when they put so much attention into details in everything they do. The combination of them wanting an all screen phone, wanting a unique look, and needing somewhere to jam 8 components of front facing hardware, I'd guess this is how they ended up with this design.


This phone isnt edge to edge no matter how much people want it to be

Currently no phone is fully edge to edge or completely bezel-less. I don't know how far the technology can be pushed in the coming years, but there's a lot of pretty advanced sensors in the notch and bezels of other phones, and I can't imagine there's an easy solution to hiding them and really making a full edge to edge phone.


Also, even more interesting is that Samsung may be going the same route next year. Patent filed recently for what looks like all screen front with a notch to hold sensors and camera:

Samsung-notch-patent.jpg
 
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I like the look of it, but people just can't accept it. I watched the hands on videos and it didn't bother me at all. People on here really need justification on their non-buying decision.

How about you don't lump everyone into the same category? I couldn't care less what people think of me buying or not buying an iPhone or anything for that matter. This is a DISCUSSION forum. People are DISCUSSING a just released product. What leads you to believe we all need justification from you or anyone else on these forums?
 
All you need to ask yourself is if Apple had a way to make the exact same phone without the notch, would they add it in just to have a 'unique look?'
 
All you need to ask yourself is if Apple had a way to make the exact same phone without the notch, would they add it in just to have a 'unique look?'

I think, somehow if they were able to hide all of those sensors and cameras, that they would go all screen. I think all screen would edge out a unique distinction. That's just my guess though. Interesting thought though.
 
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I wonder if orientation (portrait vs landscape) played a role in letting the notch standout. I use my phone in portrait almost all the time. The notch wouldn’t affect most of my use cases.
 
How about you don't lump everyone into the same category? I couldn't care less what people think of me buying or not buying an iPhone or anything for that matter. This is a DISCUSSION forum. People are DISCUSSING a just released product. What leads you to believe we all need justification from you or anyone else on these forums?

Mainly because people who don't like the notch can't accept that some people do. If you don't like it, that's cool too, but there's clearly a lot of people that love it.
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All you need to ask yourself is if Apple had a way to make the exact same phone without the notch, would they add it in just to have a 'unique look?'

No, of course not. But that fact is, there needs to be a place to put all those sensors. Once they have perfected putting them under the screen, that's where they will go.
 
I don't see the notch as a terrible design decision, but it is not being handled right in software. First of all, having wasted space on both sides of the screen in landscape mode is ridiculous. What Apple needs to do is treat the notch area as a persistent status bar in landscape mode - meaning the status bar is on the side. Black it out to differentiate, which will make it look like a bezel, but with glowing status icons and clock in that area. Then, expand the content to fill the entire rest of the screen. The rounded corners might crop any buttons that happen to be in the top or bottom right corner of an app or webpage, but I don't see it becoming a huge issue.

If they do that, i.e. reduce the screen space by blacking out the notch ears in stock applications like videos, etc, they will be sued for false advertising. They will never "fix" this in an update.
 
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If they do that, i.e. reduce the screen space by blacking out the notch ears in stock applications like videos, etc, they will be sued for false advertising. They will never "fix" this in an update.
I'm not saying it should apply to all situations, but only when using an app like Safari in landscape mode, that would not be taking advantage of the space anyway; in which case, my suggestion would result in more screen space being used, not less.

Otherwise, Apple should be sued the moment the iPhone is launched, for this wasted space on the sides:
Screen Shot 2017-09-15 at 12.38.01 PM.png
 
iScone, Look more closely and then rethink.



iphone-x-notch.jpg
Edgy.

But this is not a TV.

And it's not even that big of a notch. I bet once people have a few days to get used to the phone, it won't even bother them anymore.

Unless they're the type of people who look for problems to whine about.

A notch is a notch is a notch is a...not a question of size, but that it's a notch. "A notch by any other name would be as ugly". If it were smaller it would still be an aesthetic abomination. Bad design decision, period.
 
Where are you supposed to put cameras, sensors, speaker on an edge-to-edge screen? Just asking for a friend...
 
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I think you can dress it up however you like - the notch is a bad idea and looks terrible.

And the audacity of this is truly incredible. It's like Apple think we're all just idiots.

Screen Shot 2017-09-15 at 19.59.12.png

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Where are you supposed to put cameras, sensors, speaker on an edge-to-edge screen? Just asking for a friend...

Tell your friend, if you need them, don't have the screen go literally edge-to-edge.
 
If the notch was a good idea, everyone would be saying how good it looks.

Nobody is saying how good it looks because it's over the top ugly.

The iPhone X, as a whole, including the notch - when I see it in the hands on videos and photos I think it looks gorgeous.
[doublepost=1505502796][/doublepost]
Here is a quick edited version of my shot above. You can see how much better it looks with the content expanded to fit - why did Apple choose to put bars on the sides, seriously?

That I agree with. Given that the phone has a 2:1 aspect ratio, for most content/websites/etc some black bezel on the sides in landscape would have been ok. Would have also made it nicer to hold as well.
 
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I'm surprised to see all the backlash against the notch on the iPhone X. I think there are some pretty obvious reasons why Apple went this route that people are just ignoring.

1) The symmetry to the MacOS Dock. In fact, i think this is the fundamental reason. The dock is essentially the notch, just at the bottom of the screen. And just like the notch, content can extend past it and be seen on the edges.

2) In landscape mode, this gives us a place to grip the phone without covering the screen. It essentially acts as a thin bezel, with all the benefits of a bezel, but without taking up much room and impacting the nice big beautiful display.

3) It helps to differentiate this as an iPhone. The top-end edge to edge phones all look similar. People could very easily mistake this phone for an S8, and LG V30, etc. This is the new "brand identifier" of apple that will make people realize immediately that someone has a high-end brand new iphone, and will perpetuate Apple's reputation.

Those are off the top of my head, anyone got any more?
Except the dock can be minimized. The notch isn't anything like a dock, it's just a piece of solid glass/cameras covering up what would normally be behind it.

You don't want to grip the notch, because then you are covering up the front facing camera (smudging it), and covering the ambient light sensor so it will dim the screen thinking it's pitch black out.

#3 is just laughable. Oh, and FYI the Essential phone has a notch and came out before the iPhone.
 
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Except the dock can be minimized. The notch isn't anything like a dock, it's just a piece of solid glass/cameras covering up what would normally be behind it.

You don't want to grip the notch, because then you are covering up the front facing camera (smudging it), and covering the ambient light sensor so it will dim the screen thinking it's pitch black out.

#3 is just laughable. Oh, and FYI the Essential phone has a notch and came out before the iPhone.

#3 is the only part of the OP's post that I agree with. Far from laughable. In fact it's highly likely.

The Essential Phone - has that actually shipped yet? I saw reviews go out not long ago. It does have a tiny notch just for the camera. So small that a lot of the time it tends to blend in or be hidden. But the phone does have a bottom bezel.
 
#3 is the only part of the OP's post that I agree with. Far from laughable. In fact it's highly likely.

The Essential Phone - has that actually shipped yet? I saw reviews go out not long ago. It does have a tiny notch just for the camera. So small that a lot of the time it tends to blend in or be hidden. But the phone does have a bottom bezel.
You think adding a notch that impacts the user experience is actually a good thing? And yes, it has been out for a few weeks now.

I still don't see how you think having a notch that crops out a portion of a game or video is a good thing.
 
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You think adding a notch that impacts the user experience is actually a good thing? And yes, it has been out for a few weeks now.

I still don't see how you think having a notch that crops out a portion of a game or video is a good thing.

I never said that it's a good thing. I said I agree with OP's point #3 - that Apple went that route (not hiding it in the OLED screen) so that the new iPhone has a distinct/unique look.

PS. By default when playing a video, it'll zoom up to but not including the notch so that it won't interfere at all. You can of course double tap to zoom to the whole screen where the notch becomes visible.
 
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