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

smacrumon said:
The status bar isn't something that is pushing things down significantly though and its previous symmetrical layout means it's actually more useful and predicable in its operation than in notch form.
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How was it more useful? Take note of the blank space around the clock and other icons.

As opposed to that wasted space, I now have a camera and sensors. The only issue with the current status area on the X, is that apple made it taller (for no obvious reason) for their suggested safe area.
 
MLVC said:
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.
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Exactly my sentiments.

Best phone ever. Kids and teenagers are swarming around this old dude and begging to see it and know more.

Clockbaits love to hate it.
 
MLVC said:
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.
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This is exactly my thoughts as well! I don't even notice it anymore; it's a non-issue. But my wife is like, "Eww I don't like that" and so we got her the 8Plus. Whatever!
 
iPhone X owners' answer say a lot about how bad this design choice is. Most of them say they are getting used to it, that it doesn't bother them that much, that it only bothers those who don't own one... Well of course! Because it IS a terrible choice, because it DOES make it look much worse that if they had made the choice to keep a thin black bar at the top. Of course, when spending a minimum of 999 dollars on such a product, you'll get "used" to it, you'd better. Rationalizing the faults of a pricy product you bought is a common compensatory behavior. You're not going to go around saying, "man I spent 999 bucks on an iPhone X but, GOD it looks weird... Thankfully I'm starting to get used to that terrible notch". People seeing the product on occasions or first time will almost all have the same reaction: it just looks wrong. Now i saw the phone and the rest does look amazing, but this notch is just so so weird. A terrible choice.
 
Honestly I always liked the notch. Was expecting some hassle while using it since everyone's complaining about it so much.

Never had any hassle.
 
Supermacguy said:
People are very adaptable. Learning to ignore the notch is of course human nature to adapt to unchangeable things or their surroundings. The bottom line is that it was and always will be a poor design compromise between the different hardware groups.
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Cyberius11 said:
I’ve had the X since 11/3. The notch hasn’t grown on me, and I find it to be a ridiculous design decision. If the screen was extended and the ears used simply for system notifications or whatnot that would be fine. But to force white bars in landscape in Safari (reducing the usable screen size even though it’s there and COULD be used) or forcing apps, photos and videos to display underneath it and cut off content is simply asinine in my opinion.
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iPhone X in portrait mode - ok, tolerable. In landscape mode - atrocious, regardless of whether watching videos or not. Look at these Safari layout guidelines for handling the notch. It's just embarrassing.

https://webkit.org/blog/7929/designing-websites-for-iphone-x/

Didn't Steve (or someone at Apple) once say that interacting with the touchscreen is like "manipulating a sheet of paper directly with your finger"?. Well, that illusion is completely destroyed when the working view is bordered by blank "unsafe areas" with no content... and if you allow the content to go all the way up to the screen edges, oh well, there's that notch again which can't be unseen.

Hardware-wise in terms of aesthetics, the notch is actually quite nice and distinctive. Software-wise, where it should be completely unseen in deference to the screen, oh dear.

(And all these solutions about having an always-black status bar to hide the notch make no sense. If your device has a notch, then just embrace it. Own it)
 
I upgraded from a 7 plus, and the notch does not bother me one bit. I like the functionality at the side of the notch, time, and other statuses as well as notification center and control center.

I think of the notch like my nose, it comes into focus when you think about it.
 
Notch is an over-blown non-issue to me...

It doesn't affect me in everyday use, the status stuff is up there and it provides visual clue in the gestures (left/right swipe downs...)

Majority of my use is in Portrait mode. I scale videos to avoid the notch in the limited times I watch.
 
840quadra said:
How was it more useful? Take note of the blank space around the clock and other icons.

As opposed to that wasted space, I now have a camera and sensors. The only issue with the current status area on the X, is that apple made it taller (for no obvious reason) for their suggested safe area.
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More useful that a swipe down could bring up panels instead of one side doing something and the other side something else. It's all very cramped as well. It's too confusing, its getting into Windows power user territory.
I suspect the next version will reduce the notch significantly. There's actually room to do it if you look closely and at the tear downs.
Reduce that notch, Apple!
2lto9xl.jpg
 
Jsameds said:
Reminds me of the headphone jack thing. So many bizarre situations (with solutions I might add, solutions that were subsequently ignored..) where the change was personally detrimental to the poster.

"But how am I going to charge the phone when I'm listening to classical music on the 8th night of the month when the North Star is 29.9857237 degrees to the horizon and I have gloves AND a helmet on and I flip a coin and it lands on it's side whilst dancing the fandango during a lunar eclipse??"
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Agreed! Although it seems to have been taken to a ridiculous level when people don't want to look at their phone.
 
smacrumon said:
More useful that a swipe down could bring up panels instead of one side doing something and the other side something else. It's all very cramped as well. It's too confusing, its getting into Windows power user territory.
I suspect the next version will reduce the notch significantly. There's actually room to do it if you look closely and at the tear downs.
Reduce that notch, Apple!
2lto9xl.jpg
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IDK, I use hot corners, and different mouse shortcuts on OS-X, so using the different horns, ears, whatever, to pull down notifications versus Control center doesn’t bother me. It would be nice if people could pick which side Does what though. Even better, for people who don’t use SIRI, perhaps make it so you can push and hold the lock button to pull up one of those other items.

As far as your photo, Interesting concept, Unless for some reason they need to separate the dot projector and the IR camera to properly identify faces, that is entirely possible.
 
rom3o said:
IMO, this is the way the notch should be utilized all the time. Only as a blacked out status bar for the OS but never as active display area.

I don't see much sense in embracing the notch by third party apps because the X is currently the only device requiring devs to adapt to it. This adds unnecessary fragmentation and since the notch is most likely to disappear in future versions of the iPhone, we'll have to 'disgrace the notch' eventually.

The notch isn't a big deal for me but nevertheless I think it was not the best design choice. I would have gone for a slim bezel to keep a rectangular display area, but that is just me.
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By ‘embrace the notch’, Apple really mostly just talks about not colouring it black. They specifically say to extend the background colour of your app into the ears

Devs won’t use it as ‘active’ space - it’ll be like the current status bar on older iPhones which isn’t ‘active’.
 
ooToineoo said:
iPhone X owners' answer say a lot about how bad this design choice is. Most of them say they are getting used to it, that it doesn't bother them that much, that it only bothers those who don't own one...
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going off that logic, i suppose the conclusion is the same thing for the home button not being on the X.. that the removal of the home button is a bad design choice..

because many of the responses to that would be “i’m getting used to it.. i like it now that i’ve used it.. etc”

——
people are getting used to it because it’s new.. not because it’s bad
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CLS1 said:
I love my iphone X as much as everyone else, but some of you are ridiculous. The notch is beautiful!... unique!.. etc.

Yet how many people in this particular thread blasted Motorola for having "flat tire" syndrome? The damage control and justification from some of you on behalf of Apple is laughable.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/moto-360.1717750/

o_O
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i only skimmed the first two pages but as far as i can gather, most of the posters were praising the design. no?

or, am i missing the point of what you’re saying?


—-
that said, if you really want to know who is posting in this thread that also posted in that one, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.
 
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The most annoying thing about embracing the notch in landscape mode on video is how the top of the screen is cropped. I don’t mind missing the content around the notch, but the way most videos are framed, it is really obvious that the top is cropped...
 
I sure hope the notch is a non-issue to people who spent $1000+ on this thing. Really, the answers to this thread aren’t very surprising. I don’t have the phone myself (or any iPhone), but I’d prefer a little bit more bezel space if I keep the screen space.
 
jephrey said:
This really sounds like you don't own the X... I suppose I can only speak for myself but have had a MUCH improved experience with FaceID over TouchID. I often lift my phone to look at it for no apparent reason but I think subconsciously I just want to see it work again.

TouchID, I'm lifting my phone holding it in an orientation to put the proper finger on it and looking at the screen watching either the virtual thumbprint fill in or waiting for it to shake it off and try again. So I'm looking at my screen already to verify that I'm in. I would put my code in at a rate of ~20% of the time and that's after 3 fingerprint fails.
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Do you have scarred fingerprints or constantly wet fingers? My Touch ID is 99.9%. And no I don’t have to look at it because I am confident it will unlock pretty much guaranteed. Plus I don’t have to orient it in a certain direction because I can put my finger on it even if the phone is rotated. Plus I have the option to use multiple other fingers. Faster every time for me.
But options are great! I’d love to have both.
 
I was indifferent before I got the X but I like it now I have had the X for a couple of weeks. Sort of reminds me of a roladex card and looks quite retro and distinctive.
 
I don't mind the notch at all and got used to it very quickly. I don't find it that jarring in landscape mode with video. I don't even really notice missing some of the picture when I zoom it in to full screen. Yes, in really bright scenes with activity on the side of the screen where the notch is you will notice it. But not many of the things I've been watching have things that close to the edge of the screen that's it's distracting from what's going on.

For me upgrading was a no brainer. I'm on the Verizon annual upgrade plan and my payments went up $5 a month with the X. So even if I hated the notch it's still only a $60 investment for me for the year to get the new phone. Why the hell wouldn't I? Face ID has turned out to be a ton better than I expected it to be. Love the new screen and after three years with the Plus size phone it's nice to go back to a bit smaller size but still retain a larger screen. Yes, I realize that I'm gaining vertical screen and losing horizontal screen. But I lined it up with one of our Plus test phones at work and the amount of screen you lose in width over the Plus is the space between the right hand side of the right most icon on the home page and the right hand side of the screen on the Plus sized phone. That's not a lot of screen. Would I have purchased a Plus size version of the X if it was available, likely. But it wasn't a huge sacrifice for me to go to the X from the Plus. I'll enjoy this phone for a year and see what comes out next year. I realize that if I had to plunk down the full amount for the phone it would be a different story but for $60 it's worth the ride.
 
B4U said:
The bigger issue is, there is no way to get into control center in horizontal apps.
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I was extremely disappointed to see the X landscape options were so limited coming from the iPhone 7 Plus. It’s an upgraded screen and usage for those who were on non-plus sizes more than the plus. The screen diagonal dimension is bigger than the plus but narrower, and it was very noticeable for me. Opted to return the X and get the 8 Plus. I use my phone in landscape orientation frequently, and keep it flat on my desk at work most often, where yang Face ID gave me trouble. Each to their own.
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troubleonline said:
I was indifferent before I got the X but I like it now I have had the X for a couple of weeks. Sort of reminds me of a roladex card and looks quite retro and distinctive.
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I agree. Though in landscape mode the notch stood out more in a negative way to me. In portrait I don’t mind it.
 
Peter Abs said:
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.
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My implied point (based on the majority of customer responses regarding the notch) is that it isn't a big deal, the owner gets used to it quickly, and that playing with a phone for a few minutes doesn't make them qualified to eternally and vengefully condemn the notch.

P. S. I've used it and still prefer Android, but that's a separate discussion.
 
Siannath said:
For me, the most controversial design decision is the removal of Touch ID.

We see how Face ID is problematic in many cases. Touch ID has none of those issues. I want an iPhone X with both Face ID and Touch ID.
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Exactly, and the benefit of having 1cm of extra screen at the top and bottom is non-essential.

The iPhone X is ridiculous and fake hype by Apple being forced to be "innovative" for shareholders.

"HEY GUYS LOOK! we got a screen that goes to the bottom edge and almost to the top edge"

That's all this phone is, is the stupid extra 1cm of screen, and people are falling for it..

The tech inside can be put into any other iPhone.

DjC1RMJ.jpg
 
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