X Marks the Spot — or So I Thought
How We All Really Feel About the New iPhone.
OMG, it’s finally here the iPhone X. I’m going to watch the live keynote now and clap at anything anyone says about anything while Apple employers and VIP guests get to view it from their £10,000 iChair. NOT. Let’s be realistic, Apple for the last few years have definitely been slacking in the progressive technology department with many other companies like Samsung and LG soaring past. We miss you, Steve.
In this blog, I want to talk about new and emerging technologies. Not things like 2-hour improved battery life, updated IOS system or the superfast A11 Bionic chip which is capable of up to 600 billion operations a second. All are very impressive and are key to the UX of the iPhone but let’s face it: if you’re an iPhone user, these are a given. This is just an example of technology improving over time, I’m gunning for the big innovative, original ideas that Steve Jobs lived so relentlessly by.
In my opinion for Apple to keep up with the current phone market, and let’s face it, pretty crazy inventions, they have two solutions to this never-ending game of cat and mouse.
1. Just Buy the Tech
Bite the bullet and buy technology off your frenemy, just like the small purchase of 90 million OLED screens made last year from Samsung, which I can guarantee you, Tim Cook is not going to highlight in his latest keynote, even though I’m sure everyone would clap and cheer.
This is a good move because I don’t care and I’m sure 99% of iPhone users couldn’t care if they are using a Samsung screen on their beautifully expensive iPhone. If it means the best for the iPhone and it’s users, then that’s all that matters. So well done Apple for accepting the fact that Samsung produced a superior screen to yours.
2. DIY
Come up with their own ground breaking, game changing, awe-inspiring technology that is going to completely blow you away and re-invent the phone. Oh cool, I can open my phone with my face, like my finger wasn’t good enough. Okay it’s a new shiny technology, which is suitably called FaceID. But is it really the big thing of their 10 year celebratory iPhone? It works by using their TrueDepth camera which projects and analyzes more than 30,00 invisible dots to create a depth map of your face. However I still feel iPhone users will miss the fingerprint scanner and I’m sure the novelty of FaceID will wear off pretty quick.
Some people will probably say this is a big step towards the future of computing which is understandable as it’s the first of its kind but somehow, I think it will be more advantageous in other applications.
The Facts
Okay, lets quickly look at a few of the facts about the phone from the future that has supposedly been designed for the next decade.
- Edge to Edge screen. Heard of the Galaxy Note Edge? Yeah, I heard about it a couple of year’s ago maybe because it has an edge-to-edge screen.
2 years late.
- Wireless charging (AirPower). This has to be brand new because I’ve never wirelessly charged my iPhone. Yes, but your Nan has been wirelessly charging her Samsung Galaxy S4 since 2013.
4 years late.
- Drum role please, Face ID. Okay now we have something new that’s a bit of a letdown in my opinion. The facial mapping feature sounds cool and communicating your facial expressions with Emojis looks pretty fun. I mean what could be better than sending a happy poo face to your ex girlfriend but in reality Snap Chat has been there, and done it.
Apple made it on the list.
While all these technologies are very impressive and will improve the iPhone, the majority have been done before. Saying this, I have to give them credit for fitting all these new components and features into such a sleek and beautiful design which lets face it no one does it better but when they it’s the phone of the future I’m a bit like:
At this point, you’re probably thinking I’m an Android user and I hate iPhones. Wrong. I am writing this on my MacBook Pro while continuously checking my iPhone for Tinder matches. The reason for me writing this blog is Apple set the bar so high that every time a new product is released we’re waiting for that same groundbreaking announcement to make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. But each year I think we all feel slightly disappointed with the new features that will from now on be announced in “The Steve Jobs Theatre”. We know Apple will still provide their effortlessly sleek design with incomparable UX and UI integration but we’re all still urging for that shiny new feature. We miss you, Steve.
Catch me here on Instagram!
Learn more about our work in experience design, wayfinding and public art at @ limahdesign.com
