Thoughts about Plus/X attitudes

[MacPioneer]

I suspect most people who have owned iPhone 6/7/8 Plusses are people who don’t own iPads. For them, the Plus is an iPad Lite. I understand this.

As for me, since I do use an iPad which seldom leaves my side, traits in a phone I look for are compactness and inobtrusiveness. I rarely pull my iPhone out of its holster because most interactions that would require interaction with the phone can be handled by my Apple Watch. This means that the iPhone X, barely larger than my current iPhone 6, is an attractive size for me.

 

[AJsAWiz]

I suspect most people who have owned iPhone 6/7/8 Plusses are people who don’t own iPads. For them, the Plus is an iPad Lite. I understand this.

As for me, since I do use an iPad which seldom leaves my side, traits in a phone I look for are compactness and inobtrusiveness. I rarely pull my iPhone out of its holster because most interactions that would require interaction with the phone can be handled by my Apple Watch. This means that the iPhone X, barely larger than my current iPhone 6, is an attractive size for me.

I never thought of it quite that way but you may have a point. I had an iPhone 6s Plus (before I got the X) and also have an iPad Pro (12.9).

 

[eyoungren]

Hmmmm…I own an iPhone 6s+, an iPhone 4s and an iPhone 5.

I also own an iPad Air 2. All four devices regularly travel with me between home and work.

My wife owns a 6s.

And she also owns an iPad Air 2.

My son owns an iPhone SE and my daughter has an iPhone 5 (the one my son had before the SE).

Neither have an iPad, but both have access to an LG G-Pad crap tablet.

Does this poke any holes in your suspicions?

 

[akash.nu]

I have an 8 Plus and a 2017 iPad, both have their usage.

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

The X has been a surprise for me.

Positive:

I thought FaceID would be worse than TouchID. It's better, so far. It's just as fast or faster in almost every scenario I've thrown at it. It's like not having any passcode or lock on. If they implement a direct unlock to home screen without the upsweep it will absolutely kill TouchID.

I thought the notch would be a problem, but it's really not bad. Definitely not preferred, but I hardly notice any more. Even in videos in landscape.

I don't miss the Home Button one bit. All the new swiping gestures are excellent (maybe except for the app switcher, which takes a little thinking to get right). Adios Home Button and TouchID. The UpSwipe to home is the way to navigate iOS.

Negatives:

The OLED has been a major letdown. I was expecting a major upgrade from my 7 Plus, but all my family and friends (including myself) say the LED panel on the 7 Plus is brighter, whiter, and just plain looks better. This includes the tech savvy, and the clueless (my mom). I have several X units here, and they are all yellow, with slightly different tones. (please don't @ me about how this is intentional color calibration nonsense. All the panels are different. No it is not true tone. I turn that nonsense off).

Comparing videos side by side, browsing apps/websites, I choose the 7 Plus every time in all lighting conditions. I can't believe this was the hype over OLED. Yes, blacks are blacker, but I'm not even sure that is a bonus as you lose contrast between many different shades of black and it just looks like one blob. I forget the term, but there is a setting on my TV to try to address this.

The size is a disappointment coming from a 7 Plus. I went from the iPhone 5 to the 6 Plus, to the 7 Plus, and my first impression of the X was that I was back on a 5. The Plus models made you feel like you could live without your iPad, because it was more a mini phablet than a phone, but the X is like the 5: it is a phone. It's not something I want to browse websites on. If you are coming from a 4.7'' screen, it's probably a nice upgrade. But as a Plus user, that little bit of width lost drastically affects the overall feel. The height added does not make the phone feel bigger. And you do not get more content in most circumstances.

Overall, the X is great in all the things I expected to be bad, but crucially misses in the parts I expected to be good.

If they had an X Plus, with a better OELD/LED panel, I would have gone crazy over it. I would prefer an X Plus with LED panel, and knock a few hundred dollars off the price of the phone.

As of now, I'm considering just keeping my 7 Plus. I'll most likely keep the X to be on the latest, but this is a consideration I didn't think I would have to make.

 

[Dexterama]

^ @NovemberWhiskey, do you mean crushed blacks? Supposedly that’s a problem with some Oled panels where details are lost in the blacks-hence the inky black blob. I hear the newer LG Oled TVs are better at displaying the details in the blacks. No idea how panels used for mobile devices compares in this area.

 

[gemnilocs]

Well I own the iPad mini, the iPad Pro..
The iPhone had been my work horse...the mini is what I use when driving and need gps and streaming pandora...the X is a good size for me as well....although at first, I was a lil disappointed when I had my 7plus sitting by my new X....but after a full day of usage, I'm happy with it. It especially will fit in my scrub pockets a lot better than my plus

 

[perezr10]

I’m a major iPad user so for me having an “iPad-Lite” was not a consideration. However, you are forgetting about the texting aspect. I could never text very easily on an iPhone until the Plus came out. The wider screen allows for significantly larger keys which are much easier for me to type on.

 

[acctman]

its sucks resizing down, I miss my Plus... but i'm getting use to the X and will be getting the X Plus (or what every Apple calls it next year).

 

[KPOM]

The X has been a surprise for me.

Positive:

I thought FaceID would be worse than TouchID. It's better, so far. It's just as fast or faster in almost every scenario I've thrown at it. It's like not having any passcode or lock on. If they implement a direct unlock to home screen without the upsweep it will absolutely kill TouchID.

I thought the notch would be a problem, but it's really not bad. Definitely not preferred, but I hardly notice any more. Even in videos in landscape.

I don't miss the Home Button one bit. All the new swiping gestures are excellent (maybe except for the app switcher, which takes a little thinking to get right). Adios Home Button and TouchID. The UpSwipe to home is the way to navigate iOS.

Negatives:

The OLED has been a major letdown. I was expecting a major upgrade from my 7 Plus, but all my family and friends (including myself) say the LED panel on the 7 Plus is brighter, whiter, and just plain looks better. This includes the tech savvy, and the clueless (my mom). I have several X units here, and they are all yellow, with slightly different tones. (please don't @ me about how this is intentional color calibration nonsense. All the panels are different. No it is not true tone. I turn that nonsense off).

Comparing videos side by side, browsing apps/websites, I choose the 7 Plus every time in all lighting conditions. I can't believe this was the hype over OLED. Yes, blacks are blacker, but I'm not even sure that is a bonus as you lose contrast between many different shades of black and it just looks like one blob. I forget the term, but there is a setting on my TV to try to address this.

The size is a disappointment coming from a 7 Plus. I went from the iPhone 5 to the 6 Plus, to the 7 Plus, and my first impression of the X was that I was back on a 5. The Plus models made you feel like you could live without your iPad, because it was more a mini phablet than a phone, but the X is like the 5: it is a phone. It's not something I want to browse websites on. If you are coming from a 4.7'' screen, it's probably a nice upgrade. But as a Plus user, that little bit of width lost drastically affects the overall feel. The height added does not make the phone feel bigger. And you do not get more content in most circumstances.

Overall, the X is great in all the things I expected to be bad, but crucially misses in the parts I expected to be good.

If they had an X Plus, with a better OELD/LED panel, I would have gone crazy over it. I would prefer an X Plus with LED panel, and knock a few hundred dollars off the price of the phone.

As of now, I'm considering just keeping my 7 Plus. I'll most likely keep the X to be on the latest, but this is a consideration I didn't think I would have to make.

Thanks for your thoughts. I’m coming from the 7. I like the bigger screen. I never had a Plus as I thought it was too big. For me the blue shifting (inherent to Pentile OLED) is a little disappointing but overall the display is good. I’m getting used to the gestures. The X is a little heavier than the 7 but the extra battery life is good.

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

^ @NovemberWhiskey, do you mean crushed blacks? Supposedly that’s a problem with some Oled panels where details are lost in the blacks-hence the inky black blob. I hear the newer LG Oled TVs are better at displaying the details in the blacks. No idea how panels used for mobile devices compares in this area.

Yup. No details in the blacks.