Presumably Android would have to be tweaked...
... to accommodate the notch?
I suppose they could just send Jony Ive to a premature grave by sticking some gaffer tape over it and finding the punters don't much care...
Samsung has provided confirmation that iPhone X sales are way below Apple's estimates for the much-hyped, tenth anniversary special. The miscalculation could end up benefitting Android owners. News that public demand for the £999 phone was falling short of expectations came over the Christmas holidays, with Bloomberg reporting …
"Let's face it :), everyone is waiting for an edge to edge iPhone with the fingerprint reader embedded under/within the screen display"
Given the inability of an iPhone owner to NOT crack the screen (my wife dropped hers within 24 hours of me giving it to her, cases and covers were on order but apparently that 24 hour window was still time enough for her to allow it to plummet to a concretey demise), I'd like to see how that works out.
The "Essential" Android phone came out before the iPhone X and already has a small notch in the top. I haven't looked in to how well their version of Android handles it, though.
Google is adding official support for notches in the next version of Android though, apparently.
at about this time?
Perhaps (begin conspiracy theory) Samsung are getting a tad twitchy as LG has been rumoured to replace them for next years iPhones. There are also rumours that their new Galaxy S9 won't sell in the numbers that previous models have done.
(end conspiracy theory)
I'll get the popcorn in.
I agree that these companies have to examine a declining market. Is it going in the similar direction PC and other saturate sales markets are?
No one upgrading because the current tech is "good enough". If the S9 is a mere revision to the S8, then should they not expect tiny sales in comparison?
The iPhone X and 8 are somewhat silly and small adaptations, not "upgrade" worthy in most peoples experience. If I wanted the "full screen" effect of the X, I'd want it to give me a bigger screen, not reduce that screen with a notch. If I wanted a faster/better phone, I'd wait till the old one breaks/wears out, and currently the tech can last ages as specs/manufacturing is rather mature now.
If I wanted to use Apple's excellent AR silicon, I'd wait til they make a model with rear-facing active 3D scanning.
Other note: LG's OLED phone screens haven't been universally praised this last year -- see Google Pixel. LG's TVs are superb, but they use a different substrate.
>> "No one upgrading because the current tech is "good enough"."
Fully agree, but I'd also add that on top of existing tech being good enough, the added problem is that the replacements are getting so darned expensive. Hence, replace a fast, fluid and fully working phone with one that's only slightly faster and flashier for $1,000?? Easy to see why more and more people are saying "No" to this.
And to note, Samsung are getting there as well. Last time I was due an upgrade, I did look at a new Samsung phone, but balked at the price before sticking with my existing handset.
Why put a notch in an OLED? Curved corners on the OLED are bad enough, but at least form factor dependant. However, why have a notch when two bars serve just as well?
Or to put it more precisely, if you want "all screen" but are technology limited to cameras taking out some of the OLED real estate then don't put full screen video inside the notch. Just put it within the notch, as like 100% of previous video systems have done with letterbox/etc screen options.
I just see this phone (and similar ones) as an insane Emperors New Clothes, waiting to collapse under their own steam and hot air.
So while I know my little "rant" is a bit off topic, it is my feeling of the market direction, and the break between the sales/marketing and the consumer/market.
I agree with John and disagree with Dave. The X has less space for notifications, and it's not just used for that, they want to use it for the address bar/websites/full screen video! That's less than having a Samsung or any other phone square screen!
How on earth is a Notch an improvement and not a detraction? In cost, use, information, reparability, ease of use... in everything?!
Not since the iPhone 1* have I seen such a cut down usability from Apple! Every phone after that has been an upgrade. But the X is cutting of the nose to spite the face.
*No copy paste, no removable battery.
Status bar information is the important stuff - battery life, signal strength, clock etc - that needs to be read easily. Adding icons for less important stuff is poor Information Ergonomics, since in effect lower priority information is being elevated to the same status - visually - as important stuff. In addition, the icons don't need to be high resolution. If a notch is cut for a standard camera, you might only be able to fit in say 14 status icons compared to 15 on an uncut screen.
My point is that if a front facing camera must be fitted to a phone, the area to the sides of the camera might as well be used to display critical status information. The concept is sound in principle. This auxiliary dispkay area *does not* need to be a part of the main display, and might use a display technology with its own advantages (eg low power e-ink or OLED) when the main display uses a different technology.
However, fitting another component has its own cost implications - though probably not as high as cutting a notch *at this time* (though in future I don't know - the OLED does need to be cut from a larger sheet anyway, it become one process but with an ever so slightly longer tool path)
As for full video, most content is 16:9 but the ergonomics of holding a phone and reading websites are pulling phone screens towards 2:1 (aka 18:9) - any notch area isn't being used for video anyway.
For IOS - which only has battery and signal strength at the top of the screen this is true.
For Android, which has a notifications bar at the top of the screen it is wrong. And the notifications are more useful than a 3D face scanner to me and I guess to most people.
And the Android notifications system is one of the biggest elements that make Android superior to IOS, for those or us who prefer it.
Currently at the top of my screen is:
Time
Battery Strength
Wifi Indicator
Alarm icon
Bluetooth Indicator
Plus notifications for email, unread messages and notes.
These would not all fit in the corners beside the iPhone X notch.
Of course, to Apple zealots, any feature that their beloved phones does not have is stupid, wrong, unnecessary - until Apple decide to copy it.
"Doing so offers a clear usability benefit over otherwise wasted space."
This is not clear to me at all. In a sense, it's connected to this trend of phone manufacturers to try and be "bezel-less" -- which is, in my opinion, misguided. The assumption that any space that isn't used to display something is "wasted space" strikes me as a bit dubious, not unlike saying that white space is "wasted space".
As said. I have no problem with a notch if used only for notifications. But using it for full screen video/web content means you loose the notifications and damage the user experience to full screen content.
Just use letterbox/pill box. Why are Apple (and some Android distributors) using notches the wrong way?
"Adding icons for less important stuff is poor Information Ergonomics"
Agreed. But who decides what counts as "less important"? I argue that only the user of the device can make that determination. Every icon on that line on my phone is very important (absolutely more important than a notch for a camera!), or it wouldn't be there.
"The top of most phone screens just display a few simple icons most of the time - no reason not to share that space with a camera. The issue is implementation - LG made a phone with a discrete screen next the camera, not a bad idea."
If you only think the notch blocked only 'the top of most phone' and a few simple icons most of the time, then you clearly haven't tried rotating it and used it for other things. Unless you watch movies with one eye blinded, the notch extremely stands out with the asymmetric in landscape mode.
Sure apple fans can 'compensate' for the difficulty. But no matter how you flip it horizontally to the right or the left, it will still be asymmetrical.
Are losing their grip.
Let's face it .... after spending all their money on Starbucks latte, craft beer and beard oil, all these hipsters don't have a thousand pounds to spend on a mid range handset with a stupid notch.
Mind you modern art can be twisted to suit any agenda and that's what Apple tried with the notch. not sure they have succeeded this time.
An interesting test for any Apple product these days is "would Steve Jobs have let this see the light of day?".
Looking at the notched screen, the poo emoji, the $1,000 price tag, and vast proliferation of iPhone models I think I can safely conclude the answer is "no".
This is what happens when you put some spreadsheet-head in the position of being the creative leader of a successful business. Cook should have that poo emoji engraved on his tombstone.
> You know a company has ran out of "innovative ideas" when the advert they use to sell this phone is of a blonde girl singing something, and showing how her face can be used to animate a shit.
If you're unaware of how much teenage girls and young women use their phones on an hourly basis compared to the rest of us, I would not employ you to sell phones.
>If you're unaware of how much teenage girls and young women use their phones on an hourly basis compared to the rest of us
I'm a parent of several - mostly iPhone5 owners - no interest (or chance since I'd be paying) in the latest or greatest - probably a refurb 6 or equivalent Android later this year. They'd have a 1000 better uses for that £1000 price tag too - phones are important, which phone Apple/Android/Whatever (within reason) is pretty much irrelevant.
If Apple are relying on young women to buy iPhone X they've totally lost the plot - it's a male orientated company with male orientated products in any case.
I don't think that Apple is especially male-orientated? Personally, of my friends who have iPhones, more are female than male, and similarly I have a few female friends who are big Mac fans (as opposed to just grudging computer users in general). The ease of use/software maintenance, phone syncing and general aesthetics are important factors for them (perhaps more stereotypically female, although these reasons are equally important for me, as well!).
>I don't think that Apple is especially male-orientated?
Less than 30% of their leadership is female - I'm sure there are worse companies and there will be a stream of whataboutism - but however you cut it, when over 70% of Apple's leadership is male, it's going to be a male orientated company.
"If you're unaware of how much teenage girls and young women use their phones on an hourly basis compared to the rest of us, I would not employ you to sell phones."
Fairly sure the teenage-to-twenty-something-girl market has not been crying out for the opportunity to easily make their face look like a shit.
"If you're unaware of how much teenage girls and young women use their phones on an hourly basis compared to the rest of us, I would not employ you to sell phones."
Nor would I employ anyone to sell phones were they unaware of what fraction of teenage girls have $1k to drop on a new phone.