The day Apple fans have been looking forward to is here and boy, did Cupertino not disappoint.
During their fall event at the newly minted Steve Jobs Theatre in their new campus in Apple Park, Apple unveiled their most exciting iPhone yet, truly befitting of the venue and its namesake.
Meet The iPhone X
In classic Apple fashion, CEO Tim Cook said those three famous words – words that carry a huge significance, right after going through the iPhone 8 during his keynote.
And today’s was a moment that truly befit those words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4wEI5zhHB0
Here’s the iPhone X, an iPhone that was 10 years in the making.
This is the biggest departure from the iPhone’s initial design since Apple moved from the iPhone 5s to the iPhone 6.
The iPhone X is the result of Apple’s mission to create a phone that is all display – a journey which the original iPhone started.
Apple’s latest and greatest will also differ from the iPhone 8 that was announced alongside it. Here’s a look at what you can look forward to.
1. Bezels Be Gone
The most obvious difference between the iPhone X and the rest of its Apple brethren is definitely the design. Starting with the front, aside from a thin strip up top, it’s all screen from edge to edge.
In a footprint smaller than the iPhone 8 Plus, Apple has managed to cram in a 5.8-inch screen of the Super Retina variety that gently curves around the sides of the iPhone X.
That’s because this screen is an OLED panel that’s out to give you true blacks and stunning colours. It’s also worth a mention that it is a HDR screen, supporting Dolby Vision and HDR10 standards to make your photos and videos pop.
2. Probably The Best Camera In Any Phone
The dual cameras that you have come to love in the iPhone 7 Plus are now standing vertically in the iPhone X with a quad LED flash in the middle. While still retaining the 12-megapixel number, the f/1.8 wide angle camera is now accompanied by a f/2.4 telephoto camera.
And here’s the best bit – both cameras now feature optical stabilisation to rid you of shaky video recordings, and aid your photos in low light.
Up front, we have an improved 7-megapixel shooter that features Portrait Mode.
Your selfie game just got stronger.
The most awesome feature however is Portrait Lighting, and that’s available on both the front and rear cameras.
It doesn’t just give you the shallow depth of field look from Portrait Mode, you will also unlock the ability to bring dramatic studio lighting effects to your portrait photos.
3. Gestures Rule
In case you haven’t notice, the Home button is no more. We have all come to depend on it to multi-task and switch between apps. and Apple has just the perfect solution to replace it.
The area near the bottom of the screen now serves as somewhat of a “digital” Home button, that you will see as a semi-transparent strip. Through gestures and swipes, you can toggle through the control center, multi-task, and switch between apps.
Plus, now you can wake the phone by just double-tapping the screen when it is asleep.
4. FaceID Unlock
The new front camera isn’t just good for taking selfies either. With the Home Button and TouchID now ancient history, Apple has created a new way to unlock your iPhone X – and your face is the key.
The strip above the screen doesn’t just house a selfie camera, there’s also many sensors embedded into it, which altogether make up Apple’s TrueDepth camera system.
This system is the thing that makes Apple’s new way to unlock your phone almost instantly, while still being very secure.
Dubbed FaceID, it uses a combination of those sensors and the front camera to map and recognise a user’s face, and it’s all backed by the A11 Bionic processor in the iPhone.
Machine learning helps FaceID to adapt and recognise your facial appearances as they change. You can not only unlock your phone with FaceID – expect to be able to even use Apple Pay with it, and other features such as accessing secure apps.
To ensure maximum security and user privacy, facial information is only stored and processed on-device, and away from the cloud. It also prevents spoofing by photos or masks.
5. Animoji And More
In what they call as the next natural evolution of the emoji, we now have Animoji, or animated emojis.
The cool thing is that these are not some repeated animation of emojis. In the same way that FaceID maps your face, Animoji uses the same method to bring emojis to life.
The TrueDepth system is able to capture and analyse 50 different facial muscle movements that is used to animate expressions in a dozen different Animoji – like the panda, unicorn, and robot.
Animojis can be sent as a message itself, and you can even record voice messages on top of just animating them with your faces.
This feature will only be available on the iPhone X and is a part of the iMessage app.
The TrueDepth system can also be taken advantage of by compatible apps. Apple showed off Snapchat filters that did just that. Now putting on a masked sticker will make it more realistic, fitting the contours of your face.
And…This Is How Much The iPhone X Will Cost You
The phone of the future will unfortunately cost you a pretty penny, all S$1,888 of it for the 256GB configuration (S$1,648 for 64GB) from the Apple Store or Authorised Resellers.
Pre-orders begin on October 27, and the phone is expected to be available on Friday, November 3.
We can finally lay down all the rumours regarding Apple’s premium iPhone with the release of the iPhone X.
So what do you think about the iPhone X? Will you be getting one for yourself?