Apple announced the iPhone X, at its special event marking 10 years of the iPhone. Given my habit of calling X as ‘ex’ (thanks to OS X), I am still relearning that X is now referred to as ‘ten’.
Given that iPhone X is a big deal with a lot of firsts for Apple, as a long time iPhone user I have several thoughts about this release. This post would is an attempt to capture them without getting into long story telling.
The iPhone X is THE new iPhone.
The iPhone 8 just doesn’t cut it for me. The huge footprint / chin is bad and not at all 2017 design. In fact, it feels to me like the iPhone was starved of design upgrades since iPhone 6 – thus making the X look so much better. I totally expect the sales of iPhone X to be much closer to iPhone 8 and not something that would lag too much behind.
On Face ID
Face ID Is cool and I do believe that Apple has made a significantly better face recognition than what we have seen on Android till date. I wouldn’t expect them to ship Face ID in lieu of Touch ID if it is a half baked feature. However I also think that the next iPhone X (XS?) would have Touch ID under the display, it is very odd to dispense the feature altogether (specially when the remaining iPhone & iPad lineup still has it).
Remember the Palm Pre?
Several people have talked about iPhone X’s gestures to resemble the Palm Pre (webOS). And its partly true. The gesture area in Palm was a great innovation almost a decade back. In fact if you look at the Palm Pre, a) the gesture area wasn’t part of the display b) it allowed you to do much more than just switch between apps. The Quick Wave launcher that extended from the bottom was a nice little shortcut. When I first used it, here is what I commented “The UI concept and multitasking on the WebOS is perhaps the best I have used…”
Video below:
PS: If you don’t remember the Palm Pre or the Treo, I don’t blame you 🙂
3D Touch Survives
3D Touch has surely lost some prominence. It was not mentioned on stage as a prominent innovation by Apple. I also did not notice any new gestures or 3D Touch demoes on stage. It makes it to the X and survives as a hardware feature that Apple has. Albeit, rarely used by actual users.
What next?
Will the next iteration of other iPhones also do away with the chin? All of them with Touch ID beneath the display?
What happens to the 4” iPhone? The SE 2 is already rumoured. Perhaps a edge to edge screen on small form factor making it more usable with larger display? While that would be too much to expect too soon, I hope in coming years that would happen!
