This article was written in collaboration with another student (Samuel Chin) for our bi-annual campus newspaper - Stoppress.
It is that time of the year again when all hell breaks loose, as thousands upon thousands of people line the streets to queue hours for the latest piece of technology. The air was different this year, as this new model was no ordinary new model.
This was the model to mark the 10th anniversary of Apple’s release of their iPhones, the one and only iPhone X. With all the attention and hype that the iPhone X has been getting, as well as the many features that the phone boasts, just what exactly is the hype about? What makes the iPhone X stand out from previous models and its competitors?
Where’s the home button?
Gone are the days of the home button, in comes full screen displays and top tier retina displays with colour accuracies of the highest levels. The iPhone’s usual home button has been removed to make way for greater screen space, breathing life into new Screen Edge gestures to fill the void left by the home button. To unlock the iPhone X, just swipe up on the screen’s display, a feature reminiscent of many android phones. What many may not know about the retina display, is that it is in fact manufactured by Samsung.
That’s pretty distracting
Looking at the phone, one might notice a small notch that rests at the top of the iPhone, this notch is the only obstacle standing in the way of a retina display stretching from edge to edge of the phone. This black bar is known as the sensor housing. With the excess display space beside the housing, this at times, seem to cut into the screen’s display. However, this distracting black bar, houses some of the most important aspects of the iPhone, such as the frontal camera, speaker, and the microphone – just to name a few.
You’d better not drop it!
Apple is no stranger to glass, with the company’s previous model of iPhone 4 featuring a back panel made of glass. With the release of the iPhone X, Apple has brought the fragile see-though material back. Without saying, the iPhone X may undoubtedly be the most fragile device made by Apple, with a single drop shattering the iPhone. But what the iPhone X lacks in durability, is made up by a beautifully elegant design.
Continuing below, are some of the more notable software features of the iPhone X!
Say no more to the wibble and wobble of camera shake
Unlike the iPhone 7 Plus before, whose optical image stabilisation (OIS) was present only on the wide-angle camera, both rear cameras on the iPhone X now come equipped with OIS, helping combat camera shake. The dual-camera system on the iPhone X is also better tuned for AR due to its vertical arrangement, instead of horizontal arrangements like in past dual-camera iPhones, refining its depth sensing skills. All these newfangled features add up to, as renowned image quality ratings website DxOMark puts it ,“one hell of a smartphone camera” - the iPhone X garnered an overall DxOMark score of 97, the second-highest score ever attained.
Eyes front, soldier
Apple now also includes what it is billing as a “TrueDepth Camera” in the notch, featuring an array of sensors (ranging from an infrared camera, a flood illuminator and a dot projector, among others) designed to capture and create a digital blueprint of your face, enabling a verification process it is calling Face ID, in place of the now missing Touch ID. It will not matter if you don sunglasses, a heavy set of winter clothing or if you shave your beard off, the iPhone X will still know that it is indeed you. As an added security measure, it will only work when you are looking directly at it.
Fancy a piece of talking poop?
By utilising the aforementioned sensors, the iPhone X is able to map your facial movements onto a 3D emoji. Your every squint, smile and frown is picked up and translated onto emojis such an Alien, a Unicorn and, yes, even a piece of Poop.
One might think that the iPhone X is a huge hit with consumers - with thousands upon thousands of people queueing for a chance to obtain the luxury device. However, even with all the glitz and glamour that the iPhone X seemingly exudes, not everyone is too pleased with the new iPhone.
Jonathan Loh, 21, an Android loyalist, views the iPhone X as “overhyped”. He is also deterred by its steep price and prefers Android’s user friendliness.
Low Yun Ying, a freshman from Temasek Polytechnic, studying Culinary and Catering Management, feels that the iPhone X was very expensive and was poorly designed. To Yun Ying, the only thing that would make her buy it would be if the iPhone X still contained the home button, and if the iPhone was at a much lower price.
Yun Ying might just get what she wants, part of it, at least. The Apple rumour mill has been heating up, with unconfirmed reports from tipsters and insiders that 2018 will see three new iPhone models, an update to the iPhone X, an “iPhone X Plus” and a cheaper iPhone X-like smartphone with an LCD screen instead of an OLED one. To the home button, however, sayonara old friend, sleep tight.
written by
Clemens Choy and Samuel Chin
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