Design, the look of this phone is everything I hoped for. I was initially disappointed to hear TouchID had been killed but quickly fell in love with how FaceID worked.
FaceID, I had rather low hopes for this due to the failure everyone blew out of proportion at the Apple event. But, I was pleasantly surprised. It works in situations I thought were only marketing strategies. In the dark, with glasses, without, after a shave or haircut. They weren’t joking when they said it learns your face.
For those who think its less secure, I beg to differ, where someone could force your finger on the home button before FaceID requires the attention of your eyes, not just your face. Meaning when your friend nicks your phone and holds it to your face, you just look in the opposite direction. There is a bit of delay so it recognises you, but I think that’s so someone doesn’t grab your phone hold it up to your face and run, it works well in my experience.
Something to note is its quicker than generation 1 TouchID. Also, the feature that allows your notifications to be locked unless you look at them works really well, but again. That delay I mentioned means its slightly slower. But you can pull up on the home bar to make it work quicker I find. One thing I don’t like about it is it doesn’t always work when holding your phone at an angle, and FaceID won’t work at all if you hold your phone in landscape.
The screen, its Apples first OLED and my first display of this size. And it’s awesome.I was worried about burn-in, but it would seem to not be an issue.
Gestures, personally I really like having a fully gesture-based phone. My problem is how Apple explained them. For example. Multi-tasking: Apple recommends in the user manual that you swipe up and hold. The QUICKER way is to swipe up and to the right at the same time. Or even swipe right on the home bar itself to switch app. You have to discover these for yourself.
Tap to wake is an awesome feature. I do still use the power button (which I worry about wearing out) but usually to turn the screen off, not on.
Wireless charging, as soon as I found this out it was a ‘Finally Apple’ kinda moment. It also makes sense with the lightning port being the only port with the absence of the headphone jack. As much as that decision originally made me laugh I do kinda understand why with how good their Airpods are. But they should have come with the phone.
But I’m not completely sure it was worth it since the phone now has a glass back again, compared to an aluminium back which arguably was more slippery but more durable. So far I like the look of the glass backplate.. But not the price tag to replace it if I drop it.
The camera is great, works perfectly for AR stuff with the dual cameras. But the camera bump is at a 90-degree angle which is just very pointed compared to the 7 and 8’s slanted camera bump edges. I am also really paranoid about scratching the lenses due to it sticking out.
The Price, ohhhh wow. This is the reason the sales aren’t going as quick as people thought they would. I had to save for a couple of months to outright buy this phone to which I intend on using it for the next 3-4 years. But I get the tech in it is new and etc, but I get the feeling some people just don’t like a phone being that high when a Mac is around the same price.
Alot of the problems I experienced with the phone were bugs from IOS that have been slowly ironed out. But it seems everyone has these problems.
The notch, ya know if I had the option to get rid of the notch or hide it behind the display I’d honestly be kinda torn. On one hand you have something that is now an icon for the new iPhone but on the other hand, it’s something that bugs people when watching video. Personally, I’d be more comfortable having the notch as long as it blended in when watching video, that way you could have your battery etc while not having a huge gap in your content. In portrait app use I didn’t notice it at all.
The battery, my 5s lasted the whole day with a charge while I was at college with moderate use at half brightness. You’d think this phone with its bigger screen would be even worse. Nope, in fact I’d argue it lasts longer. From 6 in the morning, all the way to 6/7 in the evening with moderate use at the same screen brightness it actually lasts longer…. For now, with the whole lithium battery fiasco.
Animoji. It bugs me that this is the feature that has helped sell the phone. It’s an X exclusive despite not requiring any of the face-scanning tech to use….. Yeah.
It seems things that bother others don’t bother me as much and vice versa. The microphone on the back is so ill placed you’d think it was put there by accident. Something like the huge gap at the bottom of the keyboard; doesn’t bother me. But that’s because I’ve used the S8 with its keyboard near the bottom, its more difficult for someone with my sized hands.
A small pet peeve I have is the placement of the mic. I’ve Photoshopped it so it looks a lil’ bit more centered.
Oliver Addison 