rf9

lkrupp said:

“Works most of the time.” That’s a phrase I’m reading in other reviews also. Well, “most of the time” isn’t good enough. It has to work EVERY time or people will simply abandon it. If you have to repeat the process a second time once in a while that’s going to be be a problem. But let's assume that the AI involved will learn and get better with time.

Touch ID only works “most of the time” and people haven’t abandoned it.  I know it fails occasional for me.  It downright fails a lot of the time if your fingers are sweaty or wet.
FaceID has to be as good at or better than TouchID.

AI_lias said:

JWSC said:

holyone said:

... IMO killing touch ID is a horrendous mistake and is testament to Apple being technology drunk ...

... Face ID seems like a fan boy geeking out with little thought beyond the obvious ...

Has it not dawned on you that Face ID is far more secure than Touch ID ever could be?

More secure, yes. More practical, not sure yet. There comes a point where even if it is more secure than Touch ID, the difference does not have many practical implications. I'm not worried about anyone bypassing my Touch ID, and it seems that the price you need to pay for it, in design, in convenience, and in well, price, is not worth it. The only way it's worth it, is if Apple wants to get a competitive advantage over others manufacturers, and in that way, we end up paying for it. It will probably be like the Touch bar. Might not be worth it, since it will be all touch screens soon. That's were the iPad is already moving to: using a keyboard and a touch screen.

The entire point of FaceID was to shrink the body of the phone down to the screen by eliminating the bottom bezel.  If that's valuable, then it's worth it.
Personally I'm getting the iPhone X for that one specific reason and no others.  I prefer the smaller (non-Plus) size iPhone but want the dual cameras in the Plus size.  The larger screen in the Plus size is nice to have too.  For all intents and purposes it's an iPhone 8 plus in the body of an iPhone 8, and that's exactly what I want.  But I admit that probably a relative few really care that much about the size like I do and that's obvious when people say they'd get an iPhone X Plus because it would be an even bigger screen.
Truth is, I'd probably not have got the iPhone 7 Plus if it weren't for the cameras.  I feel like iPhone X gets me exactly the benefits of Plus in the smaller body.

The more I think about day to day use case of FaceID, the more optimistic I am about it.  The more I pay attention the more inconvenient I realize TouchID can actually be and I realize that if I had FaceID the phone would have already been authenticated seconds ago.  This was specifically apparent when I was at Disneyland and TouchID started failing a lot because my hands were sweaty.  I ended up disabling TouchID for unlock and setting it to a 5 min timeout with pass code.

HeliBum said:

I have to admit that I'm almost giddy every time I use Apple Pay with my Apple Watch in Walgreen's stores. The closest supermarket to our house, and one we enjoy shopping in, is a Tom Thumb (across the street from the Walgreen's), so I hope All-Purpose Guru is correct.

Nothing compares to the feeling of paying with the Apple Watch.  It’s just too easy and convenient. (Literally too easy )

zoetmb said:

Until one can leave their wallet at home because Apple Pay is not just ubiquitous at retail, but also at ATM's, it almost doesn't matter.   And most people who drive will carry their wallet anyway, because that's where their driver's license is.   At some of the retailers where I use Apple Pay, it's badly implemented.  When I use my debit card, which I do for groceries, drugs, etc., I still have to indicate whether it's debit or credit, confirm the amount, sign and indicate whether I want cash back.   At the drug store, there are additional steps because it also asks for a telephone number if you don't hand them your frequent shopper card to scan.   So it really doesn't take any less time than swiping a card, although it obviously has some security benefits.  

Not even.  Credit card chip readers suck big time.  They are very very slow and annoying.  Just skipping the chip reader alone is worthwhile.  It used to be fast when it was swipe but now that chip has replaced them it’s hellish.

gmgravytrain said:

Why is the Pixel considered an iPhone 7 rival? It's an Android smartphone and I would think most rivals would be other Android smartphones in that same price range. I would think that many older Nexus smartphone users upgrading that's driving Pixel sales. I find it unlikely there are going to be a lot of iPhone switchers buying Pixel smartphones especially if the supply is limited. Switching OS platforms isn't all that trivial. Does the Pixel really offer all that much for such a hassle? There are plenty of flagship Android smartphones like the Galaxy S7 and all the dozens of low-cost Chinese-branded smartphones the Pixel will be competing with and I would think the iPhone 7 would be low on the list of being seen as a rival.

Because it gets page clicks to say iPhone.
I'm not being snarky.  Comparing Pixel to other Android phones doesn't get attention the way comparing it to iPhone does.
Just look at this article's title?  There's no reason they had to say "iPhone 7 rival" in that title.  It could have just read "Google Struggling To Meet Demand for Pixel Phone."