D.T.
macrumors G4
Because you value features over aesthetics.
As someone who has worked in/around the design industry for decades (and has had some personal design related recognition) I find the camera ring an attractive design element. To be clear, I didn't qualify my design sensibilities to pound my chest, only to illustrate, there are _some_ people (or, at least one 😀) with a sense of aesthetics, that aren't bothered by it, and in fact, even like it 🙂
Just from a usability issue, I also tend not to place my phone on a hard, flat surface (since that's not really a terrific angle for use ...), I prop it up on a small mouse mat (so no CBW) or use a Joby with a phone bracket (which provides outstanding positioning).
Don't get me wrong, I totally get where you're coming from, but for me, I find the form and functionality are outstanding in this device. 🙂
***
On topic ...
The thing I've really enjoyed about my iPX over the last months (I was a preorder-er 😀), is how seamlessly it provides me with the smart phone features I desire. The [physical] form factor makes it disappear in my pocket, the FID works without any effort, including auth'ing into services like DropBox, it's very fast so I don't have to wait between "I want to do A and I'm doing A", even things like CarPlay make the experience from listening to a Podcast at my desk, then in my car, a seamless UX. Other than that, I find the hardware terrific (camera, audio quality), integration terrific (from an "ecosystem" perspective), apps are obviously not an issue, as a developer I frequently use/review/code on different platforms, and there's nothing compelling for me to even slightly consider something else.
😎
. With the X, I couldn’t pass up the “such deal” on a speck case at BB.