iPhone X Review Roundup: Face ID Works Well as Life Without Home Button Takes Getting Used To

[SeattleMoose]

Getting rid of the home button will turn out to be as dumb as getting rid of the click wheel on the iPod. Both were perfect designs that Apple discarded for inferior solutions. Sometimes Apple's obsession with "smooth" and "touch" overcomes their common sense.

 

[votdfak]

FaceID: (assumed until I actually try it) As I pull my phone from my right front pocket, I must click the power button on the upper right on the phone to wake it. I then must bring the phone into view of my face, most likely above the table to get the correct angle, therefore showing my phone being used inconsiderately to other guests, then once I look at the phone (however short it is), I then must swipe up on the screen with the same or more likely, other hand. I then can bring the phone back down below the table to check my item.

You don't have to click, you'll use raise2wake, auth with your face and swipe to go home. Still, I would like to just auth with my face and go home. I hope they'll make it optional.

 

[redneckitengineer]

You honestly got "hit or miss" from these reviews about FaceID?
Get out of here. It's been overwhelmingly positive. People like you are looking for a superior technology to fail because you have a security blanket with 90s tech fingerprint scanners. TouchID is not as secure, it's not as convenient in many situations, and is not the future. Welcome to the future.
Get a Samsung with the fingerprint scanner on the back by the camera where you can't reach it...or use the Iris scanner that doesn't work with Samsung Pay and can be fooled by a picture.
OR OR OR
Get an iPhone 8 until FaceID is "perfected" in your eyes.

And your post isn't biased for the positive? Please.... I neither stated I like nor dislike the feature and I'm awaiting real world people to have them Friday to make a final judgement for myself. As a human in this insane PC culture, we all should be aware that we each are entitled to our own opinion on everything. And while we may disagree, there is ABSOLUTELY no reason to bash me as person for disagreeing with your opinion. This is what is wrong with this world.

 

[Baymowe335]

And your post isn't biased for the positive? Please.... I neither stated I like nor dislike the feature and I'm awaiting real world people to have them Friday to make a final judgement for myself. As a human in this insane PC culture, we all should be aware that we each are entitled to our own opinion on everything. And while we may disagree, there is ABSOLUTELY no reason to bash me as person for disagreeing with your opinion. This is what is wrong with this world.

My post is biased for nearly every single mention of FaceID has been RESOUNDINGLY positive and there simply isn't enough real world data to say it's "struggling" in any condition. It's also too early to call it a complete success, but from the information we know, it's doing exactly what Apple planned.

What's wrong with this world is people jump to their own conclusions despite the facts.

You're like the guy saying iPhone X sales were not as good as Apple hoped.

 

[rGiskard]

I like the gestures over the home button. Using the home button always seemed clunky to me since it takes one out of the screen space.

Face ID...meh. I don't want to unlock by holding up as if to take a selfie. I often unlock my iPhone on a desk or table but now I'll have to pick it up and hold it up in front of my face? How rude. If I'm driving and want to use CarPlay then I can plug in and unlock my 6+ while keeping my eyes on the road. How is it practical or safe to hold up my damn phone for a selfie while driving? Stupid, unsafe, and illegal (or soon to be in most states).

Of course the Face ID is a sort of compromise between practical unlocking and a superior screen to device size ratio. It may well be worth it. I'll know in about a year when used X prices come down to reasonable levels.

 

[redneckitengineer]

My post is biased for nearly every single mention of FaceID has been RESOUNDINGLY positive and there simply isn't enough real world data to say it's "struggling" in any condition. It's also too early to call it a complete success, but from the information we know, it's doing exactly what Apple planned.

What's wrong with this world is people jump to their own conclusions despite the facts.

You're like the guy saying iPhone X sales were not as good as Apple hoped.

FOR &(^(#&) SAKE!! MY ORIGINAL POST AND EVERY POST SINCE HAS SAID I'M AWAITING REAL WORLD REVIEWS FROM PEOPLE FRIDAY BEFORE MAKING A JUDGEMENT. And I'm definitely not like the guy who's talked about sales numbers, in fact, I've never mentioned it, nor have I cared about it. If Apple sells well great, if they sell bad great. I have no stock in them, I'm in it for a quality product, I could care less about their sales. Once again, your assuming my personality.

 

[QCassidy352]

Not wanting to be rude but is it possible Nilay's problems with FaceID are a result of him being brown?

Well, maybe, but that would be a MAJOR flaw, as the world is quite literally full of people with darker skin tones. I can't imagine Apple would forget to test Face ID with anyone except white people.

As for Face ID vs Touch ID... I think the fact that we have to debate which is better kind of proves the point. Face ID replaced a proven and beloved technology, and it's being sold as a central feature of a $1000+ phone. It should be unambiguously, demonstrably superior -- and it's not. It's fast... but maybe not quite as fast. It's accurate... just like its predecessor. It's better in certain use cases... and worse in others.

I'm NOT saying Face ID sucks... it looks quite good. But so is Touch ID. So how is replacing one awfully good technology with another supposed to be a major selling point on the most expensive smartphone ever produced?

 

[Bagaholic]

Not wanting to be rude but is it possible Nilay's problems with FaceID are a result of him being brown? As an example, with strong light above him, it would darken out more of his features than the same scenario with a white skinned person. Hasn't it been said before that tech struggles with recognising black people? Its like having a black car, its harder to see its curves and features because of the colour.

PS: Don't hate, Im Mexican.

That's not the problem because the camera uses infrared so dark features are fine. In fact, one reviewer said that worrying about FaceID working in the dark is a backward thought. FaceID works better in the dark compares to it being under bright sunlight. The problem is that there are infrared lights in the sun that distracted the camera.

But that only happened to Nilay it seems. Most of the other reviewer praised FaceID's consistency and reliability right?

 

[Baymowe335]

Well, maybe, but that would be a MAJOR flaw, as the world is quite literally full of people with darker skin tones. I can't imagine Apple would forget to test Face ID with anyone except white people.

As for Face ID vs Touch ID... I think the debate about which is better misses the point. Face ID replaced a proven and beloved technology, and it's being sold as a central feature of a $1000+ phone. It should be unambiguously, demonstrably superior -- and it's not. It's fast... but maybe not quite as fast. It's accurate... just like its predecessor. It's better in certain use cases... and worse in others.

I'm NOT saying Face ID sucks... it looks quite good. But so is Touch ID. So how is replacing one awfully good technology with another supposed to be a major selling point on the most expensive smartphone ever produced?

Remember, Face ID is just one part of the camera module. Clearly, Apple/developers have a lot of plans for this technology (Facial recognition) that could never be accomplished with TouchID alone.

You kids have a lot of trouble seeing past your nose.

To summarize, FaceID is NOT simply a replacement for TouchID. It's replacing TouchID but it's only one aspect of the technology. It's already being used for silly things like animated emojis, but it can be used in other applications. Apple sees the future in this technology and are moving forward with it and all the applications that come with it.

 

[caesarp]

I like the gestures over the home button. Using the home button always seemed clunky to me since it takes one out of the screen space.

Face ID...meh. I don't want to unlock by holding up as if to take a selfie. I often unlock my iPhone on a desk or table but now I'll have to pick it up and hold it up in front of my face? How rude. If I'm driving and want to use CarPlay then I can plug in and unlock my 6+ while keeping my eyes on the road. How is it practical or safe to hold up my damn phone for a selfie while driving? Stupid, unsafe, and illegal (or soon to be in most states).

Of course the Face ID is a sort of compromise between practical unlocking and a superior screen to device size ratio. It may well be worth it. I'll know in about a year when used X prices come down to reasonable levels.

Not accurate -- look at this gif. The guy is holding it up to just above belly button level (not selfie level or directly in front of face):

 

[MacNut]

Skimming through the thread I’m seeing a lot of “but but but it has to be great I just blindly dropped $1000 on something I have never used before.” This is a device I would never buy without getting hands on first. Too many unanswered questions with this new phone.

 

[caesarp]

Well, maybe, but that would be a MAJOR flaw, as the world is quite literally full of people with darker skin tones. I can't imagine Apple would forget to test Face ID with anyone except white people.

As for Face ID vs Touch ID... I think the fact that we have to debate which is better kind of proves the point. Face ID replaced a proven and beloved technology, and it's being sold as a central feature of a $1000+ phone. It should be unambiguously, demonstrably superior -- and it's not. It's fast... but maybe not quite as fast. It's accurate... just like its predecessor. It's better in certain use cases... and worse in others.

I'm NOT saying Face ID sucks... it looks quite good. But so is Touch ID. So how is replacing one awfully good technology with another supposed to be a major selling point on the most expensive smartphone ever produced?

You are forgetting one thing -- faceID is also more secure. Drops mic.

 

[Bagaholic]

I don't understand why people are so clinging to the past on this thread. The iPhone X might as well be the first edition of its kind that laid ground works for future phones. No new technology is perfect and if you can't take the risks associated with being an early adopter, stick with your flip phone (well sure you think you're "high-tech" and love your home button, TouchID, headphone jack so much, you can keep your iPhone 6) and stop complaining. You haven't even been able to touch and test the X yet to even make a valid complaint.

FaceID is not a step backward, it's a side step like one of the reviewers said. And no, stop pretending that it shatters your world because this new phone might take a millisecond more to unlock. Your time isn't worth that much. You want a water-resistant phone, they delivered and you complain about the headphone jack. You want an all screen phone, they delivered and you complain you miss the home button. To be honest, after owning the Airpods a year ago, I'd actually be mad if Apple added back the headphone jack, it seems pretty useless to me now.

Oh I really do burn most of my calories by rolling my eyes...

 

[BvizioN]

Now that you mention it, I wonder if that's how they managed to get the false positive rate so low... instead of setting it up with 5 fingers, you're only setting it up with 1 face.

That's going down as a massive con for me... my wife and I regularly use each other's devices. Having to always use the passcode when we're not on our own device would suck.

This baffles me. Touch ID having the choice of 5 fingers was never intended for fingers of different people but only from one user. Like someone have mentioned, smartphone is a personal device. If you want to share it with a family members just go on security settings and disable it.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Lol. Literally exactly what you should never do is not a 'non-starter'. iPhones are not shared devices. And certainly not shared so often that you would need to get in with Face ID.

LOL. Some people.

Yea, LOL. Some people.

 

[MacNut]

This baffles me. Touch ID having the choice of 5 fingers was never intended for fingers of different people but only from one user. Like someone have mentioned, smartphone is a personal device. If you want to share it with a family members just go on security settings and disable it.

How do you know what the intent was? I have a finger registered on my moms phone so I can easily access it. Since I’m the one setting the phone up for her I need a way to get into it. It’s not like I’m telling strangers on the street to add a fingerprint.

 

[Darrensk8]

Only
Looked at verge are most people
Saying face ID is finicky?

I wouldn’t say most but it’s not unanimous success rate so far. Will be interesting to see what it’s like first hand

 

[dannynjoni]

Getting rid of the home button will turn out to be as dumb as getting rid of the click wheel on the iPod. Both were perfect designs that Apple discarded for inferior solutions. Sometimes Apple's obsession with "smooth" and "touch" overcomes their common sense.

Although it was really great for it's time and truly iconic, I never really liked the click wheel. It was very limiting. The touch screen brought things to a whole new level of usefulness and productivity.

 

[kerrikins]

TouchID: As I pull my phone from my right front pocket, my thumb touches the pad and has already authenticated, and the phone has already loaded the home screen. By the time it reaches my visible area below the table out of view of the other guests, I can check my item.

I know from reading posts here and on Reddit that this is apparently something that people routinely do. But whenever I read it I find myself reread and puzzling over it because it sounds like a maneuver where I could find myself dropping my phone. I'm kinda glad that I never got into the habit of doing this so that I won't miss it, lol.

 

[thadoggfather]

Although it was really great for it's time and truly iconic, I never really liked the click wheel. It was very limiting. The touch screen brought things to a whole new level of usefulness and productivity.

I don't understand why you couldn't rest your finger in a specific dedicated area of the screen to enact home button. Even without Touch ID embedded that would be a nice feature to get people used to no
Home button

I swipe up on my jailbreak 7+ too but I like options.

 

[gbc204]

So I'm pretty curious about this face ID tech. Will it scan your face if you're not right in front of it? Say it's mounted on your dash in the car in the middle console and you need to access maps or something (while not moving of course...). Will if find your face, in the dark, not directly in front of it?

 

[rGiskard]

Not accurate -- look at this gif. The guy is holding it up to just above belly button level (not selfie level or directly in front of face):

Sweet! Looks like more than a few reviewers got it wrong.

If it works like it does in that gif then I'll be happy with it. Maybe not quite as useful as touch ID but for me that's a fine trade off in exchange for a smaller device w/same screen size as my 6+.

 

[ssaxamaphone]

This is a photo from the Forbes article, that was taken on Hampstead Heath in London at dusk.

Photo from Buzzfeed using 1x zoom:

Buzzfeed Concert Photo at 2x Zoom:

Buzzfeed Outside at night:

This isn't low light. I hate how people don't understand this. High contrast photos with lots of light and shadows taken at night isn't low light

 

[redneckitengineer]

Save your video. Someone already did that. They posted a gif. Touch ID is about 2 milliseconds faster. Big whoop. As far as angles and holding phone to your face, that depends on whether you turn on the attention feature or not.

I've finally seen this gif and it goes exactly along with what I said, not the contrary. The user holds both phone to his waist before starting the unlock feature. My point was situations where you unlock the phone before it reaches your waist. It's slower in the gif, but I bet its even slower if you already have the TouchID unlocked before it reaches that point. Rewrite that gif with the guy placing his finger on the TouchID as he's lifting it, you'll see a significant difference there, not milliseconds.

 

[x-evil-x]

OLED burn in has always been an issue.

Speed doesn't seem too bad on Face ID.

from one of the reviews you literally dont have to wait for it to unlock you can swipe right when the screen turns on
[doublepost=1509472391][/doublepost]

Oh no the screen uses pentile pixel arrangement This means edges will have a fuzzy look to it. It remains to be seen how visible it will be until I see it in person, but I am very sensitive to this and at 458ppi I think it will be visible. Samsung went with RGB pixel array on the S8. Maybe Samsung is not letting Apple have its best...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PenTile_matrix_family

View attachment 729584

If you can see 458ppi fuzziness than you have superman vision.
What are you 5mm away from the screen?