darwing
Senior Member
- Dec 20, 2016
- 173
- 5
- 51
Apple announced three new phones yesterday, increasing buying indecision even more than when it first offered a Plus model alongside the iPhone 6 two years ago. Over the next month or two, you'll have to decide between the iPhone 8, the iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X. But there really isn't a decision to make: If you can afford to spend a little more, get the iPhone X.
$1,000 is an awful lot to spend on a smartphone. But $700 (or $800) isn't exactly small change either. Your existing phone, whether an older iPhone, Galaxy device, One Plus or something else, is likely completely and utterly fine -- in fact it's still amazing. I'm not trying to state the case for upgrading every time the Apple Store goes offline, but I do want you to make an informed choice. There must be some sort of mental disconnect if you're willing to buy the iPhone 8 when you've already seen the iPhone X -- a device that Apple itself says marks the future of its smartphone ambitions.
The iPhone X is marginally bigger than the iPhone 8, but it has a screen larger than the iPhone 8 Plus -- the best of both. There's no Timelord magic here, just those gorgeous shaved bezels we're seeing on an awful lot of phones in 2017. Apple's most expensive phone yet also marks the first time that the company has gone for OLED with its phone screens.
This is widely regarded as the best mobile display tech, and reaffirms Tim Cook's claim that the X will inform the next decade of iPhones. (Even if Android phones were using it years ago, shush.) Better dynamic range (it can handle HDR video) and improved contrast are some of the major benefits with OLED -- it's just taken a while for Apple to get on board. The iPhone X also touts a higher resolution to complement that new screen tech. It's simply a better display, at least on paper, than any other iPhone.
Edge-to-edge screens come with a cost, however, and it means bidding farewell to the home button. It's fair that some people don't like change, but most of us will adjust. Touchscreen keyboards were pretty divisive. Ten years ago.
To substitute for the loss of the button's fingerprint scanner, Apple's Face ID combines infrared sensor, flood illuminator and a dot projector to identify you and unlock your phone with, well, your face. This is probably the new feature I have the most concerns and questions about -- Nicole has already explained how laborious it seems at this point, especially when Touch ID seems to do the same job so much more elegantly.
$1,000 is an awful lot to spend on a smartphone. But $700 (or $800) isn't exactly small change either. Your existing phone, whether an older iPhone, Galaxy device, One Plus or something else, is likely completely and utterly fine -- in fact it's still amazing. I'm not trying to state the case for upgrading every time the Apple Store goes offline, but I do want you to make an informed choice. There must be some sort of mental disconnect if you're willing to buy the iPhone 8 when you've already seen the iPhone X -- a device that Apple itself says marks the future of its smartphone ambitions.
The iPhone X is marginally bigger than the iPhone 8, but it has a screen larger than the iPhone 8 Plus -- the best of both. There's no Timelord magic here, just those gorgeous shaved bezels we're seeing on an awful lot of phones in 2017. Apple's most expensive phone yet also marks the first time that the company has gone for OLED with its phone screens.
This is widely regarded as the best mobile display tech, and reaffirms Tim Cook's claim that the X will inform the next decade of iPhones. (Even if Android phones were using it years ago, shush.) Better dynamic range (it can handle HDR video) and improved contrast are some of the major benefits with OLED -- it's just taken a while for Apple to get on board. The iPhone X also touts a higher resolution to complement that new screen tech. It's simply a better display, at least on paper, than any other iPhone.
Edge-to-edge screens come with a cost, however, and it means bidding farewell to the home button. It's fair that some people don't like change, but most of us will adjust. Touchscreen keyboards were pretty divisive. Ten years ago.
To substitute for the loss of the button's fingerprint scanner, Apple's Face ID combines infrared sensor, flood illuminator and a dot projector to identify you and unlock your phone with, well, your face. This is probably the new feature I have the most concerns and questions about -- Nicole has already explained how laborious it seems at this point, especially when Touch ID seems to do the same job so much more elegantly.
