Apple iPhone X

•          Display        5.80-inch           (1125x2436)
• ProcessorApple A11 Bionic
• Front Camera7MP
• Rear Camera12MP + 12MP
• RAM3GB
• Storage64GB
• Battery Capacity2716mAh
• OSiOS 11

iPhone X Review

The iPhone X is without a doubt the most talked-about tech gadget of 2017. Last year, the anticipation for the tenth anniversary iPhone began much before the normal period for the iPhone rumors mill to begin spinning. While the introduction itself was devoid of shocks, thanks to a slew of leaks, the most significant of which came from Apple itself, the iPhone X drew everyone's attention, not least because it made Rs. 1 lakh phones a reality.

The iPhone has never been about specs, and this is especially true with the iPhone X, which shares much of its internals with the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus but is unlike any other iPhone - new or old - in terms of style and how you engage with it daily. The iPhone X is “the future of the smartphone,” according to Apple, with Face ID and a UI paradigm reinvented sans the Home button.

When we first saw the iPhone X from the back, it reminded us of prior iPhone models, particularly the iPhone 3GS' noticeable rounded corners and general "chunkiness." No, the iPhone X isn't as thick as the iPhone 3GS, which is a good thing, but at 174g, it's a lot heavier than any iPhone model that hasn't had the 'Plus' label. You will notice the extra weight if you upgrade from an iPhone 7 or older ‘regular' sized model to the iPhone X.

The iPhone X's glass back attracts fingerprints, and it, like the other two new iPhone models, is prone to slipping off surfaces that are even slightly slick or have a little inclination. If you don't secure your 'treasure' in any way, you could end up with a repair bill that surpasses a small country's GDP. The iPhone X's two rear cameras are arranged vertically, as opposed to horizontally on Plus-sized versions. On two different iPhone X models we tested, the mute button was firmer than expected, requiring more force to toggle than usual.

Silver and Space Grey are the two colors available for the iPhone X. We liked our Space Grey unit as members of the "forever black" club, but we believe that for the first time, Apple has created a white finish that equals - and probably even exceeds - the attraction of the black one. The Silver iPhone X's white and chrome finish is stunning, and the absence of a white bezel on the front only adds to its attractiveness.

The iPhone X has a distinct style thanks to a few design choices made by Apple. First, the Home button has been removed, allowing the screen to extend all the way to the bottom border. This allows the iPhone X to have a larger display than the iPhone 8 Plus despite having a smaller body, following a trend that has been witnessed in the Android world for a little over a year.

The iPhone X is the first iPhone to feature a 5.8-inch AMOLED display. AMOLED panels are preferred by purists who desire the best viewing experience due to their power efficiency and ability to produce deeper blacks. Unlike Samsung, Apple's AMOLED panels have been tweaked to have a more natural color tone. The iPhone X display, like the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, supports Apple's TrueTone technology, and it can even display HDR content from Netflix and Apple's own iTunes movies. Overall, the iPhone X display is excellent, perhaps the finest we've ever seen on a smartphone.

Apart from the camera hump on the rear, both sides of the iPhone X feel very similar in hand due to the lack of a Home button and an all-glass front and back. As a result, we caught ourselves holding our device upside down or peering at its back on more than one occasion when taking it out of our pockets or picking it up from a dark desk. However, if you use your iPhone X with a case, as you should, this may not be an issue.

The area near the top of the iPhone X is reserved for an array of sensors, as it is on most phones, and while the most expensive iPhone to date has its fair share of sensors - more on them later - Apple's decision to wrap the display around this array of sensors is the iPhone X's most distinctive design element. Of course, we're referring to the notch, the tech world's equivalent of the Royal Wedding in terms of the amount of attention it received in 2017.

While the notch may appear to be a major flaw at first, it quickly fades away after a few hours of use. You won't notice it in most situations, especially when using the iPhone X in portrait mode. Over time, you'll see how the entire iOS UI has been adjusted to accommodate it.

Until now, iPhone models have featured an always-present (except in full-screen mode) bar that has been used to display a variety of vital information, such as the time, signal strength, and even whether or not an app is accessing your location data. With the iPhone X's notch, there are not many places for all of this information: the clock takes up the entire left side, while the right side only has an area for the signal strength indication, 3G/ 4G/ Wi-Fi indicator, and battery icon.

You won't be able to see things like the network's name, which may not seem like a big deal, but two more compromises could be more irritating for most users. The battery % and Bluetooth connection status are now only visible if you slide down from the right side of the notch, and there's no option to keep them displayed at all times. When you use Bluetooth devices such as AirPods, speakers, or in-car units, you can't determine if your phone is linked just by looking at it.

The notch will serve as both a source of information and a source of entertainment.

The notch will annoy you if you play full-screen games or watch videos, or if you frequently use your phone in landscape mode. Because of the iPhone X's default aspect ratio, most videos will play with thick enough black bars on the left and right that the notch will blend in seamlessly. If you choose to zoom in - for example, using pinch-to-zoom in the YouTube app - the notch appears, even if the video is cropped as it would be on any other device. We didn't mind watching zoomed-in videos frequently, but your mileage may vary.

On the other hand, we liked some of the alterations brought about by the notch's existence. One of our favorite iOS features is the ability to use the top bar to navigate to the top of any list or page. This functionality is broken if an app is using your location in the background, or if a device is connected to your phone's hotspot, since pressing on the bar brings you to the app that is using your location in the background, or to the Hotspot settings, as the case may be. The location/hotspot alerts on the iPhone X are limited to the left "ear," which means you can still scroll to the top of any list by tapping the notch or the right "ear" - yes, the notch does recoil.

We've spent a lot of time talking about the notch, but if you're still not sure what it is, this section is for you. With the iPhone X's removal of the Home button - and, with it, the Touch ID fingerprint scanner - Apple needed a new way for us to log in to our devices and authorize payments fast and securely. Face ID is the solution, and the notch houses the front camera and 3D sensing devices that enable this technology.

The infrared camera, flood illuminator, and dot projector are the three essential components here. The latter uses “more than 30,000 invisible dots” to create a 3D map of your face that can be used to identify you. By generating invisible infrared light, the flood illuminator allows this to be done in the dark, and the infrared camera reads the dot pattern. To validate a match, the infrared image is sent to the Secure Enclave in the A11 Bionic chip, which is a specific section designed to store biometric data on the processor that drives the iPhone X. Apple claims that no biometric data leaves the device at any moment, similar to Touch ID, ensuring that your privacy is protected.

We argued Face ID seemed like a compromise the day the iPhone X was unveiled, that it could never be as fast as Touch ID, and that Apple will go back to utilizing fingerprint scanners as soon as it figured out how to embed them into the glass fronts of its phones. After a few months of using the iPhone X, it's reasonable to state that, while Face ID doesn't have the raw speed of Touch ID, ditching it won't be due to any significant flaws in the technology.

It works well in most situations, and it's more reliable than we expected going into our assessment. It's almost as if your device didn't have a passcode or security function. That may not be a significant change for many people - despite manufacturers' warnings during the setup process, an uncomfortably large number of people continue to use their smartphones without a passcode - but Face ID eliminates the extra step of unlocking your phone before using it for everyone else. Granted, most of us had grown accustomed to using fingerprints to the point that it didn't feel like an "extra step," but you can now pick up your iPhone X and trust that Face ID will take care of the rest.

For all intents and purposes, it's as if you're using a phone that doesn't have a passcode. This is very useful when dealing with notifications. Before the iPhone X, tapping on a notification on a locked smartphone - for example, to read an email - required using Touch ID or entering a passcode to unlock it. With Face ID, the extra step is no longer necessary, and you can interact with notifications as intended.

Face ID's ability to function in the dark was a concern for us going into our review period. During our testing, we discovered that it had no such concerns. While some users have experienced problems getting it to work in bright light, we had no such concerns.

The only time we had issues was during the first couple hours, which we later attributed to putting up Face ID at an ‘unnatural' position. When setting up Face ID, we found that it's important to hold the iPhone at the angle that you'll frequently use it, which in our case meant holding it well below our chin. Instead, we activated Face ID by holding the phone high above our heads. To be fair, it still worked in the majority of cases, although the miss rate was higher than we preferred. Face ID is supposed to get better with each successful unlock, thus this should have improved with time, however, we found it easier to restart the Face ID setup.

Face ID worked as predicted with a variety of glasses and headgear combinations we tried, even recognizing a Sikh buddy wearing and not wearing his turban. To be clear, Face ID isn't flawless. If you're used to holding your phone very close to your face, you could find that it doesn't operate as well as it used to because the technology requires a distance of at least 10 inches for it to work. It only works in portrait mode, and it won't work if your iPhone X is held sideways.

Another time when Face ID isn't optimal is when your phone is resting on a table. Previously, simply moving your finger to unlock the phone would be enough, but now the ‘automatic unlock' requires you to move your face to be in line with the phone. Thankfully, the iPhone X is accommodating when it comes to the angle required to unlock it. Even if your face isn't perfectly aligned with the iPhone, Face ID works.

Finally, Apple's attention detection is the most significant aspect that makes Face ID unpleasant to use in certain situations. First, let's talk about why it's there in the first place. Attention detection ensures that your iPhone X cannot be unlocked simply by pointing the smartphone at your face when you are not looking. The iPhone X attempts to verify that you intend to unlock the phone. In most cases, it's fantastic since everything works effortlessly and you receive an extra layer of security in return.

The contents of all your notifications, for example, are buried by default on the lock screen (see image above), until Face ID authenticates you, at which point they become available. In most cases, this is a superb privacy feature that ensures no one can read your private messages. However, it can be a problem if you wish to utilize your iPhone while half-distracted. You shouldn't look at your phone while driving, but if you get a notification and want to take a quick peek while waiting at a red light, you can no longer do it without looking at the iPhone X and triggering "attention detection," even if it's turned off.

Face ID, like Touch ID before it, can be used to authenticate you by third-party apps, albeit they will need to be upgraded to support the new APIs. Face ID only felt slow to us when we tried it in third-party apps. We're not sure if the slowness is due to the animations or if the Face ID unlock process is always this slow and Apple has just done an excellent job of masking it when the phone unlocks, but we'd like to see this fixed via software update.

As previously stated, the Home button has been removed from all iPhone models before this one, requiring Apple to rethink how you interact with your phone. So you can go home from anywhere by swiping up from the bottom edge of the screen. This works in all apps, including full-screen games, and in landscape mode as well - the iPhone X displays a home indicator to indicate the region where you can begin swiping up, though you won't need Apple to rely on this visual cue once you get used to the phone. Thankfully, like on-screen playback controls, the indication disappears when you're watching a full-screen video and reappears when it detects you're trying to do something else.

We found most other movements to be very natural as well: you can swipe up from the bottom edge and pause to see the App Switcher, or you can swiftly flick your thumb to the right while in one app to jump to the last app you were using. This is an extremely cool - and quite helpful - way of switching between apps. Furthermore, you may go in the opposite direction to switch between programs, giving you the smartphone equivalent of Command + Tab (or Alt + Tab for our Windows counterparts).

Other gestures are a little more difficult to initiate. Reachability, the iOS feature that allows you to double-tap the Home button to move the entire screen down, allowing you to reach the upper corners more easily, now has its own gesture, but it's disabled by default. While setting Reachability is as simple as turning a switch in Settings, triggering it needs a great deal of finesse. You must swipe down from the middle of the dock's icons, without touching any of them. It took some trial and error, but we eventually figured it out. This is especially important because, while the iPhone X is more pocketable than the Plus-sized iPhones, you still can't resize it.

This takes us to our main gripe with the iPhone X UI: the Control Centre's uncomfortable placement. Control Centre, of course, is Apple's little shortcut area where you can rapidly change Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and the flashlight, as well as music playing controls. Swiping up from the bottom edge used to do it, but with that motion now dedicated for more critical duties, Apple had no choice but to find another spot for it.

Unfortunately, the one it chose - the top-right corner - is as far as one can reach with one hand when using the iPhone X, which means that something as important as invoking Control Centre is impossible to do either without triggering reachability first - which is tricky - or by juggling the phone in your hand and risking dropping it. Swiping down on the notch or the space to the left of it, like before, brings up the Notification Centre.

The ability to quickly activate Control Centre is particularly lacking on the lock screen, thus two new shortcuts - for flashlight and the Camera app - are provided to compensate. Unfortunately, simply touching on these icons has no effect, and you must Force Touch them to activate the activities. This seems overly difficult, but it may be done to prevent accidental triggering. We'd like to be able to customize these apps, especially because one of them appears superfluous given the Camera app can easily be launched by swiping left from the lock screen.

Another issue with the iPhone X is that we kept taking screenshots by accident. The side button, which is much larger than on previous iPhones, is used to activate Apple Pay and Siri now that the Home button has been removed. We noticed ourselves constantly getting inadvertent screenshots by pushing this button and the volume up button at the same time, which we attribute to the greater size. Some new features of iOS, such as the necessity to push this side button to complete App Store transactions, were also unusual to us.

Before the iPhone X was announced, we struggled to understand why iOS 11 altered the Notification Centre to seem exactly like the lock screen, and we couldn't figure out why. It became evident after a few weeks of using the iPhone X. As previously stated, with Face ID, you are never truly gazing at a ‘locked' screen because the unlocking procedure is already in progress. In that regard, there isn't much of a difference between checking notifications in the Notification Centre and on the iPhone X's lock screen. Now, we still don't think it's a great idea aesthetically - especially on devices other than the iPhone X - but we can understand it operationally.

Apart from Face ID, the iPhone X's TrueDepth camera provides a fun new feature called Animoji, which allows you to choose an emoji and animate it with your own facial motions to send an audio video message over iMessage. Apple claims that its technology can track 50 different facial muscle movements, albeit it can't (yet) capture some movements like tongue movement. Beyond our early tests, we weren't really enthusiastic about using this function, though your mileage may vary. Though third-party apps have attempted to recreate this functionality outside of iMessage, we believe that its popularity would be considerably boosted if Apple made it available to its Clips app, for example, or preferably to tvOS.

Portrait Mode with selfies is enabled by the depth information gathered by the front camera and its companion sensors, and the results are generally pleasing, with a few exceptions - no pun intended - where things can be a bit of a mixed bag. Although it's currently in beta, the Portrait Lighting feature that we looked at in our iPhone 8 Plus review is also available for selfies on the iPhone X.

The depth information received by the front camera and its accompanying sensors enables Portrait Mode with selfies, and the results are typically nice, with a few instances - no pun intended - where things can be a bit of a mixed bag. The Portrait Lighting feature, which we looked at in our iPhone 8 Plus review, is also available for selfies on the iPhone X, albeit it's still in beta.

The iPhone X, like the 2017 Android smartphones, can capture 4K at 60 frames per second, and if you shoot a lot of movies, the iPhone is still the phone to acquire. Even when it comes to still photography, the iPhone X, along with the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Google's Pixel 2 duo, is a strong candidate for the best camera phone available. For a closer look at the camera capabilities of the newest iPhone models, see our review of the iPhone 8 Plus, as well as our in-depth camera comparison with the Pixel 2 XL and the Galaxy Note 8, to see how it stacks up against other leading camera phones.

The iPhone X, like the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, is powered by Apple's A11 Bionic technology, which features two high-performance cores that are 25% faster than the Apple A10 in the iPhone 7 and four high-efficiency cores that are up to 70% quicker than the A10's energy-efficient cores. This translates to excellent performance in regular operations as well as graphics-intensive workloads like gaming and augmented reality. The iPhone X has amazing stereo speakers, and you get support for wireless charging - which can now supply up to 7.5W power - and fast charging, much like the other two new iPhone models. However, there is no fast charger in the package, which is a significant letdown. The batter is ready.

As we previously stated, the iPhone X features many of the same attributes as the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, and rather than duplicating everything here, we recommend reading our review of the pair to learn more about what's new and different.

And that takes us to the price. The iPhone X now costs an insane Rs. 92,430 for the 64GB model and a barely credible Rs. 1,05,720 for the 256GB model, both of which have climbed marginally since the phone's launch a few months ago. It's simple to see why the iPhone X is so expensive: component prices are at an all-time high, and it, like prior flagships, features cutting-edge technology that costs millions of dollars to build. While Apple was not the first to introduce an edge-to-edge display, the 3D face mapping capability is absolutely unique in the sensor combination it employs. Apple has once again taken a technology that everyone wants and turned it into Face ID.

So, for whom is the iPhone X designed? Early adopters with deep pockets, in a nutshell. By all means, get an iPhone X if you can afford it. It contains some of the most sophisticated technologies money can buy today, with the A11 Bionic chip and Face ID, as well as top-of-the-line hardware that won't break anytime soon and a camera that rivals Google and Samsung's best. But, as we've already stated, if you can't afford one - and the vast majority of the world's population falls into this category - there's nothing wrong with that either. If your budget only allows you to buy the iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus - which costs Rs. 66,120 - you can rest confident that you are not missing out on anything.

What is a reasonable amount to spend on a smartphone is a topic of debate, but 2017 has proved that Rs. 20,000 can get you a phone that meets 100% of the demands of more than 90% of the world's population. Apple, on the other hand, continues to defy the trend, introducing three new iPhone models that are all more expensive than those released last year.

For the most part, iPhone consumers believe - and we agree - that Apple provides an experience that is still worth the premium, but for the majority of people, a Rs. 1 lakh iPhone is a step too far, and the option should probably be between the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus. There are lots of decent options to explore if you are ready to venture beyond Apple's gated garden. This year, Samsung offered a good trio of flagships, and you might pick one that best meets your ergonomic needs and be really happy with it while saving a significant amount of money over the latest iPhone models. Google's Pixel pair has its supporters as well, and while it boasts the finest camera in a phone right now, it's not the best camera this year.

Apple iPhone X Summary

The iPhone X is unquestionably one of the most talked-about tech items of 2017, as it brings a completely new interaction paradigm, with gestures replacing buttons and a larger screen than any prior iPhone. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus share the majority of their internals, including Apple's own A11 Bionic CPU and wireless charging capability. The 5.8-inch AMOLED panel, on the other hand, is a first for any iPhone. Overall, the display of the iPhone X is fantastic. The front camera and 3D sensors for Face ID recognition are housed in the notch at the top. On the majority of occasions, it works smoothly and consistently. Attention detection ensures that your iPhone X cannot be unlocked simply by pointing the smartphone at your face when you are not looking. Animoji is a fun new feature that allows you to choose an emoji and then animate it with your own facial movements. Optical image stabilization is included on both back cameras, and the iPhone X shoots excellent photos in almost all situations.

Apple iPhone X Full Specifications

General

Brand	Apple
Model	iPhone X
Price in India	₹57,999
Release date	September 2017
Launched in India	Yes
Form factor	Touchscreen
Dimensions (mm)	143.60 x 70.90 x 7.70
Weight (g)	174.00
Battery capacity (mAh)	2716
Removable battery	No
Fast charging	Proprietary
Colors	Silver, Space Grey

Display

Screen size (inches)	5.80
Touchscreen	Yes
Resolution	1125x2436 pixels
Aspect ratio	19.5:9
Pixels per inch (PPI)	458

Hardware

Processor	2.39GHz Hexa-core
Processor make	Apple A11 Bionic
RAM	3GB
Internal storage	64GB
Expandable storage	No

Camera

Rear camera	12-megapixel (f/1.8, 1.22-micron) + 12-megapixel (f/2.4, 1.0-micron)
Rear autofocus	Phase detection autofocus
Rear flash	Dual LED
Front camera	7-megapixel (f/2.2)

Software

Operating system

iOS 11

Connectivity

Wi-Fi	Yes
Wi-Fi standards supported	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
GPS	Yes
Bluetooth	Yes, v 5.00
NFC	Yes
Infrared	No
USB OTG	No
FM	No
Number of SIMs	1
Wi-Fi Direct	No
Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL)	No
SIM Type	Nano-SIM
GSM/CDMA	GSM
3G	Yes
4G/ LTE	Yes
Supports 4G in India (Band 40)	Yes

Sensors

Face unlock	Yes
Compass/ Magnetometer	Yes
Proximity sensor	Yes
Accelerometer	Yes
Ambient light sensor	Yes
Gyroscope	Yes
Barometer	Yes
Temperature sensor	No