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Rumors originally suggested the iPhone X would be tough to get through the holidays, but Apple significantly ramped up supply, so it's been relatively easy to get a new iPhone X ahead of Christmas.

That means lots of new iPhone X devices are getting unboxed today, and if you're coming from an iPhone 8 or later, it's a big adjustment. Those of us who have been using an iPhone X since November can confirm that it takes a bit of time to get used to all of the changes in the device, but within a week or two, you won't even miss that Home button.


We've shared a lot of details on the iPhone X over the course of the last month, and this post resurfaces some of that content along with a few new tidbits and tricks that will help you get used to your iPhone X more quickly.

The iPhone X Interface

Not having a Home button is on the iPhone X is the most immediately jarring change, because there are new and unfamiliar gestures to learn.

Instead of pressing on the Home button to get to the Home screen of the iPhone X, you swipe up from the bottom of the display. This minimizes any app that's open.

iphonexlockscreen-1-800x523.jpg

On earlier iPhones, a double tap on the Home button brought up the App Switcher, but on iPhone X, you swipe up from the bottom and then pause for a moment to get to the App Switcher. Closing apps is no longer done with a single swipe -- you'll need to hold again on an app in the App Switcher until the red "-" appears, and then tap it or swipe up on the app.

To activate the display of the iPhone X to see your notifications, you can use a new "Tap to Wake" gesture, which, as the name suggests, means you just tap a finger on the inactive display. Pressing the side button also works.

Getting to the Control Center is going to be one of the most difficult gestures to learn. Instead of swiping up from the bottom like you're used to, you swipe down from the top of the status bar that displays battery life and cellular signal.

iosxinterface-800x633.jpg

A swipe down from the top of the iPhone X anywhere else on the display brings down the Cover Sheet of the Lock screen so you can see all of your notifications. Accessing Siri is now done by pressing twice on the side button instead of holding down on the Home button.

Additional Reading:

[*]6 Interface Tricks for iPhone X
[*]Top 10 iPhone X Tricks
[*]iPhone X First Look
The Notch

The iPhone X has an edge-to-edge display that does away with all bezels, except for a "notch" at the top of the device. Many criticized this design decision ahead of the release of the iPhone X, but in practical use, it's something you acclimatize to after a week or two of using the iPhone X, and it fades into the background instead of being a focal point whenever you're using the phone.


Apple needed the notch to hold all of the sensors for the TrueDepth camera, but it was implemented in a way that takes up as little space as possible, with two ears at the sides that house status information.

iphonexhomescreen-800x628.jpg

Apple, in developer materials, encourages developers to embrace the notch rather than to hide it away, and that's the path most apps and games have taken. In portrait mode, the notch is easy to ignore, but it will be a bit harder to get used to in landscape mode.

Additional Reading:

[*]Embracing the Notch
[*]iPhone X Notch: Everything You Need to Know
[*]Apple Approves Notch Remover App for iPhone X
[*]Prime Real Estate: The Fight for Space in the iPhone X
The Display

The iPhone X is the first iPhone from Apple to feature OLED technology for true-to-life colors, deep blacks, and an improved contrast ratio. At a resolution of 2436 x 1125 with 458 pixels per inch, it has the highest resolution and pixel density ever introduced in an iPhone.

iphonexretinadisplay-800x197.jpg

It is the best display we've seen in an iPhone, and it's one of the features you're likely to fall in love with immediately after unboxing the iPhone. It supports HDR, wide color, 3D Touch, and True Tone for adjusting the white balance of the display to match the ambient lighting.

Additional Reading:

[*]Apple Says Minor Screen Burn-In and Shifts in Color When Looking at iPhone X Off-Angle Are Normal
Face ID

Face ID, like the removal of the Home button, is a major change in the iPhone X. A fingerprint is no longer required to unlock your iPhone because it's using a 3D facial scan instead. Face ID works through a TrueDepth Camera system that projects thousands of tiny dots onto your face, which are read through an infrared camera.

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For most people, Face ID is as secure as Touch ID, but it can sometimes be fooled by masks, twins, and children.

iphonextruedepthcamera-1-800x437.jpg

Face ID is identical to Touch ID in terms of what it's used for (Apple Pay, device unlocking, password replacement in apps), it just uses your face instead of your finger. Developers have no access to Face ID data, nor does Apple, so it's just as secure as Touch ID.

faceidscaniphonex-800x493.jpg

Built-in machine learning features allow Face ID to adjust to facial changes. It can recognize you with sunglasses on, when you grow a beard, when you cut your hair, when you wear a scarf, and in other similar situations.

Additional Reading:

[*]Apple Shares In-Depth Face ID Security Info
[*]Face ID Unlocked With Mask
[*]Face ID Twin Tests
[*]10-Year Old Unlocks Face ID on Mother's iPhone
[*]Face ID is Faster than Touch ID in Day-to-Day Usage
[*]Face ID Works With Sunglasses
[*]Face ID Works in the Dark, With Hats, and With BeardsAnimoji and Third-Party Apps

The TrueDepth Camera isn't just used for Face ID -- it powers a new feature called Animoji, which are animated characters that mimic your facial expressions. Animoji live in the Messages app, so you can send friends and family messages featuring animated characters with your voice and facial expression.

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Animoji were popular just after the release thanks to "Animoji Karaoke," designed to make it look like the Animoji characters were singing hit songs, but that has died out over the last few weeks.


The TrueDepth Camera can send a rough facial map of your face to developers for ARKit apps. Snapchat, for example, can use this additional data from the TrueDepth camera to make its built-in facial filters more realistic than ever before.

Additional Reading:

[*]Privacy Advocates and Devs Raise Concerns About Third-Party App Access to TrueDepth Camera
[*]Animoji Karaoke Takes Over Social Media Following iPhone X LaunchApple Pay

Apple Pay on iPhone X is as simple to use as Apple Pay with devices that have Touch ID, but the checkout process is different.

Instead of confirming a payment with a finger on the Touch ID Home button, you'll need to unlock your iPhone X with Face ID, hold it down towards the payment terminal, and then press twice on the side button. The video below walks through the steps required:



Wireless Charging

You can still charge the iPhone X via Lightning port like any other iPhone, but it also supports wireless charging functionality. It will work with any Qi-certified wireless charger, with or without a case (with the exception of cases with a very thick back, aluminum cases, or cases with built-in magnets).

iphone-x-wireless-charging.jpg

Wireless charging is about as fast as charging with the standard 5W wired charger from Apple, but it's slower than other wired charging methods and charging speeds can vary based on factors like ambient temperature and the amount of power being delivered by the charger.

Aditional Reading:

[*]iPhone X Charging Speeds Compared
[*]iOS 11.2 Supports Faster 7.5W Wireless Charging on iPhone X
[*]Comparison: Belkin and Mophie's Wireless Chargers
[*]Discounted and Upcoming Qi Charging Pads
Cameras

Compared to older iPhones, the iPhone X cameras operate in much the same way, but there are some improvements and tweaks to be aware of. The iPhone X's rear-facing cameras are vertical rather than horizontal, but in practice, they work the same way.


Portrait mode, limited to the rear-facing camera in older Plus iPhone models, is available on both the front and rear facing cameras on the iPhone X. With the front camera, Portrait Mode is enabled through the TrueDepth camera system.

iphone-x-portrait-lighting-800x757.jpg

The rear facing camera is much improved, with an improved 12-megapixel sensor, new color filter, and a new image signal processor for better automatic adjustments and faster autofocus. Also new is optical image stabilization for the telephoto camera, meaning better portraits and an overall improvement to both lenses in the device.

iphonexrearcamera-1-800x459.jpg

For both the front and rear cameras in the iPhone X, there's a new Portrait Lighting effect that works alongside Portrait Mode to let you adjust the lighting in your image to introduce studio-quality effects.

For video, iPhone X supports 4K video at up to 60 frames per second and slo-mo video at up to 240 frames per second, and all of the aforementioned new hardware brings better stabilization for reduced blur and shakiness.

Additional Reading:

[*]iPhone X Camera Overview: Portrait Lighting, Video Improvements, Front-Facing Portraits and More
[*]iPhone X Low Light Photography Test Demonstrates Improved Telephoto Lens
Other Features

There are a ton of other new features in the iPhone X, including a new battery design for more battery life and an A11 Bionic processor that's incredibly fast and powers all of the iPhone X's camera functionality, but these are under-the-hood inclusions that won't be an immediate change from former iPhones.

a11bionicchip-800x595.jpg

For more information on all of the new features included iPhone X, make sure to check out our dedicated iPhone X roundup.

Article Link: Getting to Know Your New iPhone X - What's Different

This is the first iPhone model I won’t be getting since my initial iPhone 3G. I just haven’t been excited by apple’s form of innovation in a long time. No attempt to troll or start a debate just been followIng this site a long time and walking away now.
 
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I love my I phone X but very eager to get the X plus next year
 
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I got my wife a X in November. It’s a very nice phone and the camera is great, but quite frankly, I couldn’t find a single feature that would convince me to make upgrade from my 6 (other that a new battery of course). Although my wife appreciates her new phone, she shares the same opinion.
I upgraded from an iPhone 6+. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. The iPhone X has all the new features I missed out on by skipping the 6s and the 7, plus the new ones described above.
 
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does anyone know why my iphone x keeps deleting the letters when i search for a contact to send a new text?
 
You should tell everybody that once iOS 12 will come out (in 10 months), their brand new iPhone X will be useless. Just to know what to expect, you know?
 
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You should tell everybody that once iOS 12 will come out (in 10 months), their brand new iPhone X will be useless. Just to know what to expect, you know?
Will power management throttling apply to the X as soon as iOS 12 comes out? Will all, most, or even anything remotely close to majority will be affected in some way by that throttling? Will it really make the device useless for some that would be affected?
 
Will power management throttling apply to the X as soon as iOS 12 comes out? Will all, most, or even anything remotely close to majority will be affected in some way by that throttling? Will it really make the device useless for some that would be affected?

Well it had been applied to the iPhone 7 already. This is what happens when you're using crappy cheap batteries.
 
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I've had mine for a couple of weeks now and when I went to use an older iPhone, I couldn't get used to the home button--even though I had used the home button since inception. I agree that the bar is unnecessary after the first couple of days. Perhaps it should just go away after X hours of use.
 
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“Significantly ramped up production” or maybe people aren’t being gullible enough to fall for a £300 price hike that isn’t justified.

I hope those with X’s enjoy them but I “thank you” all for sending Apple the message that £1000 as an entry level price for the latest and greatest iPhone is acceptable.
 
“If you’re coming from an iPhone 8 or later...” there’s nothing later than the 8. Adjusting from earlier iPhones will be difficult, but later iPhones, not sure what she means here.
 
Lack of the home button appears to compromise accessibility mode (double click of home button, in my case I have it to set to invert colours, sometimes smart invert but it's not very smart in safari). The virtual home button on screen is a poor replacement, perhaps I've missed a better way to access accessibility?

I'd prefer a plastic back rather than glass, that side gets all the impacts while in my pocket. Otherwise the X seems quite good

And general IOS whinge - having to use settings to turn wifi on/off is getting really annoying, I got fed up of it continually turning itself on and causing internet access to fail (every time I use it and several times during a train journey) while it was trying to join wifi APs or keep popping up asking if I want to join this one.

Likewise it turning on every morning and running the battery down trying to connect to stuff I don't need it to. If Apple want to keep turning it on at least don't block access by trying to use it instead of LTE unless the wifi has connectivity. And fit a larger battery.
 
I’m loving my iPhone. It’s the perfect phone in my eyes notch included.

I have not had this level of excitement since the original iPhone was launched
 
I haven't bought an X yet, because I haven't found a good case. When I do, I have one question that seems appropriate in this "new user gets used to it" thread:

I will be setting up my new X to use a PIN. Has anyone here done this, and if so could you please post any details on how different it is from using a PIN with a "home button" iPhone? I already know I can't wake the phone with the home button, so I have to start using the side button. Anything else I'd need to know?
 
Good article. Got my X a few Weeks ago. Took maybe 20 minutes to get used to the changes. Funny thing is that now the gestures and Face ID feel so normal using my wife or kids phones feels awkward, lol.
I agree. I kept my 6S to keep by my bed and using the Touch ID button seems archaic already
 
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I haven't bought an X yet, because I haven't found a good case. When I do, I have one question that seems appropriate in this "new user gets used to it" thread:

I will be setting up my new X to use a PIN. Has anyone here done this, and if so could you please post any details on how different it is from using a PIN with a "home button" iPhone? I already know I can't wake the phone with the home button, so I have to start using the side button. Anything else I'd need to know?

You don't need to press the side button to wake the phone; turn on the "raise to wake" option and you will rarely have to press the side button for that purpose. It is on by default.

Not sure what you mean by setting it up to use a PIN. The X will require a passcode as a backup for FaceID, same as with the prior models with TouchID.

If you prefer minimalist cases that provide some protection and grip without fundamentally altering the appearance of the phone, I can recommend the Sahara Crystal Clear.

https://saharacase.com/products/apple-cases/iphone-x/iphone-x-clear-kit-crystal
 
I got my wife a X in November. It’s a very nice phone and the camera is great, but quite frankly, I couldn’t find a single feature that would convince me to make upgrade from my 6 (other that a new battery of course). Although my wife appreciates her new phone, she shares the same opinion.

may I ask what was the feature that made you upgrade to your current 6?
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I’m loving my iPhone. It’s the perfect phone in my eyes notch included.

I have not had this level of excitement since the original iPhone was launched

very awkward when people complain about the notch but nobody complains about the Samsung,, edge to edge'' notch =D
 
I haven't bought an X yet, because I haven't found a good case. When I do, I have one question that seems appropriate in this "new user gets used to it" thread:

I will be setting up my new X to use a PIN. Has anyone here done this, and if so could you please post any details on how different it is from using a PIN with a "home button" iPhone? I already know I can't wake the phone with the home button, so I have to start using the side button. Anything else I'd need to know?

You have to set a passcode as a backup if you use Touch ID and the same is true of Face ID.

You still have three ways of waking the phone with the X, raise to wake, press side button, and instead of pressing the home button you can now tap anywhere on the screen with the X and that wakes it also.
 
I haven't bought an X yet, because I haven't found a good case. When I do, I have one question that seems appropriate in this "new user gets used to it" thread:

I will be setting up my new X to use a PIN. Has anyone here done this, and if so could you please post any details on how different it is from using a PIN with a "home button" iPhone? I already know I can't wake the phone with the home button, so I have to start using the side button. Anything else I'd need to know?

I have have these two cases and they seem to still keep the phone thin and provide some protection the urban armor case claims to be impact and damage resistant.
Urban Armor Gear - Plasma Series
Apple - iPhone® X Leather Case - Midnight Blue
 
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