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I know listening to the AppleInsider tests on my MBP over the web cannot possibly allow me to fairly judge the differences between the speakers. That being said, from what I could extract listening from this limited position, I would say the clear winner was the Sonos and the HomePod coming in second and the Google Max 3rd.  The Sonos in every test just sounded cleaner and more crisp.  The Sonos sounded clearly better from where I stand.  But again, I get that it's not a fair judgement, not actually hearing them in person. This AppleInsider test has definitely drawn my attention to the Sonos.  I will for sure be looking very close at Sonos now and really looking forward to listening to the HomePod versus the Sonos in person!  Hopefully Sonos has plans to change the asthetics of their lineup sooner rather than later because in a looks comparison the HomePod wins hands down!

StrangeDays said:

But...video defaults to NOT being zoomed-and-cropped. You’re saying you intentionally double-tap the screen every time you watch a video in order to zoom-in, which in turn crops off the left and right edges of the video, losing content. Why would you do this?

Because of your post, I decided to play a movie on my iPhone X. So I selected Deadpool, which I bought from Apple. You're right, by default it opens not in full screen mode - video bezels all around - top,bottom, left and right. When I double-tap the screen it opens up in full screen mode. It does not crop anything. It fills the screen. In fact it looks pretty phenomenal! The picture is crisp, the blacks are truly black. Colors are rich and vibrant. The OLED screen really shines. It's honestly quite beautiful!  But the bloody notch is hanging out INSIDE the screen obstructing some of the film, thus ruining the experience. I am watching it as I type this and the main character was flung in the air and was about to be flung off the viewable are of the screen but his head was lost in the notch FIRST before actually leaving the screen. That sort of thing really bothers me. I'm guessing some people can get use to that. But I am of the stance that a screen should be a screen and a screen should not be obstructed. It's real estate for the purpose of displaying the entire context that the author intended. So to answer your question, the reason I double-tap the screen is because I want to take full advantage of the screen. But taking full advantage of the screen on the iPhone X frustratingly falls short. And most of my frustration springs from the fact that it is otherwise a perfect screen - if not for the notch, maybe even the best smartphone screen on the market.

Rayz2016 said:

I think the reason behind the notch is to improve the user experience. If the camera array was above the screen the users would have to look avbive the screen to trigger FaceID then refocus on the screen after being granted access. The notch means they just look at the screen and they’re in.

Well, I own an iPhone X (256GB) and my experience is when watching a movie in full screen, the notch is the star of every film because it literally replaces that film that would be in that area. I've also noticed that may video news broadcasts like NBC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX do not optimize their apps to take advantage of the iPhone X full screen because they don't want their content cut off. So when watching news with their apps you are looking at bezels on the left and right. I have a very dark wallpaper so when I am on the home screen I don't notice the notch, but as soon as I launch any app with a white or light colored backround (which is MOST apps) like Mail, Instagram, Messages, Twitter, etc... the notch just... hovers. Some people say they just got used to it, but I can't get used to it. Like when I am in Messages, texting, my eye often gets drawn to it and it seems like a piece of electrical tape and I just want to peel it off.  And because of the notch, the battery percentage cannot be displayed... because there is not enough room!!  How insane is that, that you cannot see the battery percentage  easily and at a glance on your $1300 cell phone.  I could go on. The notch does not work to improve user experience in my experience. In my experience, it ruins the screen.  I mean, a screen is supposed to be... a screen - viewable in its entirety. Especially on a small device do you not want to obstruct any portion of the screen. That being said, I really like my iPhone X. It's buttery smooths, fast as heck, photos are phenominal. But the experience is ruined EVRY time I go to watch a movie or any kind of video.

Apple's goal with the iPhone X was to make a phone that was ALL screen with no bezels. So, some genius says "Hey, since we don't want to make a small bezel above the screen to put the camera and FaceID technology, let's put the bezel IN the screen!!"  ...and thus the iPhone X was born.  A smartphone maker following that idiotic idea is a kin to how the trend of wearing one's pants with the waits below the butt so the underwear is showing and you have to walk with your legs spread in order to keep the pants up. One person who I guess was considered cool, started that trend and someone said, "Hey, I'm gonna wear my pants that way too!!"  ...and thus that idiotic trend was born.

I'm confused... why would I want to prevent MYSELF from being able to take a screenshot of something on MY OWN PHONE?  What am I missing here?