Yesterday, Apple held its special September 2017 event. During the presentation it announced 3 new iPhones, the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X. The Apple TV got updated and a new Series 3 Apple Watch got announced.
Before it got to the new iPhones, the new Apple Watch Series 3 got launched. The Series 3 comes in two options – with or without LTE. If you’re in the UK, only EE currently works with the LTE version. In addition the new Series 3 adds a Barometric altimeter over the Series 2. If you compare the specs of the Series 3, the non LTE version comes with half the storage at 8gb vs 16gb and the back of the non LTE watch with a composite back, whereas the LTE version is made with a ceramic back. Series 1 now starts at £249 for the 38mm or £279 for the 42mm. Personally, I see no reason whatsoever to change my Apple Watch Series 2.
Next came the new Apple TV 4K. An TV box with 4K HDR and complete with Apple’s A10X processor making this one powerful beast. The other internal specs had been improved too. It still comes with the remote that I personally find irritating to use due to constant accidental presses.
Then came the new iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. These continued the shape and design of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. In reality these are iterations of the 7 and 7 Plus but they do have some seriously upgraded internals. Now designed with glass backs, the Apple A11 chip, Qi Wireless charging, True Tone displays, IP67, improved cameras and software, 4K at 60fps and more. The storage sizes are now 64gb and 256gb. The new storage options pushes the prices up on these models.
The future. iPhone X. You can read all about the official specs here – https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone-x/ . 64gb is £999. 256gb costs £1,149. Touch ID is replaced by Face ID which failed on stage with the first demo attempt. I have some reservations about usability but I will need to use it before commenting further. The first iPhone to move to an OLED screen. The cameras have been updated too. The iPhone X is a powerful beast, the A11 processor is epic in its performance. iOS 11 and all the software for the iPhone X make it a marvellous phone. But its a £1,000+ phone to buy which puts it into luxury ownership territory. The reality is all manufacturers have increased their phone prices. So cost aside, this looks like a decent piece of kit!
So what did you think of all the new Apple announcements and the new iPhone X!
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 
iPhone X looks amazing but it is expensive and, like you, I’m not sure how good Face ID will be. A friend of mine bought an S8 and he says it is unreliable. He’s gone back to using a pattern to unlock. Maybe Apple’s implementation will be better?
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Apples version is likely better. The Note 8 is improved over the S8 btw. However, even when it worked well it looked like it took 1-2 seconds to unlock whereas Touch ID is instant.
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Even if the face ID is more reliable than the s8 and the note 8, or even if it works 99% of the time, I still don’t get why it’s actually better than touch ID. They created a solution for a problem that didn’t exist. I guess I expected them to come up with something more innovative if they were removing the home button.
“The reality is all manufacturers have increased their phone prices”.
This is indeed true, but apple don’t seem to drop their prices throughout the year. You can, for example, get a galaxy s8 now for about £550-£600, which makes the iphone X a trickier sell (though I suspect apple fans will have no problem paying the price tag).
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iPhone prices do drop later on but not through the Apple official website.
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Surely not to the same extent as other phones?
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As the year progresses discounts are available.
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And thank goodness they included QI wireless charging. Really hope this accelerates adoption of wireless integration.
We can finally have (for example) bluetooth speakers which are able to charge your phone and work seamlessly for both android and iphone
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Agree totally here.
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Gotta admit it looks cool but still overpriced. still I will stick on my Iphone6s. 🙂
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Very pricey 😀
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I look at every device before making a purchase every year I have purchased a Samsung Note or S Line for the past 5 years until last year I purchased the Note 7 and then the problems it had I went and bought a Google Pixel XL I have thought long and hard about getting the new Note 8 but there is something to be said about running Android 8.0 already and when I seen the iPhone X I instantly thought of a LG G6 and thinking about the pricing I understand the A11 chip and Geekbench scores and all of that but in reality a app can only open so fast and scrolling up and down is already as fast as I need it to be and 4k 60 fps I remember when 4k was introduced on a smartphone and every iPhone person said who needs 4k recording on a smartphone when lots of people doesn’t even have anything to play 4k back it seem like a bunch of bologna to me and I would purchase a iPhone if it wasn’t for the fact that TO ME even if I purchased a iPhone X when I it unlocks it still looks like a iPhone 5 NO CHANGES HERE PEOPLE it’s expensive Apple has lots of people fooled because it’s a Apple product people spends the money and all there And Gavin we have talked about this alot of the past few years I was really look forward to getting the iPhone 7 plus when it came and seeing the camera comparison between it and the 6s plus made me think differently about Apple and the product and I see Samsung doing the similar thing now with the Note and SLine which isn’t good at all the Note was always the latest and greatest for Samsung and I know it has the new dual camera but I still believe LG G6 has the right implementation of the dual lens and I’m with Lutin to pay $1500 in America after tax for the iPhone X is absolutely insane when you can buy a S8 plus for alot less money and to me have a better device
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Fair enough Ben. Not going to disagree with your views. 😀
The processor power is more to do with capabilities. This is more important for two things. Battery performance. Saving power. And then multi media capabilities. And camera computational photography. If you’re not worried about these aspects there is no need to spend the extra at all.
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The iPhone x availability in November . I also suspect low availability. Will cause Apple issues for a while. Don’t see why someone would buy the iPhone 8 when the 7 Plus is cheaper now. Not sure why you would buy the 8 Plus when the X is available.
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One reason only. All existing apps will work with the 8 or 8 Plus. The X may not work with all your apps.
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