iPhone X The "Notch" was a good design decision, and here's why.

[Suckfest 9001]

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?

It wouldn't be a proper iPhone launch without people defending obvious faults and hailing them as "features."

 

[Apple_Robert]

It wouldn't be a proper iPhone launch without people defending obvious faults and hailing them as "features."

You defining something as a fault does not make it a fact. And just because someone else likes the design and idea of the new iPhone, that doesn't make them wrong by definition. Voicing an opinion does not necessarily equate to blindly defending a company (no matter what).

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

You defining something as a fault does not make it a fact. And just because someone else likes the design and idea of the new iPhone, that doesn't make them wrong by definition. Voicing an opinion does not necessarily equate to blindly defending a company (no matter what).

A hole obscuring content is objectively, a fault. It is OBJECTIVELY poor UI/UX design. Students would get an F in a design class, for this.

https://imgur.com/a/gq18a

 

[Apple_Robert]

A hole obscuring content is objectively, a fault. It is OBJECTIVELY poor UI/UX design. Students would get an F in a design class, for this.

https://imgur.com/a/gq18a

We are not talking about grades in a design class. We are talking about individuals liking and wanting to by the new iPhone X, even with the notch. And as I said, a person not hating the notch does not mean they are wrong anymore than it makes you right. It is a matter of personal preferences / acceptance.

It shouldn't bother you or anyone else to the contrary, that otters like the phone. And it should not be seen as blindness or as some automatic design flaw (re: retail use) just because you and others disagree with Apple's design.

Your logical fallacy argument is not going to work.

 

[SoloPT]

i don't see how anyone could prefer the notch

Oh but they will... they will. It's impressive how Apple is creating such a closed ecosystem that it's actually preventing a lot of good people from seeing that there are better products out there. And those folks wonder why more and more artists and designers are giving up on Apple products...!
And now, so much aesthetics. Remember the iPhone 4? Now that was creativity and good taste!
[doublepost=1505529842][/doublepost]

I actually like Apple's version better. The notch gives the phone character and distinguishes itself from all the competitors. I can't wait for the X!

Please clarify: you like Apple version better OR you think the notch gives the phone character? Really. You can't have both things. Unless you're Quasimodo, obviously.

 

[Peanut207]

Oh but they will... they will. It's impressive how Apple is creating such a closed ecosystem that it's actually preventing a lot of good people from seeing that there are better products out there. And those folks wonder why more and more artists and designers are giving up on Apple products...!
And now, so much aesthetics. Remember the iPhone 4? Now that was creativity and good taste!
[doublepost=1505529842][/doublepost]

Please clarify: you like Apple version better OR you think the notch gives the phone character? Really. You can't have both things. Unless you're Quasimodo, obviously.

Haha I thought what I wrote was clear..both. Nov 3rd can't come soon enough.

 

[SoloPT]

Haha I thought what I wrote was clear..both. Nov 3rd can't come soon enough.

Is that so? Well, this is your lucky day. Have you seen the "Essential Phone"? What do you think about that notch? Or is Apple notch better?
Anyway, I believe the Essential Phone was released last month so you don't have to wait either. It even has an excellent back camera and with no bump! It's a win-win. Unless you think the camera bump also looks nice and brings character, obviously...?

 

[Peanut207]

Is that so? Well, this is your lucky day. Have you seen the "Essential Phone"? What do you think about that notch? Or is Apple notch better?
Anyway, I believe the Essential Phone was released last month so you don't have to wait either. It even has an excellent back camera and with no bump! It's a win-win. Unless you think the camera bump also looks nice and brings character, obviously...?


View attachment 718159

Haha are you mad that I like the notch? I'm sorry. Oh and the camera bump doesn't bother me at all. *gasp*

 

[SoloPT]

Haha are you mad that I like the notch? I'm sorry. Oh and the camera bump doesn't bother me at all. *gasp*

Mad? No. Surprised? Definitely.
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if someone said "the notch doesn't bother me". What really surprises me is when they say "the notch is great", "brings character", and "it's the best there is". No. It should be called by what it is: a design flop.

 

[Peanut207]

Mad? No. Surprised? Definitely.
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if someone said "the notch doesn't bother me". What really surprises me is when they say "the notch is great", "brings character", and "it's the best there is". No. It should be called by what it is: a design flop.

You have your opinion and I have mine. Makes for a great forum.

Quick question..are you getting the X or does the notch offend you so much that you're passing? Or you may just be happy with what you have?

 

[eyeseeyou]

It’s not a good idea because it isn’t a good idea for every single screen we use to view content to have a notch.

This notch better not appear on the new iPads and MacBooks.

If they ever actually come out with their own tv and it has a notch at the top/center...

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

We are not talking about grades in a design class. We are talking about individuals liking and wanting to by the new iPhone X, even with the notch. And as I said, a person not hating the notch does not mean they are wrong anymore than it makes you right. It is a matter of personal preferences / acceptance.

It shouldn't bother you or anyone else to the contrary, that otters like the phone. And it should not be seen as blindness or as some automatic design flaw (re: retail use) just because you and others disagree with Apple's design.

Your logical fallacy argument is not going to work.

Bro, you don't even know what a logical fallacy is.

Like I said, people are free to like the X. They are free to be ok with the notch. I'm buying an X, myself. I'm going to learn to live with it.

But to try to rebut the criticism that this is an objectively bad design with "I am personally ok with it" is a weak rebuttal. That's what you've been doing.

I have no problem if you are ok with it. But people saying it's a good design, or that Apple wanted to do this from the get-go, have no idea what they are talking about.

This is what Apple wanted:

The notch was the result of technological limitations (not being able to place the censors under the glass, and the stubbornness to not just leave a black strip above lit up content).

 

[SoloPT]

You have your opinion and I have mine. Makes for a great forum.
Quick question..are you getting the X or does the notch offend you so much that you're passing? Or you may just be happy with what you have?

Indeed. You have your opinion and I have mine. And it's my opinion that someone either must be lying - or simply has no cultivated taste - when they say the notch should be there. It's common sense. As a designer, an artist and a photographer, I have no doubts. We all function in pretty much the same way.
"Good design decision"... lol! Did you read the first post? It's hilarious. The author actually says "the dock (from MacOS) is essentially the notch"... meaning, he MUST be on drugs. He also states "in landscape mode, this gives us a place to grip the phone"... meaning, he won't be able to take landscape selfies or use the Face ID in landscape if he really wants to do that. And finally he states "it helps to differentiate this as an iPhone"... oh and look it also has a talking poo, meaning it's DEFINITELY an iPhone, otherwise one would think it's from another manufacture, meaning...? Right. No meaning whatsoever.
Anyway, if you really believe all this makes it a good phone, then the X is definitely for you. Not for me though. It's an awful investment - considering there are better phones out there; and less expensive too.

 

[eyeseeyou]

Bro, you don't even know what a logical fallacy is.

Like I said, people are free to like the X. They are free to be ok with the notch. I'm buying an X, myself. I'm going to learn to live with it.

But to try to rebut the criticism that this is an objectively bad design with "I am personally ok with it" is a weak rebuttal. That's what you've been doing.

I have no problem if you are ok with it. But people saying it's a good design, or that Apple wanted to do this from the get-go, have no idea what they are talking about.

Agreed.

If a “design” isn’t solving a problem it’s not design or is bad design. Nothing wrong with likIng bad design but whether you like it or not it’s a bad design.

Imagine if the backdrop Apple uses for their keynote had some random, giant notch at the top or left or right, blocking the content being shown?

Hey Tim that hump covering some of your presentation of the iPhone x isn’t a problem right?

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

In an effort to bury the hatchet, I'm pretty sure I found the inspiration for the notch:

 

[eyeseeyou]

In an effort to bury the hatchet, I'm pretty sure I found the inspiration for the notch:

Was literally thinking this as I was walking towards my house lookin at cars.

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

Was literally thinking this as I was walking towards my house lookin at cars.

I'll bet that's what happened with whoever was in charge of the design of the screen. He was walking in the parking lot drowning in the problem at hand of how to get an E2E screen but also incorporate the sensors/camera, and a lightbulb went off as he walked past a car.

 

[SoloPT]

The notch was the result of technological limitations (not being able to place the censors under the glass, and the stubbornness to not just leave a black strip above lit up content).

"Technological limitations", definitely. "Stubbornness to not just leave a black strip"... I beg to differ. I'm 100% sure that they didn't do that so that they could say it's an 5.8" screen size and get away with it. We know it's BS. But it's Apple BS and it's magically invisible to some people.

 

[eyeseeyou]

I'll bet that's what happened with whoever was in charge of the design of the screen. He was walking in the parking lot drowning in the problem at hand of how to get an E2E screen but also incorporate the sensors/camera, and a lightbulb went off as he walked past a car.

Maybe the inspiration subconsciously came from hours and hours of sitting in Bay Area traffic on the way to Cupertino staring at their windshield.

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

What's the fanboy rebuttal to this:

https://twitter.com/BenPackard/status/907785129829036033/photo/1

It is an OBJECTIVELY horrible design.
[doublepost=1505539619][/doublepost]

Maybe the inspiration subconsciously came from hours and hours of sitting in Bay Area traffic on the way to Cupertino staring at their windshield.

Maybe punishment for not working out an elegant solution was having to drive those Apple Maps cars.

 

[F1Mac]

It wouldn't be a proper iPhone launch without people defending obvious faults and hailing them as "features."

It wouldn't be a proper iPhone launch without our now traditional, annual whining: jony Ive has lost it, Apple is so greedy, Tim Cook is just a salesman no vision, iPhone design is soooo outdated, these specs are laughable, the last great iPhone was the 4, and...wait for it...Steve would have never allowed it! Man..that one is always a winner, when you can place it in your sentence, you know you're onto something!

It wouldn't be a proper iPhone launch without half of the macrumors community getting upset at Apple and "threatening" to leave the platform. As if anyone cared.

So...back to the notch, although I don't mind it, I never "hailed it as a feature" as far as I'm concerned. From the beginning it looks like a compromise Apple had to make to put all this stuff on the front side. We've seen that the notch *doesn't*, in fact, get in the way when you're watching a movie or browsing the web, or texting or whatever. Would I have preferred a "notch-less" screen? Sure. Would the notch stop me from getting an X? Hell no.

Oh and this Essential phone... feature-to-feature comparison this thing is a joke compared to an iPhone.
[doublepost=1505560212][/doublepost]

I'll bet that's what happened with whoever was in charge of the design of the screen. He was walking in the parking lot drowning in the problem at hand of how to get an E2E screen but also incorporate the sensors/camera, and a lightbulb went off as he walked past a car.

LOL! That was funny

 

[SoloPT]

In an effort to bury the hatchet, I'm pretty sure I found the inspiration for the notch:

Indeed. Yet another design breakthrough...!
[doublepost=1505566275][/doublepost]

It wouldn't be a proper iPhone launch without our now traditional, annual whining:

Oh right. People should just shut up and take it up the...

Oh and this Essential phone... feature-to-feature comparison this thing is a joke compared to an iPhone.

Is it the 5.7" 1312 x 2560 pixels (504 ppi) screen...?
Is it the 85% screen to body ratio...?
Is it the 3040 mAh battery...?
Is it the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with 4Gb RAM because we need a bloody DNA cracking capable phone...?
Or is it because it has no talking poo...?

 

[bruinsrme]

Q: Do you think a notch would improve the aesthetics of the Galaxy S8?
A: No, it would look terrible.

Q: Would you have slaughtered the S8 for including a notch?
A: Yes, you'd have laughed until the cows came home

Take a moment and ponder if Samsung did this notch thing.
Can you image what this forum would be saying.

 

[TheSkywalker77]

Boy I hope that wasn't the plan, because this means putting your thumb all over the cameras.. I think the reason was 'we need the cameras' and 'we want to most area filled by the screen for the wow factor'.

If they had reserved the 'ears' for clock and other icons that would have been great, but allowing other app content there makes the notch stick out like a sore thumb. I'm curious if anyone can think of any better reasons.

Nice profile picture.

 

[358547]

..