The Notch will become the New iPhone Home Button.
Instantly recognizable
Exactly. With the notch nobody will mistake it for an Android
Exactly my thought - if they had left a solid black bar across the top it would have looked quite similar to some of the Samsung phones. Actually, I kind of think it's a good idea. The time, signal and battery strength normally end up eating up the top several mm of space on the screen. Now they are tucked up into the two 'tabs,' keeping them visible while saving the rest of the screen for the primary display. Besides - now you have a place to put your thumb when viewing in landscape mode!
I like the notch. When you see it, it screams "iPhone!"
The notch makes the iPhone unique. It makes it recognizable. If one thing Apple is good at, it's differentiating their products from everyone else's.
People keep saying 'more screen real-estate'... but if the notch blocks the majority of it, isn't it just a pointless spec? The real screen size, is bottom to where the notch starts. Sure, they moved status icons up in the 'ears' but those disappear in many apps anyway.
It wasn't quite a landslide vote, but AppleInsider readers came down in favor of Apple's decision to highlight and not hide the so-called "notch" housing the camera, sensors and earpiece atop the iPhone X edge-to-edge display.
With 1,853 votes tallied on Twitter, AppleInsider's highly unscientific survey of 1,853 readers found that 57 percent of respondents think Apple is right to embrace the iPhone X notch.
Conversely, the remaining 43 percent of those polled would prefer that Apple hide the area atop the display. In fan-made mockups, this has been done with a black background matching the notch and the borders around the screen, obfuscating where the screen ends and the notch begins.
But Apple has chosen to highlight the notch in iOS 11, having user interface elements bleed up into the spaces to the left and right of the intrusion.
In fact, during Apple's iPhone X keynote, the company even showed full-screen videos played with maximum size, leaving part of the picture cut out by the notch. However, attendees who got a hands-on with the iPhone X afterwards -- including AppleInsider's own Daniel Eran Dilger -- were told that by default full-screen video will shrink down to avoid the notch.
It's clear Apple has gone out of its way to embrace, rather than hide, the protrusion into the display.
Though Apple's decision has been made, the discussion rages on. How would you prefer Apple handle the notch on the iPhone X?
I don't understand the hoopla over the red dot on the watch and acceptance of the god awful notch. I am buying the watch with cellular but passing on the iphoneX until the next generation where I am betting the notch will be gone. I wonder if Steve Jobs would have signed off on this.
I haven't read all 53 comments yet, so excuse me if someone else has already posted this.
The thought occurs to me: what does the removal of the home button actually accomplish? There are various drawbacks (loss of Touch ID, familiarity, etc), but people assume that the extra screen space is a gain. But, is it? 🤔 It looks like the extra bottom portion of the screen is now mostly reserved for the thumb that you use to slide up your app. And now all of those pixels in the new bottom section have to be powered 100% of the time that the screen is on. Hmm...
It's the new iconic look. It is visually jarring right now because it's new, and we're staring at it. Once you get the phone and start using it, it will all but disappear as part of regular usage.
Edit: I also love dramatic change like this, the kinds of things some people just can't handle.
People keep saying 'more screen real-estate'... but if the notch blocks the majority of it, isn't it just a pointless spec? The real screen size, is bottom to where the notch starts. Sure, they moved status icons up in the 'ears' but those disappear in many apps anyway.
Yes, the real screen size is the bottom of the notch, so the extra screen estate is the two areas either side of the notch. Not the status information doesn't have to disappear, and you don't lose any screen estate displaying it.
... The thought occurs to me: what does the removal of the home button actually accomplish? There are various drawbacks (loss of Touch ID, familiarity, etc), but people assume that the extra screen space is a gain. But, is it? 🤔
I suppose there was some gain, but it's more about whether it was worth it. All those swipes and differentiating one from another isn't exactly good in the ease of use department. And, when a screen goes to the edge, doing an edge swipe is going to be tricky. This is not a one-handed phone anymore.
Rayz2016 said: Yes, the real screen size is the bottom of the notch, so the extra screen estate is the two areas either side of the notch. Not the status information doesn't have to disappear, and you don't lose any screen estate displaying it.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding... but I mean, where does Apple measure for their published specs? Is it diagonal from bottom corner to upper corner of the 'ear'? If so, that's kinda cheating.
The notch makes the best use of the screen space. The way others have done it is the following:
The Mi Mix 2 only has a lower bezel and they put the front camera down there where your hand is likely to cover it.
The Essential phone has a bottom bezel and a notch at the top. The space to the sides of the camera is wasted.
Galaxy S8 has symmetric bezels but has horrible reflections and warps the image at the curved edges.
The iPhone X has the best dimensions.
The sensors and camera have to go at the top. If they made a full bezel at the top, it would look uneven (like the Essential and Mi Mix) and and they'd have to add an artificial bezel at the bottom like the Samsung and because they don't put the display to the edge (distorting it) like Samsung, it would have been unnecessarily taller than it needed to be.
There can never be anything in front of the front-facing camera and sensors so the best they'd ever be able to get it is by having circular cutouts in the OLED around each of the sensors but this would encourage people to be swiping over the camera. The black notch helps ensure people don't do that.
The design Apple went with is the furthest they could have gone to make the best use of the display at the hardware level. Developers are free to hide the notch if they want. If Apple had forced a less minimal design at the hardware level, software developers don't get the option.
Apple had the last design for 10 years. This new design will most likely be the last iPhone design and people will get used to the notch very quickly. I would expect them to use a similar design on the iPad Pro eventually and the notch will be much less noticeable.
If they get rid of the notch then what selling point will Apple have for the next notch-less iPhone?
I wonder if the notch is a feature they can brag about "reducing" as they begin integrating all the parts in the notch? They have made the phone so thin already, they have stopped beating that drum in the keynotes.
If if they can claw back 25% of the notch via miniaturization, that would make a nice slide at next year's iPhone event.
I don't care one way or the other about the notch. What I do like is the concept of a non-square screen. I hope we one day see phones that have more interesting shapes than mere rectangles. While they are at it, how about a round Apple Watch face? Think of all the fun developers could have flowing their UIs into whatever shape the screen happens to be.
Marvin said: The sensors and camera have to go at the top. If they made a full bezel at the top, it would look uneven (like the Essential and Mi Mix) and and they'd have to add an artificial bezel at the bottom like the Samsung and because they don't put the display to the edge (distorting it) like Samsung, it would have been unnecessarily taller than it needed to be.
What about the best of the S8 and best of the X? There would have been nothing wrong 'the Notch' sized bezel at both top and bottom of the X. Maybe they could have even still kept Touch ID then. More battery life.... and heck, even room for a real audio jack.
iPhone ex is the best Apple can do right now. It’s their state of the art. And no, I won’t pronounce it “iPhone ten”, and not because Gruber said so. But because getting me or the general populace to pronounce the X as “ten” will never happen. “MacBook One”, “iPhone ex”. I know what Roman numerals are. We see them all the time on film credits. No one cares. It’s an iPhone with a notch, not Lawrence of Arabia. Ain’t happening. Deal with it, Schiller.
In the 60's when everyone was giving me the 'peace' sign, I thought it was a 'high five'.
I think the screen is a great step forward. And am sure the notch will be no big deal. But it says a lot about this phone when the main talking point is a notch in the screen.
And you can bet your life on the fact that in 1-2 years time Apple will be making a massive deal about reducing the size of or getting rid of the notch.
Marvin said: The sensors and camera have to go at the top. If they made a full bezel at the top, it would look uneven (like the Essential and Mi Mix) and and they'd have to add an artificial bezel at the bottom like the Samsung and because they don't put the display to the edge (distorting it) like Samsung, it would have been unnecessarily taller than it needed to be.
What about the best of the S8 and best of the X? There would have been nothing wrong 'the Notch' sized bezel at both top and bottom of the X. Maybe they could have even still kept Touch ID then. More battery life.... and heck, even room for a real audio jack.
A notch at the top and bottom would have been worse. The most plausible alternatives would have been the following:
The middle one with just the top bezel filled in looks uneven. The bottom one looks nice but it's taller than the others and I'd say the top one makes the content look better and the top one allows developers to make it look like the bottom one if they want. They can fill in the space if they want to. Apple can do this with a software option and the home button line can show on the bar.
If they get rid of the notch then what selling point will Apple have for the next notch-less iPhone?
I wonder if the notch is a feature they can brag about "reducing" as they begin integrating all the parts in the notch? They have made the phone so thin already, they have stopped beating that drum in the keynotes.
If if they can claw back 25% of the notch via miniaturization, that would make a nice slide at next year's iPhone event.
There was an article the other day saying the tech inside the notch is pretty much what was in a Kinect, which was much bigger, Apple bought the company Primesense that made the Kinect:
There's a lot of sensors in there. Given that it was shrunk down from a Kinect-sized device, maybe they'll be able to reduce it further, perhaps consolidate the function of some sensors e.g they replace the proximity sensor for depth and just use the depth sensors. There may be a way to have the front-facing camera do both infrared and normal imaging, like with alternate frames. Maybe they can combine the flood illuminator and dot projector somehow. I can see them being able to reduce the width of the notch by 25%, no difference in height. I don't see how they will ever be able to remove it entirely but with OLED, it can always be hidden in software.
Marvin said: A notch at the top and bottom would have been worse. The most plausible alternatives would have been the following:
The middle one with just the top bezel filled in looks uneven. The bottom one looks nice but it's taller than the others and I'd say the top one makes the content look better and the top one allows developers to make it look like the bottom one if they want. They can fill in the space if they want to. Apple can do this with a software option and the home button line can show on the bar.
I like the bottom one best. While the 'borderless' does look nice (and then the notch messes up a bit), I often find that having a bit of border makes it nicer to hold/use. If you go right to the edge (or worse), then you have to deal with flaky touch-reject type stuff. Also, now that the UI involves all kinds of 'swiping from the edge' type gestures for basic functions, that gets harder to do as well with borderless.
In terms of looks, I suppose people might get used to it and in fact, you folks might be right about it becoming iconic iPhone (as who's going to copy that!). But, in terms of UX/UI, I think it's a downgrade. I obviously care more about the latter.
Comments
Maybe I'm misunderstanding... but I mean, where does Apple measure for their published specs? Is it diagonal from bottom corner to upper corner of the 'ear'? If so, that's kinda cheating.
The Mi Mix 2 only has a lower bezel and they put the front camera down there where your hand is likely to cover it.
The Essential phone has a bottom bezel and a notch at the top. The space to the sides of the camera is wasted.
Galaxy S8 has symmetric bezels but has horrible reflections and warps the image at the curved edges.
The iPhone X has the best dimensions.
The sensors and camera have to go at the top. If they made a full bezel at the top, it would look uneven (like the Essential and Mi Mix) and and they'd have to add an artificial bezel at the bottom like the Samsung and because they don't put the display to the edge (distorting it) like Samsung, it would have been unnecessarily taller than it needed to be.
There can never be anything in front of the front-facing camera and sensors so the best they'd ever be able to get it is by having circular cutouts in the OLED around each of the sensors but this would encourage people to be swiping over the camera. The black notch helps ensure people don't do that.
The design Apple went with is the furthest they could have gone to make the best use of the display at the hardware level. Developers are free to hide the notch if they want. If Apple had forced a less minimal design at the hardware level, software developers don't get the option.
Apple had the last design for 10 years. This new design will most likely be the last iPhone design and people will get used to the notch very quickly. I would expect them to use a similar design on the iPad Pro eventually and the notch will be much less noticeable.
If if they can claw back 25% of the notch via miniaturization, that would make a nice slide at next year's iPhone event.
And you can bet your life on the fact that in 1-2 years time Apple will be making a massive deal about reducing the size of or getting rid of the notch.
The middle one with just the top bezel filled in looks uneven. The bottom one looks nice but it's taller than the others and I'd say the top one makes the content look better and the top one allows developers to make it look like the bottom one if they want. They can fill in the space if they want to. Apple can do this with a software option and the home button line can show on the bar.
There was an article the other day saying the tech inside the notch is pretty much what was in a Kinect, which was much bigger, Apple bought the company Primesense that made the Kinect:
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/9/17/16315510/iphone-x-notch-kinect-apple-primesense-microsoft
There's a lot of sensors in there. Given that it was shrunk down from a Kinect-sized device, maybe they'll be able to reduce it further, perhaps consolidate the function of some sensors e.g they replace the proximity sensor for depth and just use the depth sensors. There may be a way to have the front-facing camera do both infrared and normal imaging, like with alternate frames. Maybe they can combine the flood illuminator and dot projector somehow. I can see them being able to reduce the width of the notch by 25%, no difference in height. I don't see how they will ever be able to remove it entirely but with OLED, it can always be hidden in software.
In terms of looks, I suppose people might get used to it and in fact, you folks might be right about it becoming iconic iPhone (as who's going to copy that!). But, in terms of UX/UI, I think it's a downgrade. I obviously care more about the latter.