My Blue Hound app which scans nearby Bluetooth devices found an iPhone X at my local supermarket a few weeks ago while I was shopping. Unfortunately, I only spotted it in the list later on when I got home. iPhones advertise themselves via Bluetooth and if an app connects to them, it can request the model ID. I was in Placerville, CA which is about 125 miles east of San Francisco which is a strange place to spot one so soon after they were announced. Had I seen it when I was still at the store, I could have located the person carrying it and asked to see it.
My Blue Hound app which scans nearby Bluetooth devices found an iPhone X at my local supermarket a few weeks ago while I was shopping. Unfortunately, I only spotted it in the list later on when I got home. iPhones advertise themselves via Bluetooth and if an app connects to them, it can request the model ID. I was in Placerville, CA which is about 125 miles east of San Francisco which is a strange place to spot one so soon after they were announced. Had I seen it when I was still at the store, I could have located the person carrying it and asked to see it.
Maybe someone heading to Tahoe. Would have been cool to see it in person!.
The iPhone has never been symmetrical either vertically or horizontally.
What on Earth are you saying? The content has been. If the iPhone is actually as Jony claims–hardware melting into the background to make people unconscious of everything but content–the last thing Apple would want is people being aware of the hardware, right?
...there is no notch. ...it is not notched.
This sounds awfully doublespeaky.
I said the phone was not symmetrical and it isn't. But if you say the content has been then you must be referring to the rectangular border for the content. And the X has the same rectangular border for content as every other iPhone (not counting rounded corners).
But wait I hear you cough as you almost choke on a sip of coffee say when you're watching movie there's a notch cut into it. Yes but that's not the content area that is the usable part of what would have been the bezel on either side of the sensors. Sort of like how they put a touch bar on the MacBook, it has multiple uses. It is then obviously made contiguous with the content area of the screen. Mainly it's used for status info and it blends into the content background for games but it is itself not content area, and Apple specifically states this in their Human Interface Guidelines for the X.
When you watch a movie it will not by default enlarge into the tangs, that extend from the content area because it's not content area. However just like how the Touch Bar on the MacBook may be used in various ways so the non content area that is the 'ears' or 'tang' as I prefer to call it, may be used for content if you so choose. "Choose", being the operative word here.
You can double tap a video and it will enlarge into the ears it will also crop the top and bottom of the video as well. Why anyone would want to do this I don't know but you may if you want. If you think it's ugly and distracting then why would you choose to enlarge the content into the non content area and then complain about it? That's moving into troll territory. I'm not saying you are doing that I'm just making a point that it is a hot topic amongst trolls. Some of whom actually complain that Apple says the screen is 5.8" diagonally so that "proves" it's content areas, er no it proves the screen is 5.8", but then they complain it's false advertising. FFS, it's less than one fifth of one inch difference if you measure the content area from corner to corner using a line drawn under the bezel.
Now to address the 'it's not a notch'. Below is an image of a piece of a float bowl control on a carburettor, it has a 'tang' which can be bent. You'll also see that the negative space around the tang looks like a notch. Whether it's a tang or a notch depends on which part is the useful part. In the case of the carburettor the tang is the point, so it's a tang and not a notch.
In the case of the iPhone it's the ears that are the extra bit, it's the ears that are useful there is an appearance of a notch but that just depends on the interplay between negative and positive space, much like the 'arrow' on the FedEx logo, there isn't really an arrow there is just an appearance of an arrow. Same with the notch.
Now you may say that you simply don't like the look of it even as background for an app, even if it's not content area it just bugs you, well all I can say to that is either forgeddaboudit, or take a listen to what Federighi said about the complaints about Face ID and realise that your dislike will 'melt away' when you see it working.
So I think I've explained sufficiently why it's not a 'notch' and why the content area is still basically rectangular. If you need any further clarification please do not hesitate to ask, I'm available Mondays to Friday at various times throughout the day from 6am to 11pm Eastern Daylight Saving Time.
I don’t have a particular problem with the notch, but the fact that the screen is now a funny shape (due to the notch as well as the curved corners) does seem kind of awkward. I don’t think content will ever be optimized for the curved-corner “U” shape, apart from maybe iOS. If you turn the screen to landscape position (sideways), it is not even symmetrical. A rectangular screen makes more sense to me, for reading or pictures or just about anything.
It’s also about 40% heavier than my iPhone 6, despite being only a few millimeters taller and wider, and about a millimeter thicker.
I’m really curious to check this thing out in person.
Funny thing is that all the flagship android phones are showing a content area that has rounded corners even though it does not butt up to the rounded corners of the phone! that is quite peculiar, as least the rounded corners on the X actually have some logic seeing as they follow the shape of the border of the phone. Look at the Galaxy 8 for example there is a bezel top and bottom and the rounded corner of the phone is separate to the rounded corner of the display area, Apple put rounded corners because their phone has rounded corners and the screen butts up, Samsung put rounded corners on purely for design.
Further if you square off the top and bottom of the iPhone X screen you get a ratio of a wee bit more than 1:2 the most common movie screen ratio these days is 1.1.85 usually less. This is why Apple's 5.8" screen ration is 9:19.5 and the Samsung Galaxy S8's 5.8" screen is 9:18.5 the other Android phones are 9:18. If you draw a line under the bezel then the X screen becomes 1:1.85, Apple have obviously thought deeply about this and the fact that if you do not include the ears, that their screen ratio become the same as all the other flagship phones, further proves that the 'ears' were never intended to be content but are rather extensions of the screen up into the wasted bezel area.
And you do get more usable screen because of that as apps like safari do not have status bar impinging on the screen in portrait mode as they currently do. So the ears give you more screen real estate.
What is also interesting that the other popular movie ratio is 1:2.39 and if you show that ratio on the iPhone X to the width up to the bezel then the top and bottom will exactly square off without hitting the rounded corners. Because it is exactly 1:2.39 this cannot be an accident.
Don't worry. When Android flagships come around to embracing screen notches, it'll become "Essential" (pun intended).
This is why the X is going to catch everyone with their trousers around their ankles. Unlike previous iPhone things like 'slide to unlock', in this case the tech is so complex that you can't just buy the hardware off the shelf, it will take three years for Samsung to replicate this, if they ever can.
There is a notch on the iPhone X but it's not the screen it's the bezel that has the notch. Normal there would be a straight across bezel, but apple has cut two notches out of the bezel to accomodate extra screen for the status info.
Don't worry. When Android flagships come around to embracing screen notches, it'll become "Essential" (pun intended).
This is why the X is going to catch everyone with their trousers around their ankles. Unlike previous iPhone things like 'slide to unlock', in this case the tech is so complex that you can't just buy the hardware off the shelf, it will take three years for Samsung to replicate this, if they ever can.
Because Samsung steals IP rather than spending the time to invent their own, don’t be surprised if they replicate Face ID within a year.
Don't worry. When Android flagships come around to embracing screen notches, it'll become "Essential" (pun intended).
This is why the X is going to catch everyone with their trousers around their ankles. Unlike previous iPhone things like 'slide to unlock', in this case the tech is so complex that you can't just buy the hardware off the shelf, it will take three years for Samsung to replicate this, if they ever can.
Because Samsung steals IP rather than spending the time to invent their own, don’t be surprised if they replicate Face ID within a year.
You mean "replicate", cause it will in no way be doing the same thing, just appearing to do the same thing in marketing.
Don't worry. When Android flagships come around to embracing screen notches, it'll become "Essential" (pun intended).
This is why the X is going to catch everyone with their trousers around their ankles. Unlike previous iPhone things like 'slide to unlock', in this case the tech is so complex that you can't just buy the hardware off the shelf, it will take three years for Samsung to replicate this, if they ever can.
Because Samsung steals IP rather than spending the time to invent their own, don’t be surprised if they replicate Face ID within a year.
The point I was making is that Samsung will be unable to replicate this in a year, there's no off the shelf components they can buy and all the separate components have to work together. It has to be good enough that they can feel confident in removing their Touch ID, good luck with that. This will take them a bare minimum of 2 years probably 3
Comments
I said the phone was not symmetrical and it isn't. But if you say the content has been then you must be referring to the rectangular border for the content. And the X has the same rectangular border for content as every other iPhone (not counting rounded corners).
But wait I hear you cough as you almost choke on a sip of coffee say when you're watching movie there's a notch cut into it. Yes but that's not the content area that is the usable part of what would have been the bezel on either side of the sensors. Sort of like how they put a touch bar on the MacBook, it has multiple uses. It is then obviously made contiguous with the content area of the screen. Mainly it's used for status info and it blends into the content background for games but it is itself not content area, and Apple specifically states this in their Human Interface Guidelines for the X.
When you watch a movie it will not by default enlarge into the tangs, that extend from the content area because it's not content area. However just like how the Touch Bar on the MacBook may be used in various ways so the non content area that is the 'ears' or 'tang' as I prefer to call it, may be used for content if you so choose. "Choose", being the operative word here.
You can double tap a video and it will enlarge into the ears it will also crop the top and bottom of the video as well. Why anyone would want to do this I don't know but you may if you want. If you think it's ugly and distracting then why would you choose to enlarge the content into the non content area and then complain about it? That's moving into troll territory. I'm not saying you are doing that I'm just making a point that it is a hot topic amongst trolls. Some of whom actually complain that Apple says the screen is 5.8" diagonally so that "proves" it's content areas, er no it proves the screen is 5.8", but then they complain it's false advertising. FFS, it's less than one fifth of one inch difference if you measure the content area from corner to corner using a line drawn under the bezel.
Now to address the 'it's not a notch'. Below is an image of a piece of a float bowl control on a carburettor, it has a 'tang' which can be bent. You'll also see that the negative space around the tang looks like a notch. Whether it's a tang or a notch depends on which part is the useful part. In the case of the carburettor the tang is the point, so it's a tang and not a notch.
In the case of the iPhone it's the ears that are the extra bit, it's the ears that are useful there is an appearance of a notch but that just depends on the interplay between negative and positive space, much like the 'arrow' on the FedEx logo, there isn't really an arrow there is just an appearance of an arrow. Same with the notch.
Now you may say that you simply don't like the look of it even as background for an app, even if it's not content area it just bugs you, well all I can say to that is either forgeddaboudit, or take a listen to what Federighi said about the complaints about Face ID and realise that your dislike will 'melt away' when you see it working.
So I think I've explained sufficiently why it's not a 'notch' and why the content area is still basically rectangular. If you need any further clarification please do not hesitate to ask, I'm available Mondays to Friday at various times throughout the day from 6am to 11pm Eastern Daylight Saving Time.
EDIT: whoops forgot the 'tang' image.
Further if you square off the top and bottom of the iPhone X screen you get a ratio of a wee bit more than 1:2 the most common movie screen ratio these days is 1.1.85 usually less. This is why Apple's 5.8" screen ration is 9:19.5 and the Samsung Galaxy S8's 5.8" screen is 9:18.5 the other Android phones are 9:18. If you draw a line under the bezel then the X screen becomes 1:1.85, Apple have obviously thought deeply about this and the fact that if you do not include the ears, that their screen ratio become the same as all the other flagship phones, further proves that the 'ears' were never intended to be content but are rather extensions of the screen up into the wasted bezel area.
And you do get more usable screen because of that as apps like safari do not have status bar impinging on the screen in portrait mode as they currently do. So the ears give you more screen real estate.
What is also interesting that the other popular movie ratio is 1:2.39 and if you show that ratio on the iPhone X to the width up to the bezel then the top and bottom will exactly square off without hitting the rounded corners. Because it is exactly 1:2.39 this cannot be an accident.