rattlhed

Been waiting until some reviews came in before I made my decision.  Just bought one.  It sounds like this is exactly what I've been wanting.  I have an Echo, it's a great smart speaker, controls lights in my house and is fun to use, but audio quality is just crap.  I also have a soundbar under my TV in my living room.  It's good for movies, much better audio than what my TV can put out, but for music it's poor at best.  No bass, way too overpowering mid-range.  I don't have room in my living room for a full size audio setup and need something that can just sit on a bookshelf.  The HomePod sounds like exactly what I need, a compact speaker that delivers great sound.  I'm a subscriber to Apple Music (love it) so I'm really looking forward to the integration.  I don't care about Spotify or Pandora, I don't use either service.  And with my Echo on hand, I personally don't care if the HomePod isn't up to par, I'll just keep using the Echo.  I just want the ability to play music in my house and have it sound good without wearing headphones!  Looking forward to Friday, and if I don't like it, 14 days to return.

I love my iPhone X.  It was a tough decision giving up the size of the 7 plus, but after over a month of use now, I don't miss the 7 plus at all.  The form factor is perfect in this phone.  The display is gorgeous, the phone is unbelievably fast and responsive.  And the battery life is very good.  I've yet to use the phone in normal daily use where i worry I won't have enough battery to get through the day (individual results may vary!).

Honestly though, it think the CR testing seem reasonable.  How are you going to test the durability of a phone?  I've seen YouTube videos of drop tests, but how easy are those to manipulate.  Drop it in just a certain way and the phone will fall a certain way.  The tumbler seems like a good way to randomize the testing.  And if they tested multiple phones, not just one or two, then you can average out the testing and make a determination.  Yes, the phone is fragile, so is every industry leading phone.  I chose to not put a case on my phone.  Rather I use a Zagg shield on the front and an eGrips skin on the back (which I highly recommend).  Keeps the phone very sleek and beautiful.  If I drop it, I'm aware of the consequences.  
The battery test also seems reasonable.  Have a robot perform a bunch of functions until the battery runs out.  So many people are saying they rated the Galaxy series higher because they have a larger battery.  That's not what they were doing, they were rating how long the battery lasts.  19 hours is pretty solid for constant use.  And given how much smaller the X battery is compared to other phones, I think this says a lot for efficiency of the iPhone chips.  Like many of you, I'd be willing to sacrifice a few more millimeters of thickness to have a larger battery, but Apple doesn't agree and we get what we get.

I think CR got this one right and they still rate it one of the best phones on the market.

Hm...I ran 5 miles this morning and didn't earn the badge   Tracked it on my Apple Watch and my activity ring shows it.  Hopefully I get the reward by the end of the day or I'm going to start a class action lawsuit against AAPL

Ps: be sure to unpair your Apple Watch before upgrading. The Apple Store people forgot to tell me that, and I wasted time having to reset then restore the Apple Watch in order to pair the watch to iPhoneX. 

Thanks for the reminder about unpairing my watch.  I just did that while iOS 11.1 is installing on my X.

Something we have to keep in mind, the iPhone is one of the most (if not the most) produced consumer product in the world.  Estimates are 50 million pre-orders are coming at the end of October.  Find another consumer product launch that has to meet demand of 50,000,000 units at launch.  That's about 1/2 a million units per day for 3 months.  HALF A MILLION UNITS A DAY.  Sure the components are difficult to manufacture, this is cutting edge technology, but even if manufacturing challenges of the FaceID weren't an issue, that's still a crap load of phones to pump out to meet initial demand.  Of course there's going to be delays and not everyone will get their phone on 11/3.  Be patient and don't call this a failure.  The demand for this product is setting a historical president.  Think about the amount of tech going into the iPhone and how many they need to make.  It's nuts!