Today, Apple has had one of its main dates of the year, so decisive that it can mean if the company launches a new phone or not and they propose it to him. This is the annual meeting of shareholders, which this year was held in the new Steve Jobs Theater of Apple Park, whose inauguration was last September event last year, and, although it is not something designed for ordinary users, yes we have found some interesting data.
Of course, as expected, Apple has devoted part of their time to explain the current situation of the iPhone X, but have not stopped to talk about the rumors that have been emerging about the possibility that the phone stopped selling this year due to its low sales. To dispel the possible doubts that exist on the opinion that consumers have of the device, it has been confirmed that the iPhone X has a satisfaction index of 99%.
The truth is that it is especially surprising that the new phone has received such a score, and not because of the changes that have meant for the user, which have been quite well received, although it is an important revolution coming from the previous models and even the new iPhone 8. The main problem was the number of defects that were appearing on the new device, including the problem that the batterygate has meant for the company.
These analyzes are carried out by independent firms, so, in theory, they are completely reliable data and we do not have to doubt your word. But we must bear in mind that this does not mean that there are no problems with it, it means that we can rely on Apple to get rid of them as soon as they happen, something really important for an object as essential today as it is our mobile phone.
The main advantage of those who invite Steve Wozniak to a forum, is that he knows in advance that there is a great chance that this genius leaves some pearl in the form of a holder, and this time, he has not disappointed either. Invited by the Nordic Business Forum that was held in Stockholm, good old Woz sharpened his pencil to make some critical comments about the iPhone X that will have fallen like a depth bomb at the Cupertino headquarters.
Woz started by explaining that the terminal, in general terms, he liked. However, it was not long before I criticized some aspects of the team and those who have used it, will be able to understand more or less. Specifically referred to the power button and its multiple options that it seems, were confusing.
"I like things to be so simple and direct," he said in reference to Lisa, "and he was referring in particular to the multiple options provided by the power button, which does different things depending on the pulsations. "With smartphones, things get more complicated," he said.
The American, with his habitual loquacity, began to describe everything that happened if the button was pressed twice, three times and even if it was pressed together with the volume up button (screenshot), with a tone of ¡Basta! that would undoubtedly amuse the audience.
It can not be said that Woz is an 'easy' user for Apple and in fact, the co-founder of the firm decided not to buy the iPhone X; It had to be Tim Cook who sent him a unit to prove it ...
The iPhone X is the newest Apple terminal in years. After maintaining practically the same design for three generations of iPhone, the X comes to break with the conservative line of Apple to introduce in its range of smartphones some new technologies, along with others that were being sued for a long time for comparative wrong with others manufacturers, and especially with Samsung.
In addition to the design, Apple has taken great care of the technology inside the terminal, starting with the Apple A11 Bionic processor of its own design, which benefits both applications and other vital components such as cameras.
Specifically, in the section of the cameras, the iPhone X has three, one front and two rear. Not to mention the infrared camera for facial recognition. The front is the one that has experienced a more remarkable improvement, with a new sensor of 7 Mpx.
The front camera and its portrait mode
The front camera has now nothing less than 7 Mpx with an aperture F2.2 and stabilizer and allows to use the portrait mode in which the background appears out of focus. It is a skill that is appreciated in the selfi mode, although it is not unique to Apple in this terminal. Huawei, in Mate 10, also has portrait mode with background blur through its front camera of 8 Mpx, although without the option to use masks to change the background as in the case of Apple and the stage light mode, both in color mode as monochrome.
Another possible use of the front camera is that of animated animated emoticons Animojis. In this mode, the camera records our gestures and translates them in real time to one of the twelve Animojis emoticons that the system has to "give life" to our animoji alter-ego.
The front camera has no flash as such, although the screen is used to give light to the face, with different tones depending on the ambient lighting.
The rear cameras, with 2x optical zoom
The implementation of the rear cameras in Apple goes through a camera with a conventional angle and another type 2x zoom. Both cameras have 12 Mpx, although the camera with conventional angular of 28 mm has a pixel size of 1.22 microns, while the zoom camera of 52 mm has a pixel size of 1 micron. The brightness of the sensor with "no zoom" angle is F1.8, while that of the zoom camera is F2.4. That is, the zoom camera is less bright.
With this dual camera, Apple allows you to make both zoomed photos and photos in portrait mode. Again, the portrait mode consists of taking photos with the main subject in focus, while the part of the image in the background is left out of focus, obtaining the effect of blurring the background, so appreciated by the users.
The advantage of optical zoom is to have more quality than in the case of using digital zoom in which really only interpolates from a cut of the original image. The optical zoom allows to obtain images with a native resolution equal to that offered by the sensor, but with an enlargement factor that, in the case of the iPhone X, is 2x.
For example, in the image below, the cutout on the right is the digital 2x zoom and the one on the left is the optical one. The difference in quality is remarkable.
Yes, Apple continues to do that in low light situations, the zoom is done digitally from the normal angle camera instead of using the camera with 52 mm focal length. It is an automatic selection in which the user can not (easily) participate. In this case, the image quality is lower than that obtained with the 52 mm camera. The brightness is better in the 28mm camera, but a digital zoom gives a worse result than an image with a higher ISO sensitivity than would be obtained with the 52mm camera with an aperture of F2.4 instead of F1. 8
Panoramic of 63 Mpx
Another of the photographic modes of the iPhone X is the panoramic one. With the iPhone it has always been possible to obtain panoramic photos of good invoice, and with the iPhone X they reach nothing less than 63 Mpx when the panorama is completely complete when it comes to capturing the scene in front of us.
These 63 Mpx panoramas are obtained by combining images while "sweeping" the scene, with a final image of about 15,000 x 4,000 pixels.
Filters, Live Photo, flash and HEIF compression
Other skills of the camera of the iPhone X go through the use of filters of different nature such as black and white. We also have a more complete Live Photo mode that allows you to capture the action before and after taking the photo, with the possibility of, for example, converting the video into a loop.
The True Tone flash with four LEDs allows for more uniform illumination, and now also has a slow synch flash to conserve ambient lighting while the scene lights up. The result is not as good as with a conventional flash, but it does its work with dignity for scenes close to the mobile.
As for HEIF, it is a new compression codec for specific Apple images that allows you to save the same photos in files with approximately half the size of JPEG. Of course, for now it is an exclusive Apple format so it will not be easy to use it outside of the mobile and its editing tools.
Video 4K 60 fps and Full HD at 240 fps along with bursts
The two rear cameras and the front are also suitable for recording video. Full HD in the case of the front, and up to 4K at 60 fps for the rear, or Full HD at 240 fps. The audio is mono, not stereo.
The bit rate achieved is about 45 Mbps (Mega bits per second) for 4K at 30 fps, and about 55 Mbps for 4K at 60 fps but with H.265 format instead of H.264. Full HD videos at 60 fps have a bit rate of about 25 Mbps in H.264, while with H.265 they stay at about 13 Mbps. At 30 fps, the bit rate is reduced to 15 fps with the codec H.264.
The bit rate is usually a parameter that is associated with the quality of the video: at higher bit rates, better quality usually for the same codec. H.265 has been optimized against H.264 but in return, not all devices have technology to accelerate its playback or recording.
It is possible to record video with both the 28 mm optics and the 52 mm optics for the 2x zoom, although again, in low light, Apple prefers to capture video with the 28 mm optics and zoom digitally instead of using the second optics.
If instead of capturing video we prefer to use the image capture mode in bursts, we can capture sequences of dozens of photos with the camera that we can later convert into animated GIFs with third-party applications such as 5sGIF.
The image processor, improved
As part of the attractiveness of the camera of the iPhone X is the improved image processor, with which it is possible to optimize tasks such as noise reduction, exposure control or application of effects, from the HDR, which is processed from automatically unless the user decides otherwise, up to the image filters or 4K video capture at 60 fps or 240 fps in the case of Full HD
All these ingredients make the photographic possibilities of the iPhone X very extensive and complete. The capture in RAW mode depends on third-party applications, and the use of the 2x zoom through the second camera can not always be chosen by the user, being at the expense of the Apple system the choice of the 52 mm optics or the of the 28 mm with digital magnification if light is scarce.
The portrait mode with lighting effects is its "star" functionality anyway, being possible to get photos with a high quality invoice without hardly noticing that it is a digital effect instead of optical.
Photos | Apple and GSMarena for the detail of the image with digital zoom and optical zoom
In Technology from You to You
