Those Not Getting An X - Why?

[craigio85]

I wasn’t looking to be wowed or excited - the only reason I wanted a new iPhone was that I bought a white-fronted one last year on a whim and wanted to switch back to black. I considered just doing a like for like but changing the colour, but I went with the 8Plus solely on the basis that I prefer the glass back to aluminium.

I was open to the X but decided against it for two main reasons.

1) Price - the 8 Plus is already at the top end of what I feel is the maximum any phone should be retailing at. I might have paid it had there been something there that excited me enough.

2) Notch - I don’t like it, but it wouldn’t have completely put me off on its own. For me, it will never be anything other than an irritating design element that I’ll just have to live with given that it’s almost certainly going to feature in the design of new iPhones for the next few years. But i’ll live with it when i’m compelled enough by the overall package of a future iPhone to upgrade again.

 

[fs454]

Simply put, it's an over priced phone. Other phones offer the same thing, minus face id, that are cheaper. The only thing apple has is the IOS. I will stick with my 6. It does basically everything, that is useful to me, that the new phone does. I personally hope this new phone tanks and it's a wake up call to apple

Hilarious.

 

[sdwaltz]

I chose "other - please explain" so that's what I'm doing here:

1) No home button - I don't like the idea of swiping up to go home.
2) No Touch ID - thinking about day-to-day use, I would absolutely DESPISE Face ID even if it works 100% of the time.
3) Notch - Despicable. They should've had a tiny bezel to house the earpiece/Face ID cameras. Jobs would've laughed the design out of the room.
4) Size - 5.8" may be "factually accurate", but in reality it's a smaller screen than the 8 Plus.
5) I don't give a fiddler's f**k about OLED.
6) Price ever so slightly factors in, but I'd gladly pay the higher price if they had released a phone more like what I wanted. I don't want to pay extra money for what I see as a step backwards in usability.
7) Sentimental purposes - it's highly likely that the 8/8 Plus will be the last phones that Apple releases that utilize their "legacy" design (home button, touch ID, bezels). Because I'm weird, I like the idea of having what will likely be the final, best iteration of the "original" iPhone design.
8) No option to show battery percentage. Massive deal-breaker.

And 9) Holy crap, I realized I'm sounding more and more like my father.

To each their own, though - I'm sure hordes of people will be ecstatic with their iPhone X purchase and I look forward to seeing everybody's excitement in the days/weeks to come...but all-in-all, very happy with my decision to go w/the 8 Plus.

 

[Teddysjam]

I consider my self a tech guy I love all the new stuff coming out I could walk around in Best Buy for hours lol. I do like the bezel less and all oled screen of the X I was tempted but my 7plus is working great and I can put that 1000.00 to something else or spend half and get ready for next years iPhone. One thing I learned about new tech once the honeymoon phase wears off on anything phone, TV, headphones, gaming systems I just worry about my day to day activities 7plus does what I need it to do without problems. But I will be snooping around has everyone enjoys their new phone.

 

[pl1984]

I forgot to add...

Too. much. money.

Especially when the iPhone SE is on sale at Best Buy for $150. It's insane the amount of value you get for as little as that.

It is? Details please? I may just pick one up for a friend of mine.

 

[AllergyDoc]

Our 7 and 7+ are running great and don't want to spend the $. Might change my mind, though, after stocks go up and if I read mostly good things about it.

 

[adam1080]

I have one coming tomorrow so maybe in hand my opinion will change. But as of now, compared to my 8 Plus:

- without using Face ID I question its convenience. You have to be within a certain angle for it to activate. With Touch ID my phone can be anywhere, lying flat, and a simple touch let’s me in to glance.

- a smaller more narrow keyboard doesn’t appeal to my large hands
View attachment 730694

- I question the notch in portrait mode in certain situations. While this picture is funny, it is also a legitimate situation
View attachment 730665

- I watch a lot of video on my phone in landscape mode. The letterboxing in this example, so as to avoid the notch, makes this even smaller than what would fill the 4.7" screen given the similar width of the screens to begin with
View attachment 730695

- And if you choose to zoom in order to avoid the letterboxing while watching video, content is cropped by the rounded corners as well as hidden behind the notch
View attachment 730697

- While I realize that apps will eventually be optimized for this new aspect ratio, I remember how it was in the past. Some apps took a year or more. Others never even bothered. This example shows how tiny the content is when not optimized.
View attachment 730696

Those are the primary reasons why I think I will likely stay with my 8 plus. Yeah, the design is dated. Yeah, it has a huge forehead and chin. But I use my phone for content not for looks. I enjoy the extra width to make things like searching pictures (thumbnails in the photo galleries) easier. I remember going from the 4S to the 5. Basically, the 5 was an elongated 4S. Looks like a similar situation here only you will get an OLED display that is narrow and hampered by a notch vs letter boxing. I am excited for all of those who cannot wait to get this phone. I hope everyone who gets it, loves the hell out of it. I am not trying to hate. I just see many things that make it seem like a downgrade from my plus and if anything, I really question how in two years of planning (according to Ive), this is the best they could come up with.

Detailed and great post. I do disagree with the "letterbox" movies section. Ish...

With the aspect ratio being significantly different than the current iPhones, letterboxing will allow for a bigger image on 2.39:1 movies. 16:9 or 1.85:1 may be closer to the 4.7" screen but not the former.

So for tv at 16:9 it may be a wash for image size( or less than the plus slightly) it should be much better for a higher percentage of movies. Even zooming out to avoid the notch. Which before I have it in my hand, I hate...

We'll find out tomorrow.

 

[pl1984]

Happy 10 years, iPhone. It won't have another celebration for another decade.

Hard to believe it's been 10 years. It seems like yesterday I was taking delivery of my iPhone 3G.

 

[atiffarooq]

Moved to an S8. Great phone. Apple priced themselves out of what I was willing to pay for a phone.

Android OS is much improved since I last used it. Phone has face unlock, wireless charging, no notch, I can use multiple apps at the same time, fast charging and good battery life.

Will wait to see what Apple can do next year.

 

[rui no onna]

No option for "all of the above"? For me, it's a combination of price, notch and FaceID (although really more lack of TouchID as fallback and increased reliance on gestures for navigation).

 

[fatalogic]

I think it's too small and I prefer the S line of phones. I only have a 7 plus because my Note broke.

 

[Damon2]

Price.

I played with the silver model, its nice but its just not £1000 nice especially for a 64GB model.

Don't care about the notch nor FaceID instead of TouchID.

I'll only move to an X from my 7, If I can somehow get a good deal sim free.

 

[trifid]

It is? Details please? I may just pick one up for a friend of mine.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/at-t-prepaid-apple-iphone-se-4g-lte-with-32gb-memory-prepaid-cell-phone-space-gray/5792701.p?ref=8575135&loc=ff0b89e2c00711e791059e6251c4153f0INT&acampID=ff0b89e2c00711e791059e6251c4153f0INT

If you want a different carrier other than AT&T, try searching www.slickdeals.net, several good deals show up there periodically on the iPhone SE.

 

[facemeat]

It looks gorgeous, but I'm waiting for the dust to settle and how the new tech holds up a few months in (display, FaceID, apps updated for the X's display). Had it been $2-300 cheaper I could've paid for it, but I'm not willing to pay $1600 for a first generation product until we get some long term reviews in.

 

[Azzurro]

I simply missed the preordering because of the stupid Apple Store app and the Apple Pay not working. It shows 3-4 weeks of waiting which to me is ridiculous. That’s 9 months before the next model.

 

[johnny hotsauce]

It was absolutely a reasonable question and I think the numbers alone for the screen sizes are very misleading. The sigh was likely because this has been covered to nth degree over the last several weeks. But don't let that deter you from asking questions because that is what the forums are for.

The forums are a little sensitive at the moment lol. You have:
- People anxious to get their X tomorrow
- People pissed that they weren't able to get a day one pre-order delivery date
- People excited about the X are getting grumpy with those who are denouncing it
- People used to the Plus who are not pleased with the screen ratio (longer and more narrow)
- People pissed about the notch, skeptical of Face ID, pissed Touch ID is gone, leery of the home bar & gestures
- People spending hours defending the things above because they feel they will love the X and it is the best
- People angry at those who ordered multiple phones to either re-sell or choose one color and return the other
- People fired up over reviews. Great reviews must mean bias. Poor reviews must mean bias. Lol
- People upset over the price of the phones
- Instead of Apple vs Android....we have divisiveness within our own user group over the 8 vs 8 Plus vs X

That is only slightly scratching the surface. This place has been a war zone

You pretty much hit the nail on the head and summed up mostly the entire iPhone sub-forum right now.

I've been refraining from posting in a lot of these threads because I don't feel like dealing with getting flamed because I chose to buy an 8 Plus or because the X didn't totally interest me at this moment.

Seems like if you bought an 8/8 Plus or decided to stick with the phone you have then you're labeled as:

• An idiot that couldn't wait an extra 45 days to wake up at 2AM to try and order the X within a 4 minute pre-order window to ensure it ships within the first 2 weeks of November otherwise get put put in the 5-6+ week shipping window.
• You're too poor to afford an X or too cheap to spend the extra money on the X.
• You're not tech savvy enough to use newer tech or are resistant to change.
• You must be too old to appreciate the X and should just get a Jitterbug flip phone with large numbers on the dial pad.

What about if you only like some of the stuff that the X has and not all of it? That's exactly what the 8/8 Plus is all about, same hardware as the X in relation to rear camera, processor, RAM, wireless charging, glass back, etc. but none of the other stuff that that individual might not care about like OLED, Face ID, no home button, etc...

It's almost like the option between the main brands and the luxury brands with cars. The 8/8 Plus is like a Honda Accord V6 Touring and the the X is like an Acura TLX Advanced, both cars are made by Honda and are based on the same platform and have the same engine and very similar features but if you want the extra stuff than you pony up the extra money for the Acura.

No one is an impatient or cheap idiot for choosing the Accord over the TLX, they just have different tastes or needs at that point in time so why label people for not wanting the X or not wanting the 8/8 Plus, it's a choice of what they want to buy and in my case I chose the 8 Plus this time around and I'm happy for anyone that chose an X, an 8/8 Plus or just decided not to buy right now, we all get what we wanted.

 

[pl1984]

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/at-t-prepaid-apple-iphone-se-4g-lte-with-32gb-memory-prepaid-cell-phone-space-gray/5792701.p?ref=8575135&loc=ff0b89e2c00711e791059e6251c4153f0INT&acampID=ff0b89e2c00711e791059e6251c4153f0INT

If you want a different carrier other than AT&T, try searching www.slickdeals.net, several good deals show up there periodically on the iPhone SE.

Thanks! I did a search and found an earlier MR post about it. It's still valid. Since it's pre-paid I decided to forego it for the time being (it'd be for a friend and I'd need to check with her to find out if she is OK with that).
[doublepost=1509653441][/doublepost]

People fired up over reviews. Great reviews must mean bias. Poor reviews must mean bias.

You trust reviews paid for by the manufacturer of the thing being reviewed?

 

[ARizz44]

Detailed and great post. I do disagree with the "letterbox" movies section. Ish...

With the aspect ratio being significantly different than the current iPhones, letterboxing will allow for a bigger image on 2.39:1 movies. 16:9 or 1.85:1 may be closer to the 4.7" screen but not the former.

So for tv at 16:9 it may be a wash for image size( or less than the plus slightly) it should be much better for a higher percentage of movies. Even zooming out to avoid the notch. Which before I have it in my hand, I hate...

We'll find out tomorrow.

Thank you for the kind remarks!! You mentioned the letter boxing and I am hoping you might help me better understand. So if a movie or video is natively 2.39:1 it should fill the entire screen of the X nicely (despite the notch) but would actually need to be letterboxed on the Plus instead (since it is 16:9), correct? I am wondering how many instances that would be. It seems like most videos I watch tend to fill my entire Plus screen. I believe YouTube and others use 16:9 natively. So in those common cases the Plus screen would fill entirely while the X, which has slightly less overall surface screen area despite being 5.8”, would be closer to 4.7” if not smaller (since the width is already close to the 4.7” phone but the 4.7” is 16:9 so no letter boxing needed).

I think in those cases, if one does not zoom, that a native 16:9 video will appear quite small on the X. I guess we’ll know quite soon.

 

[nilk]

I put "other", though the software choices regarding the notch do weigh heavily in this. The iPhone X seems like an expensive prototype that is going to require quite a bit of work on the software side before it's a good experience. I think the notch is a fine hardware choice, but I hope to see software choices that lessen it's impact. Things like curved corners and various other aspects of the X also need software-side polish. I simply don't want to be an early adopter this time around.

I bought a used iPhone 7 recently, and am just going to wait and see. What I really want is a smaller phone that is waterproof (I'd probably be on an SE if it was waterproof). I'm always looking at Android (though I've always end up with an iPhone as my main phone so far), and this time is no exception. I'll be comparing Android devices to the X and Apple's direction, and also waiting for Apple to fix the issues with iOS 11 and make the iPhone a good experience again.

 

[Rhonindk]

Voted Other. Currently have a 7+ 128GB

The 8+ wasn't a big enough improvement
The X is a lot of unknown. I want to see what folks experience and what it feels like in hand.
Have checked out the Note 8 and ... Wow. Most of my stuff is Apple hence the hesitation.
Waiting to check out the Razer. (ARTICLE) Looks like serious competition. Want to see more.

Till then, my 7+ keeps chugging along.
Besides, the X is prohibitively expensive. Over $1200 after tax and before peripherals.

 

[ARizz44]

[doublepost=1509653441][/doublepost]
You trust reviews paid for by the manufacturer of the thing being reviewed?

Do I? No not at all. I was listing it as one of the many debates going on in the forums. Some who are anti-X insist a positive review is biased. Some who are pro-X insist a negative review is biased. Just calling out what I’ve seen.

 

[pl1984]

Do I? No not at all. I was listing it as one of the many debates going on in the forums. Some who are anti-X insist a positive review is biased. Some who are pro-X insist a negative review is biased. Just calling out what I’ve seen.

Manufacturers typically don't pay for negative reviews. However you can almost be guaranteed anyone who gives a negative review isn't going to be paid for one the next time around.

 

[trifid]

Thanks! I did a search and found an earlier MR post about it. It's still valid. Since it's pre-paid I decided to forego it for the time being (it'd be for a friend and I'd need to check with her to find out if she is OK with that).

My brother bought it and is using it on a non-prepaid plan (family plan). The other thing to consider is that it can be unlocked for use on a different carrier, but I think you have to be at least 6 months with AT&T before requesting the unlock.

 

[pl1984]

My brother bought it and is using it on a non-prepaid plan (family plan). The other thing to consider is that it can be unlocked for use on a different carrier, but I think you have to be at least 6 months with AT&T before requesting the unlock.

That's what I read in the MR thread I came across. She's a Cricket user so it shouldn't be a problem. But need to check. But then it's only $150. People are selling used 16GB iPhone 5s phones for more.

 

[ARizz44]

Manufacturers typically don't pay for negative reviews. However you can almost be guaranteed anyone who gives a negative review isn't going to be paid for one the next time around.

True. It is interesting however that this year, Apple hand picked a very select group of individuals to do the first hands-on videos. That is actually a bit different than the past. In the past the embargo dropped on all unanimously. It’s almost like a nervous feeling was there. Those waiting to flame it like they have other iPhones in the past either had to wait, or were given less time with it lol.