Iphone X Review – Is it still worth it?

Hello there! This is a review of the Apple iPhone X, from an Android and Windows user. Is this phone still worth buying?

NETWORK	Technology	GSM / HSPA / LTE

LAUNCH	Announced	2017, September 12
	Status	Available. Released 2017, November 03

BODY	Dimensions	143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7 mm (5.65 x 2.79 x 0.30 in)
	Weight	174 g (6.14 oz)
	Build	Glass front (Gorilla Glass), glass back (Gorilla Glass), stainless steel frame
	SIM	Nano-SIM
		IP67 dust/water resistant (up to 1m for 30 mins) Apple Pay (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX certified)

DISPLAY	Type	Super Retina OLED, HDR10, Dolby Vision, 625 nits (HBM)
	Size	5.8 inches, 84.4 cm2 (~82.9% screen-to-body ratio)
	Resolution	1125 x 2436 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~458 ppi density)
	Protection	Scratch-resistant glass, oleophobic coating
		Wide color gamut 3D Touch True-tone

PLATFORM	OS	iOS 11.1.1, upgradable to iOS 15.4.1
	Chipset	Apple A11 Bionic (10 nm)
	CPU	Hexa-core 2.39 GHz (2x Monsoon + 4x Mistral)
	GPU	Apple GPU (three-core graphics)

MEMORY	Card slot	No
	Internal	64GB 3GB RAM, 256GB 3GB RAM
		NVMe

MAIN CAMERA	Dual	12 MP, f/1.8, 28mm (wide), 1/3″, 1.22µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS 12 MP, f/2.4, 52mm (telephoto), 1/3.4″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 2x optical zoom
	Features	Quad-LED dual-tone flash, HDR (photo/panorama), panorama, HDR
	Video	4K@24/30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps

SELFIE CAMERA	Dual	7 MP, f/2.2, 32mm (standard) SL 3D, (depth/biometrics sensor)
	Features	HDR
	Video	1080p@30fps

SOUND	Loudspeaker	Yes, with stereo speakers
	3.5mm jack	No

COMMS	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, hotspot
	Bluetooth	5.0, A2DP, LE
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS
	NFC	Yes
	Radio	No
	USB	Lightning, USB 2.0

FEATURES	Sensors	Face ID, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer

BATTERY	Type	Li-Ion 2716 mAh, non-removable (10.35 Wh)
	Charging	Fast charging 15W, 50% in 30 min (advertised) USB Power Delivery 2.0 Qi wireless charging
	Talk time	Up to 21 h (3G)

MISC	Colors	Space Gray, Silver
	Models	A1865, A1901, A1902, A1903, iPhone10,3, iPhone10,6
	SAR	1.09 W/kg (head)     1.17 W/kg (body)
	Price	About 280 EUR

TESTS	Performance	AnTuTu: 233100 (v7) GeekBench: 10215 (v4.4) GFXBench: 28fps (ES 3.1 onscreen)
	Display	Contrast ratio: Infinity (nominal), 5.013 (sunlight)
	Camera	Photo / Video
	Loudspeaker	Voice 68dB / Noise 74dB / Ring 76dB
	Audio quality	Noise -93.7dB / Crosstalk -82.8dB
	Battery life	Endurance rating 74h

This is my 1^st ever review of an iPhone. I’ve never owed an iPhone or any Apple product for that matter. So, I can’t say much about the Apple ecosystem and that sync and amazing transfer system that most of you won’t stop talking about. Think of this as a review iPhone X, from an android and windows enthusiastic user.

The 1^st thing I noticed when I held this phone was how premium it felt. The built quality and quality of materials used all feel premium. Does it justify the expensive price tag, though? Well, not really but yeah, somehow.

Remember the 1^st time we switch from plastic to an all metal and glass design with the Samsung Galaxy S6, well, it feels like that.

 

So, the design comes with gorilla glass for the front and back and stainless steel for the frame. And all these coming in at just 174g, neat.

It’s IP67 dust and water resistant, but I couldn’t test that for sure. Since the iPhone 7 plus is, then this is definitely true too.

On the left are the volume rockers and the silence slider, which mutes all calls and notification sounds.



The power button and the sim card tray on the right.

On the back are the dual camera setup, LED flash and the Apple logo.

We have the speaker grill and the lightening charging port on the bottom.

Up front is the 5.8” screen, which is super bright at 625 nits.

Apple calls this the Super Retina OLED. Looks as good as a Samsung Super AMOLED screen to me, though.

It has a resolution of 1125 x 2436px, and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio.

It’s also Scratch-resistant, Dolby vision, wide colour gamut, 3D touch and a bunch of other cool stuffs.

 

It comes out of the box with iOS 11 pre-installed but upgradable to iOS 14, as I know most of you are using already.

It uses the older Apple A11 Bionic chip, and the Apple GPU with 3 core graphics. I haven’t really seen anyone gaming on an iPhone before. It might seem like a joke, but I’m being honest here.

I wonder if they assume it’ll drain the 2716mAh battery too quickly.

Then, finally, a 3GB RAM with 64GB or 256GB of storage. Oh yeah, no SD card support here, which is a bummer, cos the apple app sizes are huge. Like, a 25MB WhatsApp app on Android is about 80MB on iOS.

 

For security, we get Face ID, which fires up the sensors at the front of the device to scan your face. Taking a look at the top notch here, you’ll notice some two lights flashing all crazy. These lights are infrared so, you won’t see them with your naked eyes.

Remember, those times when we used to check if a tv remote was working or not. Well, that’s about the same thing.

 

Now, let’s talk about the cameras.

The front facing camera, is a 7MP, 32mm with HDR support.

In my opinion, it takes good enough photos. They are a bit too warm and sometimes, too greenish.



Portrait mode with the front facing camera also works fine in most situation. It did a good job detecting what’s in front of it and then blurring out what’s further from it. Even though I appear to be wearing earrings here, that’s just one of the tripod legs, it missed to blur out.

It shoots video at 1080p, 30fps. It doesn’t come with any form of stabilization as you can see here, so try to keep your hands still.

 

For the rear cameras, we have a 12MP 28mm, wide main camera and a 12MP, 52mm, telephoto, a quad LED dual tone flash. And if you closely, you’ll see that the LED comes with a pair of different colours.

And just like the front facing camera, photos are a bit warmer and greener here too. If you don’t tab to focus; it misses your face at times.

Portrait mode this time is ok, yet, the edges of the photos I got aren’t the smoothers I’ve seen so far. Even the all famous smartphone photo king, the Google Pixel, also struggles with this, sometimes.

Honestly, I wasn’t super impressed. But I think it is because I’ve heard so much hype around it that, I was expecting too much. Frankly speaking, for photos, I’ll choose a Samsung flagship instead.

 

It shoots at 4K, 60fps, or 1080p at 240fps, for some super slow-motion video.

I get why most people prefer the iPhone for recording videos.

Videos are on point. Autofocus, super-fast when need be but still misses sometimes.

 

 

 

I did notice a change in options when you swipe on either side of the notch. Swiping down from the right, presents you with the quick settings and then from the left shows your notifications.

And the swipe up for home feature, it so cool that most android phones are adapting to it. Then gently swipe up and hold for recent apps is something you’ll get used to with time.

I still don’t admire the notification arrangement, but maybe, that’s just me.

And the wake feature works fine. I personally don’t like it as much, cos the screen sometimes turns on when you’re just walking with the phone in your hands.



Regardless to say, iPhones have their advantages

Now that widgets and App drawers are on iPhone with iOS 14, everything a bit organized now

Apple devices in general don’t lose value with time as much as their Android counterparts

For instance, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge which dropped about the same price as the iPhone 7S in the same year is about GHc 800, whiles the iPhone 7S is still crawling around Ghc 1300.

And lastly, the ecosystem.