iPhone X Review: The best iPhone that's not for everyone

What's up guys and gals? Brian Tong here and you know what it is. This is the Iphone 10 and this is going to be our review and it's going to be a little more laid back. We're not going to jump jump in to all the specs and all the features. We like to talk about the experience of using it. What are the things that stand out, what do we like, what are the ways that Apple can do to improve this phone whether it's for next year or even within this year. And we know right off the bat, I mean this thing is gorgeous. This is by far, in my opinion, the best designed iPhone that we have ever seen, from a standpoint of, you know, you have that whole full screen look. But then at the same time, after using this for a while, like people that have it have found out This may not be the iPhone for everyone. So, let's just jump into it and first let's talk about the speed of this thing. Obviously, if you play with this phone, it's a speedy phone, you're not gonna feel like it's slow at any point in time. But really, where the speed comes into play It's how you use it. We know that Apple is now bringing us Face ID. They took out the home button. They took out Touch ID. And there's actually ways Face ID is suprising. lt actually works really well. There are instances where Face ID is actually faster. For example, If you pick up your phone it's been on the table, and you have notifications. The fact that when you look at it and you can just tap those notifications that show up and it goes right into it. Another way that Face ID is actually faster is when you're using sites, like, let's say banking sites. You don't have to enter in your information, you go into that login screen, you happen to be looking at your phone, and voila you are in. So, those were kind of some of the couple instances where Face ID is actually faster used But then you also come across situations where it's slower to use. Nothing can beat the speed of touch I.D., we know this, but I think there were times where it was almost too fast. So, for example, in previous iPhones you have your lock screen wallpaper that looks really nice. I would double tap it and before I could even see it or enjoy it, it would already be gone. So, in a way because face I.D. takes that extra split second. I can actually enjoy my lock screen wall paper. I'm not saying slower is better but in this situation it kind of is. There's also other ways where not having touch id does effect how you use the phone. Face id isn't always going to be faster so Theres some concessions here. For example, when you're closing apps it takes an extra step. You have to drag from the bottom up and hold it, then you have to hold on your screen so that you can actually delete or manually close apps. That takes longer. I don't really like that. Also, with Apple Pay, when you're at a point of sale register you have to look at the phone. So, before I used to just pull it out of my pocket. Double tap the touch ID and boom, I didn't have think about it. I didn't have to look at it. You do have an extra beat so there are moments where it's absolutely faster to use face ID. But there are other times when it's not. You have to get over the fact that touch ID is gone. There is things like the control center, it really requires you to use two hands almost to bring it up. Swipe from the right hand corner. You can use reach ability and then swipe from that corner. But it's still another step. Some things are faster, some things are slower. When we say slower, we're really talking about literally a second here and there. This is not a deal breaker. It's just something that you will Experience when using the iPhone 10. Not only from the first day, but as you continue to use it. All right, next up we've got to talk about the screen. I mean, I rave about the design. DisplayMate actually rated it the best screen in a smart phone ever. I mean, that's high praise. But really there's two people that are gonna love this. First of all if you have a Plus phone. And you're going down to the iPhone 10. It's a smaller form factor but you still got that great screen real estate. Most of those people love it and if you're one of those people that still has yet to get it and you wanna go down from a plus to 10, you're gonna absolutely love the screen. And then there's this other group of people, pretty much someone who's always been iPhone user but has never had a large screen phone. I think a lot of them are wowed by it because not only is it OLED, but it's also the first kind of big screen form factor that they have ever had. They aren't used to seeing what else is out there from Samsung or the Google Pixel phones. That's why they are going to love this phone. The screen is really top notch and I think you are going to love it. Another think I love about this is, look, the camera here is great The XL Mark rated it the best smart phone for taking photos specifically, but when you use this camera right you can battle these between any other phone. The top three cameras that are all great. They just kinda come down to Maybe specific things that are more important to you, whether it's like the exposure, the texture, the color balance of the actual camera. That's gonna help you decide which phone to get. But bottom line, this camera is phenomenal. You'll love all those zipper modes. One thing that makes it kind of funny is that The selfie camera is so good it's almost too sharp. We are not used to seeing our faces that sharp and it can kinda actually be a little disturbing. Like ew, I don't wanna use this selfie camera, but bottom line this is a great camera on this phone. So those are some of the things that just really stand out about this phone and I What's unique about it too, is the more that I use this phone, the more I like it. I've talked to other people. They feel the same way. And that's a good thing. The more you use something and you actually start enjoying it more, that's a great thing with a phone. So the iPhone definitely delivers from that standpoint. Now, let's talk about how we can actually make this phone better, or ways that Apple can improve it, maybe even improve it within this year. The first thing is, look We talk about it a lot, there's no home button. What could they possibly use to emulate or replace that home button? For me, they've gotta use 3-D touch. Now, 3-D touch is an interface that isn't used as much. One of the reasons why some people don't even know it's there. Apple doesn't require us to use it To use the phone. You know we have all these new gestures that you have to learn to use the iPhone 10, why not use 3D touch kind of like as the home button with the hardpress, you get that feedback. It's a combination of base ID as well. As it speeds up, as space ID gets better, I think that would be a great way to kind of give some of those people that home button feeling that they miss. Put it in that home button spot and make it feel like, you know what this is a complete slate of glass, and we know that Apple is moving in that direction. Eventually we're just going to have a piece of glass in our hand but put some sort of a home button, I think 3D touch would be the answer for that. Another thing they can do is that when I picked this up it felt like an iPhone and that's a great thing if you want the device to feel like it, but at the same time it can sometimes feel underwhelming. This is a great piece of hardware but it felt exactly like iOS 11 which feels like iOS 10. It doesn't feel like there's anything really fresh with the software other than the fact that you're forced to know and learn new gestures to operate the phone. So what I'm asking for maybe it's me just being like expecting too much. I'd like to see some new software innovations and features. 3D touch, still totally underutilized. But also, look at what other phones are doing out there. They're adding these bells and whistles that are usable. Like sorry, the Pixel has a Shazam listening feature with an always on phone. You have phones that have enabled you to squeeze the sides. It might sound gimmicky, but there's ways to add true software, innovation, and functionality That maybe Apple hasn't prioritized, so that's one of the things that you have this great device. Give me some new great features in software. And don't tell me that Animoji is an truly innovative software feature. It's fun, it is fun. Another thing that is maybe one of the most divisive things about the iPhone X for me, it has to be The notch. Now, some of you are used to it. I've heard people say, I don't really see it anymore. That's okay, but I'm not that person. Like, the notch still bothers me and I'm reminded of it constantly. Especially when I'm writing an email or a tweet or text message and you see all this extra space underneath the keyboard? If you look at that really carefully. [MUSIC] Look, the notch does make it look unique. I get it, it's just not for me. Other people would be like, that's why Apple, that's how they brand it as the iPhone 10. Fine, I"ll give you that. But for me, I wish they could just make it a solid bar, black bar across the top. Move down the utilities like wi-fi, bluetooth, the battery. Put it right below that. And then shift everything down. If you look at the keyboard screen, there is more than enough space for that. And then you'll still have enough space to swipe your thumb from the bottom to the top, or bottom up, to unlock the phone. I think that, that is something that we won't always see this notch, I mean, shoot maybe we will, Apple does what they want. But for me I don't like the notch and I think there is a way to get rid of it to still make it sleek and sexy and smooth. This one's not a deal breaker for me but specs like this phone is great. Guess what most of us is gonna put a case on it, but I don't want to put a case on it but you have to. Have to. But it's actually a lot heavier compared to previous iPhones. If you close your eyes, you put it in one hand, it's heavier. When I put it in my pocket with a case, I can definitely feel its weight. Again, it's not a deal breaker, maybe I'm just nitpicking, but it's a heavier phone. Another thing that bothers me is now, with this new iPhone, we have a lot of different Interfaces and UIs from original iPhones with home buttons, the iPhone 10 and even the iPad, they are kind of disconnected and I get it, we are moving towards a single piece of glass with literally no buttons, I know that's the vision, and that's the future but right now, you know with the iPhone 10 You slide up for your home screen, or to unlock it, and you slide down from the top right to get control center. On the iPad Pros, you slide up from the bottom up to the top to get to the control center. And then on the current standard iPhones, 8 and lower, you press a button. The interfaces are disconnected, it's really the most fragmented we've ever seen Apple software. And I just wish And would like to see it to be more ubiquitous across the product line like Apple used to. I get it, it's different hardware, but they still could have kind of made them a little more cohesive and that would have been a nice thing. So who's this phone really for? I mean, come on, it's for the gadget lover. It's for the hardcore Apple fan. It's also for someone who wants Apple's best designed phone ever. And look at it, I look at this thing As like Apple's concept car right now this is just the start. If you want to jump on that, you want to take a ride and you want to see what happens, you know what to expect. If you're someone who wants a headphone jack, if you're someone who still has got to have a home button, you shouldn't get this phone. I'm not going to get this phone for my mom. I'm not going to get this phone for my Dad. I'm going to wait until the absolute last moment For them to jump on this form factor just because it's really not for them. So overall this is great phone. This is yes the best iPhone Apple has ever designed. Some people are calling it the best phone they've every made. It's hard for me to say that because it still isn't for everyone but You know, I think about this phone, everyone talks about the $1000 price point. It's not up to me to tell you if it's worth spending $1000 of your own money. I hate when people say it's not worth it. No one is gonna tell me or you how to spend our money but for me, I mean, it was worth $1000, so, guess worth, I bought it for myself, that was for me. I think also, overall, when you look at this phone If you know what you are going to get into. You are losing a lot of things, but you are learning new things. It's really just a beautiful piece of glass. That's a screen. And that's a good thing. That's a cool thing. You are going to enjoy this phone. You are not going to just like it a lot. I think you are going to end up just loving this phone a lot. And that's cool because you should love something that you spent 1K dollars for. So there you have it. That's kind of like our Apple by review. I'd love to hear what you guys and girls think in the comments. Whether you agree with what I said, some of the things I said, disagree with everything I said. Let us know right down in the comments. We're gonna check them all out. And there you have it. The Apple Byte iPhone 10 review.