Upgrading to iPhone X – Am I glad that I did?

When it comes to mobile phones, I have pretty much always been firmly seated in the Apple camp, previously buying the new ones on the day of release. I love the look and feel of the handsets, the ease and variety of apps on the app store, and I always found myself feeling pretty excited every September when the new handsets were announced and new features revealed. That said, since Steve Jobs’ passing, I had felt that Apple had kind of lost its way and become a little less exciting – the new releases didn’t seem quite so epic anymore, the new features not so groundbreaking, and everything just generally less impressive; yet with an ever increasing price. My views on Apple devices had changed so much that the last time I upgraded my phone, it was still in the packaging over 48 hours later – something which would NEVER have happened back in the day. That said, despite other great handsets like the Samsung Galaxy range being on the market, I don’t think I will ever be able to fully move away from an Apple device.

I’d my iPhone 7+ for a while and for the most part I have absolutely loved it. I purposely chose to buy the iPhone with the bigger screen when the plus range was released, largely because with my blog I spend a lot of time on social media and wordpress apps, and access to a larger screen made typing and editing seem so much easier. Despite some of my friends joking that I had bought my iPad out with me, I loved the high quality camera (particularly the portrait function) and the battery life on the whole wasn’t too bad considering the level of functionality.

I didn’t upgrade to the 8+, so it is only when the X got released that I started to consider taking out my upgrade, but the high prices put me off. I recently reached the end of my contract and was looking to make the move, so when Three offered me the chance to put the iPhone X through its paces, it felt like a great opportunity to try before I buy!

A few things that attracted my about the iPhone X were:-

• More camera functionality and 4k video.
• Smaller handset with the same size screen – I occasionally felt like I risked getting RSi in my hands from using the 7+ (no joke) as it was quite hard to stretch across the entire screen one handed.
• FaceID – I have to admit this looked pretty cool, and a step up from the touch ID I had been used to.
• Wireless charging – an additional expense, but something that might become useful in the future!

1 month on, and I’ve been using the iPhone X daily, here’s my thoughts.

What I love

• Camera

The iPhone X has a duel-lens camera on the back of the handset as well as optical image stabilisation. Whilst the megapixels haven’t increased from what I am used to with the iPhone 7+, there are additional features to improve colour reproduction and reduce noise. The portrait mode now has a new lighting feature that allows you to add different effects to your portrait images, including Natural Light, Studio Light, Contour Light, Stage Light and Stage Light Mono. You can also now take selfies in portrait mode too – great for creating that blurred background we are used to creating on our DSLR.

• Size of handset and screen

Despite the handset being smaller than the iPhone 7+, the screen itself (minus the nick at the top) is actually bigger – at 5.8 inches diagonally. The screen is a True Tone screen meaning it automatically adjusts its colour temperature based on the lighting youre in at the time. This ambient lighting mode means that you don’t have to worry about the glare of your phone blinding you if someone texts you in the middle of the night (or in my case if you want to scroll through facebook whilst trying to get your baby back to bed!)

• Face ID

This was super easy to set up and works really well – although it did take a while to get used to not pressing a home button to open the phone. Once my face was registered (took a mere matter of minutes), I was able to simply look at the handset and swipe up to access my homescreen. What’s great about this is I can be comfortable that the girls can’t delete anything off my phone when I am not looking. In case you want others to be able to use your handset, you can also set a 6 digit pin as I had previously.

• 4k video

The quality of the video on the iPhone X is much improved, appearing to be much crisper, much brighter colours and the sound quality is excellent. As someone who takes a lot of videos of our daily life (mainly of the girls for memories sake) and does a lot of insta stories, this was a real positive.

What I am still getting used to:

• Lack of home button – I’ve had an iPhone since 2000 and every single one has had a home button. Whilst it works fine without one and the navigation is still relatively slick, it takes a while to remove a habit you’ve formed for some time!
• Closing down apps – again as above, you get used to doing things in a certain way, and when an app freezes or you want to clear your open pages, I keep forgetting how to do it (as there is no longer a home button to double tap).

Things to be aware of:

As attractive and slick as the glass casing of the iPhone X is, it is clearly very exposed and likely to break if dropped, so a good quality case is a must! My phone from Three was sent with a Tech21 pure clear Iphone X case (and we currently use one of their cases for our ipad too). Their cases have been put through scientific tests with FlexShock impact protection to ensure that they can withstand drops of up to 2 metres, something which is great for peace of mind when you are holding on to a handset worth over £1000. The Tech 21 cases are also ultra thin and durable, meaning that you aren’t sacrificing the aesthetic and lightweight nature of the iPhone X. We are currently using the Tech21 Evo Wallet with concealed card storage which is ideal if you want to travel light.

What I hate:

I was hoping not to have any comments in this category but unfortunately there are a couple!

• By far my biggest annoyance is that there is no longer an option to display remaining battery percentage on your home screen. Due to the ‘nick’ in the screen there is no longer room to display the percentage logo next to the battery bar and as a result my phone has died a few times as I am unable to see quickly just how urgently I might need a charger!
• The same issue applies to setting your alarm – there is something reassuring about seeing that clock symbol on your home screen before you close your eyes, where as again, there is no longer room for this due to the ‘nick’ at the top of the screen.
• Whilst both of these can be checked manually using a different swipe motion to display your settings , not having an instant reassurance of these really really drives me nuts, I have a feeling the screen will be full size on the phone that is released in September 2018 and that Apple will have found a way to combat this area of the screen.

Overall, despite loving the iPhone there is no doubt it has taken a lot of getting used to. Having been used to a home button for a VERY long time, it feels quite alien to manage without one. That said, put an old phone in my hand and I now appear to have forgotten how to work that too! It’s scary how quickly you adjust. With the exception of the alarm and battery annoyances above, largely caused by the ‘nick’ in the screen, the iPhone X has been a largely positive experience so far, and I am glad I took the upgrade. That said, I don’t like to think too much about the overall cost of my contract!!!

A big thank you again to Three for letting me try before I buy and Tech21 for sending me some of their cases to protect me from my clumsiness! Now I just need to wait for the next big announcement from Apple this month to see whether I am tempted by anything new and start to wish that I’d waited. Time will tell!

Lucy