Apple Officially Unveils The iPhone 8 And The iPhone X

As is its annual tradition, Apple revealed some new products in today’s launch event in Cupertino, California. The company unveiled the Series 3 Apple Watch, a new Apple TV with 4K, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, and the iPhone X.

 

iOS 11

First of all, for those that aren’t interested in buying a new iPhone or just have an iPad they’re looking to get the new software for, iOS 11 will be available on September 19. It’ll come shipped on the new iPhones.

 

Apple Watch

The first product revealed was the newest Apple Watch: the Series 3 version of the device. Most notable, the Series 3 has cellular capability. You can just leave your iPhone at home if you’re going for a run, for an errand, etc. while still remaining connected with the Apple Watch. With Series 3 cellular, you can use maps, take calls, and listen to music all without having your phone by you—it’s basically like a watch version of the iPhone.

 

Siri can now talk on the Series 3, which is a useful feature so you don’t have to look at your phone. There’s also wireless charging capability, a GPS, and more battery life (up to 18 hours), all while keeping the watch the same size as the Series 2. Of course, with the cellular you’ll have to have yet another wireless contract, but there’s also a version of the Series 3 without cellular.

 

The Apple Watch Series 3 with cellular starts at $399, while the Apple Watch Series 3 without cellular starts at $329.

 

Apple TV

4K is the big addition to the Apple TV, and it’s not just 4K but it’s thankfully 4K HDR. Apple TV supports both HDR10 and Dolby Vision, which is a huge relief.

 

Apple TV is available in 32 GB for $179 and 64 GB for $199.

 

iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

Things really got interesting when the newest version of the iPhone (the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, which we’ll call both iPhone 8 for the sake of sanity) was revealed. To the chagrin of many, the iPhone now has a glass back again. Apple calls it the “most durable ever,” so hopefully not too many people will be walking around with cracked glass backs like the iPhone 4.

 

The iPhone 8 is “microscopically sealed” for water and dust resistance, so hopefully it’s better than the iPhone 7 in that department after some had issues. The camera, which was already great on the iPhone 7 Plus, is even better for the newest iPhone. Portrait mode is taken a step further after Apple saw how popular it was with the iPhone 7 Plus, and it now includes different lighting affects to make portrait pictures like they were taken in a studio. Apple also claims the iPhone 8 has the “highest-quality video capture of any smartphone.”

 

Augmented Reality is something many people aren’t sure about, but they sold it pretty well at the reveal event. A couple of the features shown include: 1) the phone recognizing the sky and mapping it out, and 2) seeing the stats over top of key players when attending a baseball game, something they did by working with the MLB At-Bat app.

 

The best feature might be the wireless charging. It’s something iPhone users have rightfully wanted for a while now, and it’s finally here. Wireless charging on the iPhone 8 works with Qi standard wireless chargers, so you don’t necessarily have to put one if you already have a Qi charger.

 

The iPhone 8 starts at $699 and the iPhone 8 Plus starts at $799.

 

iPhone X

And finally, the worst kept secret was made official as Tim Cook revealed the iPhone X. Cook talked about how Apple changed things ten years ago with the original iPhone, and that this iPhone X is the biggest leap forward since the original iPhone; adding, it’ll change the next ten years of smartphones.

 

The iPhone X comes in only two colors: space gray and silver, but both colors look really nice… except for the cutout at the top of the face of the phone. They need the spot for the several sensors, but it would’ve been better if there was a better way to do it than have one small cutout on an otherwise full screen face.

 

The screen is, finally, an OLED. Apple is calling it a “super retina display” at 458 pixels per inch, and the company said it’s the “first OLED display great enough to be on an iPhone.” To unbiased people, that’s a bit of a stretch and an excuse (or elitist attitude). Apple’s iPhone screens were fine, but they were way behind the OLED displays on Samsung and LG phones. At least OLED is here on an iPhone, though.

 

With the screen taking up almost the entire face of the device, there is no more home button on the iPhone X. So here are a couple of the new gestures necessary to do things on the device (no word on how to take screenshots):

 

• To wake up the iPhone X, you tap on the screen.

 

• You swipe up from the bottom to go home.

 

• You can say “Hey, Siri” or press and hold the side button to use Siri.

 

• You swipe down from the top right to access the Control Center.

 

• You swipe up and away to close an app.

 

Touch ID on the iPhone X is replaced with Face ID, as expected. The A11 chip in the device has a neural engine for facial recognition, and the phone uses a “true depth camera system” along with an infrared camera and other sensors to recognize a person. Along with the new Face ID are “animojis”: animated emojis you control with your face. There are a dozen of them, including a dog, unicorn, and alien, and they do look pretty fun to play with.

 

The animoji can have whatever reaction your face has, and you can share it in iMessage. Animojis also allow the ability to record messages, as if you were talking as the animoji, and send them to your friends. Face ID also works with Snapchat, making filters/masks extremely accurate.

 

The battery, one of the most important things to people, is two hours longer than the iPhone 7, according to Apple—a big and welcome boost. Another welcome addition is “Air Power,” which is a charging doc that can charge the new iPhones, the Apple Watch Series 3, and AirPods—but it’ll cost you and won’t be available until 2018.

 

The iPhone X starts at $999. Unlike the other devices revealed, the iPhone X won’t be available for pre-order until October 27, with shipments starting on November 3.

 

 

So, what do you think of these new products from Apple? Discuss in the comments below.