At the Apple Keynote, as Tim Cook announced the iPhone X (it’s ‘ten’, not ‘ex’, as you may know by now), he said the launch of the original iPhone 10 years ago had set the marker for the following decade. And that was true. He wasn’t overselling it a pinch.
But he followed that up by saying the iPhone X would set the marker for the next 10 years to come. And that’s a harder proposition to match up to, given how much the rest of the market has caught up, and maybe even moved forward.
The iPhone X is Apple’s most radical design departure from its standard iPhone template, primarily because of the front of the device. It ditches the home button and the accompanying ‘chin’, and features an edge-to-edge display, much like the Essential Phone, the Mi Mix, LG G6, and the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus before it.
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This is Apple doubling down on large-screen displays, but not really breaking new ground. Others have done it, and can legitimately claim to have done it better.
The large notch at the top, which Apple calls the TrueDepth sensor — to accommodate the earpiece, the front-camera and the myriad sensors for Face ID, the phone’s next big selling point and the replacement for Touch ID — eats into a large part of the display, and leaves only a tiny bit on either side for the notification icons and phone indicators (known internally among Apple employees as ‘ears’). The Essential Phone crammed the earpiece into a minuscule slot above the screen while leaving only a wedge for the camera, while the Mi Mix ditched an earpiece entirely in favour of a piezoelectric acoustic vibrator which created sound waves from across the front of the phone. And unlike the Galaxy S8s and Note 8, the X’s display is still flat, and not curved over the edges. But by all accounts, the phone still looks worth every penny. David Pierce of Wired magazine even said, “The phone costs $1,000, but it feels like something you might actually want to pay $1,000 for.” It’ll be interesting to note how developers take advantage of the extra screen real-estate and whether they make unique use of the ‘ears’.
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But arguably, Apple’s attempts at facial recognition are what stole the show. Face ID is touted to be the next big thing in biometric authentication techniques. You just have to look at your phone, and it’ll unlock itself, Apple says. Now, phones have recognised faces before, and the idea itself isn’t particularly new. But it’s the implementation which could set new standards for the industry. Instead of relying purely on the front camera and accompanying authentication software as previous phones, Face ID implements an entirely new hardware set-up.
In the same manner that Touch ID set fingerprint sensors rolling across the hand-held devices market, Face ID could force manufacturers to get back to the drawing board. Apple has spent a lot of time and money on R&D for Face ID — which has reportedly been in development since 2013 — and it should be better, and more affordable, over time.
Despite its price tag, the iPhone X will find its chunk of takers, and this adoption by the market will force the Samsungs, Googles and LGs of the world to take a bite of the apple. More than anything, Apple’s sheer command over the mobile phone market has always been the driving force for other manufacturers.
Face ID – How does it work?
Those WhatsApp forwards about wives unlocking sleeping husbands’ phones with Face ID may not be enitrely true. Here’s how it works.
A dot projector sprays invisible ‘infrared dots’ onto your face to create a digital map of your face, tracing every contour. An infrared camera photographs this image and matches it with the photograph stored in your phone’s database. Apple claims Face ID can measure depth, and that the entire system is accurate enough to differentiate between a photo, a 3D mask, and your actual face. It’ll only work when you’re looking directly at the phone, with your eyes open. Look away, and it won’t work. While claims of accuracy and security can only be measured once the phone makes it way to the public, at first glance, the technology seems incredibly nifty.