via The Verge
Coming in November 2017, the new Apple Iphone X certainly gives Apple fans a lot to be excited about. A new operating system, iOS11 has the capability to learn from your conversations with Siri, your instant messages and the apps you use the most. It allows multiple apps to be open and used at the same time, provides suggestions for apps you may like and suggests wording in your messages. Siri has a few new features as well. You can make Siri male or female, teach it pronunciation of unusual words and use it to book flights, hotels and restaurant reservations. Siri will even help you pay for them or any online purchase, in store purchase or send money to friends or family using the Square Cash app. Siri is being incorporated into more and more Apple apps, and it won’t be long before a keyboard is obsolete. Siri will take dictation for e-mails, messages and documents, make calls for you and show the news topics you show interest in whether it be politics, Hollywood or financial news. When an appointment is made using Safari or instant messaging Siri automatically puts it in your calendar. Even location check-ins will prompt Siri to suggest apps that will enhance your experience. Siri can understand and speak over thirty languages that are also included in the QuickType keyboard integrated into all phone functions.
There is no lapse in security with iOS11. FaceTime and iMessages are encrypted, and the new version of Safari allows private browsing and tracking prevention. The best new security protocol by far is the new Face recognition. It uses facial mapping using thousands of unseen dots to map your face in depth and an infrared camera to read the dots and translate them into an image of your face no matter what the light level. It even learns your face well enough that changes in hairstyle, a new beard, a new pair of glasses or your favorite hat won’t interfere. Face ID works only when you look at the screen with your eyes open.
The phone has a great new look. The entire front is 5.65 inches of screen with Super Retina HD display, 2436×1125 pixel resolution at 458 ppi and a fingerprint resistant oleophobic coating. With no more home button there is nothing to block your view of streamed movies and videos. Just swipe and the home screen pops up. The edges are made from recyclable stainless steel, and the back is also the strongest cell phone glass made to allow for wireless charging. The phone is dust and water resistant and comes with internal storage of either 64 GB or 256GB – unheard of in a cell phone! The battery offers up to 21 hours of talk time, 12 hours of internet use, 13 hours of video playback and up to 60 hours of audio play. The phone is available in Apple’s traditional Space Grey and Silver.
Another unique feature and arguably the best new improvement to the iPhone X is the cameras. The astonishing 12 MP True Depth front facing camera is what makes Face ID possible. The photos created in portrait mode rival even the best SLR cameras. There are five different lighting modes – natural lighting with crisp details in the foreground and softly blurred backgrounds, studio lighting that lights up the subject’s face more than the rest of the objects in the frame, contour lighting gives a dramatic look using shadows and different shades of light and dark, stage light creates a lighted subject with a black background and stage light mono uses the same features as stage light but with a striking black and white image.
The rear camera uses OIS – dual optical image stabilization so even an unsteady hand will produce beautiful still photos and video. The 12 MP 6 element dual lenses feature both wide angle and telephoto up to 10x with capabilities that sense motion and lighting conditions to deliver the best shot. Auto focus is almost instantaneous, and the Quad-LED Tru Tone flash adjusts the shutter speed for perfect flash pictures making the white out seen on closer subjects a thing of the past. Panoramic shots up to 63 MP catch the whole scene. The 4K video records in 30 or 60 frames per second, slow motion and time-lapse. A 6x zoom and cinematic video stabilization at 1080p and 720p records in HEVC and H.264.
Both audio and FaceTime calling are supported in wi-fi and cellular, and Voice over LTE is sustained. There is even a fun feature that uses the scan of your face to create animated emojis such as alien, pig, panda and 9 other shapes.
What makes all of these amazing new features possible? The new A11 bionic chip with neural engine embedded M11 motion coprocessor is a breakthrough for smart phones. It learns as you use the phone and is the most powerful chip available with the ability to perform over 600 billion operations in a single second. Games look more realistic, and 3D images pop out like never before.
The only two drawbacks are the price tag and available supply. At $999 up to $1,149 for the larger internal memory before taxes, it is not for everyone. Some cell phone carriers offer a special upgrade payment plan, but each has their own monthly pricing. Apple has a bad habit of not anticipating or over anticipating demand. The original iPhone 4 didn’t sell as quickly as was predicted and consequently left Apple with so many left they were selling them for $.99 with a contract just to get rid of them. The iPhone 6, however, was on a three to four week waiting list for over a month. The iPhone 8 and 8 plus didn’t sell as well as expected, mostly because most people were waiting for the iPhone X. With its release just in time for the holiday season let’s hope Apple keeps up with demand better than they have in the past.
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