TR Forums

A fantastic post from a very interesting chap:

What we see is Apple is doing what they do best: Taking chances. They made a risky bet with the iPhone X and covered it with the iPhone 8. The new and improved perception of Apple might come from the realization that both bets are winning, and that the iPhone X is a radically new, as opposed to a merely improved, breed of smartphone — and probably is the start of a new succession of carefully incremented future models.

I read that yesterday. Quite interesting and makes me look at my X a little differently. It's like the original iPhone all over again. It will be he new baseline to which everything else is iterated upon.

tanker27 wrote:

It will be he new baseline to which everything else is iterated upon.

Exactly.

Two things stand out for me after using my X for a week:

1) Gestures rock
2) Using Face ID to unlock secure apps is magical

Yes and yes.

I was skeptical about FaceID but dang if it just isnt cool. And I thought Fingerprint tech was cool. Since yesterdays back and forth about how the fingerprintID works, needs to be refreshed within 24hrs or a passcode is needed, I wonder if FaceID works the same way or if the time has gotten shorter like 12 or even 6 hours.

You guys don't mind paying for a forked device for features which essentially could have been an over the air update to most current models?

Considering I was on a 6+ I think I got my monies worth out of it. Heck, I even sold it for 250 bucks that I put toward my X. Well, yes. I'll probably keep my X just as long if not longer.

Heiwashin wrote:

You guys don't mind paying for a forked device for features which essentially could have been an over the air update to most current models?

Some of the features (like FaceID) are hardware-dependent.

It'd be nice if software (especially gestures) on every iPhone worked the same but right now it's swipe down from the top for Control Center on one set of phones and swipe up from the bottom on the rest. That kind of inconsistency should get fixed but frankly this kind of lack of polish is typical of Tim Cook's Apple (see also sharp edges on MacBook Pros, stagnating product line, rumors of competing projects and doubled/tripled effort).

The problem with this strategy is that the iPhone 8 is DOA. But I guess that's just lost sales and Apple has plenty of money.

So the phone is "radically new" because the internal layout is a bit more different than in past revisions? Ignoring the fact that each new phone has a completely redesigned layout as it is, it's not like they just use the same PCB and solder on revision+ of a chip for each iteration of the iPhone. Are we caught up on the physical shape of a complex circuit board as being the only defining factor of the whole phone being radically new?

I'm sorry. I just don't understand some people's enthusiasm for a company, and I'm not just picking on Apple here.

Anyone who believes in this nonsense takes away from the hard work that the engineers did on prior iPhones. Praising iterative designs like they are the second coming of the iPhone only increases the chances that the company will stop revolutionizing because giving it rounded corners will be sufficient to drive people to the stores.

Radically new is something like flash storage for hard drives. Stacking a PCB because you have new gear to squeeze in is not radically new at all.

Yeah, interesting (ta for the link), but ... the X looks great, but it's £1000, £1200 including AppleCare. The original iPhone was £250. And my disposable income certainly hasn't gone up by 300% in 10 years.

Maybe what would have been radical would have been covering the £250, or at least the <£500, phone market with something radical too.

Think about how radical Apple was back then, in ~6 months it launched the iPhone, iPod Touch, and MacBook Air, all amazing devices at the time.

I'm sorry. I just don't understand some people's enthusiasm for a company, and I'm not just picking on Apple here.

Here at TR, I think it's enthusiasm for hardware and devices, rather than for a company.

£250

I thought that it was always a $600-and-up device and that anything lower involved subsidies? Also in the last few years the British Pound has tanked in global value. Apple aligns everything with USD, so at least part of the huge increase is exchange rates. $1000 roughly equals £1000 if you assume that includes VAT where USD doesn't.

At the historical 1.5/1 that makes the iPhone X roughly £750. So, still a huge increase over historical prices.

Then again, Apple is pricing the X as a super-premium product. So $/£1000 sounds about right.

Really, the best iPhone to get right now is some version of the 7.

Heiwashin wrote:

You guys don't mind paying for a forked device for features which essentially could have been an over the air update to most current models?

Over the air update?

Face ID - hardware feature
Edge to edge OLED display - hardware feature
Removal of home button - hardware feature

Convert wrote:

So the phone is "radically new" because the internal layout is a bit more different than in past revisions?

Removal of home button + Face ID + gestures = radical

End User wrote:

Heiwashin wrote:

You guys don't mind paying for a forked device for features which essentially could have been an over the air update to most current models?

Over the air update?

Face ID - hardware feature
Edge to edge OLED display - hardware feature
Removal of home button - hardware feature

Face ID is awesome. I can't wait for my killer to wave my phone in front of my dead face to unlock it. Security WINNING!

Last time I checked facial recognition can be done on any computing device. I'm not sure why you're convinced it can only be done with specialized hardware.

It's like you guys have been hypnotized.

Vhalidictes wrote:

End User wrote:

Heiwashin wrote:

You guys don't mind paying for a forked device for features which essentially could have been an over the air update to most current models?

Over the air update?

Face ID - hardware feature
Edge to edge OLED display - hardware feature
Removal of home button - hardware feature

Face ID is awesome. I can't wait for my killer to wave my phone in front of my dead face to unlock it. Security WINNING!

You have a killer?

Heiwashin wrote:

Last time I checked facial recognition can be done on any computing device. I'm not sure why you're convinced it can only be done with specialized hardware.

Face ID requires specialized hardware to accurately map the geometry of a users face.

The technology that enables Face ID is some of the most advanced hardware and software that Apple has created. The TrueDepth camera captures accurate face data by projecting and analyzing over 30,000 invisible dots to create a depth map of the users face and also captures an infrared image of the users face. A portion of the A11 chip's neural engine — protected within the Secure Enclave — transforms the depth map and infrared image into a mathematical representation and compares that representation to the enrolled facial data.

Vhalidictes wrote:

Face ID is awesome. I can't wait for my killer to wave my phone in front of my dead face to unlock it. Security WINNING!

When you put it that way getting your fingertips cut off doesn't sound so bad.

Redocbew wrote:

Vhalidictes wrote:

Face ID is awesome. I can't wait for my killer to wave my phone in front of my dead face to unlock it. Security WINNING!

When you put it that way getting your fingertips cut off doesn't sound so bad.

Or getting ones eye plucked from its socket.

Heiwashin wrote:

Last time I checked facial recognition can be done on any computing device. I'm not sure why you're convinced it can only be done with specialized hardware.

It's like you guys have been hypnotized.

Then you need to check again, because the way the iPhone X does facial recognition is vastly different than just 'any computing device'. It's not simply a matter of getting a 2D picture from a camera and matching various points. Here's a fairly simple write-up on it:

https://www.androidcentral.com/differen ... -unlocking

Vhalidictes wrote:

End User wrote:

Heiwashin wrote:

You guys don't mind paying for a forked device for features which essentially could have been an over the air update to most current models?

Over the air update?

Face ID - hardware feature
Edge to edge OLED display - hardware feature
Removal of home button - hardware feature

Face ID is awesome. I can't wait for my killer to wave my phone in front of my dead face to unlock it. Security WINNING!

You're killer would have a far easier time using your finger print from your dead hands, than waving your phone in front of your face since you have to be looking at the phone.

I don't think that would be so much of a problem, but if EU is right and there's an infrared image involved, then the killer may need to work somewhat quickly so they could get what they needed from the phone before the body cooled.

Just because you CAN use unneeded junk to do facial recognition don't mean it's needed. Also the entire thing is a gimmicky waste of time. You guys are suckers.

Not to mention we're clearly talking about a near ideal situation here. This isn't the kind of facial recognition that's done from an old security camera of a partially obscured face using a grainy image in low light of someone who was a considerable distance away from the camera.

Heiwashin wrote:

Just because you CAN use unneeded junk to do facial recognition don't mean it's needed. Also the entire thing is a gimmicky waste of time. You guys are suckers.

Classic.

derFunkenstein wrote:

£250

I thought that it was always a $600-and-up device and that anything lower involved subsidies? Also in the last few years the British Pound has tanked in global value. Apple aligns everything with USD, so at least part of the huge increase is exchange rates. $1000 roughly equals £1000 if you assume that includes VAT where USD doesn't.

By the time we could get it (10th November, exactly 10 years ago!!) it was $399 == £197 (ex. tax). I guess it's fair, the pound was worth $2.09 then and now is $1.32, and VAT was 17.5% and now is 20%, and inflation has happened and pay rises haven't ...

bjm wrote:

You're killer would have a far easier time using your finger print from your dead hands, than waving your phone in front of your face since you have to be looking at the phone.

Good point. It's almost as if you shouldn't use biometrics at all.

Vhalidictes wrote:

bjm wrote:

You're killer would have a far easier time using your finger print from your dead hands, than waving your phone in front of your face since you have to be looking at the phone.

Good point. It's almost as if you shouldn't use biometrics at all.

Good grief. You can always turn it off.