9 ms·
Since we're sharing anecdotes, I'll share mine. I was very skeptical about the notches. But after a month of use, I find that I don't notice the missing space
by nostromo 9y ago
Since we're sharing anecdotes, I'll share mine.
I was very skeptical about the notches. But after a month of use, I find that I don't notice the missing space at all.
Most often, it really does feel like the entire screen is being used. It's almost an optical illusion.
My two minor issues with the X are: 1) the glass back makes it very slippery! (It slides off the arm rests on my couch no matter how well I place it.) 2) The protruding camera on the back is very noticable. I wish Apple would make a flat-backed phone again. When I set my phone on a flat surface, it shouldn't wobble.
Overall I was very skeptical of the X for a lot of reasons... but it's by far the best phone I've ever used. (And it better be at this price!)
- fossuser 9y agoThe Apple branded silicone case fixes both your issues and looks pretty nice too. I used to be a no case person, but I got one for the X because I had the same issues you did.
- dpark 9y agoI can't stand the silicone cases. They are grippy (good) but are very difficult to get in/out of my pants pocket (bad). My wife likes hers, but it goes in a purse so she doesn't experience the drawback frequently. I've been using the Apple leather cases for my last two phones (including the X). They aren't as grippy as the silicone cases, and they cost more, but I find they feel better in the hand and don't have the "stuck to my pocket" problem. I used to be a "no case" person as well. I dropped my 3GS a half dozen times and it just got dinged up corners. Same with a Lumia after that. I dropped my Nexus 6 about 5 inches and the screen shattered. Started using cases after that.
- prawn 9y agoI too prefer the leather cases, but mine started breaking and the plastic to which the leather is bonded made for a very sharp edge. I cut my hand a couple of times just trying to get the phone out of my pocket. Too expensive to easily justify a replacement.
- bdcravens 9y agoThe leather cases don't stand up well to sweat, especially if you have heavy salt content in your sweat (I've had both style cases, the leather ones look pretty bad quickly)
- ghaff 9y agoPersonally I’m a fan of the Otterbox cases, especially Symmetry. They don’t suffer from the pure silicone case resistance to sliding into pockets but they do subtly improve grip and would seem to offer pretty solid protection.
- shadowtree 9y agoApple expects you to use a case, preferably their silicone or leather ones. Put them on and you'll see how the back suddenly becomes perfectly flat and non slippery. The notch helps in securing the case. The changing shape of the notch also means that cases don't transfer between iPhone models. I guarantee Jony uses a case.
- mulmen 9y agoIf it requires a case to not be a nuisance why isn't the case included? Why is the phone made of glass if nobody is ever going to see it? Why go to the lengths to make it thinner than the camera just to add a case? It's just really sloppy and antithetical to what I appreciate(d?) about Apple's devices. I still wish there was a smaller iPhone that I could operate one-handed without the hacky home button tap to reach the top of the screen. How does that work on the X without the home button?
- sxates 9y agoBecause there are hundreds of options to choose from?
- mulmen 9y agoI don't choose Apple for options. I choose Apple for devices that work and get out of my way. Customization is not always a feature. This is a similar philosophy to sane defaults in software. From my perspective the aftermarket cell phone case fixes a flaw in the design.
- Trezoid 9y agoReachability on an x is done by swiping down the bottom edge of the screen, and it really does feel a lot more natural than the double-tap of the older iPhones.
- megy 9y agoBecause there is a million different ones.
- 9y ago
- philwelch 9y agoBoth of your issues can be solved with a case. I don’t like cases either, but most people use them, and if the camera was flush with the back of the phone, then all of those peoples’ cameras would be recessed into a hole, which is probably a bad thing.
- spurcell93 9y agoI don't really buy that recessed into a hole argument. I bet that case manufacturers would have no trouble modifying their designs to accommodate it. Like a gradient of thickness leading to the area around the camera, for example.
- josho 9y agoI don’t remember anyone complaining about a recessed camera with the iPhone 4 bumper case. So yeh, I don’t buy the parent’s argument either. https://images.anandtech.com/doci/3794/iPhone4-3441.jpg https://images.anandtech.com/doci/3794/iPhone4-3441.jpg
- philwelch 9y agoPeople don’t use bumper cases anymore, though.
- nkristoffersen 9y agoThat’s not what happened though. With the older iPhones (with flat cameras), the flash would actually reflect off cases. It happened to me often enough. you can find examples of this in a web search.
- idbehold 9y agoThe people suggesting to buy a case are probably the same people defending the audio jack removal. Imagine how much more battery they could fit in if the phone was a bit thicker.
- rayiner 9y agoThe other way to look at it is that the phones need to be thinner to make them a reasonable size with a case on them. Cases are a consumable--mine has a ton of dings in it that otherwise the iPhone itself would've absorbed.
- stouset 9y agoNot to mention, cases are for personalization.
- megaman22 9y agoOr you could just not build the whole damn thing out of glass. Steel or carbon fiber can be light and thin, without the propensity to shatter into smithereens.
- KozmoNau7 9y agoMost phones are a lot more durable than people seem to think, or maybe they're too lazy to take care of their expensive devices. Sure, my Moto X has a couple of battle scars, but nothing is broken. Patina is cool and adds character.
- tmd83 9y agoThis is one thing I absolutely don't understand. Phone makers should be sued to oblivion (and I'm saying this someone who is not fond of the litigation culture of US in general) for making a portable device that is essentially designed for failure .. a fall. A phone that is meant to be held for hours, to be placed in all sorts of surface, giving it a slippery back is willful negligence for me. But it's no nice looking they would say while buying a cover to promptly cover it the moment they unbox it. The idiocy of modern day smartphone culture boggles my mind. Ironic that it reminds me of apple's 1984 commercial in a bad way.
- saagarjha 9y agoQuite literally any smartphone on the market would break if it fell. Are you suggesting that every phone manufacturer should be sued?
- CaptSpify 9y agoWat I've dropped plenty of phones plenty of times and they've never broken.
- powvans 9y agoWhat's so infuriating about this is that it seems like they go out of their way to make the back of the phone slippery. The metal back of the iPhone 6 and 6s is like teflon and the glass on the X is almost as slippery. Why? I have an old iPhone 4 sitting on the shelf that I occasionally pickup just to marvel at how it sticks in your hand. They proved it could be done years ago.
- dpark 9y agoI don't find the glass back on the X to be very slippery at all in hand. My fingers stick to it quite well. It does slide on furniture, but in hand it feels pretty secure, especially relative to older iPhones. The 4 was easier to hold because it was just so small.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- KhanMahGretsch 9y ago>I wish Apple would make a flat-backed phone again. When I set my phone on a flat surface, it shouldn't wobble. Well, the main issue is the wobble, but a flatness isn't necessarily the only solution. I wonder if they could use a less-conventional design, perhaps a contoured back with a "fatter" top and bottom that would allow it to rest horizontally, while improving balance and hand-feel. That's a pretty serious camera in the phone, they're doing plenty with the space they're using, and I bet they could cram some more fun components with a fatter bottom.
- megy 9y agoYou need a case, fixes both those issues.
- PakG1 9y agoBecause I'm so scared of getting cracked screens from accidentally dropping my phone, I'll usually get a heavy-duty case (I like the tech21 cases) to protect my phone. This pretty much nullifies anything about the aesthetics of the phone. But having a phone I don't need to worry about is more important to me than how it looks. I'm curious why others are willing to risk it after spending so much money on their phones.
- ethagknight 9y agoMy iPhone X screen cracked falling out of my car door onto concrete. 80 days of ownership in. AppleCare FTW. I’ve never had an iPhone display crack so easily.
- brisance 9y agoMy glass screen didn’t crack but it did cause the OLED to break. https://imgur.com/a/mIq13 https://imgur.com/a/mIq13 AppleCare Plus FTW, indeed.
- PakG1 9y agoI really would prefer not to pay extra hundreds of dollars just so that I don't need to choose the cheap option for repair in order to keep my warranty. But it is what it is.
- ethagknight 9y agoI certainly understand. As a counter point and a bit of the (probably faulty) logic for why i choose no case + AppleCare: I’ve managed to break screens in cases in prior iphones. I’ve used local screen replacement shops and have been totally unimpressed with the quality of replacement i.e. I’m convinced i did not receive a remotely comparable screen to Apple’s OEM. I use my phone all day every day for work. I keep my phone in my jeans pocket and really prefer the no-case slim fit. Cheap cases tend to last me 6 months a pop before getting ratty looking, so i can either spend $50 on a nice Otterbox or other quality case or $15*4 for a new cheap case every so often. Apple care, expensive though it may be, gets me a few mulligans while also providing broader coverage against other unknown damage or warranty issues, something even the nicest Otterbox style cases won’t afford me. It’s all a trade off. My preference is expensive but I historically break a screen every year, why not plan accordingly.
- dbbk 9y agoThat's weird cause I actually find the X the grippiest iPhone I've had yet. My biggest complaint about the iPhone 6-7 was that it would slip out of my hand all the time. But with the X, I can even hold it at an angle with three fingers and it grips to my fingers. I don't know how, or why my experience is so different, but it's one of my favourite things about it.
- jxdxbx 9y agoIt's not like I love the notch, but I'd rather have it than a smaller screen or no sensors, which are the two only other options. It's not a piece of missing screen, it's two bonus bits of screen (and I like the approach of just simplifying the status bar and jamming it in there).