The future of the smartphone, as Apple calls its new iPhone X, means breaking old habits. With no more home button, this mostly means replacing presses with swipes and the fingerprint ID sensor with facial recognition.
In my 10 days with the iPhone X, I tried to fool its Face ID feature. I bought three sandwiches, popcorn and a ruler with Apple Pay. I read an e-book and listened to podcasts. I ran a marathon. I followed that with a Netflix marathon on the couch.
I'm still adjusting. Most of the changes aren't necessarily better -- just different, forced upon me to accommodate a larger display and other forward-looking gizmos.
Swipe, Swipe, Swipe
Fortunately, the new gestures are mostly simple. Instead of pressing the home button to return to the home screen, you swipe up from the bottom. Swiping up used to get you settings in the Control Center; now you swipe down from the top right instead.
I knew I'd mastered it when I thought an old iPhone was defective because I couldn't swipe. Use the home button -- duh!
It can still be confusing while watching video horizontally, as the swiping edge moves to the new bottom. I'm used to the home button on the right -- and tried to swipe there. It's also more convoluted to close unresponsive apps with a combination of swipe, hold, press and tap; good thing I don't need to do this often.
Face ID
Facial recognition works fairly well for unlocking the phone, even if you're sweating and shaking during a run. It also works in the dark -- if you align your face just right. I'm nearsighted, so I hold my phone close when checking in bed without glasses. I have to remember to hold the phone several inches back for Face ID. And I have to avoid squinting; Apple says eyes need to be fully open.
By default, full notifications don't appear on the lock screen. You might see that your cousin had sent a message, but Face ID needs to recognize you for the message to appear. That means lifting your phone from the desk or tilting your head (at least without changing settings).
But if you're already looking at the phone, it's much faster to log into apps that used to require a fingerprint. Face ID automatically kicks in; no need to move your thumb. And when buying things with Apple Pay, you verify a transaction before tapping the phone at a payment reader; there's no waiting for your fingerprint.
About That Screen
The iPhone X screen has about the same surface area as the iPhone 8 Plus in a body that's almost as narrow as the regular iPhone 8. But video isn't as large as on the Plus. Video tends to be optimized for the dimensions of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus (and older