So, having sworn that I wouldn’t cave and buy an X, I did what I always do and bought one.
Two things happened. First, I saw one in real life (one of my clients has one) and I was impressed. Second, I randomly checked John Lewis and they had stock. So I went for it. Two days later, I’m now the proud owner of a 64GB grey iPhone X.
I read a lot of the threads on the X and there were many critical ones — or at least, ones complaining of problems. But then people started posting positive reviews and I got encouraged.
So . . . to my experience.
Look and feel
It is absolutely as beautiful as everyone says. It really does feel like high quality. The grey is darker than in pictures. It’s similar to my jet black iPhone 7+, but it changes colour in different lighting and there’s definitely a greyness to it. It goes very nicely with my grey ceramic Apple Watch.
It’s visibly thicker than the 7+, but obviously smaller. It feels heavy — I’m guessing it’s denser than the 7+ — but not in bad way. Heavy in a block of gold type way rather than a lump of lead type way.
The size is great. Because of the width, I held my 7+ by balancing it on my thumb and resting it against my palm. This got uncomfortable after a while. But the X is that much slimmer in width, so my hand naturally grabbed it at both sides: much more comfortable.
The screen is stunning. Better than the 7+. No doubt. Brighter, crisper, clearer, sharper, more vivid, more colourful. I find it much easier to see with my glasses on — with my 7+ I got into the habit of taking my glasses off to get a clear view of the screen. (I’m short-sighted.) I don’t feel the need to do this half as much with the X. I’m not seeing weird colours or tints. I don’t see drastic changes when I change my viewing angle. No green lines . . .
Face ID
Face ID is a game changer. It makes you realise what backwards, last century technology the home button and Touch ID was. It’s fast. I don’t know what other people are talking about when they say it’s slower than Touch ID. By the time I’ve looked at the screen — at the time or notifications or just at how lovely it is — the padlock has unlocked. No waiting around. It’s done.
You then scroll up, which I much prefer. I had my 7+ set up so that as soon as I touched the home button, I was in the home screen and I missed all my notifications. Now they’re there until I dismiss them. Even better, because I’ve been verified by Face ID, I can interact with the notifications immediately. So much better.
We’re so used to swiping left and right that swiping up and down is just a natural, logical extension. Clunkily clicking a button (and having to move your hand down to that button) seems like such an old fashioned, awkward thing to do.
I admit I still forget and find myself searching for a button to click, but I’ve only had the phone a few hours. And a few times I’ve clicked the side button because it’s a button and my brain is saying “click something to get the home screen — click anything!”
Set-up
This was mostly incredibly smooth thanks to some new features. My iPhone 7+ magically detected the presence of my brand new X and asked me if I wanted to set it up. It then transferred all the settings and whatnot to the X. The X realised it needed to update the system software, so I did so. All this in one slick manoeuvre. It transferred over my Apple Pay info, and it tried (but sadly failed) to transfer over my Apple Watch. (That marred an otherwise flawless and vastly improved procedure.) And everything seem to load onto the phone so quickly. No going off to have a cup of tea waiting for all the apps to load, for example.
Apps
More apps than I expected are iPhone X compatible, which was great. I was surprised slash angry about some that weren’t. Google Maps isn’t. Amazon Prime isn’t. What? These are a couple of the biggest companies in the world and they can’t be arsed to update their apps? Well, Google Maps is gone from my phone. Forget it.
Some of my banking apps were native, some not. (I have a weirdly large number of accounts.) (I just picked up my phone to check which ones. As I picked it up the phone woke up. The notifications were there, but no detail. A fraction of a second later, the detail appeared as Face ID recognised I was looking at the phone. Brilliant. Love it.)
Microsoft Excel is native, so is Facebook and Twitter. And BBC News, Overcast, BBC iPlayer, Netflix, TSB banking app, Tesco banking app, Clydesdale B banking app, EE app, . . . even Scottish Power! Tumblr, Instagram, Quora, Plex, Dropbox . . .
But not Sky, HSBC, Kindle, Amex, MBNA, Barclaycard — big, lazy companies.
Non-native apps open in a rectangular window, so the X basically turns into a regular iPhone 7, with black strips top and bottom.
Oh yeah. This thing is fast. It doesn’t make you wait for anything.
The notch (and other horrors)
The notch doesn’t bother me at all. Not one bit. Actually, I like it. It lets me know this is an iPhone X. It gives it character. I like how the “ears” are used. I don’t often watch videos on my iPhone. And, if I do, they’re often not widescreen anyway.
The grey bar at the bottom of the keyboard — I wouldn’t even know that was a thing if I hadn’t read about it on these forums. Same goes for a lot of complaints people have made. I just wouldn’t even have noticed them.
Is it weirdly tall and thin? No. It’s elegant and comfortable to hold. Are sideways apps rubbish? No. Calendar now gives you six days when you go sideways instead of five. Perfect!
Conclusion
You’re going to have to pry this thing out of my cold, dead hands. Yes it’s massively expensive. But it’s just so damned good. I have zero regrets. None. My iPhone 7+ is dead to me. It looks like some sad antique. I don’t miss the larger screen. There’s plenty going on on the X screen — and in much more readable, beautiful, clear form. I love how the X looks and how it feels. I love the speed. Honestly, I can’t think of anything I don’t like about it.
I’m very glad I upgraded. It’s a huge upgrade.
I’m back in love with Apple again.
I’ve ordered the Apple folio case and the Apple not-leather-whatever-that-plastic-thing is case. They arrive on Tuesday. I’m not going to bother with a charging pad until the Apple one comes out.
Two things happened. First, I saw one in real life (one of my clients has one) and I was impressed. Second, I randomly checked John Lewis and they had stock. So I went for it. Two days later, I’m now the proud owner of a 64GB grey iPhone X.
I read a lot of the threads on the X and there were many critical ones — or at least, ones complaining of problems. But then people started posting positive reviews and I got encouraged.
So . . . to my experience.
Look and feel
It is absolutely as beautiful as everyone says. It really does feel like high quality. The grey is darker than in pictures. It’s similar to my jet black iPhone 7+, but it changes colour in different lighting and there’s definitely a greyness to it. It goes very nicely with my grey ceramic Apple Watch.
It’s visibly thicker than the 7+, but obviously smaller. It feels heavy — I’m guessing it’s denser than the 7+ — but not in bad way. Heavy in a block of gold type way rather than a lump of lead type way.
The size is great. Because of the width, I held my 7+ by balancing it on my thumb and resting it against my palm. This got uncomfortable after a while. But the X is that much slimmer in width, so my hand naturally grabbed it at both sides: much more comfortable.
The screen is stunning. Better than the 7+. No doubt. Brighter, crisper, clearer, sharper, more vivid, more colourful. I find it much easier to see with my glasses on — with my 7+ I got into the habit of taking my glasses off to get a clear view of the screen. (I’m short-sighted.) I don’t feel the need to do this half as much with the X. I’m not seeing weird colours or tints. I don’t see drastic changes when I change my viewing angle. No green lines . . .
Face ID
Face ID is a game changer. It makes you realise what backwards, last century technology the home button and Touch ID was. It’s fast. I don’t know what other people are talking about when they say it’s slower than Touch ID. By the time I’ve looked at the screen — at the time or notifications or just at how lovely it is — the padlock has unlocked. No waiting around. It’s done.
You then scroll up, which I much prefer. I had my 7+ set up so that as soon as I touched the home button, I was in the home screen and I missed all my notifications. Now they’re there until I dismiss them. Even better, because I’ve been verified by Face ID, I can interact with the notifications immediately. So much better.
We’re so used to swiping left and right that swiping up and down is just a natural, logical extension. Clunkily clicking a button (and having to move your hand down to that button) seems like such an old fashioned, awkward thing to do.
I admit I still forget and find myself searching for a button to click, but I’ve only had the phone a few hours. And a few times I’ve clicked the side button because it’s a button and my brain is saying “click something to get the home screen — click anything!”
Set-up
This was mostly incredibly smooth thanks to some new features. My iPhone 7+ magically detected the presence of my brand new X and asked me if I wanted to set it up. It then transferred all the settings and whatnot to the X. The X realised it needed to update the system software, so I did so. All this in one slick manoeuvre. It transferred over my Apple Pay info, and it tried (but sadly failed) to transfer over my Apple Watch. (That marred an otherwise flawless and vastly improved procedure.) And everything seem to load onto the phone so quickly. No going off to have a cup of tea waiting for all the apps to load, for example.
Apps
More apps than I expected are iPhone X compatible, which was great. I was surprised slash angry about some that weren’t. Google Maps isn’t. Amazon Prime isn’t. What? These are a couple of the biggest companies in the world and they can’t be arsed to update their apps? Well, Google Maps is gone from my phone. Forget it.
Some of my banking apps were native, some not. (I have a weirdly large number of accounts.) (I just picked up my phone to check which ones. As I picked it up the phone woke up. The notifications were there, but no detail. A fraction of a second later, the detail appeared as Face ID recognised I was looking at the phone. Brilliant. Love it.)
Microsoft Excel is native, so is Facebook and Twitter. And BBC News, Overcast, BBC iPlayer, Netflix, TSB banking app, Tesco banking app, Clydesdale B banking app, EE app, . . . even Scottish Power! Tumblr, Instagram, Quora, Plex, Dropbox . . .
But not Sky, HSBC, Kindle, Amex, MBNA, Barclaycard — big, lazy companies.
Non-native apps open in a rectangular window, so the X basically turns into a regular iPhone 7, with black strips top and bottom.
Oh yeah. This thing is fast. It doesn’t make you wait for anything.
The notch (and other horrors)
The notch doesn’t bother me at all. Not one bit. Actually, I like it. It lets me know this is an iPhone X. It gives it character. I like how the “ears” are used. I don’t often watch videos on my iPhone. And, if I do, they’re often not widescreen anyway.
The grey bar at the bottom of the keyboard — I wouldn’t even know that was a thing if I hadn’t read about it on these forums. Same goes for a lot of complaints people have made. I just wouldn’t even have noticed them.
Is it weirdly tall and thin? No. It’s elegant and comfortable to hold. Are sideways apps rubbish? No. Calendar now gives you six days when you go sideways instead of five. Perfect!
Conclusion
You’re going to have to pry this thing out of my cold, dead hands. Yes it’s massively expensive. But it’s just so damned good. I have zero regrets. None. My iPhone 7+ is dead to me. It looks like some sad antique. I don’t miss the larger screen. There’s plenty going on on the X screen — and in much more readable, beautiful, clear form. I love how the X looks and how it feels. I love the speed. Honestly, I can’t think of anything I don’t like about it.
I’m very glad I upgraded. It’s a huge upgrade.
I’m back in love with Apple again.
I’ve ordered the Apple folio case and the Apple not-leather-whatever-that-plastic-thing is case. They arrive on Tuesday. I’m not going to bother with a charging pad until the Apple one comes out.
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