[waytogo]

Slightly OT: I am most impressed by Apple‘s bold move to drop the iPhone‘s decade old, iconic symmetric design while establishing a new iconic asymmetric design almost over night.

As odd as the new design feels, Apple already owns this design, this buckle, this asymmetry.

Edit: Why the downvotes (just wondering)?

[aetherson]

I downvoted you because I thought your comment was without content. What does it mean, to own the design? What alternate world would cause you to feel differently about the design?

[mattnewton]

Not gp, but it means to me that when someone looks at the layout they unmistakably know it is an iPhone X, in the way the phone’s top and bottom bars used to mean iPhone.

[macintux]

Indeed.

https://twitter.com/neilcybart/status/908154535054643202

[parzivalm]

Apple probably owns the design because most other manufactures hopefully see that you shouldn't be looking at a notch every time you are viewing a video. I've been an iPhone user since day 1 but the screen shape on this phone just makes so little sense.

It wouldn't be the worst if Apple made it that iOS scaled everything so media wasn't blocked by the notch but instead if I get the iPhone X I have to wait for app developers to fix the issue. Seems like a poor decision.

[improbable22]

Marco Arment nailed this: https://marco.org/2017/09/18/courage

The iphone had an instantly recognisable silhouette for 10 years: symmetrical forehead & chin, with a big round home button. Going to very thin bezels necessarily throws this trademark away. Making lemonade, as it were, they've chosen to embrace the notch to create a new trademark.

[parzivalm]

To me, what made the iPhone great for so long was more than its look physically. It was the integration between the software and the hardware. Everyone saying that the notch is a new trademark is explaining away the fact that isn't the case anymore.

[macintux]

Thank you, that was the blog post I was looking for in vain when I found Cybart's tweet.

[Aloha]

The initial reports I read, indicated that the sensor block was not used as part of the video playback area, because the screen measured without the sensor block is 16:9.

[bgentry]

My understanding is that media fills the screen in the same way it does on any other iPhone. A double tap will change the zoom setting such that it will letterbox and not cut off any part of the video. This setting is supposed to be saved when you view another video.

And because this screen has such a wide aspect ratio, in most cases you can zoom out and only have black bars on the notch side and opposite side (left & right when in landscape mode).

That being said, I do find the designs that “embrace the notch” (especially in landscape) repulsive. I’d much prefer if that area just stayed dark to blend in with the notch.

[goatforce5]

From what I understand (from a 'The Talk Show'/John Gruber podcast, IIRC), the default view for fullscreen landscape video has black bars on the left and right. It's only when you double tap to go to full screen (and thus cropping the top/bottom) that the notch interferes with the video. He made the point that Apple showing the notch covering video was them kinda going out of their way to highlight that the notch was there.

[dep_b]

It's not only about the notch it's also the curved lines at the edges. Those would still cut out your video if the notch wasn't there. In my opinion the usable area of the phone is much smaller than it seems at first sight and the iPhone 8 Plus is a lot better in that respect.

I do like the fact that they managed to restrain themselves from abusing the rounded edges for display, that was something I always hated about the Samsung Edge family.

[bgentry]

That was my source as well :) Couldn’t remember if it starts with black bars or not, but the important point is that it’s trivial to toggle.

[parzivalm]

If the setting is saved I could see it being manageable. I think the bigger issue is if you have apps or games that stretch and get parts of it blocked by the notch. That is where you really can't do anything about it.

[gehwartzen]

The area to the left and the right of the notch would be best served by a mini task bar or in the case of videos play/pause/FF/FR icons.

[elif]

>I have to wait for app developers to fix the issue

Only the app developers who don't follow the guidelines:

"Don't attempt to hide the device's rounded corners, sensor housing, or indicator for accessing the Home screen by placing black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. "

https://developer.apple.com/ios/human-interface-guidelines/o...

[parzivalm]

What about apps that are slow to update or relatively abandoned? Guidelines are all well and good and I assume everyone here thinks they should be followed. The problem is though that not everyone will update on time.

Take for example when the iPhone 6 and 6+ first came out. It took my banking app until the 6s came out to finally update their app to fill the screen. Now granted those apps weren't unusable, they just looked wrong. On the iPhone X with the notch there is a very real possibility that until they are updated they may have unusable functionality.

[madeofpalk]

> shouldn't be looking at a notch every time you are viewing a video.

For what it's worth, the iPhone X doesnt have a 16:9 display, so by default video displays pillar-boxed. Just like on iPad (which also doesnt have a 16:9 display), if you zoom in on the video you can make it occupy the full display, but cutting off a portion of the video.

[treepeople]

>the screen shape on this phone just makes so little sense.

It is the only design that makes sense. The other manufacturers just put a bar down the bottom that has no purpose at all. No one cares about a notch. Obsessive personalities are just fixating on it.

[parzivalm]

You easily could have just not put the notch in, and left a slight bezel on the top. Saying no one cares about the notch is a bit much. If it bothers someone, it bothers someone. If it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother you. People are allowed to have different opinions.

[ahartmetz]

Here is what I think is the real purpose of the notch: Phones, and especially iPhones, are status symbols. A brand new iPhone only works as a status symbol if the people you want to impress can actually see at a glance that you have the latest model. It's the only strong and clear reason for this weird design I can think of.

[Theodores]

People are forgetting that Steve Jobs was always about the tech and the marketing. In his mind the marketing and putting the customer first was every bit as important as the product. Apple really was a synergy of product and marketing from the get go.

A lot of work went into the notch, I doubt that Mr Ive et al. thought the marketing angle first but you are right, the biggest thing about the notch is people 'bikeshed' over it and talk about it. It gets noticed. And yes it does identify you as having the latest model. That takes you into the marketing that Apple is 50% about (with tech being the other 50% in how Steve Jobs did products).

Although we no longer have Steve Jobs at the helm his vision lives on in the team that he built.

[waytogo]

Agree and well articulated!

[jordache]

so IOS will not create a black bar to fill the areas adjacent to the notch?

[waytogo]

It’s not allowed. Apple does not allow to hide the notch except when watching videos. There is some guide for app developers about this.

[macintux]

Positive observations regarding Apple, factually correct or not, seem to attract downvotes. The downvotes on this comment in particular really baffled me: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15538585