The iPhone X is an overpriced smartphone, it costs more than an average Malaysian’s monthly salary and you can already purchase a MacBook Pro for the 256GB model. Granted, many people can argue that Android flagships like the Galaxy Note 8, Google Pixel 2 XL and more can already offer what the iPhone X is capable of, so what does the iPhone X have over its competition if that’s the case? Here’s my impressions after using the iPhone X for the past 24 hours.
Merely looking the iPhone X at your computer screen isn’t going to tell you how beautiful the phone is, it is a totally different perception once you hold the iPhone X, the glass back is the same material the iPhone 8 uses, which is the strongest glass that Apple has ever sourced. What’s different is the frame, instead of aluminium it uses a shiny stainless steel material that resembles the iPhone 3GS’ finishing, the power button has also gotten bigger, and there’s a new way to turn off the phone by holding it together with the volume down button.
Aesthetically, the iPhone X is a very manageable device with a 5.8-inch display, all thanks to the extremely slim bezels that gives it a great 81.49% body to screen ratio, the phone actually makes the iPhone 8 Plus a gigantic device when you put them side by side, it also gives users that wants a larger screen size than the standard 4.7-inches a great option apart from the iPhone 8 Plus. While most people find the notch an annoying design for the sensors, I absolutely find no issues with it and have gotten used to pulling down the Control Center and Notifications Screen from the top right and top left side respectively.
Due to the dedicated set of sensors on the notch, the experience of using facial recognition to unlock the iPhone X is a great experience, I have not missed the absence of a fingerprint scanner, as it would work properly in low light conditions with a comfortable distance, and if you are afraid of people directing the phone to your face just to gain access, you can simply re-enable the passcode by holding down the Power and Volume Down button. Furthermore, content on your incoming notifications will not show if someone tries to access your device, which is a pretty good privacy mechanism.
As the iPhone X lacks a physical home button, there is a new learning curve for every current and new iPhone users, Apple has been kind enough to include a simple guide on getting back to them home screen, switching between apps and killing apps in the setup, and all of these is achieved with the white bar located at the bottom of the screen. Coming from an Android device, I find it to be really easy after a while of getting used to, you can also now double tap on the screen to unlock if you prefer, and I loved that app switching is so much easier than previous iPhones by doing a simple swipe at the bottom.
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Popular apps such as Facebook and Instagram has been updated to fit the iPhone X’s display, apps that hasn’t been optimized will appear like what you see on the image above, with two thick black bars at the top and bottom. Once optimized, you will also realize a change in the keyboard interface, which the switch language and dictation button are given dedicated locations at the bottom left and right.
The iPhone X comes with an upgraded camera system, the dual 12-megapixel cameras now features an aperture range of f/1.8-f/2.4 and are both optical stabilized, like the iPhone 8, it also comes with a Quad LED True Tone flash which balances exposure when used in low light.
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In contrast to the iPhone 8 Plus, the iPhone X’s secondary telephoto lens has a larger aperture that results in better low light photos, noise levels are also significantly lesser with more details preserved as well, which you can check out in the gallery slideshow above. In addition, I’m glad that Apple has also taken advantage of the sensors to enable Portrait Lighting for selfies, which I find it to work as great as the main camera.
The iPhone X is finally an exciting phone, in fact it is the one that has really got me like the iPhone again since the iPhone 4, despite of that I still have to say that this is a pretty expensive device to pay for, considering there are so many alternatives that can perform on par or better than the iPhone X in the Android camp, that is if you can live without Face ID and Animojis. However, if you have the cash to splurge on an iPhone X, by all means, go ahead. We’ll have more details on our thoughts about the iPhone X in the final review, so stay tuned for that.
The iPhone X retails at RM5,149 for the 64GB model and RM5,899 for the 256GB model, if you intend to get it from telcos, do check out our comparison piece.
