Eliminating TouchID from the iPhone X was really ballsy on Apple’s part. The Cupertino giant confidently assured loyalists that it had cracked the ‘Gold standard in face recognition’ and the hardware it had placed in the notch at the front, which also includes a 3D dot projector, felt quite reassuring.
At the same time, the experience we have had with Face Recognition so far on high-end Samsung and LG phones made it a little hard for us to digest that the Facial recognition tech could be anywhere near as convenient as the trusted fingerprint sensor.
Anyhow, we were hoping maybe, just maybe, Apple worked its magic once again and managed to muster a Face ID that works as efficiently and securely as one would imagine. Reportedly, Apple only gave iPhone X access to elite press for a very short time and the reports that we have come across show us that iPhone X Face ID works better than the competition but you will still be missing your fingerprint sensor.
Setting up the Face ID is remarkably easy. The face ID can detect gradual changes to your face, but with drastic changes will require you to use your passcode. As Apple noted at the launch, the Face ID won’t work with your eyes closed or if you are not directly looking at your phone.
You will have to adapt to your phone
Also, with Face ID, you will have to relearn and adapt to new way of handling your phone.
As the Verge states in its review, “I had a lot of problems pulling the iPhone X out of my pocket and having it fail to unlock until Apple clarified that Face ID works best at a distance of 25 to 50 centimeters away from your face, or about 10 to 20 inches. That’s closer than I usually hold my phone when I pull it out of my pocket to check something, which means I had to actively think about holding the iPhone X closer to my face than every other phone I’ve ever used. “You’re holding it wrong” is a joke until it isn’t, and you can definitely hold the iPhone X wrong.”
And the face ID adds one extra step to unlocking
“Because you need to swipe up on the screen to unlock the iPhone X, there’s technically an extra step compared to Touch ID. On my current iPhone 7 Plus, I can just press and hold the Home button to unlock and start using the device. I also wish I could swipe up anywhere on the screen; instead, Apple forces you to do it from the bottom of the display.” points out Mark Spoonauer from Tom’s Guide.
Face ID gets significantly inconsistent under direct sun
And apparently, that’s not the only Face ID issue. Both the Verge and CNET point out that the Face ID performance is inconsistent outdoors. Add to that the fact that it won’t work with all sunglasses, and you get a pretty inconvenient blueprint for outdoor unlocking. Not only outdoors but also in places where there are multiple light sources to interfere with the IR laser on the iPhone X, Face ID gets significantly unreliable.
But apart from unlocking, the Face ID should work fine for other things like convenient Apple Pay payments and secure log-in in specific apps.
Is Face ID any good?
The bottom line is that the Face ID works extremely fast at times when it clicks (which is more often than not). But it’s inherently a little less convenient and slower than Touch ID. It works well most of the time, but since we have got used to extremely fast and super reliable fingerprint sensors by now, even a low failure rate while unlocking can get annoying.
As for sunlight issues, we will get to know more only after millions of consumers across the globe start using the X. This could be some software glitch (unlikely, though) that could be addressed in future updates.
To Sum Up The iPhone X Face ID Experience:
- Face ID on iPhone X works better than existing face recognition tech on Android phones.
- The Aimoji feature that uses Face ID mapping works very well.
- you will, however, have to hold your phone closer than you usually do.
- Even when the Face ID unlocks your phone, you will have to swipe up to access the home screen. You can’t just swipe up anywhere on the screen, but you will have to swipe up from the bottom. So, that adds one extra step.
- Face It gets significantly inconsistent outdoors and under multiple light sources.
- It won’t work with sunglasses that block IR radiations.
- Apart from unlocking your phone, that you do several times a day, under all sorts of circumstances, Face ID works well with Apple Pay and for signing in specific apps.
