I think they went with the non-tech youtubers because many of the new features of the iPhone ( the anomoji and the portrait mode, better snapchat AR filters, AR itself and more) are really the stuff the normal user would really like ( and I think the animoji will be huge though I wont use it myself).
I dont know why Gruber didnt get a unit though, he may well become bitter, if he isnt already.
Any scoop why Gruber got the snub? but congrats on moving up the Apple ladder. Looking forward to a in deep bashing on Android phones.
Just checked his site. Not sure if he’s just being sarcastic or really didn’t get a review unit and is pissed about it. Casey Liss wrote a blog post giving his thoughts on Apple’s reasoning around X reviews.
There are a few things Gruber has complained about recently like the MacBook/Macbook Pro keyboards and he didn’t mince any words on his dislike of the notch (called it gross) so maybe this is Apple showing their displeasure.
I kind of hope Gruber is getting smacked. He's become, to a certain extent, a "deeply worried" (his words re the keyboard) hand-wringer like Marco Arment.
There's a difference between level-headed criticism of Apple and this new style of apocalyptic Chicken-Little "worry" about Apple's "priorities."
The latter spreads an unreasoned, emotional contagion of doubt about Apples's mind-set and future. This encourages the hater crowd, the piranhas of Wall Street, the ignorati among tech journalists, and could even spread into the ranks at Apple itself — where, after all, the Jobs project is just a shared vision — a vulnerable psychological stance, in other words — of how to force difficult advanced products into existence.
I like Gruber. He clearly is an Apple fan, but I find his analysis fair.
I don’t want sound like I’m trolling or anything, I’m picking up a new iPhone X on Saturday.
But this reads a bit like a fan boy review. IMO reviewers should be a lot more critical of this phone. I’m in the getting one regardless crowd, but it’s pretty obvious to anyone the X is quite underwhelming. These snapchat features are an embarrassment, that graphic for Apple Pay approval? Wow! Awful. And where is the stand out feature? The notch?
I don’t know / it just feels like a treading water phone to me really.
It isn't a review.
"First look" means exactly that. Other venues calling it a review after less than a day of use? How can you get a feel for actual use of a device in that short a period of time?
True, but if I would have thought an impartial first impression of the X would be quite negative, there is a lot of naff stuff about it.
maybe once i’ve Got mine for a couple of weeks I might appreciate it more
The Verge seemed to complain about Face ID outdoors. Any thoughts AI or they are just being picky?
My thoughts; the Verge was being picky. The Verge test in sunlight had the iPhone X at belt height next to the belt. That logically would be the edge of the range of the Face ID system. After all, at belt height / next to the belt this is testing the unlock system while looking up at a person's chin. But this is not Chin ID. It is Face ID. Logically, if in bright lighting, the iPhone X should be moved up to eye level so that the system can clearly recognize the face of the user. As far as I know the iPhone X will work at eye level even in bright sunlight.
I don’t want sound like I’m trolling or anything, I’m picking up a new iPhone X on Saturday.
But this reads a bit like a fan boy review. IMO reviewers should be a lot more critical of this phone. I’m in the getting one regardless crowd, but it’s pretty obvious to anyone the X is quite underwhelming. These snapchat features are an embarrassment, that graphic for Apple Pay approval? Wow! Awful. And where is the stand out feature? The notch?
I don’t know / it just feels like a treading water phone to me really.
It isn't a review.
"First look" means exactly that. Other venues calling it a review after less than a day of use? How can you get a feel for actual use of a device in that short a period of time?
True, but if I would have thought an impartial first impression of the X would be quite negative, there is a lot of naff stuff about it.
maybe once i’ve Got mine for a couple of weeks I might appreciate it more
re: "Naff stuff."
Like? I suspect YMMV person-to-person on your interpretations.
Great early review. Agree about the disappointment of fast OR wireless charger not being included in the box. Would have also been nice to have AirPods included with the purchase as well.
you mean to wipe out their margins? I mean thats $300 worth of merchandise you want for free.
I agree. However I do think they should be packaging with a higher power charger at this point. What they put in is pathetic
LOL! I didn't even have to look at the byline to know who wrote this! The summary on the main page says it all: "The new iPhone is the greatest invention since the wheel, curing cancer, improving the user's appearance, and ascending into Heaven all that believe in it."
I don’t want sound like I’m trolling or anything, I’m picking up a new iPhone X on Saturday.
But this reads a bit like a fan boy review. IMO reviewers should be a lot more critical of this phone. I’m in the getting one regardless crowd, but it’s pretty obvious to anyone the X is quite underwhelming. These snapchat features are an embarrassment, that graphic for Apple Pay approval? Wow! Awful. And where is the stand out feature? The notch?
I don’t know / it just feels like a treading water phone to me really.
The stand out feature is the 6-core A11 Bionic CPU with Apple GPU and Neural Engine. On top of these a state of the art smartphone is built. The smartphone form factor has reached its limits. Yet Apple has managed to launch a breakthrough smartphone the least disruptive manner with the least compromises. They are not critical because there is nothing to criticise on that iPhone.
If you still want to be critical you may want to see its compromises: the notch, the substitution of the Home button with a swipe gesture, the lack of Touch ID. None of these are deal breakers. Touch ID is convenient but invasive, you’re forced to do something. Face ID is seamless, non-invasive. The removal of the Home button may be the most difficult part to get used to, but in exchange you get an increased display size that will make you forget any compromise.
So you have nothing to worry about. Enjoy your iPhone X and put it in a quality case, because you’ll find that you’re using it more abundantly than you expect.
Not specifically iPhone X but also for iPhone 8 users: I had no intention of buying a Qi charger until I saw one at Ikea for $11.99. The long cable I was using was starting to go bad (thanks cat). The charger is designed to be installed in the table or desk of your choice by drilling a hole, and it lies flush with the surface. Pics below. The hole saw was $5. Ikea also has standalone Qi chargers for about $20.
Any scoop why Gruber got the snub? but congrats on moving up the Apple ladder. Looking forward to a in deep bashing on Android phones.
Just checked his site. Not sure if he’s just being sarcastic or really didn’t get a review unit and is pissed about it. Casey Liss wrote a blog post giving his thoughts on Apple’s reasoning around X reviews.
There are a few things Gruber has complained about recently like the MacBook/Macbook Pro keyboards and he didn’t mince any words on his dislike of the notch (called it gross) so maybe this is Apple showing their displeasure.
I'm sure Apple is pleased that the number one feature highlighted by Steven Levy--apparently the company's current best friend--was a poop animoji.
If you still want to be critical you may want to see its compromises: the notch
Compromise vs. what? Apple only had two choices with the Face ID hardware being included on the front of the phone: a full bar across the top or the notch. The former doesn't allow any additional screen space and the latter does. Can you really argue that not providing additional screen space would represent a lack of compromise? Makes more sense to say that the notch is the lack of compromise.
There are a few things Gruber has complained about recently like the MacBook/Macbook Pro keyboards and he didn’t mince any words on his dislike of the notch (called it gross) so maybe this is Apple showing their displeasure.
I couldn't find a comment using the keyword gross (which he could've altered after you read his initial comment), but I did find one post where he did make negative comments in regards to marketing that included the notch.
He's always made critical remarks about Apple, which I think is fair on his part. He never came across, to me, as always trying to moisten Apple's nob to trying to discredit everything they do. I don't always agree with his position but I almost always (or perhaps always) understand where he's coming from.
This has the same problem as the CNN test, plus an additional one.
The registered twin was standing next to the device and looking at it when it was held by the other sibling. While that may have still let in the sibling I can't say it's definitive until we get better isolation in tests to eliminate all possible false positives.
These triplets are young (approx. 12yo?). I seem to recall that this tech shouldn't be used by those under a certain age.
Any scoop why Gruber got the snub? but congrats on moving up the Apple ladder. Looking forward to a in deep bashing on Android phones.
...
I kind of hope Gruber is getting smacked. He's become, to a certain extent, a "deeply worried" (his words re the keyboard) hand-wringer like Marco Arment.
That would make sense if nearly every other usual Apple reviewer wasn’t also overlooked. Clearly Apple is trying something new with rolling out a new device.
I'm thinking back to the latest Apple Watch, where critics savages to wireless for not quite working perfectly; "casuals" just gush over how cool the new toy is, which probably makes for better press.
If you still want to be critical you may want to see its compromises: the notch
Compromise vs. what? Apple only had two choices with the Face ID hardware being included on the front of the phone: a full bar across the top or the notch. The former doesn't allow any additional screen space and the latter does. Can you really argue that not providing additional screen space would represent a lack of compromise? Makes more sense to say that the notch is the lack of compromise.
The window managers on desktop operating systems are able to create windows in many fancy shapes, yet we have to see a window with ear shaped corners. The brain seeks for simplicity, the simpler it is, the easier to get it (and the most glucose-effective). Anyway, if Apple came with that shape, this is rather to communicate us a message rather than to provide additional screen space. They could make it flush left-right, resulting in a screen-wide bezel, with a bottom counterpart acting as a "function area" as Kuo divinated a few months ago. But they didn't do that, the reason not being differentiation from other smartphones but rather to reveal their efforts to begin to remove that top bezel by reducing it first. This is a reduced bezel, Apple doesn't like bezels at all and it strives to remove those completely. That is how I bind the notch to Apple's well known design perfectionism. And since the information displayed in those "ears" provides visual continuity through the sensor area making it unnoticeable, it is not a deal breaker. The notch is much less visible in real time usage than it is emphasized in promo material.
Wow Paul Thurrott is pissing all over FaceID. I refused to click on the link but basically he claims Apple leaked that Bloomberg story to lower expectations, that Face ID works poorly and likens it to tech that Microsoft abandoned with the Kinect. I’m gonna take a not to wild guess that Thurrott didn’t get a review unit so he’s going off other reviews. But so far the only I’ve seen that had issues with Face ID is The Verge and I don’t trust Nilay Patel at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was exaggerating many issues he might have had.
Any scoop why Gruber got the snub? but congrats on moving up the Apple ladder. Looking forward to a in deep bashing on Android phones.
Just checked his site. Not sure if he’s just being sarcastic or really didn’t get a review unit and is pissed about it. Casey Liss wrote a blog post giving his thoughts on Apple’s reasoning around X reviews.
There are a few things Gruber has complained about recently like the MacBook/Macbook Pro keyboards and he didn’t mince any words on his dislike of the notch (called it gross) so maybe this is Apple showing their displeasure.
I kind of hope Gruber is getting smacked. He's become, to a certain extent, a "deeply worried" (his words re the keyboard) hand-wringer like Marco Arment.
There's a difference between level-headed criticism of Apple and this new style of apocalyptic Chicken-Little "worry" about Apple's "priorities."
The latter spreads an unreasoned, emotional contagion of doubt about Apples's mind-set and future. This encourages the hater crowd, the piranhas of Wall Street, the ignorati among tech journalists, and could even spread into the ranks at Apple itself — where, after all, the Jobs project is just a shared vision — a vulnerable psychological stance, in other words — of how to force difficult advanced products into existence.
Well if Apple is shutting him out a bit they need to be careful. A lot of people seem to respect him and his opinions. Don’t want him starting to get more pissy about Apple on his site.
I don’t want sound like I’m trolling or anything, I’m picking up a new iPhone X on Saturday.
But this reads a bit like a fan boy review. IMO reviewers should be a lot more critical of this phone. I’m in the getting one regardless crowd, but it’s pretty obvious to anyone the X is quite underwhelming. These snapchat features are an embarrassment, that graphic for Apple Pay approval? Wow! Awful. And where is the stand out feature? The notch?
I don’t know / it just feels like a treading water phone to me really.
Seems like you’ve already made up your mind about the phone (not sure why you’re getting one) and are unhappy with any review that doesn’t match your predetermined feelings.
Comments
I dont know why Gruber didnt get a unit though, he may well become bitter, if he isnt already.
I like Gruber. He clearly is an Apple fan, but I find his analysis fair.
maybe once i’ve Got mine for a couple of weeks I might appreciate it more
The Verge test in sunlight had the iPhone X at belt height next to the belt. That logically would be the edge of the range of the Face ID system.
After all, at belt height / next to the belt this is testing the unlock system while looking up at a person's chin.
But this is not Chin ID. It is Face ID.
Logically, if in bright lighting, the iPhone X should be moved up to eye level so that the system can clearly recognize the face of the user.
As far as I know the iPhone X will work at eye level even in bright sunlight.
If you still want to be critical you may want to see its compromises: the notch, the substitution of the Home button with a swipe gesture, the lack of Touch ID. None of these are deal breakers. Touch ID is convenient but invasive, you’re forced to do something. Face ID is seamless, non-invasive. The removal of the Home button may be the most difficult part to get used to, but in exchange you get an increased display size that will make you forget any compromise.
So you have nothing to worry about. Enjoy your iPhone X and put it in a quality case, because you’ll find that you’re using it more abundantly than you expect.
The only other one I found was him saying it took courage to go with the notch.
He's always made critical remarks about Apple, which I think is fair on his part. He never came across, to me, as always trying to moisten Apple's nob to trying to discredit everything they do. I don't always agree with his position but I almost always (or perhaps always) understand where he's coming from.
I'm thinking back to the latest Apple Watch, where critics savages to wireless for not quite working perfectly; "casuals" just gush over how cool the new toy is, which probably makes for better press.
https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/ios/142329/x-cuses-iphone-x-facial-recognition-will-not-meet-expectations