iPhone X: Apple looks to the future, without forgetting the past

In fact, in the last 10 years, every iPhone has been mostly an improvement (or, in the case of ” s “, a filing) compared to the previous one, X collects the legacy of all his ancestors, innovating in several aspects which until now, we have taken for granted and let me pass, the term canonical.

Since the first model, the iPhone has always been characterized by frames, the Home button (then the Touch ID) and the perfect symmetry. The iPhone X breaks these scenes, amazing as 10 years ago with a revolution (smaller scope) that still looks at the center of the screen that, thanks to the improvements introduced in iOS 11, is driven by all the user experience. The large display is a wrap-around OLED, which, according to Phil Schiller, goes beyond the problems of this technology.

The commercial name, Super Retina Display, reflects its technical specifications: 5.8″ diagonal, 2,436 x 1,125 pixel resolution with 458 ppi density (well above the current iPhone 7 Retina screens), a contrast of 1,000,000:1 and a maximum brightness of 625 cd/m2 Supports HDR and Dolby Vision technologies as well as the True Tone already seen and appreciated in the new iPad Pro. On a chronicle, perhaps to avoid criticism of the actual size, the company specifies that.

As I was saying, the features that were once attributed to the Home key, such as app closure to return to the Springboard, through a swipe from top to bottom, and the opening of the app switcher, you get it with the same gesture, but stopping at the center of the screen.

With a swipe right or left on the bottom bar of iOS, instead, you switch from one program to another just like the gesture with four fingers ever on the iPad. A swipe down from the upper-right corner allows you to access the Control Center. The On / Off button, on the other hand, can be used to summon Siri with a long press on it or, with a double-click, to pay with Apple Pay from the lock screen.

The top of the display is interspersed with the much-talked-about ” notch ” featuring such technology as an infrared camera, flood light (ie diffused light), proximity and ambient light sensors, loudspeaker, microphone, 7 megapixel front camera and a dot projector. Apart from the two sensors and the microphone, all the other components are needed to operate Face ID, the new technology behind the security of iPhone X and replacing the Touch ID.

We have already had a chance to express and talk about it in the articles published in recent months (to which I refer), but, apart from the initial slide during Federighi’s demo. It proved to be fast and reliable. Being based on a machine learning technology, with time you learn each feature of our face and every change to our look (such as the use of sunglasses or sunglasses, a new haircut or wearing fancy hats), revealing itself reliably in every situation.

Security also improves greatly, given that the chances of Face ID recognizing another’s face as ours are 1 out of a million, while Touch ID can go wrong in one case every 50,000. The TrueDepth camera recognizes 30,000 invisible faces of the user’s face, making it virtually impossible to unlock without its permission. Even realizing realistic masks, Face ID will never miss a hit.

The Case of iPhone X is the most durable ever made: the glass that protects the screen, and the back consists of a deeper 50% reinforcement layer, while the aluminum frame is made with a alloy created by Apple. It seems that for the first time the company has abandoned the 7000 aluminum and the Gorilla Glass. Inside, the A11 Bionic chip is located, consisting of two cores that work by providing high performance and four high efficiency: the first two are 25% faster than the A10 Fusion. The other four are up to 70%.

All the cores are independent of each other, but they can be used all together if maximum power is needed: the Fusion architecture limit that allows the use of a core set or the other is exceeded. The new SoC also has a neural engine capable of up to 600 billion operations per second. For those who – like me – wonder what a neural engine is, they already have a response directly from Apple:

A neural engine is a hardware component built specifically for automatic learning: the kind of artificial intelligence that allows computers to learn by observing. It can handle the fast operations required by neural networks, but at the same time is incredibly efficient.

It consists of two core independent of the other six, able to recognize people, places and objects in no time. Obviously, it is the basis of the Face ID and Animoji operation. All A11 SoC is designed to be exploited to the fullest by Metal 2, ARKit and CoreML, so that developers can create efficient, fast and intelligent apps in addition to particularly immersive games. Surprisingly, iPhone X also boasts the first GPU designed internally by Cupertino (with a good pace of Imagination Technologies) that with three core blades exceeds 30% of the performance of the previous generation.

The rear cameras, positioned vertically, are accompanied by a quad-flash LED. Both are 12 megapixels: one, wide-angle, has a focal length of f/1.8, the other, it is a focal lens with f/2.4 focal length. They both have optical stabilization, a new color filter, and even though the portrait lighting function is still in beta, they are able to detect the depth of faces by mapping them accurately, thereby creating professional light effects.

The front camera, on the other hand, is 7 megapixels and as I mentioned earlier, it is not called more FaceTime HD, but TrueDepth, just to indicate the depth detection capability, essential for the Face ID.

Thanks to these new features, you can take advantage of the portrait and portrait lighting modes. All cameras are backed by the next-generation ISP processor made by Cupertino, already present in iPhone 7, which allows the device to optimize the photos, even before they are taken, due to its computational power of 1 billion operations per second. Thanks to the new hardware and HEVC compression, you can record videos in 4K to 60 fps that take up little space. As you rotate the video, you can take photos at an 8-megapixel resolution.

It is worth mentioning the new battery with Qi induction charging and fast charging (50% of capacity in just 30 minutes), of which Apple does not declare its capacity, but merely points out that it lasts two hours more than the iPhone 7 (and presumably little more than an iPhone 7 Plus).

To complement its offer, Cupertino has created AirPower, a beautiful white base for induction charging for iPhone X, Apple Watch Series 3 and AirPods with the new case. The accessory will be available in 2018, presumably with the updated version of the earphones. It is to be noted how the iPhone X display will show the status of the charging of all the devices resting on the base.

The only painful note, for me, remains the invasion of the headset when it comes to displaying photo, video, and full screen games in landscape mode: maybe it will only be a matter of habit, but if Apple adopted the bandwidth solution black as shown in some mockups, maybe the effect would be better.

The iPhone X will be available from November 3 in Silver and Gray Sideral (without Blush Gold, thanking the sky, will not see the light), while the preorders will start from October 27, with a price of $999 for the version 64GB and $1,149 for that from 256GB.