Embracing the Notch: How Are You Adapting to the Most Controversial iPhone X Design Decision?

[subjonas]

I would ask the masses of people who have the X and still dislike the notch to speak up, but I suppose most of them wouldn’t have bought the X. So all we have are a majority of X owners who like or don’t mind the notch because they weren’t terribly opposed to it in the first place, otherwise they wouldn’t have bought the X.

I’m sure people get used to the notch. People get used to anything. Some may even like it since aesthetic is subjective. But that doesn’t mean it’s ideal functionally. I think we can all agree it’s not ideal to have a black thing covering up images and words. Ideal would be, if technology allowed, a notchless AND bezelless screen. Would anyone disagree? (Actually I would, because I like bezels, but that’s another discussion.)

It’s difficult to disagree that the ears are useful for the status icons. They are. The question then shouldn’t be notch vs bezel—it should be visible notch vs hidden notch (make the ears permanently black, only showing the status icons).

I would prefer the hidden notch because I haven’t actually seen the ears add any functional value beyond showing status icons. They’re not really showing any useful content. When reading a website nobody reads the words in the ears, since in portrait orientation the words in between are covered by the notch. And I personally don’t want a little black bar covering any of my photos or videos. I can shrink the images to be fully visible so that’s not the main issue. What may bother me most is UI quirks. I’m a bit OCD and from what I saw in the developer guidelines the ears add complications and oddities that to me are just not worth it. And it looks like any time the ears aren’t showing status icons they are going to be mostly blank anyway. So black ears seem like the best solution to me. (And with the OLED display, having black ears would save a little battery )

So I think what it really comes down to is do you either want the screen to feel more bezelless by having the extra ears, or do you want to retain the shape of your content with nothing being partially shown/covered? I have my opinions but both camps have legitimate arguments.

 

[AdamJD]

The omnipresent notch intrudes on the otherwise complete awesomeness of the iPhone X and detracts from the UX. It brings the phone down to Earth...and then some. Some people will be OK with the notch, but I just don't believe it's the overwhelming majority.

I spent a few hours (yes, it's still only "hours") playing with the phone and looking at it. If you watch movies, you don't only have the the notch eating away at the experience, but the corners are rounded off too. The 8+ seems better for watching playback to me because you can have a big screen without a notch and missing corners. In my opinion, the 8+ feels bigger and the user-experience is more fluid. Double-tapping the iPhone X to make the screen tighter and avoid the notch just means that you're watching on a smaller screen. The notch is like having someone's head in the way at a movie theater.

I wish I were OK with it because I like the iPhone X otherwise. Personally, I'd much prefer a bezel at the top of the screen - just a line straight across. I think the edge-to-edge concept is cool (I think it looks great on the Note 8), but I prefer iOS. As it is now, the info to the sides of the notch isn't even vertically centered properly in the notch. I wish Apple would let developers just black out the sides of the notch.

 

[recoil80]

I've played with X only in the store, but after less than 5 minutes I was already used to it in portrait mode, and it didn't bother me at all.
I think the notch is annoying only when you use the phone in landscape, but if you're watching a video you already have black content on both sides (unless you zoom) and X isn't great to be used in landscape to begin with (you don't have split view for mail, messages etc) so I don't think it is a real issue. If you need to use the phone in landscape a lot 8+ is the right choice, otherwise X is good and the notch isn't a problem unless you're using an app poorly written.

 

[Rockondevil]

I liked it as soon as I saw it. Why waste space by just making it a bezel with the camera up there. They've used space that potentially would've been wasted and just thrown a few things up there to give you more space on the usable screen area.
I honestly don't even think it looks bad, people are absolutely over reacting.

 

[organic bond]

The notch is just horrible, as simple as that, I can't believe Apple has done that. Makes no sense visually, please watch tv with a notch and tell me if it's a non issue. Imagine if Samsung had done that, all the Apple fanboys would fill MacRumors with their sarcastic comments. BTW, the S8 is much more beautiful.

 

[512ke]

I love the notch. It's my favorite thing. I heart notch.

I hope Samsung comes up with its own notch soon, which they may, when they see how many notches Apple is selling.

It's going to be like McDonald's. Over one billion sold.

Viva la notch!

 

[Deepshade]

Just because it has the Apple logo doesn't mean its well designed. This sounds like a therapy session for all of those who in their heart know it looks awful, but won't actually admit it.

 

[MH01]

its an established fact 26% if the population are ironic complainers, No headphone jack, it's too thin I'l going to bend it when I sit on it, if i drop it it;s going to crack the screen, the battery to too weak .....
I don't even notice the notch...

And 74% are analytical rational thinkers ?

Of that 74% some have eye sight issues not to have noticed the notch my X has one, does yours ?

 

[The Game 161]

the notch is going to be seen as an iconic design for years to come and people will know it's an iphone. Won't be surprised to see other companies do the same. The notch is hardly an issue and really when watching stuff? when i have an ipad pro i'm more likely to watch stuff on there than on my phone anyway

 

[Black Tiger]

I look at the notch as an extension of the screen vertically that moves the clock etc out of the way to allow for more content, rather than an obstruction. Hiding it with a black wallpaper takes away from the nice curvature of the screen and makes the screen seem unproportionate to the bottom curvature of the screen. The more I see it, the more I think it is a brilliant design.

 

[ersan191]

I dont mind the notch but not having a numerical percentage for the battery is fairly inexcusable. Im paying a premium price I want to be able to round my bettery life to the nearest single percent, not the nearest twentyfive.

Open control center for a moment if it's that important to you.

 

[jouster74]

Never bothered me at all. A lot of fuss about nothing.

 

[Black Tiger]

It was nice knowing you. Leave all your App Store and iTunes purchases at the door.
[doublepost=1510731703][/doublepost]This is the same argument people made for the headphone jack. People are open minded until they see something they don’t like (don’t politicize this).

Absolutely. I personally think it looks quite striking.
[doublepost=1510735564][/doublepost]

The notch sucks. At the very least the could have made the wings (let and right of notch) black with white lettering for Time, battery life, etc. would give the appearance of clean symmetry.

And the screen size is way too small. Less actual usable space than a 6 or 7 or 8. Unacceptable.

The wings have a curvature that matches the top with the curvature of the bottom of the screen. Hiding it looks strange in every picture of someone trying to do this with wallpaper. It looks unproportionate.
[doublepost=1510735684][/doublepost]

Open control center for a moment if it's that important to you.

Probably the best solution is to just provide a toggle between an icon with the “fullness” bar and an icon with the percentage inside.

 

[Peter Abs]

iPhone 7 in signature

Did you actually buy the iPhone X?

Did you not read my post? Why would I spend 1179 Euro on a phone I don’t like? As soon as i held one and watched a video with the notch, and browsed safari with the notch, I knew it wasn’t for me.

 

[AnthonyG6]

I've been a fan of the notch since the Keynote and now that I've got the iPhone X, I love it and the extra space you get in the 'ears'. I hope the notch is here to stay for a few years before the next redesign. And all the people moaning about the lack of Touch ID, just need to use Face ID for a few days to realise how magical it is. It's only been just over a week since I got my X and I can't imagine life without swipe up to unlock, I don't even notice that the phone is actually authenticating before unlocking and it's only going to get better.

 

[mrklaw]

It’s difficult to disagree that the ears are useful for the status icons. They are. The question then shouldn’t be notch vs bezel—it should be visible notch vs hidden notch (make the ears permanently black, only showing the status icons).

agreed

I would prefer the hidden notch because I haven’t actually seen the ears add any functional value beyond showing status icons. They’re not really showing any useful content. When reading a website nobody reads the words in the ears, since in portrait orientation the words in between are covered by the notch. And I personally don’t want a little black bar covering any of my photos or videos. I can shrink the images to be fully visible so that’s not the main issue. What may bother me most is UI quirks. I’m a bit OCD and from what I saw in the developer guidelines the ears add complications and oddities that to me are just not worth it. And it looks like any time the ears aren’t showing status icons they are going to be mostly blank anyway. So black ears seem like the best solution to me. (And with the OLED display, having black ears would save a little battery )

So I think what it really comes down to is do you either want the screen to feel more bezelless by having the extra ears, or do you want to retain the shape of your content with nothing being partially shown/covered? I have my opinions but both camps have legitimate arguments.

I like the ears uncovered because for apps that are adapted for the X (and home screen/lock screen), you get the background colour extending into the ears, so you get a more expansive feel - it emphasises the 'edge to edge' screen idea. If you blacked it out you would lose that. Might only be small ears but I think that additional background does help.

When you're browsing the web, you don't get content in the ears anyway - at least in Safari you get a thin title bar at the top so the content doesn't visibly go into the ears.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

I would ask the masses of people who have the X and still dislike the notch to speak up, but I suppose most of them wouldn’t have bought the X. So all we have are a majority of X owners who like or don’t mind the notch because they weren’t terribly opposed to it in the first place, otherwise they wouldn’t have bought the X.

It's one way to analyze things, but considering the apparent popularity of the X, despite the price, despite the notch, despite the absence of beloved Touch ID... One could just as well say that sales indicate that the notch isn't dissuading many users. Glass half empty/glass half full.

I’m sure people get used to the notch. People get used to anything. Some may even like it since aesthetic is subjective. But that doesn’t mean it’s ideal functionally. I think we can all agree it’s not ideal to have a black thing covering up images and words. Ideal would be, if technology allowed, a notchless AND bezelless screen. Would anyone disagree? (Actually I would, because I like bezels, but that’s another discussion.)

Agreed, it's not ideal to have a black thing covering up images and words, though that overstates the situation, as the only words that may be covered would be on a full screen video where the text bleeds to the edges of the screen - which doesn't happen all that often, as it's poor design to bleed text to the margins under any circumstances. And this is only an issue in landscape, not portrait. I'm willing to predict that on iPad, which is more often used in landscape, the sensors will be buried in the bezel. Yes, people get used to anything. And people resist change, rather than get used to something new.

It’s difficult to disagree that the ears are useful for the status icons. They are. The question then shouldn’t be notch vs bezel—it should be visible notch vs hidden notch (make the ears permanently black, only showing the status icons).

Agreed, permanently-black ears with icons would be less obtrusive. I suspect that we'll see that change soon after other phone-makers adopt the notch.

There is no doubt in my mind that Apple chose to give us something to talk about - we are talking about the notch and sensors and potential of AR and Face ID in ways we wouldn't had the sensor array been discretely hidden. The ears help exaggerate the size of the display, and underline its edge-to-edge nature. If they were always black, most people wouldn't appreciate that the icons were actually part of the display. But this is standard stock-and-trade in fashion - form-fitting garments that accentuate the body, loose-fitting garments that discretely hide it. Why are there so many plunging necklines and backs in women's couture? In part, to be sure people talk about the couturier.

From my standpoint, there's nothing wrong with that. If all of life were optimally functional it would be far more boring.

I would prefer the hidden notch because I haven’t actually seen the ears add any functional value beyond showing status icons. They’re not really showing any useful content. When reading a website nobody reads the words in the ears, since in portrait orientation the words in between are covered by the notch. And I personally don’t want a little black bar covering any of my photos or videos. I can shrink the images to be fully visible so that’s not the main issue. What may bother me most is UI quirks. I’m a bit OCD and from what I saw in the developer guidelines the ears add complications and oddities that to me are just not worth it. And it looks like any time the ears aren’t showing status icons they are going to be mostly blank anyway. So black ears seem like the best solution to me. (And with the OLED display, having black ears would save a little battery )

So I think what it really comes down to is do you either want the screen to feel more bezelless by having the extra ears, or do you want to retain the shape of your content with nothing being partially shown/covered? I have my opinions but both camps have legitimate arguments.

I don't think those are the only considerations for designers. An app designer doesn't have a vested interest in making the phone seem more bezelless; that's a goal for the hardware designers. An app designer might, however, want to embrace the ears to make their canvas seem larger than the competition's, even if there's nothing meaningful on that extended canvas. It's little different than an interior decorator choosing colors and arranging furniture to make a small room seem larger.

Along similar lines, it's like an architect deciding how deeply-set a room's windows are - should they be flush with the inside wall, or be closer to the outside wall? This has no impact on the room's floor space, but a deep sill can accommodate potted plants that might otherwise be placed on tables that do clutter the interior space. Even sans foliage, the window panes, rather than surrounding walls, become the perceived boundary, generating the illusion of greater space. Conversely, a window wall or shallow-set windows add to the illusion of proximity to the outdoors.

 

[mrklaw]

I've been a fan of the notch since the Keynote and now that I've got the iPhone X, I love it and the extra space you get in the 'ears'. I hope the notch is here to stay for a few years before the next redesign. And all the people moaning about the lack of Touch ID, just need to use Face ID for a few days to realise how magical it is. It's only been just over a week since I got my X and I can't imagine life without swipe up to unlock, I don't even notice that the phone is actually authenticating before unlocking and it's only going to get better.

I think FaceID is better than TouchID. Just pick the phone up and swipe. And filling in passwords etc is definitely better with FaceID.

 

[Rommelnoodles]

To be honest I hardly notice it anymore. Had mine since launch day.

 

[smacrumon]

If you like The Notch™ then you'll love the Fergus Hall Tarot deck...

Love this!

 

[vipergts2207]

You are trying to portray people who buy expensive iPhones as somehow they want to show off. Nice try. I buy Apple products because they work straight out of the box most of the times with almost zero issues on my experience. And I have tried lots of other Android phones, tablets and computers, wish I could say the same. For me iPhone X is worth every penny and would give a rats ass what you or other people think of my wallet.

Obviously not all people are buying it to show off, but some people are. Comments on this very forum show that. Apple even wants to make it easier for people to do so, as evidenced by the transparent and laughable decision of an X exclusive ringtone. Btw, I and many others buy Apple products for the very reasons you stated. However, Apple makes more phones than just the X and they also work straight out of the box and have zero issues.

 

[MH01]

the notch is going to be seen as an iconic design for years to come and people will know it's an iphone. Won't be surprised to see other companies do the same. The notch is hardly an issue and really when watching stuff? when i have an ipad pro i'm more likely to watch stuff on there than on my phone anyway

Well if it's iconic and great design, would you like to see it on iPads ?

It's awful UX design , that screams of a compromise to hit a milestone deadline .

If only landscape mode did not exist....

Watch apple gloat and be proud of themselves how they managed to integrate the housing into future screens . Notch will be gone , for a UX company, its frankly embarrassing.

 

[vipergts2207]

Not to mention.... the content that is created to be presented on that screen was created to be seen without a notch covering part it it up.

I noticed dirt on my screen even if it’s on the side and I wipe it away. Can’t do that with the notch.
[doublepost=1510727143][/doublepost]View attachment 735790
This is what a true 5.8” screen looks like with an extension. The “ears” around the X notch are not extensions meaning they do not extend past the 5.8” screen.

Honestly, it’s not that much more horrendous than having a chunk of the screen cut out of the phone.

 

[Unami]

The notch is a non-issue if you actually own the phone and apparently a huge issue for those who don’t or the media that needs to generate clicks.

maybe that's because only those who don't have a huge issue with the notch will buy an X...

 

[Knight101]

It is a non issue. We will get used to it just like green line and crackling sound.