THE past week’s biggest news in tech would probably be Apple’s announcement of their latest products. Especially so on their most anticipated iteration of their iPhone - iPhone X. No, that’s not X as the letter. It’s “ten” as in the Roman numeral for 10. Why? Because it’s the iPhone’s tenth anniversary. Yes, it’s been ten years since Steve Jobs first announced the very first iPhone.
Watch the video below from Macrumors:
Just this week, Apple announced their latest and greatest - the iPhone X. The feature set is actually quite impressive. But, to me, are more of a shiny re-presentation of what’s already been implemented by other manufacturers. In fact, if you dig around the net for a few minutes, you’ll find articles saying so like this one from CNET.
Sure, it’s got the bells and whistles and it’s shiny as the sun but if you ask me, it’s not compelling enough for me to actually want to buy it or recommend that you buy it. Moreso after knowing that the base configuration at 64GB is already US$999. Just a dollar shy of a thousand dollars! I am #shookt! Its direct competitors aren’t even close to that price range. And let’s not even begin to talk about the iPhone’s lack of expandable storage.
There are a lot of arguments going on out there for and against the iPhone X. I’ve linked one already above. Here’s one from Fortune about the iPhone 8 Plus being a better choice. And that thing about iPhone X being late in the game already? Here’s an article from Inc that lists features that Apple basically played catch up to. Here’s an article from 9to5Google that basically throws shade on Apple’s UI implementation for the iPhone X as “unintuitive”. How “unintuitive”, check out the video:
My takeaway though from all those articles I’ve ready so far is that even if Apple is playing catch up to some of those Android phones, Apple is implementing these features way better than the competitors. And as a long time Apple user, I know how that feels when things just work. All the more when you see and feel the tight integration of its devices into the ecosystem it built. And that’s in addition to how the software are all tailor fit to the hardware it’s using. Every single resource is put to good use.
Sure, some of their UI implementation is a bit “off” but the reality of it all still governs these things - change. And it is constant! This one is no exception. Perhaps, Apple is just dictating to us how things are to be done or used. Instead of us, the consumers, putting it onto Apple’s collective noggins that we all want it to be done in a specific way, we let them tell us. Yes, we let them. I am digressing.
Anyway.
So, will I still buy the iPhone X? No. Too expensive. Too snazzy. More than half of the features it has doesn’t matter much to me. My biggest need right now for my smartphone is data space. When I do upgrade my aging iPhone 6, I’d be picking between the iPhone 6S Plus or the iPhone 7 Plus. And I won’t be scrimping on data space anymore. It’ll be nothing smaller than 64GB. Or I’ll probably buy several of the iPhone 6S’ like this guy will do and he makes a pretty compelling argument about it too.
What about you? Are you getting the iPhone X or you’re still happy with your current iPhone on hand?
