Review of iPhone X - Apple's bezel-less smartphone that everyone is talking about

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Does the "monobrow" interfere with watching videos, is it possible to live without the Home button and how Face ID works - Lifehacker tested the iPhone X and answers these and other questions.

Design and materials

Before moving on to the design, a few words about the package bundle: everything here is traditional and no surprises. iPhone X, a little daddy with stickers, documentation, and a clip to eject the cradle, headphones with a Lightning plug, a Lightning to mini-jack adapter, and a single-amp charger. Everything.

iPhone X is sold in two colors: silver and space gray (or, in simple terms, white and black). The Apple Onlyphones.ru technology store provided us with the second option for review.

The camera bump causes the iPhone X to twitch when it lies on the surface. However, the case solves this problem. And for some, this is not a problem at all.

The front and back of the iPhone X are "toughest glass." A couple of touches are enough to slap him, but personally it did not scare me away. It still looks very cool and feels good in the palm of your hand.

According to the drop test, the glass is really solid. When the iPhone 8 display cracked, the Tens' case remained almost unscathed. Therefore, fears associated with expensive glass replacement in the event of a domestic iPhone X fall are greatly exaggerated. Add to this the already traditional IP67 protection, and the iPhone X is a candidate for a long life in the hands of even the most awkward owner.

The glass case is framed by a steel frame around the perimeter. The device gives the impression of being monolithic, no transitions are felt tactilely. If you think that a smartphone should not only be a utilitarian product, but also bring joy, then the iPhone X proves once again that Apple gadgets have no equal in this.

Dimensions and display

The dimensions of the iPhone X are 143, 6 × 70, 9 × 7, 7 mm and weighs 174 g. It is larger and heavier than the iPhone 8, but more compact and lighter than the iPhone 8 Plus. But the display of the iPhone X is record-breaking: 5.8 inches with a resolution of 2,436 × 1,125 pixels and a density of 458 ppi.

The iPhone X is the first in the lineup with an OLED screen, the previous ones were with IPS. The move to OLED has raised the display contrast from 1,300: 1 to 1,000,000: 1. This means that blacks on the iPhone X's screen are really black.

OLED displays save battery life and keep the picture bright and readable from any angle. Unfortunately, OLED screens don't last forever, which is why Apple recommends using auto-brightness and auto-lock.

Also iPhones released this year received True Tone, which automatically adjusts the white balance and color temperature of the screen depending on the environment.

Sensor cutout

It's time to talk about something that worries many much more than technical specifications - about the screen pixels stolen by the "monobrow". Comfortable? Quite. If having a notch at the top of the display does not contradict your sense of beauty, then you probably won't notice anything. Maybe it's just that the Bluetooth icon, alarm clock and charge percentages are no longer displayed. To see them, you need to go to the "Control Center".

Some applications on the iPhone X screen still look clumsy, but sooner or later they will be adapted. For example, everything is fine in our application, but Telegram has not yet been rebuilt at the time of writing the review.

Don't worry about the video either. This is because the sides of the iPhone X screen are not proportional to the length and height of traditional videos, clips and movies. Therefore, you will see approximately the same thing as when watching recordings of old TV programs on a modern monitor: a picture with empty black margins on the sides.

Face ID

Face recognition is perhaps the most ambitious innovation in the iPhone X. Face ID works correctly, recognizes the owner's face even in the dark, and detects changes in appearance.

Occasionally Face ID does not work for unknown reasons, in such cases you have to use the usual PIN code. The other disadvantages of Face ID, among which they mention working only in an upright position and the ability to remember only one face, seem completely insignificant.

Also, face recognition came in handy in iMessage, because it is in "Messages" that you can create and send Animoji - animated emoji with facial expressions of the user. The function, of course, is not utilitarian, but to play around and diversify friendly correspondence, it will do.

Navigation

In the iPhone X, the developers have abandoned a single button on the screen, as a result of which the gestures have changed. They are logical, intuitive, and very easy to get used to. And if abandoning Home is too radical a decision, then it can be returned using AssistiveTouch.

In the navigation, I noticed only one unpleasant nuance: the inconvenient location of the button for changing languages. When typing with the finger of one hand, it is quite difficult to reach it.

Camera

The external dual camera of the iPhone X has a resolution of 12 megapixels. The aperture of the wide-angle lens is ƒ / 1, 8, and the telephoto lens is ƒ / 2, 4 (in contrast to the telephoto lens 8 Plus - ƒ / 2, 8). The iPhone X camera demonstrates a consistently good result for Apple gadgets: high details, correct autofocus and exposure. Sometimes only white balance is biased, but not critical.

In natural light

Under artificial lighting

The rear camera also features dual optical zoom and True Tone Quad-LED flash with Slow Sync. This flash allows you to shoot the background of a dark frame separately from a close subject.

IPhone X can shoot 4K video at 60 FPS and slo-mo video at 240 FPS. Both rear lenses have optical stabilization.

The front camera has not undergone technical changes since the days of the "seven": the same 7 megapixels, ƒ / 2, 2 and video resolution of 1,080p. But now she knows how to take shots with portrait lighting.

Portrait Lighting

A separate test was awarded to the portrait lighting simulation mode. There are five types of light: daylight, studio, contour, stage color, and stage monochrome.

Daylight

Studio light

Contour light

Stage light

Stage light, mono

When choosing a stage light, flaws in the contours are noticeable, and the surrounding darkening strives to cut off part of the subject's hair. But with the right skill, you can get great portraits. Do not forget that this is still a smartphone, and not a professional camera with a Photoshop specialist in addition.

Performance

Of course, it's worth saying that the iPhone X has the new A11 Bionic processor and 3GB of RAM. But for an ordinary user, this is not particularly important, especially considering that serious smartphones have long been able to do about everything and almost equally well. What's really important: iOS 11 with all the features on the iPhone X works flawlessly, the heaviest toys fly, and the hardware platform will be outdated relatively soon.

For fans of numbers and statistics: in Geekbench, the iPhone X yielded in performance to the 8 and 8 Plus, and in AnTuTu it knocked out a record score for smartphones, almost catching up with the iPad Pro.

Autonomy

The iPhone X has a battery with a capacity of 2,716 mAh, which is equivalent to 21 hours of talk time, 12 hours of web surfing, 13 hours of watching videos or 60 hours of listening to audio. In fact, everything is as usual: with active use, the smartphone will have to be charged once a day.

There are fast and wireless charging functions. Both require separate adapters.

Verdict

It is quite difficult to evaluate a device that has nothing to compare with. The iPhone X stands out not only among other market representatives, but also among its predecessors. Therefore, the emergence of the “ten” led to a new split. If earlier the confrontation between iOS and Android was relevant, now it is more appropriate to ask: "The iPhone is not the same as it used to be?" In my opinion, not at all the same - it is much better.

The emergence of a monolithic serious product, where functions that have recently seemed futuristic are introduced in a bundle, is a rather rare phenomenon. Therefore, if you love the most high-tech, do not accept compromises and can afford it, there is no reason to refuse to purchase the iPhone X.