The sixth article in my iPhone X review series is a bit of an oddity, as compared to the other ones written. This one will cover my personal experience about going from an iPhone 7 Plus to the iPhone X along with some other transitions from the past, like going from the iPhone 5s to the iPhone 6 Plus.

The iPhone has now had a total of five different screen sizes in its ten year life. For the first seven years of its life, there had only been two; a 3.5-inch screen on the the first five iPhone models, original iPhone through the iPhone 4s, and the 4-inch model on the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s. In 2014 Apple eschewed the tradition of releasing a single iPhone model and instead released two different sizes of phone; the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

The Plus Phones

When Apple announced the iPhone 6 Plus, I knew I would end up getting that model. Besides being a significantly larger screen, 5.5 inches compared to 4.7 for the iPhone 6, and the 4-inch screen that I had at the time, there were some aspects about the iPhone 6 Plus that were not on the other models. The most notable feature is the two-column view, while in landscape.

The two column view could allow developers to present more information to their users. However, this was only available when the 6 Plus was in landscape mode and not in portrait mode. Alongside the two column view, the iPhone 6 Plus had the largest screen available on an iPhone, to that point the largest screen available was the 4-inch screen on the iPhone 5s.

The last differentiating aspect was the second camera on the iPhone 6 Plus. This second camera allowed photos to be taken with optical 2x lens. This would allow for more a wider variety of pictures as well as zoomed in picture to be a bit clearer. Given that the iPhone has always been my primary camera, having the best camera available was definitely an incentive.

5s to 6 Plus

Let us take a quick detour back to 2014 when I got my iPhone 6 Plus. You can about read my thoughts on the iPhone 6 Plus after about 10 days of usage. Side note, why did I do my review after 10 days? That just seems a bit strange now that I think about it. How much usage could I really have in 10 days? Anyways, one of the things that I did not mention in that post was that when I initially got the iPhone 6 Plus I actually thought the size might have been the wrong one to get. The extra inch and a half of screen size was a significant jump. The iPhone 6 Plus took a bit to get used to. However, after a couple of hours of usage I went back to my iPhone 5s and began to think that the 4-inch screen was just too small. The bigger screen real estate was just to compelling and you can quickly adjust to having the extra screen real estate than you had than before. Now, let us look at going the other direction, from a 7 Plus to the iPhone X.

Plus to iPhone X

When I first began using the iPhone X, I immediately noticed the difference in size. The physical size of the iPhone X is much closer to the iPhone 6, 6s, 7, or 8 than it is the plus-sized models. After using the Plus phones for 3 years, it took quite a bit to adjust to the different ergonomics of the iPhone X. This did include a bit of time to get used to typing on the smaller keyboard.

Even a month after using the iPhone X, I still cannot type properly on the keyboard. There are often times that I end up hitting the period instead of the space bar. Depending on what I am doing it can be quite frustrating. If you are very efficient with the iPhone Plus sized keyboard, it may be a bigger problem going to the smaller size. I am not sure whether some of the issue is due to some of the machine learning within iOS 11, or if it is just me. Apple is using some neural networks to predict what your next keypress might be and is expanding the touch area for that key to make it a bit easier to tap that key without needing to be 100% precise. For most users this may be a great thing, although it may not be the best for some users.

During my tenure with using the Plus sized screened iPhones, some changes in habit had to be made in order to accommodate the larger phone. One of the downsides of the Plus-sized phones, is actually the physical size. As an example, during the summer the size of the Plus-sized phone was not generally an issue. This is because I normally wear cargo shorts, and no I do not care if they are not "fashionable", they are useful when you need to carry all sorts of stuff around. However, as the weather grew cooler a change of clothing was in order. Typically this would consist of a sweatshirt of some sort, or hoodie, along with a t-shirt and jeans.

The iPhone 7 did not always fit comfortably within my jeans. I would prefer to keep the iPhone in my front left pocket, with my keys. Yes, I know it is not the best, but it is what is the most comfortable. I do not wear skinny jeans, so that is not the issue. The Plus phones do not fit well in the front pocket, and therefore I always ended up taking my phone out of my pocket and placing it nearby. If I knew I would be walking around for a bit, the phone would either end up in the pocket of my hoodie, or in the back pocket of my jeans. This arrangement meant that I ended up having to take the Plus-sized phone out of my back pocket before sitting down.

This changes a bit with the iPhone X. The physical size of the iPhone X allows it to fit quite comfortably in the front pocket of my jeans. Even with this, I still end up removing the iPhone X from my pocket and placing it nearby. This is because, like many others, I am constantly using my iPhone for all sorts of things and having to constantly pull out my iPhone X from my pocket would become bothersome, particularly if you are sitting down.Even though the iPhone X is my primary phone, there are those times that I end up going back to my iPhone 7 Plus.

iPhone X Back to Plus

Every once in a while I end up going back to my iPhone 7 Plus. When this happens and I look at its design, it appears, to me, to be old technology. In particular, the bezels on the top and bottom of the iPhone 7 Plus seem a bit out of place. The larger physical size take some re-adjusting to get used to it again. I have become quite used to and accustom to the edge-to-edge screen design and it is what I would consider to be "normal" now, and exactly what an iPhone should look like. They do not seem like they should be there. It appears as though the phone is not really an iPhone, at least not to me. I know that people can adjust quickly to technology, and this is a prime example for me.

I do not think the notch is the item in particular, but the rounded corners of the screen on the iPhone X. When I look back at the iPhone 7 Plus, the squared off corner that feel the most out of place, right after the large bezels.

The same does not appear to be the case when I switch between my 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the iPhone X. I do not know if this is due to the iPad Pro being so much larger than the iPhone and the fact that I am not usually not looking at every aspect of the screen all the time, or if it is some other aspect. I will say that when I really look at the iPad, the bezels, even though they are larger than on the iPhone 7 Plus, the iPad Pro's bezels do not seem as stark of a contrast.

The only rationale I have for this is that the bezels on the iPad Pro are a bit closer in size. The side bezels are approximately 1/2 an inch, and the top and bottom bezels are approximately an inch. This is a difference of about 1/2 of an inch. Contrast this with the the iPhone 7 Plus', where the bezels are a bit more disproportional. The top and bottom bezels are approximately 9/10 an inch and the side bezels are approximately 1/6 of an inch. The side bezels on the iPhone 7 Plus are a lot more noticeable and I think this really is the reasoning behind the difference in opinion between the two devices. With the iPad Pro being closer in size, the bezels appear more as a frame for the iPad Pro screen than the iPhone Plus does.

When you first look see an iPhone X you notice the notch. It is the most iconic aspect to the iPhone X. Yet, in every day practice it is hardly noticeable and does not not normally get in the way of what you are doing. This is because Apple allows developers to keep their content within "safe areas". Only once you double-tap to zoom into a video and make it full screen will any part of the content be hidden. When you do this the video will fill up the sides of the notch, but most of the time, this is not an issue. So if you are worried about the notch, do not be, it really is not a big problem.

One of the more difficult things to go back to, with the iPhone 7 Plus, is not being able to swipe up from the bottom to unlock the screen. I have quickly become used to just swiping up to get to the home screen. I understand why Apple makes this gesture unique to the iPhone X, but it really would be nice to have on the other platforms. Particularly if you have already unlocked the iPhone 7 Plus, or iPad Pro for that fact, with Touch ID. It sometimes takes me a second to realize, oh wait, swiping up does not work on this device. I get that it is what it is, but it is easy to get into a habit.

Even with this all of this, long term iOS users really should be able to switch between various iOS devices without too much difficulty. It will take time for other iOS devices to get the same gestures as the iPhone X and by the time that everyone is comfortable with the iPhone X gestures, Apple will change it again.

iPhone X to iPod Touch

Back in 2015, I bought a sixth generation iPod Touch right when they were released. I did this as a way to have a reference device that was running iOS 8. I still have not yet updated the iPod Touch beyond iOS 8. So I do end up having to reference it from time to time. This mostly occurs when I am writing my iOS e-book during the summer, but I do use it from time to time. When I do have to use it, it feels even more cramped than I thought. Similar to going back to the iPhone 7 Plus from the iPhone X, going back to the iPod Touch feels a bit odd. Strangely though, I do not get the same "this feels completely out of place" with the iPod Touch as I do with the iPhone 7 Plus. I do not know if it is because to me the iPod is not a "front of mind" product when it comes to Apple. Just as with the Mac Mini, the iPod Touch is not a product that receives regular attention, it is not known how soon, or if, the iPod Touch will see an update. It would be nice, it may also be nice to see two different sizes, a 4-inch model and maybe a 4.7-inch model, or even a 5.5-inch model.

Final Thoughts

Even though I do not typically have to go between my iPhone X and my iPhone 7 Plus, there are those times when it will be necessary. The likely time that it will be when I am doing development of my apps, I may be working on wwrite or just working on my own utility apps. I completely get that having to go between different types of iOS devices and having to deal with their different gestures is a very first-world problem. Even though the bifurcation of gestures between iOS devices is minimal, it may end up confusing some users. With the iPhone X being the future, it is only a matter of time before all iOS devices use the game gestures, within limits.

If you are on the fence between a Plus-sized Phone and the iPhone X, I would recommend going to a store and comparing both models side by side. You may find that the Plus-sized phone is what you are looking for, however you may also find the the iPhone X is a better fit for your needs.

The sixth article is my iPhone X Review focuses on a new feature that is not only on the iPhone X, but also on the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus; That feature is Wireless Charging.

When you look at all of the new features of the iPhone X, one that might not stand out is wireless charging, given all of the other "shiny" features of the iPhone X. Features like Face ID, the OLED screen, and Animoji. There are those technologies that Apple includes in their devices that when they are initially introduced seem like an "oh, that is nice to have", but it is just a gimmick. When you first look at these type of features, what you do not realize just how fundamental of a shift it can be.

At first glance Wireless Charging may fall into that category, yet I think it will become a primary mechanism and absolute necessity for iPhones going forward. The fact that it is included with the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus means that Apple is making a huge bet on the technology. Although with Apple putting into their latest iPhones, it will end up trickling down the line and eventually be ubiquitous. As with many other things, but it has not always been the case, when Apple implements a technology it quickly becomes a must have in other devices. I think that Wireless Charging may become that type of technology.

History of Power on iPhone

Unlike many other aspects of the iPhone, the ways that it has been powered have remained largely stable. This is likely because changing the connector cable causes uproar amongst the community. In fact, Apple has only changed the power cable once in the ten year history of the iPhone. That began with the iPhone 5 in 2012. Prior to that, the 30-pin dock connector was used. Although, you could use either Firewire or USB with the original iPhone. Firewire support was dropped with the iPhone 3G, but it still utilized the same cable.

Since 2012, all iPhones that have shipped have utilized the lightning cable as their only mechanism for charging. With the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X this changes. These iPhones still support the lightning cable, but it is not the only charging method. You can now use wireless charging to charge your iPhone X.

What is Wireless Charging

When people say "wireless charging" two different images can be conjured in ones mind. The first, and least common, is one where power would both figuratively and literally being transferred through the air, similar to how some images of Nikola Tesla's laboratory have been shown. These images have electricity flowing across the entire picture. This is not really what people mean. The second possible image, and one that most users mean, is actually what is actually known as inductive charging. To make it easier on everyone, I will use the two terms, wireless charging and inductive charging, interchangeably.

The concept of inductive charging is not new, not by a long shot. Inductive charging is used in a variety of different products. Some of these include motorized toothbrushes, razors, and even some batteries. It has been in use by phones since 2009 when the Palm Pre was introduced. Manufacturers of Android phones have been including wireless charging for quite a while.

For wireless charging there are actually two competing standards. The first is the Power Matters Alliance (PMA) or as it is more commonly called, the AirFuel Alliance. The second standard is the Wireless Power Consortium standard, Qi, pronounced "chi". Apple has gone with the latter of the two standards for its wireless charging.

The first inductive charging product that Apple released was the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch has never had any other type of charger. The Apple Watch uses a slightly different inductive charging mechanism versus other devices using inductive charging. The difference with the Apple Watch is that it uses magnets to get a secure connection to the charger.

The iPhone X also includes inductive charging. Unlike with the Apple Watch, the iPhone X does not include a wireless charging pad with the iPhone X. The iPhone X, as well as the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, uses a wireless charging standard known as Qi, pronounced "chi". However, given the wide variety of existing Qi chargers, you will not need to spend a lot of money to be able to purchase an inductive charger for the iPhone X.

The iPhone X, with iOS 11.0 or 11.1 has a limited charging speed of 5 watts. This is the exact same wattage that comes with the little power brick that has been included with every iPhone sold since 2007. This changes with iOS 11.2, which should be available now. iOS 11.2 increases the maximum output via the wireless charging coil to 7.5 watts. While the actual difference seems small, this is a 50% increase in power.

Right now Apple only advertises two Qi chargers for the iPhone X, and iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. These are the Mophie Wireless Charging Base and the Belkin Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad. I picked up the Mophie one the same time I purchased my iPhone X.

Mophie Charger

The Mophie Wireless Charger is a 24.7 watt charging pad, well beyond the 7.5 watts allowed by the iPhone X. The Mophie charging pad comes with its own 24.7 watt power brick. The charging pad brick is not USB. Instead it is a standard electronic plug, one that you would find on many other products. The one benefit of this plug, though, is that it is reversible and symmetrical, so you can plug it in either way and it will work. This is very similar to how lightning cables are, which ultimately means that you do not have to do the "USB Dance" like you might with USB A cables.

The physical size of the Mophie charging pad is approximately 3.75 inches in diameter, so it is not a big device. The pad itself is black and has a bit of grip to it thanks to the rubber that encases the entire device. When you place an iPhone on the Mophie pad the gripping rubber minimizes the movement of the iPhone. One downside to some third-party wireless chargers is that if you receive a message and your phone vibrates, it could vibrate off of the charging pad. This does not happen with the iPhone X and the Mophie Wireless Charger.

One of the more common places for a wireless charging base might be in the bedroom. One thing that humans are not good at is sleeping with the light on. Many electronic manufacturers intend to dazzle their customers with a lot of lights, and one of the potential downsides of any charger is the light that it emits. When there are a lot of lights on a charger, they are likely LED and typically very bright. The Mophie charger does not have this problem. There is one single light that is on the bottom of the charging pad and you are not likely to see it unless you are really looking for it. This is a huge plus, particularly if you intend to use a wireless charging where you sleep.

In my own usage, I have to actively look for the light in order to find it, so it should not be too much of a problem. However, if the light is a problem there is a universal fix for it. You can place some black electrical tape over the light. The benefit of this, is that it will match the rest of the Mophie Charger. Even though the Mophie Charger is pretty good, there is still one improvement, or option, I would like to see.

Wishlist

The one thing I would like to see is the power brick and cord be either a lightning or USB-C cable. I completely understand why they went with the propriety power brick and connector, but it would still be nice to have the option for using a USB-C cable to charge. This would need a 29 watt charging brick, but for those of use who already have that, it would not require another charger since we may already have the necessary equipment. There is another wireless charger that I looked at.

Yootech Wireless Charger

Actual Usage

Downsides

Future of Wireless Charging

Final Thoughts

Fifth in my look at the iPhone X we will tackle an area which will not be prudent to everyone, but may be of some interest to many. That topic is what developers need to look at when it comes to their applications on iPhone X.

The iPhone X represents a number of changes, an OLED screen with High Dynamic Range (HDR) support, improved camera, significantly improved processor, and Face ID, just to name a few. Many of these new features require some thought from developers to be able to have the best iPhone X experience for your users. If you have been keeping your application up to date, there may only be a few tweaks that need to be done to fully accommodate the iPhone X. Let us start with items revolving around the screen.

Screen

The iPhone X has an all new 5.8 Super Retina HD screen. This screen is an OLED based screen with a resolution of 2436 pixels tall by 1125 wide with 458 pixels per inch. This means that it has a true 3x screen due to the width being 375 points, and the height being 812 points.

This 3x screen means that developers may need to provide assets at true 3x resolution. It was possible to provide almost 3x resolution assets before since the Plus-sized iPhones were scale down any 3x resolution assets to appropriately fit the screen.

It is not likely that many developers would have not had true 3x resolution assets, but in case you did not, it is important to do so now. Along with this, the iPhone X is its own distinct screen size. Throughout the iPhone's history there have been a total of six different screen resolutions. These have been:

• 320 pixels by 480 pixels
• 640 pixels by 960 pixels
• 640 pixels by 1136 pixels
• 750 pixels by 1334 pixels
• 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels
• 1136 pixels by 2436 pixels

If you are planning on supporting all of the currently supported devices, you will need to support the last four screen resolutions. Since the iPhone X is quite a bit taller, 216 pixels to be exact, you will need to make sure that your assets support the proper aspect ratios in order to be sure that everything appears correctly on each different iPhone model. There is one thing somewhat related to the screen.

Dark Modes

Each user of any application is unique. While you will never be able to please everyone, there is something that you can do to help a segment of your user base. Some users enjoy customizing the way that things look and for some of these users prefer a darker screen. This could be due to eye issues, or just because these themes are more visually appealing to them. For whatever the reason, it may help expand your user base to include a darker theme. The iPhone X may just give you the impetus to creating one within your application.

With the iPhone X being OLED, burn-in may become an issue over time. Even though Apple has done many things to help minimize burn-in, there is one thing that app developers can do to help; implement a dark mode within your app. With OLED, pixels are only turned on when the color is anything other than black. This means that if your application has a dark mode built-in you can help save a user's screen. Another side benefit of this is that you can also help save battery life for users since the iPhone X will not need to turn on the super dark pixels. If you do not have a dark mode, it may be a good time to start implementing one, you never know it may just help expand your user base.

Face ID

Starting with the iPhone 5s, Apple has included a biiometric authentication mechanism with Touch ID. Touch ID has allowed for convenience when needing to unlock your iOS device or enter in a password. In order for developers to access the Touch ID sensor, Apple created the LocalAuthentication Framework.

The LocalAuthentication Framework provides two return values, a Boolean for the success or failure, and an NSError object, so you can determine the actual error that has occurred. That is all that you, as the developer receive. Given that the LocalAuthentication framework handles the actual authentication and determines which authentication mechanism to use, there is not much that a developer has to do.

The approach of only providing a success or failure, as well as an error, makes the LocalAuthentication framework infinitely scalable, from a developer's point of view, and reduces the need for complex code. Ultimately what this means for developers is that they have minimal work to do to support Face ID on the iPhone X. In fact the only work that needs to be done is updating strings to refer to Face ID instead of Touch ID, when on an iPhone X. There are no other code changes necessary in order to support Face ID. If a developer does not have time to update their application right away, their application should continue to work, just with the wrong text showing on the iPhone X.

The Notch

The iPhone X brings a new wrinkle for developers, the notch at the top of the screen. The notch houses the True Depth Camera sensor. The notch actually protrudes into the screen and creates two areas that cannot really be used for anything. If a developer has decided to hide the status bar, there could potentially be option available for usage. However, for most developers they do not do this and will need to accommodate a bit within their application.

Apple has indicated that developers should "embrace the notch". This means that they should not attempt to hide it with black bars. Apple made this decision, not only because it would create a lopsided application, and it would, but also because iOS 11 on the iPhone X utilizes the areas to the left and right of the True Depth Camera are where users access Notification Center, on the left, as well as Control Center, on the right.

If your application is using standard UIKit elements, those elements should automatically extend up to the notch and if you have any colors applied, those should also extend to the top as well. If you do have custom controls, you will need to extend your colors up to the status bar, to provide a more consistent look and feel to your application. One aspect that is new to iOS 11 directly relates to the iPhone X and that aspect is Safe Areas.

Safe Areas

Due to the notch it is important for developers to be able to know just how their applications will function. Until the iPhone X, if a developer chose to support all orientations, they could be reasonably reassured the they would only have two potential layouts to deal with, one in portrait orientation and one in landscape orientation. The iPhone X adds a bit of complexity to this arrangement.

One of the most important aspect to any application is the content. In order to provide developers with the confidence they need when building their apps, Apple introduced a new concept with iOS 11 called "Safe Areas". Safe Areas, are just as they sound, they are areas where it is safe to put content.

Safe Area Guides are the actual term used to describe these areas. Safe Area Guides can be used on a controller by controller basis. Safe Areas will allow your content to stay within proper areas, not just on the iPhone X, but across all iOS devices. You can choose to allow some aspects of your interface to extend beyond the safe areas if it is appropriate to your application.

A peripheral item that developers need to be aware of, that relates to Safe Areas, is the new home indicator. The home indicator occupies a small portion of the bottom of the screen and automatically adjusts based on the background color. The home indicator will provide a significant amount of contrast so that it is always visible.

What this means for developers is that any controls need to be above the home button area. The area itself is not very large, but it is present. It is important to allow users to interact with this area. Safe Area Guides will allow developers to more easily determine where their application's content will be shown, without having to worry about customizing each interface differently just for the iPhone X.

Letterboxed

If you have an iOS application and you have not yet updated it to support the iPhone X, it may be worth your while to do so. If you do not your app will have black bars above and below the primary content of your app. This is because Apple cannot accurately determine how best to show your application. Therefore, they will present it using a compact size class, with a resolution of 375 points wide and 667 points of height, or 1125 pixels by approximately 2000 pixels.

While it will take some time to adapt your applications to support the iPhone X doing so will allow your application look like it belongs on the iPhone X and not like it belongs on an older iOS device. For many users. having a letterboxes application may result in them abandoning that application in favor of another one that is more native to the iPhone X.

Closing Thoughts

The notch on the iPhone X is the biggest impediment for many developers to update their applications. This is particularly true for full screen applications and games. This is due not only to the notch itself and the work that needs to be done but also because their assets may not be able to scale properly due to the new aspect ratio.

Even though it may take some work on a developers' part, to update their applications for the iPhone X, in the long run it will be well worth the effort, primarily because the iPhone X form factor is not likely to be a one-off model. Additionally, having an application that looks like it belongs on the iPhone X will not only be better not only for users, but also for developers as it will mean less work in the long run. Next let us turn to another new feature, one that is not exclusive to the iPhone X, but is also present on the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus; Wireless Charging.

The third article for my iPhone X Review series will focus on a feature that is used by almost every iPhone user, the iPhone Camera.

One of the primary reason that users upgrade an iPhone is the capabilities of the camera. For many, including myself, their iPhone Camera is the primary camera they use. The iPhone camera has progressed substantially since the original iPhone in 2007.

iPhone Camera History

It has not always been the case that Apple has put an emphasis on the camera in the iPhone. While there has been a camera in the iPhone since the original iPhone, it has not always been of the highest quality. As an example, the original iPhone only had a 2 Megapixel camera, the same was the case for the iPhone 3G.

The iPhone 3GS improved the camera to a 3 Megapixel sensor with an ƒ2.8 lens that allowed autofocus. The iPhone 3G also added a video camera. Granted, it was only a 480 pixels at 30 frames per second, but it was a video camera nonetheless, and in 2009 it was a nice feature to have in an iPhone. The iPhone 4 improved a bit more with a 5 megapixel camera and added a flash, which would help in those low light situations.

The iPhone 4s is the release when Apple really began taking the cameras on the iPhone as an important appeal factor and could be something to help bring users to the iPhone. the iPhone 4s included an 8MP back camera at an ƒ2.4. This camera was capable of 1080p video recording. The back camera was upgraded, but the front facing camera remained relatively inept, in comparison to the back camera.

The iPhone 5 is when Apple began looking at the front-facing camera as just as important as the rear camera. As much as one might not like the term "selfie", it has become part of the language and has also become the primary use of the front-facing camera. Applications like Instagram have really pushed people share photos of themselves, and the easiest means of doing so is by using the front-facing camera. The iPhone 5's front camera had a 1.2 megapixelsensor with a resolution of 1280 by 960 pixels. The iPhone 5s added a new feature for the back camera, slow motion capture. This feature was limited to 720 pixels at 120 frames per second, but even at a lower resolution, it worked well and added some new capabilities that the iPhone did not have before.

The iPhone 6 was a game changer in terms of the iPhone in general, but in particular with the camera configuration. The iPhone 6 ushered in two different models, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The iPhone 6 saw a modest improvement to the camera with autofocus improvements.

The biggest change came with the iPhone 6 Plus and an all new dual camera system. This was a first for the iPhone. The iPhone 6 Plus had two lenses, one standard focal length and a "telephoto" lens. The telephoto lens would be capable of doing 2x optical zoom. Combining the 2x optical zoom with the 5x digital zoom meant that the iPhone could get up to 10x zoom. There was one last change with the iPhone 6 Plus was the optical image stabilization. Optical Image Stabilization provides the ability to stabilize the image and video that is being taken by an iPhone 6 Plus. This means that instead of getting a possibly grainy or shaky video, it can be stabilized so that it appears closer to being done on a tripod, or some other very stable object. This makes the quality of both images and video even better.

The iPhone 6s improved both the rear and front cameras. On the back, the camera were upgraded to 12 megapixels, up from 8 megapixels. This also allowed for the recording of 4K video on the rear camera. The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus also allowed you to take an 8 megapixel picture while you were recording video, which would be very hand should the need arise.

The front camera on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus also saw a significant improvement. The front camera was upgraded to a 5 megapixel sensor that was capable of recording 720p HD video. There was a new feature with this, a flash. However, this was not a traditional flash. Instead, the "flash" used the screen to simulate a flash. This "Retina Flash" would be very useful in low light situations and could help you create a more constant illumination when you decided to take a selfie.

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus changed the camera game a bit more. While there was still a 12 megapixel camera sensor, the quality had been significantly improved with an ƒ1.8 lens. This is a super fast lens. The second lens on the iPhone 7 Plus included a 56mm ƒ2.2 for the telephoto lens. Just as with the iPhone 6s, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus front camera was improved. This time it was upgraded to a 7 megapixel sensor for even clearer photos.

The iPhone 7 Plus also included a feature specific to that model, a new camera mode. This way of taking pictures called "Portrait" mode. Portrait mode provides a way for an iPhone user to add a blurred background while keeping the subject of the picture still within focus. This is often referred to a "bokeh" effect. This was an entirely new feature to he iPhone. Portrait mode used some machine learning to try and determine where the person, or primary subject, ended and the background began. It would then blur out the background. The iPhone 7 Plus did all of this on the fly and you could preview Portrait mode before taking the picture.

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have the same cameras, for the most part, as the iPhone X. Let us dive into the iPhone X camera.

iPhone X Camera

The iPhone X takes what came before and gives it another huge upgrade. The iPhone X still sports a 12 megapixel camera sensor on the back. Alongside the 12 megapixel sensor there is still the ƒ1.8 aperture. The telephoto lens is now an ƒ2.4 aperture. This means that the telephoto lens should be faster in lower light situations, and should be able to take even better photos than before. The bigger improvement though is that the iPhone X has dual optical image stabilization. At first glance you may think that this is not a big deal, but in practice it is. Having the telephoto lens of the iPhone X also be optically stabilized will allow even better pictures, in all sorts of conditions. Besides better pictures, you will also get better video out of the iPhone X.

The front camera remains relatively unchanged, with the exception of a new feature, which is also present in the rear camera, Portrait lighting mode. Portrait lighting takes Portrait mode and allows you to add lighting effects to the picture you are taking. The best part is that you can add or change lighting effects after the fact and can even swap them around depending on what you find is the best filter for a particular photo.

When you use Portrait Lighting Mode, you can see a live preview of what the picture would look like when you use that particular filter. The actual filters that are available are:

• Natural Light
• Studio Light
• Contour Light
• Stage Light
• Stage Light Mono

Each of these lighting options provides a slightly different look and feel to the portrait you are looking at. The last two, "Stage Light" and "Stage Light Mono" require you to place the face of the subject that you want to focus on within a circle. This circle is used to identify the subject. The lighting then takes this area and focuses the lighting effect on the subject.

As mentioned above, you can also take any High Efficiency Image Format (HEIF) picture taken with iOS 11, or later, and apply that effect to that image. This can be done on an iOS device or on a Mac running macOS High Sierra.

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus both have the 12 megapixel ƒ/1.8 aperture wide-angle rear camera, but the iPhone 8 Plus has a 12 megapixel telephoto lens, but is at ƒ/2.8 aperture. The iPhone 8 Plus also supports Portrait mode and Portrait Lighting. There is one last feature that is available on the cameras on the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X.

Here is an example of portrait mode and the same image with Stage Lighting applied.

Slow Sync

Slow Sync Flash will help make your photos even better than they were before. It does this by taking the True Tone flash and evens out all of the colors so that everything appears even better than before. This is accomplished by reducing the shutter speed to allow even more light and the iPhone's signal processor will take the information it gathers and apply proper lighting to all aspects of the picture; this includes the items in the foreground as well as those in the background. This should work quite well in low light situations as well as with Portrait photos.

Some Examples from the iPhone X

Final Thoughts on iPhone X Camera

The iPhone X camera is a great update from the camera in the older iPhone models, and even over the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. The iPhone X has one benefit over the iPhone 8 Plus, the dual optical image stabilization with the telephoto lens. This stabilization works for both still images as well as video. The new Portrait Lighting effects will add a bit of depth to your If you are upgrading from an iPhone 6s, or earlier model, the iPhone X will be a significant and worthwhile upgrade.

The addition of Slow Sync Flash will allow better photos in even more lighting conditions. The inclusion of the new Portrait Lighting feature allows users to take Portrait photos and apply specific lighting effects. With Portrait mode and the new High Efficiency Image Format, users can even apply different formats after the fact, should they decide to give a different lighting effect a try later. If your iPhone is your primary camera, you cannot go wrong with the iPhone X in this respect.

There are some additional items related to the camera within the iPhone X. Those items are related to the new feature called Face ID, which will be the subject of the next part of the review.

In the second article of my on going iPhone X review, I will focus on a completely new feature for iPhones and iOS, Face ID.

When an entity implements a way of protecting information, it is a trade off of two factors: security and convenience. The ideal is to make something secure yet not so burdensome for the user that they would not use it.

There is one thing that Apple takes seriously, when it comes to their customers. That item is security. When the iPhone was originally released the only security allowed was a four digit passcode. This made it quite convenient when you needed to unlock your iPhone. While there was only a limited number passcodes that could be chosen, there is an option for users to erase data after ten invalid passcode attempts. Even if a user decides not to erase the content, there is an every increasing timeout for each invalid guess.

As iOS matured, and technology in the iPhone advanced, additional passcode options were added. If you opted to you could create a longer than 4 digit passcode. While it is easy for many users to remember a four, or even six, digit passcode, it is not the best security method. While there are many times when a user may wish to use a secure and long passcode, given the potential number of situations where a user may have to enter in their passphrase, some users could be turned off by this. When this occurs they may end up reverting to a less secure passcode.

To help deter this behavior, but also to provide some convenience, Apple introduced a new feature in 2013 with the release of the iPhone 5s. The iPhone 5s introduced a new feature called Touch ID. Touch ID could be used not only for unlocking an iPhone, but could also be used for purchasing items from the iTunes Store, Apple Store, or even within apps. Touch ID is also capable of unlocking files within applications, or even unlocking applications themselves; provided the developer included this functionality.

Touch ID allows users to have a more convenient method of performing these actions. The biggest benefit of Touch ID is that users did not have to constantly enter in their passcode, or passphrase. Instead they could register their fingerprint with their iPhone and use their finger to authenticate themselves for purchases or for unlocking their device.

There are often times that an iPhone user may want to allow others access to their iOS device. This could be a child, spouse, or anyone whom with they trust their iOS device. How does Apple guarantee the security of the fingerprints that are put into an iOS device?

Touch ID Security

When somebody thinks that their fingerprint can be used to perform a transaction, they may be deterred because of misinformation. Apple's take on security is one where it wants its users to feel secure and know that their information will not be compromised. The manner in which Touch ID actually works is by not taking an image of your fingerprint, instead iOS creates a mathematical representation of the fingerprint that you are registering. This mathematical representation is held within the Secure Enclave of the A7, or newer, chip. Nothing has direct access to what is stored on the chip. There is a direction connection between the Touch ID sensor and the secure enclave and nothing in between. This is the first step in the securing of a fingerprint.

Users often want to use their iPhone to make purchases. This could be from the iOS App Store, the iTunes Store, or even from within an application. While many users may trust Apple with their information, they may be less trusting off a third-party developer. If a developer implements Touch ID, when they request a fingerprint, they do not get access to the Secure Enclave to pull in the fingerprint information. Instead the developer requests that user authenticate with Touch ID, and the developer gets back a simple "Yes" or "No" as to whether the Touch ID fingerprint hash matches the one saved in the secure enclave.

With Touch ID you could have up to five fingerprints registered for any single iOS device. This could allow various individuals to use the Touch ID sensor without necessarily needing to enter in the passcode or passphrase. Yet, there were still instances when Touch ID would require the passcode or passphrase again.

When Touch ID did not work

There are a number of situations where the passcode or passphrase to an iOS drive would be needed before Touch ID could be used. The most common is when a user rebooted the iOS device, the passcode or passphrase would be needed. A second occasion would be if the iOS device had not been unlocked with Touch ID in the last 48 hours. This was a security measure to allow users to feel safe knowing their data could be retrieved without the passcode or passphrase. The third would be if Touch ID failed to authenticate five times in a row. Again, this was a precautionary feature in case someone was trying to purposely, or inadvertently, unlock a Touch ID-protected iOS device.

There could be many possible other occasions when Touch ID would fail. One that was often encountered by users is if their finger was wet and Touch ID could not get a good match. One possible work-around for this specific condition was to register a fingerprint while your finger was wet. This would not work 100% of the time, but it could work in many cases.

One of the features of the iPhone X is the edge to edge screen. This results in there being no home button. How does one handle authentication without a home button and no Touch ID? This is where Face ID comes into play.

Face ID

Face ID is akin to Touch ID in the fact that both are biometric. Instead of using a fingerprint, Face ID uses different aspects of your face to unlock your iPhone X. If you upgrade from an older iPhone and you have allowed some applications access to Touch ID, those apps that you have allowed should request access to use Face ID. If you grant them access, it should work in the same manner as Touch ID. Let us look at the sensors that make up Face ID.

True Depth Camera

Face ID uses a number of sensors that are stored within the notch on the iPhone X. The sensors within the notch are collectively called the "True Depth Camera". There are a number of sensors included within the True Depth sensor.

There are some sensors within the True Depth Camera, but these are not unique to the iPhone X. This group of sensors is:

• Proximity sensor
• Ambient light sensor
• Speaker
• Microphone
• Front Camera

Let us look at the iPhone X specific sensors. These sensors include:

• Infrared Camera
• Flood illuminate
• Dot projector

Face ID Setup

When you setup Touch ID Face ID requires a lot less setup than Touch ID. With Touch ID you were required to place and lift your finger approximately ten times in order to allow Touch ID to get a good reading on your finger. With Touch ID there are only two steps. You have to scan you Face twice. That is all that is required to configure Face ID. When you setup Face ID you have to turn your head in a circle to allow the Tru

How Face ID Works

Learning

Face ID Security

Attention Awareness

Tradeoffs

Imperfection

Final Thoughts on Face ID

Normally I do a single large review of Apple devices. For products like the Apple TV, where the updates that have been made are minimal, and this approach makes sense. With the iPhone X, however, there are so many new features and so many aspects that have changed. To keep it to a short review would not be giving the iPhone X its due. With this information, my iPhone X review requires a different approach. To that end, my iPhone X review will be broken into multiple reviews with each focusing on a different feature. The first of the is about the screen, but before we delve into that, let us briefly look at the models of the iPhone that have existed.

iPhone Models

The iPhone X is not the tenth iPhone as one might expect. In fact it is actually the thirteenth iPhone model. That is is if you count the “Plus” models as the same as the standard sized phones. If you do count the Plus-sized models as their own, then the iPhone X is the seventeenth iPhone. In counting it as the seventeenth iPhone, that does not include the differentiation between the GSM and CDMA versions, nor does it count the various colors. The actual list of iPhones is as follows:

• iPhone
• iPhone 3G
• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4
• iPhone 4s
• iPhone 5
• iPhone 5s
• iPhone 5c
• iPhone 6
• iPhone 6 Plus
• iPhone 6s
• iPhone 6s Plus
• iPhone 7
• iPhone 7 Plus
• iPhone 8
• iPhone 8 Plus
• iPhone X

Each iPhone model has improved on the past ones and has brought its own new features to the iPhone lineup. The most common piece that is interacted with on each iPhone is indeed the screen.

Screen History

The history of smartphone screens is as varied as the history of computer screens. Different technologies have been used throughout the year. The iPhone has only used glass for the screen, in particular gorilla glass by Corning. Besides being the toughest glass available, according to Corning, it has helped shape the iPhone into what it has become.

The underlying technology for the iPhone has been LCD. The first three iPhones, the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS, all had 480 pixels by 320 pixel screens. This was the exact number of pixels on each screen. The screen was upgraded to a 960 by 640 pixel screen with the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s. The iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s increased the screen resolution to 640 pixels by 1136 pixels; making it slightly taller.

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus changed the sizing again, to two entirely new screen sizes, 1334 pixels by 750 pixels for the iPhone 6; and for the first time on an iPhone a true 1080p screen, at 1920 by 1080 pixels, with the iPhone 6 Plus. The iPhone 6 Plus and subsequent releases, the iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, and iPhone 8 Plus, assets needed to be at 3x resolution. These models then scaled these assets to accommodate the actual size of the screen.

This is where the iPhone stood, until the release of the iPhone X.

The Iconic Features

While the iPhone was definitely not the first smartphone on the market, far from it. However, the original iPhone, when it was unveiled in January of 2007, was shown as the first smartphone to go screen only with no physical keyboard. While there were definitely those who doubted that the iPhone would sell and last, they were wrong. Beyond becoming a best selling series of phone as well as the most profitable, the original iPhone became the iconic representation of a smart phone. The iconic features included the square screen, rounded corners on bezel, and the home button.

The size of the iPhone remained unchanged until the iPhone 5, when the screen size went to a 4-inch screen, up from the iconic 3.5-inch screen. The size was the same for the 5s, but changed with the introduction of the next iPhone, the iPhone 6 and its larger version the iPhone 6 Plus. These two sizes then became the iconic smart phone depictions.

This definition of an iPhone has been updated again with the iPhone X. The iPhone X has removed the home button and significantly reduced the front bezels. The entire front is now glass with no home button. The removal of the home button changes not only the look and feel, but also the interaction methodology.

iPhone X Screen

Besides the edge-to-edge bezel of the iPhone X, there is another change to the iPhone X screen, it is an OLED display. Apple calls the screen on the iPhone X a "Super Retina HD" display. One of the benefits of OLED is that the blacks that are shown can be even darker than those on traditional LEDs. What this means is that when you see a pixel, or set of pixels, that is black in color it is a bit darker than a black pixel on an LED screen. The same goes for white pixels as well. Ultimately, this means that the colors that can be shown can be even better.

One of Apple's other products, the Apple Watch, has had an OLED screen since its first model. One of the recommendations from Apple is to make sure that the background of any watchOS app is black. This is not only done to make watchOS applications aesthetically pleasing but it is also for an additional reason.

The benefits of OLED over traditional LED includes lower power usage, versus traditional LEDs. OLED is able to only turn on the individual pixels as they are needed. By not always having to power on every pixel, battery life can be extended. While nobody will argue that any iPhone that can get better battery life is a good thing, having more battery life on a wearable is even more important.

There is another feature that is new to the iPhone that has not been in an iPhone before, but is present on the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, and the 2nd generation iPad Pro. That feature is High Dynamic Range, or HDR. HDR allows colors to be go beyond the traditional limits and uses a wider color gamut to make colors even more rich and vibrant. While HDR is easily noticeable with photos and with video. If you have a movie that support HDR, or Dolby Vision, you will be able to watch it with the enhanced colors.

The Notch

One of the most prominent features of the iPhone X, and the one that most users immediately notice, is the notch. The notch houses a number of sensors, which will all be discussed in a later article. But the notch itself is absolutely new. Never before has an iPhone had an edge to edge display, and one of the decisions that Apple had to make was how to be able to get everything onto the screen of the iPhone X. One possible way was to just have a black strip above the screen, but taking this route would create an asymmetrical and would wholly out of place.

There is no doubt that Apple attempted to get the sensors that occupy the notch, under the screen. However, Apple was not able to accomplish this, like they may have liked. Instead, the notch creates two areas where there is some areas for controls.

The notch does create a very distinct and unique look to the iPhone. It is very likely, that in a matter of time, when someone thinks of an iPhone, they will think of the screen design of the iPhone X.

Screen Size

With the iPhone X being effectively sans-bezel, the physical size of the iPhone X is defined by the size of the screen. On the iPhone X the screen is 5.8-inches diagonally. This is three tenths of an inch larger than the screen on the iPhone 7 or iPhone 8. The iPhone X is closer in size to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8, much much closer.

The iPhone 8 is 5.45 inches tall by 2.65 inches wide. The iPhone X is 5.65 inches tall by 2.79 inches wide. If you take the size of the iPhone X and compare to the iPhone 8 Plus, at 6.24 inches tall by 3.07 inches wide, you will notice that it approximately 18.8 percent smaller. This is a significant decrease in size. This size fits in between the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus sizes.

There is one last aspect to the screen that should be noted. The actual screen itself is different in one last way. The screen itself has rounded corners. Each of the previous iPhones has had rounded glass, but each of the previous screens has been square. The rounded aspects were the bezels and the glass was the same radius as the corners of the iPhone.

With the iPhone X, this is the first time that the screen itself has been rounded. The new design introduces some new design challenges for developers. This aspect of the screen will be covered in another article.

Final Thoughts on the iPhone X Screen

The iPhone X's screen is the best screen that Apple has ever put on any of their products. The OLED display on the iPhone X really does make a huge difference when using the phone. The inclusion of HDR is absolutely noticeable if you are coming from a previous iPhone, and is seen particularly well when watching an HDR-enabled video.

The iPhone X's screen size provides the largest screen on any iPhone, up to this point, and all in a slightly larger package than the iPhone 8. This will not be much of an adjustment for those who are accustom to the mid-sized phones of the iPhone 8, but may be an adjustment for those who have been using a plus-sized phone. There will be more about that in a later article. The next topic to be covered is a new feature that is exclusive to the iPhone X, for now. That feature is Face ID.

I do not normally post initial thoughts on products. However, the iPhone X is worth of a first look. It has been just over 24 hours since I got my iPhone X and here are my thoughts.

The Notch

The feature that gives the iPhone X its distinct look is the notch at the top of the iPhone. You may think that you will always notice the notch. In my experience, you do not really notice it, unless you are watching a video full screen and it stretches over the notch.

The Size

The size of the iPhone X is 5.8 inches, this slightly larger than the 6 Plus, 6s Plus, or 7 Plus screen. Yet, even with the screen being bigger, the actual size of the device is just a bit taller and bit wider than the smaller iPhone 6, 6s, and 7. If you have been part of the "Plus" club, it could be a bit of an adjustment.

App Compatibility

One of the possible issues with a change in screen size is that developers must adapt their apps. In order to not have apps look completely horrible, Apple will put black bars at the top and bottom of applications so that the app is not obscured by the notch. Developers will need to update their apps to accommodate for the notch.

Face ID

The iPhone X does not have a physical home button. As part of the home button itself, is the Touch ID sensor ring. And without any sensor, you need another form of biometric authentication. This is where Face ID comes into play. In my short experience, I have not had Face ID fail, except when it cannot see my face.

So Far

So far, I am liking the iPhone X. Granted, it has only been 24 hours, but so far so good. I will do a full review of it in due course, but I really want to put it through its paces before doing so.

From time to time people need to upgrade their devices. One of those times is shortly after Apple's Fall Event, which is where we are now. When it comes to upgrade an iPhone, it can be somewhat straightforward, depending on what type of backup you have. There are two different backup possibilities. The two options are iTunes and iCloud.

iTunes has been the stalwart for music and has been used by millions of people for backing up their iOS devices. One of the benefits of backing up iTunes is that you can encrypt your backups. The benefit of encrypting your backup is that absolutely everything on your iPhone can be completely restored. This includes any health data that is on your iPhone.

If you backup via iCloud, your health data will not be backed up nor restored. This can pose an issue for some users. This changes slightly with iOS 11. Before we delve into that, let us look at the procedure for backing up and restoring a device running iOS 10.

Restoring an iOS Device with iOS 10.

When you restore an iPhone under iOS 10, there are a number of items that are backed up, whether it is to iCloud or to a computer itself. The items that are backed up to iCloud are:

• App data
• Apple Watch backups
• Call history
• Device settings
• Health data
• HomeKit configuration
• Home screen and app organization
• iMessage, text (SMS), and MMS messages
• Photos and videos on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
• Purchase history from Apple services, like your music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books
• Ringtones
• Visual Voicemail password (requires the SIM card that was in use during backup)

The one item that is not backed up under iOS 10 is your health data. In order to provide some protection for your health data, it is not backed up via iCloud. In order to backup your health data, you need to use iTunes.

Backing up with iTunes

Our phones have some of the most important data that we own. This could include messages, emails, pictures, and countless other pieces of media. With such a significant amount of information, being able to get it back is important. One of the ways to do this is to store as much in "the cloud" as possible. This also comes with some possible downsides. What is you cannot access the service storing the information? What if the service disappears? What if you lose your device or it needs to be replaced? This is why having a good local backup is important.

One of the functions of iTunes that many users utilize is the ability to backup your iPhone. One of the capabilities of iTunes is to enhance your backups by encrypting them. Encrypting an iPhone backup is not a difficult proposition, however it does come with some responsibility. An encrypted iTunes backup is similar to a regular iTunes backup, but there is a password that is used to encrypt the iTunes backup. The downside with an encrypted backup is that you cannot restore an encrypted backup without the password.

It is recommended that you select a password that is secure and it is best to write the password down and store it in a secure place. You can also have your macOS Keychain remember the password, but it is always a good idea to have it backed up just in case something happens to your Mac.

The benefit of an encrypted backup is twofold. First, you will be able to backup all of your health data. This means any information that has been transmitted from your electronic health monitoring devices, such as a pacemaker, glucose monitors, or Apple Watch will be backed up. The second benefit is that no one can easily see what is in your encrypted backup, not without the password.

Upgrading an iPhone with a paired Apple Watch

Having an Apple Watch paired to your iPhone can make things a bit trickier when it comes to upgrading your iPhone. Your Apple Watch data should be automatically backed up. Having had an Apple Watch since it was released in 2015, I have been through the upgrade process a couple of times now. Here is the procedure that I use. Some of it may not be necessary, but I prefer to be safe than sorry.

1. Backup my iPhone using and encrypted backup in iTunes using a lightning cable. The important piece of information to verify is that the last backup date and time are recent.
2. Unpair the old Apple Watch so it will backup to the iPhone.
3. Perform another encrypted backup of my iPhone in iTunes, again making sure the date and time are current.
4. Restore the new iPhone from this latest backup.
5. Pair the new Apple Watch to the new iPhone.

I suggest using a lightning cable because the process is much faster than doing a backup over Wi-Fi. This is not necessary possible with iCloud, but having a backup is definitely an important aspect to owning a iPhone.

The new Apple Watch should now be paired to the new iPhone. It will take a while for this to occur, particularly since there are two encrypted backups of the iPhone. The use of a lightning cable does make this go much faster than syncing via Wifi; hence why I always use the cable.

With iOS 11, this may not be necessary anymore, since the Health Data should be encrypted and backed up to iCloud. So before you upgrade to a new iPhone, upgrade to iOS 11 and then perform a backup. This backup should include your health data, which will make restoring to your new phone even easier.

An additional feature of iOS 11 is the new "Quick Setup" feature. Quick Setup will allow you to use an existing iOS 11 device to quickly setup your new iOS device. This means that you will be able to transfer your Apple account settings from one phone to another, which then means you will be able to more quickly restore your new iOS device from your iCloud backup.

I know for me, I will still be using the steps outlined above, mostly since I know they will work like I want them to. Additionally, my new iPhone will have all of the same settings as my old iPhone, which makes things much easier.

Final Thoughts

No matter when you upgrade your iPhone, you should make sure that you have a backup. It does not really matter, at least with iOS 11, if that is an iCloud backup or a backup with iTunes. If you do not have an Apple Watch, upgrading an iPhone is pretty straight-forward. If you do have an Apple Watch in the mix, it is not super difficult, just a couple of extra steps to be able to get your new iPhone up and running. There are some who are only getting new Apple Watches, and that is a whole other upgrade process that will need to occur.

Apple has held their annual Fall Event. The biggest aspect to any Fall event is the unveiling of new iPhones. This event does indeed include new iPhones. Apple's fall event is the one that receives the most attention from not just technology media, but, more importantly, from those outside of the technology sphere. With that fact in mind Apple chose to hold this year's event at the new Steve Jobs Theater on the new Apple Park campus. To me, it seems quite befitting to have the first event at the new Steve Jobs Theater be the unveiling of iPhones. This is because back in January of 2007, Steve Jobs stood on stage at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco and unveiled the first iPhone, one that would revolutionize not just only the mobile phone industry, but also the technology sphere in general. The mobile phone revolution has ushered in one of the greatest technology shifts of the last few centuries. While Today's iPhone announcements may, to some, seem evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, the march of progress continues. This article focuses solely on the iPhone X. I have all of the information about the Apple TV, Apple Watch, and iPhone 8 in a separate article.

iPhone X

Apple announced the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. There is just "one more thing" that Apple announced, a third new phone. That model is the future of smartphones, and is the iPhone X. The iPhone X is an all new design for the iPhone. Before we dive into the features of the iPhone X, let us talk about colors, which many may think are not important, but are often used to help personalize an iPhone.

Colors

The original iPhone in 2007 came in just one color, aluminum. The iPhone 3G introduced a second color, white. These two colors remained the only options until 2013 when Gold was introduced with the iPhone 5s. Unless you were willing to purchase a Space Gray, or Black, iPhone, all other faces on the iPhone line are white. This changes with the iPhone X. Now, all fronts of the iPhone X are black. This means that for those who only wanted a black bezel to their iPhones can now get something besides Black or Space Gray.

The back of the iPhone is where people really select their colors. iPhones since the iPhone 6s, meaning the 6s and 7, have had four options. Silver, Gold, Rose Gold, and Space Gray. The iPhone X has a slightly different set of colors as options. There are only two options available, Silver and Space Gray. There is no option for the front face, as it barely there. The selection of Silver and Space Gray should come as no surprise, as these are likely the most popular colors purchased. It is not easy to determine which model will be the most popular, and with such a revolutionary phone, it may be prudent to stick with just a couple of colors to gauge interest before expanding the color choice. Let us dive into the internals of the iPhone X.

Internals

One change that occurs with each new iPhone is the interior components. The new iPhone X contains the new A11 Bionic processor along with its M11 motion co-processor. The A11 Bionic This brings even better battery efficiency and processing to the phone. The A11 Bionic is a six core processor that consists of four high efficiency cores that are up to 70 percent faster than A10 Fusion. It also has two high performance cores that are up to 25 percent faster than the A10 Fusion. To go with the processor, Apple has included a new Apple-designed graphics processor as well. This will get 30% faster performance over the graphics in the A10 Fusion.

There is an all new item incorporated with the A11 Bionic, a neural engine. The neural engine will allow even faster processing of Augmented Reality and Machine Learning than the A10 Fusion. The neural engine is designed not only for Augmented Reality and Machine Learning, but can be used for many other things like processing of items within photos and much much more. The neural engine will work very well with a new feature, one that replaces the home button.

Home Button

The new iPhone X an edge to edge screen. The thing that is most conspicuously missing is the home button. The home button no longer has a place on the iPhone X. With the home button gone, there have been some other changes. One of the primary functions of the home button is to get you back to the home screen. This is still accessible, however there is a new way of doing so. The home screen is now accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. Doing this will actually bring up the app switcher, which is very similar to the function within the iPad. To actually get to the home screen just tap on an empty area of the app switcher and the home screen will appear. Again, this is exactly how it works on an iPad under iOS 11. The second primary function of the home button to both unlock the phone as well as to use Apple Pay, and finally to force a refresh should something cause your iPhone to freeze. How are these to be done with the iPhone X? There are new methods for accomplishing all of these tasks.

Biometrics

Apple Pay is a core part of Apple's strategy for iOS and macOS and it makes up a good part of their services revenue. To that end, Apple would not remove Apple Pay from its products; particularly when they announced the Person-to-Person Apple Pay within iMessage on iOS 11. Without a home button with integrated Touch ID to place your finger on to authenticate Touch ID, you can now use the new Face ID technology. At the top of the iPhone X there is a notch that contains a number of sensors. These include the front camera as well as the new infrared sensors for the new Face ID. Face ID is the replacement for TouchID on the iPhone X. If you have used Touch ID, and a vast majority of users have, you are accustomed to placing your finger on the Touch ID sensor. Face ID is similar, but instead of your finger, the new infrared sensors scan your face to determine that it is indeed you. The setup for Face ID is similar to Touch ID. When you setup Face ID, you move the camera around your face a bit. This is done to be able to get different angles of your face. This is exactly like setting up Touch ID where you place your finger in different spots to make sure that Touch ID works as often as possible.

Face ID will only unlock your iPhone X if you are actively looking at it. This means that the iPhone X will not unlock if you are looking away, or have your eyes closed. Unlike a fingerprint, people's faces do not stay the same over time. Hair styles change, men grow mustaches or beards, and people wear hats, add glasses, or many other alterations. As time progresses, Face ID will learn about all of these changes and continue to unlock your phone, just like it did when you initially set up Face ID. What powers all of Face ID is powered by the all new TrueDepth Camera sensor.

TrueDepth Camera

There is an area at the at the top of the screen of the iPhone X. This notch houses a number of the camera sensors for the iPhone. It also requires some accommodations within iOS. The adjustments that are needed revolve around the status bar. The status bar has been a staple of iOS since the beginning. iOS has always shown the time, carrier information, wireless status, and battery. This is still the case with the iPhone X, but the information is now displayed around the notch. On the left is the cellular and wireless information. While on the right is the time, Do not Disturb, Bluetooth, battery, and the current time.

One of the features introduced under iOS 9, is the "back" button to go back to where you were. This is still present. When you follow a deep link that allows you to go back to the previous app, this information will be shown on the left, however instead of being in the left of the status bar, it will be directly below the items on the left side of the status bar. This should actually make it easier for users to go back to the previous app. There is a lot sensors packed within the TrueDepth Camera, let us turn to that now.

There are eight different sensors in the top. These are:

• Infrared Camera
• Flood Illuminator
• Proximity Sensor
• Ambient Light Sensor
• Speaker
• Microphone
• Front Camera
• Dot Projector

The Infrared Camera, Flood illuminator, and Dot Projector are all parts that work together to be sure that it is truly your face that is being shown on the screen. These three sensors, combined with the Neural Engine of the A11 Bionic, is able to quickly and seamlessly detect that you are who are you. The Dot Projector will project and detect 30,000 different invisible dots to be able to look at each feature of your face. The there are three items that occur nearly simultaneously. These items are:

1. Your Face is detected with the flood illuminator.
2. The infrared camera takes an infrared picture.
3. The Dot projector detects 30,000 invisible dots.

The infrared image and dot project are mathematically calculated using the Neural Engine within the A11 Bionic, and a calculation occurs. This is done through specialized hardware and machine learning algorithms that are within the neural engine. The neural engine is capable of handling 600 billion operations per second on a dual-core processor. All of this results in nearly instantaneous calculations. This new calculation is compared to the stored calculation within the secure enclave and if it matches, your phone is unlocked.

Security with Face ID is important, just as it is with Touch ID. Face ID will not allow pictures of you to be able to be used to unlock your iPhone X. Apple states that with Touch ID, the likelihood of someone being able to randomly come up and unlock your iPhone with their fingerprint is 1 in 50,000. With Face ID, this is reduced to 1 in a million. The chances for Face ID are reduced if someone closely related to you tries to unlock your iPhone X with Face ID. That is Face ID in a nutshell, let us move to the thing that you look at the most, the screen.

The Screen

The new iPhone X has a completely new edge-to-edge screen. This screen Optical Light Emitting Diode, or OLED, screen. OLED is a bit different from the traditional Liquid Crystal Display, or LCD, screens that have appeared on the previous iPhone models. There are two big benefits with OLED. The first is that OLED allows for darker blacks and brighter whites. This ultimately means that the picture that is shown will be even better than on LCDs. The second benefit is that OLED uses less electricity, which improves battery life. And who does not like better battery life?

To complement the new OLED screen, the iPhone X incorporates True Tone. True Tone is the same technology that is within the 10.5-inch iPad Pro and second generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro. True Tone utilizes a light sensor to be able to automatically adjust the colors on the screen. Combining True Tone with the OLED screen means that the display should be able to produce even better colors; particularly within sunlight.

The edge-to-edge form-factor means more than just less bezel space. It also means that the iPhone X has a distinct resolution. The resolution of the iPhone X is 2436 pixels tall by 1125 pixels wide. This is not a screen resolution that has been on an iPhone before. The biggest change occurred in 2014 with the release of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus when developing on the iPhone required supporting two more screen sizes. This was in addition to the already known, at the time, 320 pixels by 480 pixels, the retina size of this, 640 pixels by 960 pixels. The first significant change was with the iPhone 5 and its screen resolution of 640 pixels by 1136 pixels. It was was only a difference of 176 pixels in height, and usually meant that you were able to show more items vertically.

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus introduced the two new screen sizes of 750 pixels wide by 1334 pixels high. The iPhone 6 Plus introduced a screen resolution of 1080 pixels wide by 1920 pixels high. The way that developers can make sure that they work with any screen size is through the use of size classes. The addition of this new screen resolution shows that Apple is not afraid to branch out and create a screen resolution that does not fit what developers, as well as users, have become accustom to. If you are a developer, it is becoming increasingly difficult to not use size classes within your applications. Any applications that do not conform to size class will quickly become apparent to users of the iPhone X.

One of the complaints, by some, is that the Plus-sized phones are not comfortable in the hand. The screen resolution of the iPhone X is, of course, due to the physical screen size; which is 5.15 inches. With the edge-to-edge nature of the screen, all of this fits within approximately the same size as the 4.7-inch iPhone 8. This screen size is not as large as the screen on the iPhone 8 Plus, which is 5.5-inches. Even with the physical screen being smaller, the screen resolution is still larger than the Plus-sized phones. This is a nice size between the two, which should help appease some of those who find the Plus-sized phone to be too large and having a larger area is just an added bonus.

Camera

The biggest digital camera on the market right now is the iPhone. The iPhone, along with other mobile phones, has replaced the use of traditional cameras for many people, including myself. This trend is why Apple has paid significant attention to the camera in recent releases of the iPhone. The camera in the iPhone X has some new capabilities that were not available previously. The camera is now capable of recording 1080p HD at 240 frames per second, 4K at 24 frames per second , and even 4K at 60 frames per second. The 1080p at 240fps, and 4K at 60fps are double what the previous iPhones were capable of handling. The new 4K at 24 fps is possible through the use of HEVC. HEVC is capable of handling many different frame rates. The use of 24 frames per second is standard within the movie world and will allow you to take film style video.

The addition of new video filming options will absolutely help drive even more video and photos being shot on iPhone, which is an ad campaign that they have been running, and this should allow even better submissions.

The new Front Camera, within the TrueDepth Camera system, is upgraded over the FaceTime HD camera on the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. The front camera is also capable of taking Portrait Mode photos. Combining this with Portrait Lighting on the front camera, means that you can take some fantastic selfies. The front facing camera is great for selfies, but there is a new feature specifically on the iPhone X, that can be used with the front camera.

The first is Portrait Mode on the front facing camera. It is nice to be able to take Portrait photos with the rear facing camera, but being able to get a portrait mode selfie will allow you to up your selfie game against others. Another adjacent feature is Portrait Lighting. Portrait Lighting will let you adjust not only the lighting on your face, but also the lighting of the background. The best part is that this can be done after the fact. So if you take a selfie but think it could be a bit better with some more light, you can make the adjustments afterwards to get an even better picture.

There are some other enhancements with the rear-facing camera. You can now record video in 4K at 60 frames per second, this is double the speed on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. The telephoto lens on the iPhone X now includes optical image stabilization, which was not present on any previous iPhone, but is present on the iPhone 8 Plus.

The last new feature with the front camera is one that may be quite popular with kids.

Animoji

Apple unveiled a lot of information its World Wide Developer Conference event in June, but they left out a couple of new features that are present in iOS 11. The biggest, and one that will appeal to many users, is the inclusion of some enhancements to emoji. Emoji are a progression in communication mechanisms by many across the world. Emoji can add additional expression that could be conveyed via the written word, but are vastly more succinct through the use of an emoji character. One of the benefits of emoji is that they can be used for both their intended purpose, as well as ironically, or with an alternate meaning.

Take, for instance, the use of the eggplant, 🍆 emoji. It can be used to indicate that you want to eat some eggplant; however it can also be used as a phallic symbol. Similarly, you can send someone a peach, 🍑, emoji. Again, to signify that you want to eat a peach, or tell someone that you think they are a peach, or even that you are peachy keen. It also has been used as replacement for one backside. The last example that I will use is the infamous poop emoji, 💩. If you are of a certain age, you may also refer to him as "Mr. Hanky". Just like the 🍆 and 🍑, 💩 can also be used in a variety of situations. One situation would allow you to indicate that you are not feeling well. Whereas another would be that you might be indicating to someone that they are being a pile of poop. All of these examples above are just a few of the various ways that emoji can be used to signal meaning. These are all just static two dimensional representations.

Apple has expounded upon this concept by including a new feature for iMessage called Animoji. Animoji take the concept of a static emoji but it utilizes your face as well as your voice, to determine which emoji might represent your current expression. Besides just choosing an emoji, which is a feat in itself, the emoji that it chooses is three dimensional and animated. Some of the emoji that are represented by Animoji are the 🐵, 🤖, 🐱, 🐶, and yes even 💩. There are more, but these are just some of the one that are available.

When you begin to send an Animoji within iMessage, your head movements will be mimicked on screen in real time, at the same time you can be speaking and you voice will be recorded. You can then send the Animoji to someone via iMessage. It will then be played back to them. Animojis, while they may seem trivial or dumb, will add a bit of excitement and fun to the existing emoji. It will be interesting to see what faces people can make and what Animoji iOS 11 will show them.

Wireless Charging

The back of the iPhone X is glass. This allows for a new feature, wireless charging. The standard that Apple is using on the iPhone X is the Qi, pronounced "she", standard. This means that if you have a Qi-compliant charging pad, it will work with the iPhone X. The inclusion of wireless charging will allow users to simply place their iPhone on a charging pad and it should begin charging. This means that you will not have to plug in your iPhone just to have it charge. This is convenient, not only for home, but also if you travel. This is because you can bring a charging mat that will allow your iPhone, Apple Watch Series 3, and even AirPods charge wirelessly.

There is a new product coming in 2018 called "AirPower". AirPower is a mat designed by Apple that will allow you to charge all of your Apple devices at once. This is great not just for travelers, but also as a place to be able to set all of your items and know where they are located.

Pre-orders and Pricing

The iPhone X is the future of the smart phone, and with that it commands a futuristic price. The iPhone X comes in two configurations, 64GB and 256GB and as mentioned above, it comes in two colors, Silver and Space Gray. The 64GB model is $999 and the 256GB model is $1149. Apple Care on the iPhone X has also gone up to $199. This brings the total to somewhere between $1200 and $1349. It is available for pre-orders starting October 27th, with delivery starting on November 3rd. It is very possible that the iPhone X will be in short supply after launch.

Final Thoughts

The all new iPhone X, much like with the introduction of the MacBook in early 2015, is showing us the direction it is going to take not just the iPhone X, but phones in the future. The bezel-less display has some great upgrades, in particular the fact that a larger 5.8-inch screen fits into a form factor just slightly larger than the 4.7-inch screen. The new TrueDepth camera allows Face ID to exist. The addition of a neural engine within the A11 processor allows the computation that is necessary to make Face ID open quickly and seamlessly. The inclusion of wireless charging is a great step towards a completely wireless future. Even though it may seem trivial, the inclusion of the new Animoji will add a new dynamic to interactions amongst individuals. The new Animoji feature will be a great demo to show off just what the iPhone X is capable of doing. Even though the iPhone X is pricey at $999 for the 64GB model, it is the future, which means that the technology within the iPhone X will eventually trickle down to the lower end phones.

Apple has held their annual Fall Event. The biggest aspect to any Fall event is the unveiling of new iPhones. This event does indeed include new iPhones. Apple's fall event is the one that receives the most attention from not just technology media, but, more importantly, from those outside of the technology sphere. With that fact in mind Apple chose to hold this year's event at the new Steve Jobs Theater on the new Apple Park campus. To me, it seems quite befitting to have the first event at the new Steve Jobs Theater be the unveiling of iPhones. This is because back in January of 2007, Steve Jobs stood on stage at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco and unveiled the first iPhone, one that would revolutionize not just only the mobile phone industry, but also the technology sphere in general. The mobile phone revolution has ushered in one of the greatest technology shifts of the last few centuries. While Today's iPhone announcements may, to some, seem evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, the march of progress continues.

This article focuses on the Apple Watch, Apple TV, and iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. If you are looking for the iPhone X, that is in its own article.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch is one of Apple's newer product lines. When it was introduced three years ago at the September 2014 event, Apple positioned the Apple Watch as a smaller version of the iPhone. While this was a good premise to start a product, ultimately the market has steered the Apple Watch to primarily become a fitness and notification mechanism. While Apple has continued to improve the software, most notably with watch OS 3, and now with WatchOS 4, the hardware, besides internal changes, has remained unchanged. The hardware that was present on the original Apple Watch is the same that was on the Apple Watch Series 2. One of the downsides to the Apple Watch, up to now, has been the need for many to bring their iPhones with them when they go and exercise. The Apple Watch Series 2 obviated this, in someways, by providing a GPS radio in the watch. This is beneficial to those who wanted to plot a route foe their outdoor workouts, but it did not completely reduce the need for bringing an iPhone along.

Hardware Changes

The new Apple Watch Series 3 has made a big leap forward, in this regard. The Apple Watch Series 3 now includes an LTE radio. The inclusion of an LTE radio opens up many more opportunities for fitness. The biggest, and most obvious, is that the Series 3 you can now leave your iPhone at home. To complement this new capability, watchOS 4 includes a new feature that will allow you to automatically sync some of your favorite music to the Apple Watch. This is quite useful if you want to exercise and only bring your bluetooth headphones and your Apple Watch. Combining this with the new watchOS 4 feature that allows you to pair your Apple Watch with gym equipment, and the other new feature to quickly add a new exercise to your current session directly on the watch, one can quickly see that it becomes even easier to switch your current exercise,or music, without needing to fumble with your watch.

There are both upsides and downsides to the inclusion of LTE on the Apple Watch. The upside is that Apple has worked with the carriers to be able to receive phone calls on your Apple Watch. This is not only a convenient feature when around the house, but it will be super helpful should you need to call emergency services. The addition of LTE also means that you will be able to receive iMessages, phone calls, and perform many of the same tasks you would on an iPhone, but with your Apple Watch. Starting in October, you will even be able to stream your Apple Music right from you watch, over LTE.

The processor in the Apple Watch Series 3 has been upgrade to a faster dual-core model, named the S3. Along with this there is a new Apple Wireless chip, the W2. The W2 make some enhancements over the W1, but what those are is not known.

There is an additional hardware change. The Apple Watch Series 3 includes a new barometric altimeter. The barometric altimeter will allow you to more accurately track flights walked up as well as differences in elevation when you are exercising outdoors.

The Apple Watch Series 3, with Cellular has 16GB of storage available on it, this is up from 8GB on the non-cellular models and the older Apple Watches. The last tweak is that the back of the Apple Watch Series 3, with cellular is ceramic and no longer composite. This is due to the nature of radio and the need to be able to send signals through the back of the watch. The advance in processing power has allowed Apple to let Siri actually respond with voice instead of just text.

The last change regarding cellular is the location of the wireless radio for cellular. It is actually embedded within the screen which leaves even more room for the other internals that are needed. Let us turn to some accessories for the Apple Watch, most notably the bands.

Bands

One of the ways that individuals customize their Apple Watch is through bands. Apple has unveiled a new style of band, the Sport Loop. The Sport Loop combines the best of the Sport band with the best of the Milanese Loop. The Sport Loop functions like the Milanese in that you can precisely position it how you need. At the same time though, it is able to breathe like the sport band so that you can use it while exercising.

There are eight colors for the Sport Loop. These colors are:

• Flash
• Spicy Orange
• Electric Pink
• Midnight Blue
• Black Sport
• Seashell
• Dark Olive
• Pink Sand

Just like traditional sport bands, these cost $49 and are available to order today for delivery on September 22nd. The Sport Loop is not the only update, there are two new Hermès bands as well. One for the 38mm, the Hermès Bordeaux Swift Leather Double Tour, and the corresponding Single Tour version available for both the 38mm and 42mm. The Double Tour is $489, and the Single Tour is $339. There are still more bands available.

There is a whole new line of Nylon Colors. The available colors for Nylon are:

• Dark Olive Woven Nylon
• Midnight Blue Woven Nylon
• White Woven Nylon
• Spicy Orange Woven Nylon
• Berry Woven Nylon
• Black Woven Nylon
• White Woven Nylon
• Midnight Blue Woven Nylon
• Black Woven Nylon

Just like the Sport Loop, these are available for delivery starting September 22nd. There is a single new Nike Sport Band, the Pure Platinum/Black band. It is available for $49. The last new set of bands available are the Leather ones, with buckles. The new options are:

• Cosmos Blue Classic Buckle
• Pink Fuchsia Classic Buckle
• Dark Aubergine Classic Buckle
• Ruby (PRODUCT)RED Classic Buckle
• Cosmos Blue Leather Loop (42mm only)
• Charcoal Gray Leather Loop (42mm only)

Just like the other bands, these are available for order today and delivery of September 22nd. These bands cost $149 each.

Apple Watch Colors

Outside of the addition of LTE, there have been a couple of other hardware changes. The Apple Watch initially came in two colors, Silver and Space Gray. There were three different possible materials choices for the case; aluminum, stainless steel, and also solid gold, but that was for the high-end “edition” model. The Apple Watch Series 2 expanded the colors to include Rose Gold and Gold for the aluminum in addition to a new white ceramic as the "Apple Watch Edition" model. This year there are a couple new colors. There is a new "Blush Gold" aluminum color and a new "Gray" for the ceramic edition of the Apple Watch. While these may be modest changes, these will definitely help attract more users, and provide a few more options in the product line.

The Apple Watch Series 3 comes in the same color choices. For the Sport model the options are Silver, Space Gray, and Gold. Pricing for the 38MM aluminum starts at $329. The Cellular option is $70 more at $399. The 42MM is $359 for the non-cellular model and $429 for the cellular model. The Apple Watch Edition is only available in a cellular model. The 38MM is $1299, and the 42MM is $1349.

The Stainless Steel and Hermes models are available in the same colors as before. The Stainless Steel model only comes in two colors, Silver and Space Gray, and just like the Apple Watch Edition, the Stainless Steel model is only available in a cellular configuration. The 38mm is available for $599, and the 42mm is $649. The Hermes is only available in Stainless Steel and only comes in cellular models.

Pre-orders for all of the Apple Watch Series 3 starts on September 15th with deliveries beginning on September 22nd.

Apple TV

The Apple TV began life in 2007 as a modified version of a Mac Mini. This was replaced with a small "puck" like device in the 2nd and 3rd Generation Apple TVs. In 2015, Apple unveiled their all new 4th Generation Apple TV. This Apple TV changed the paradigm for the Apple TV to one that was based upon applications and not based upon whom Apple was willing to partner with. The Apple TV has seen a modicum of success in the last two years. Today, Apple announced an all new Apple TV 4K. The changes that have been brought with the Apple TV 4K bring capabilities to the Apple TV that allow it to take advantage of today's television technology.

The most notable upgrade to the Apple TV 4K is the fact that it can do 4K. 4K television have been around for almost a decade and it is very likely that any TV that you purchase will be a 4K Television. 4K offers twice the number of vertical pixels, 2160, as well as twice the number of horizontal pixels, 3840 pixels over traditional HD TVs, which have a resolution of 1920 pixels wide by 1080 Pixels high. This means that there are four times the number of pixels on the same size screen. This should allow for better clarity and smoother action scenes.

The second, and possibly more noticeable feature, is the addition of High Dynamic Range, or HDR. You may already be familiar with HDR if you use your iPhone to take pictures. HDR on an iPhone will take three pictures and take the best features of each and combine them into a single picture. Ultimately, this results in better colors and more contrast within a picture. The same general thing occurs with HDR on TVs. HDR on a TV will allow for even blacker blacks and even brighter whites. This means that all of the colors on a screen will be even brighter and clearer, which will see the picture even more life-like.

The internals of the Apple TV 4K have been significantly improved. It now sports an A10X Fusion processor in it. This is the same as the 10.5-inch iPad Pro and 2nd Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro. The Apple TV 4K also has Bluetooth 5.0 for connectivity to the latest peripherals. Alongside this comes HDMI 2.0a and Gigabit Ethernet. This is up from Bluetooth 4.2, HDMI 1.4, and 10/100 ethernet. The wireless has also been improved to support the 5GHz band

Apple would not introduce a 4K Apple TV without having some 4K content to go with it. iTunes now has 4K content within the store. 4K movies will cost the same as HD movies. So around $20 for new releases. Rentals will cost the same around $6 for new releases. With having four times as many pixels being shown within a 4K movie, you might think that the size of the file would be significantly higher. In reality, they are not. With the new High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC) in tvOS 11, and iOS 11, 4K movies will be able to be better compressed all while maintaining their quality. This means that 4K movies should come in around 4GB for a 90 minute movie. This is approximately the same size as a 1080p movie that is not encoded with HEVC.

If you already have HD Movies, they will automatically be upgraded to 4K versions. This is a great perk for those who already have large iTunes collections.

The addition of 4K and HDR to the Apple TV will make it a worthy upgrade for anyone who has an Apple TV and a 4K TV. The Apple TV 4K is available for pre-order on September 15th, for $179 for the 32GB model and $199 for the 64GB model. The 32GB 4th Generation Apple TV is still around for $149.

iPhones

With the iPhone being the biggest consumer item for Apple, making up 60% of all of Apple's profits, and with selling millions of phones every quarter, it is hard to keep a lid on all of the changes that are to come with a new iPhone. This year presents a big change for iPhones. The biggest being that there are three different models being introduced. From 2007 through 2013, there was only one model introduced. It may have come in some colors, but there was only one size. From 2007 to 2011, this was a 3.5-inch sized iPhone. For 2012 and 2013, this was 4-inch screen. Since 2014, there have been two sizes, 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens, starting with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. These two sizes continue with the 8 and 8 Plus. Let us look at the new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

iPhone 8 and 8 Plus

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus continue on the tradition of their predecessors. The general form factor of the phone has remained unchanged since the introduction of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in 2014. There have been some interior structural changes, like with the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 Plus becoming a bit more rigid to combat any inadvertent bending. Many people may complain that the outside of the iPhone has remained unchanged for four releases now, however this does come with some benefits. For instance, it means that Apple has gotten really good at making the exterior cases for the phone. Along side this, many of your peripherals will continue to work with a new phone, just like they did on the old phone. However, that is not always the case.

The biggest change with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models were that he headphone jack was removed. The removal of the headphone jack allowed Apple to make the iPhone something that it was not previously capable of being; water resistant. One of the quickest ways to kill any electronic device is to expose it to water. The change to the water resistant case, which required removal of the headphone jack, has lead to fewer iPhones being destroyed by being put into water; whether willingly or unwillingly.

Processor

One change that occurs every year is the interior components. The new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus contains the new A11 Bionic processor along with its M11 motion co-processor. The A11 Bionic This brings even better battery efficiency and processing to the phone. The A11 Bionic is a six core processor that consists of four high efficiency cores that are up to 70 percent faster than A10 Fusion. It also has two high performance cores that are up to 25 percent faster than the A10 Fusion. To go with the processor, Apple has included a new Apple-designed graphics processor as well. This will get 30% faster performance over the graphics in the A10 Fusion.

There is an all new item incorporated with the A11 Bionic, a neural engine. The neural engine will allow even faster processing of Augmented Reality and Machine Learning than the A10 Fusion. The neural engine is designed not only for Augmented Reality and Machine Learning, but can be used for many other things like processing of items within photos and much much more. The new items within the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus do not end there. Let us look now turn to the screen.

Screen

The screen on the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are significantly better with an all new technology that Apple is calling Retina HD displays. Retina HD displays incorporate True Tone technology to adjust the screen to the right brightness, contrast, and color based upon the surroundings. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus also incorporate the Wide Color Gamut, which will be able to show the best colors possible.

With the glass back on the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, Apple has matched the aluminum band around the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus to be the exact same color as the back. Besides matching aesthetically, this also allows for more rigidity within the iPhone.

Camera

The biggest usage of any iPhone is the camera. The camera in the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have been vastly improved. They now both feature Quad-LED True Tone flash with Slow Sync. They are also capable of recording 4K video at 60 frames per second, which will make your 4K video even more life-like. The cameras have otherwise remained largely the same.

The iPhone 8 Plus has seen a bit of an improvement on its own. It now has a new feature, Portrait Lighting. Similar to the way that Portrait photos were brought to the iPhone 7 Plus last year, Portrait Lighting is in beta, but it allows you to perform some interesting effects with a Portrait photo. Portrait Lighting will take the information from the surrounding light and apply a lighting effect to the photo. The biggest benefit is that you can do this retroactively and you can also change

Battery

One of the things you can always expect is that battery life on the iPhone will remain fairly consistent. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are no exception. They get the same battery life as their predecessors.

The iPhone 8 has a new set of materials on the outside. The front and back are now both glass. The glass is surrounded by a band of aluminum. The glass back allows for an all new feature to iPhones, wireless charging.

The wireless charging that is included with the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus is the Qi, pronounced "she", standard. This means that if you have a Qi-compliant charging pad, it will work with the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. The inclusion of wireless charging will allow users to simply place their iPhone on a charging pad and it should begin charging. This means that you will not have to plug in your iPhone just to have it charge. This is convenient, not only for home, but also if you travel. This is because you can bring a charging mat that will allow your iPhone, Apple Watch Series 3, and even AirPods charge wirelessly.

There is a new product coming in 2018 called "AirPower". AirPower is a mat designed by Apple that will allow you to charge all of your Apple devices at once.

Pricing

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus come in two configurations. 64GB and 256GB and come in three colors; Silver, Space Gray, and Gold. The prices have gone up slightly to $699 and $799, respectively, for the 64GB models. The 256GB models are $849 and $949 respectively. Pre-orders for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 plus begin Friday September 15th, and delivery starts on September 22nd.

Other iPhones

When Apple introduces new iPhone models, they typically eliminate an older model, however that is not the case this year. The iPhone 6s/6s Plus and iPhone 7/7 Plus are still available, as is the iPhone SE. The pricing on these models has changed though.

The iPhone SE is now $50 cheaper, at $349 for 32GB and $449 for 128GB. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have dropped by $100. The iPhone 6s is $449 for the 32GB model, and $549 for the 128GB Model, while the iPhone 6s Plus is $549 for the 32GB model and $649 for the 128GB Model. The iPhone 7 is also $100 less at $549 for the 32GB model, and $649 for the 128GB model, where as the iPhone 7 Plus is $669 for the 32GB model, and $769 for the 128GB Model.

The decision to keep the iPhone 6s will allow even more devices to be purchased that support ARKit under iOS 11, which means that Apple's current iPhone line supports ARKit.

Final Thoughts

The new LTE-enabled Apple Watch Series 3 will allow those who exercise to leave their phones somewhere safe and no use them and without having to sacrifice connectivity. The improved processor will make things even smoother than before. Even though the Apple Watch Serires 2 is no longer available for sale, the Series 1 is still available at a new lower price, of $249. The inclusion of cellular as a standard on the Hermes, Stainless Steel, and Ceramic Edition will provide even more benefit for users who purchase those versions.

The new Apple TV 4K is a great upgrade to bring the Apple TV up to date to be able to take advantage of the latest technologies, like 4K and High Dynamic Range. Keeping the old 4th Generation Apple TV around at a lower price point will allow more options for Apple TVs and will allow those who do not have a 4K TV to be able to take advantage of the capabilities of the Apple TV. The automatic upgrade of previously purchased content to 4K is a definite plus that will benefit everyone, not just those who have 4K now, but will end up buying a 4K TV in the future. The biggest benefit is that the pricing of the 4K movies will be the same price as HD movies, which is great for consumers and will ultimately benefit the movie companies as well.

The new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus bring some solid enhancements to the already future-looking iPhone lineup. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus add a couple of additional phones to the lineup and are ARKit compatible. The all new glass back will definitely allow the adoption of the Qi wireless charging standard to become the de facto standard. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are solid upgrades over the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The Retina HD with True Tone display will allow for better viewing all around. If you are in the market for an iPhone, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are solid upgrades. Just be sure to get your wallets ready for pre-orders of all of these starting on Friday.