I was skeptical of joining the notch bandwagon since I prefer all screen kind of mobile display. I had my LG G6 for almost 10 months already and it is one of the near to bezeless displays available in the market to date. I love how curved the edges are and how it is comfortable in the hand. I am also getting used to the new 18:9 aspect ratio as it gives me more room to work with. Though I broke the screen on my G6 because of my carelessness and having it fixed will cost ages to finish. So I decided to get a new one.
I am an iPhone user for a couple of years. As far as I can remember the first iPhone I got was an iPhone 5, next were 5s, 6, and then 6s. I stopped using iPhones just 10 months ago and went back to using android. I lived with the android interface and it was fine. I was able to do the tasks that I was able to do with that of an iOS. Personally, I like how versatile and open the android ecosystem is.
I purchased the iPhone X which is the latest and greatest from Apple. The decision of getting it was not like as easy as eating peanuts. I’ve been watching Youtube reviews for more than 3 weeks for I don’t want to regret about my purchase in the long run. I really wanted to get the iPhone 8 plus Product Red because it looks dope. But I ended up getting the X instead of it because of some factors.
The Things I Love
Size. The size of this iPhone is a sweet spot between iPhone 6s and the plus variant. It fits perfectly in my hand and I have no issues using it with one hand. It also fits perfectly on the pocket that I don’t have to worry of having it accidentally fall down. It is not heavy as it only weighs 174 grams and doesn’t strain my hand when using it for a longer period of time. The dimension of this device is 143.6 x 70.9 x7.7 mm.
Shape. The rounded edges make the phone so comfortable to hold. Unlike other android competitors that are boxy and with solid edges, the curviness of this phone makes it easier to hold in the hand.
Display. This is one of my favorite things about this phone. We all know that Samsung provided the screens though Apple was able to put its own iterations on the display. The Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen is not over in contrast and saturation. True tone display makes the device more comfortable in the eye. The size of its display is 5.8 inches and is 82.9% screen to body ratio. Resolution is 1125 x 2436 pixels and has a 19.5 :9 aspect ratio.
Rear Camera. I am a big fan of iPhone’s camera for years since my last iPhone which was a 6s. I never tried getting an iPhone 7 plus nor tested its dual camera set-up. The camera of the X is superb. As a novice photographer, I find the camera so promising that I might be using it in some of my photography projects in the future. Both cameras have 12 megapixels lenses. These cameras feature optical image stabilization for less blurry shots. It also has 2x optical zoom for far subjects. It can take DSLR like decent images right from the native camera app.
Performance. I haven’t experience any lags maybe because of its A11 Bionic chip which is the latest from Apple. Scrolling through apps, homescreen, and webpages is buttery smooth. Performance wise this phone is really excellent and we know that iOS is really optimized with the hardware.
Fancy stuffs. Many people don’t like the home-buttonless experience. Well, for me personally I’ve been used with assistive touch function on my previous iPhone. Having no home-button is not a very big deal hence it has a great advantage as you can use the entire screen for productivity and media consumption. Face ID is fast, like blazing fast. Unlocking my phone has never been this natural. My LG G6 has the same function but the speed is far behind than the iPhone X.
Apple Ecosystem. I don’t wanna be tagged as an Apple-fan-boy or an Apple-sheep but I won’t blame you if you will. The Apple ecosystem is an organized environment. Synchronization of iCloud with all Apple devices is seamless. I usually edit photos and videos on my iPad Pro 10.5 inches though it only has 64 gigabytes of storage. That means I need to constantly send some of my works with my iPhone through Airdrop. Transferring of files from one device to another is an enjoyable thing in the ecosystem. Airdrop is by far the fastest way of sending files from one Apple device to another.
Things I Don’t Like
Keyboard hiccups. If it works it works perfectly but the keyboard sometimes mess-up with various apps. It works fine with iPhone’s native apps like Messages, Notes, Pages and etc. The only thing that I gripe about it is with some third party apps like Facebook Messenger and WeChat to name just a few. But I believe that these problems have been fixed with the latest updates.
Accidental Zoomed display. I don’t know if it is just me or what but I seldom have the zoomed display function activated. I might be pressing the buttons or whatnot that triggers the function. I almost panicked when I was not able to revert it outright. I thought my screen was broken. Good thing I was able to figure out how to disable it after few minutes.
Unfamiliarity of gesture controls. I am familiar with most of the gestures on an iPhone but there are things that I am still getting used to. This is not a major don’t-like thing to me as I may learn these things through time while using the phone.
No headphone jack. I love my wired headset from Sony and I was devastated when Apple rolled out phones without headphone jacks. iPhone X isn’t an exception to the no headphone jack trend. I don’t usually listen to music while my phone is being charged. It is just my preference though I still have other devices that may use the advantage of having a headphone jack. One of them is an external microphone which I usually use in recording audios with my iPad Pro using the headphone jack. Yes there is a supplied adapter but like any other iPhone cord like accessories, they tear through time.
Price. The price of this phone is insanely high. I can even but a Macbook with its cost. I just needed to buy a new phone that meets all my needs and expectations. I picked the 256 GB model since I only got a 64 GB iPad Pro. I didn’t mind the burden on the pocket since I believe I am able to maximize the use of the phone to its potential. The price of the baseline iPhone X is $999 or Php 64,490 in the Philippines.
There you go friends. Having the latest and greatest is never a necessity but if you have the money then why not? I’ve been satisfied with my purchase and I don’t regret buying this phone. If you have a tighter budget and wants to experience the latest iOS experience you might want to opt of buying an iPhone 8 Plus. It still has the capabilities of an iPhone X but just with an outdated form factor and less fancy stuffs like edge to edge display, notch and others. iPhone X is great. I hope to hang out with you on the next blog post. Adios!
