The emotions before the Apple Keynote was almost as hot as 10 years ago. Everyone was expecting that Apple will open the new chapter in the mobile industry.
And, yes, rumors were true – Apple has removed Home Button from the special iPhone X. There were also other important changes. But how they will impact the UX of our solutions?
Before we will consider these major changes let’s remind what other stuff was introduced.
Not only iPhone
Apple has also introduced new Apple Watch with a few new features. The most of them are about health monitoring and sport. Now, you are able to monitor Heart Rate better with a new watch app. However, the one of the major change is its cellular network connection abilities. Finally, you are able to use it without iPhone in your pocket. As the app creator you should think of the watch as of the fitness tracker with rich health monitoring device, rather than a fashionable gadget.
Next, there is a new Apple TV 4K, that is able to display movies with 4 times higher resolution than HD… in HDR! The device is more powerful and tvOS will play more movies, even live sports. Thanks to the new chip, game development will be able to move into the next level.
The iPhone 8
The new “regular” iPhone models are clearly the continuation of a design direction Apple’s designers have presented to us with previous models. However, the mobile device has got a new true tone display that will improve the way our apps presents on a screen.
New faster GPU chip will surely unleash some new possibilities for everyone who create games for iOS.
There were also some new photo features introduced. Especially for the Portrait mode. Are you creating photo editing app? You should definitely look closely at changes Apple introduced in this matter.
Augmented Reality Possibilities
ARKit was introduced on WWDC 2017. Apple has finally entered the industry with its technology. New iPhone 8 will be of course to take most of it. If you create apps or games you should definitely try implementing some Augmented Reality features in your solution. It looks like the AR will finally become a big thing in the near future.
Wireless Connectivity
With iPhone 8 Apple introduces the ability to charge the device wirelessly. It uses Qi standard to charge the phone. Thankfully giant from Cupertino did not remove lighting port. 😉
The device has become better, but these changes were not game changers. Fortunately, Apple has introduced the special edition of its mobile device.
The iPhone X
The most important moment of the Keynote was surely new special edition iPhone introduction. As every revolutionary device from Apple, it was introduced with “One more thing…”. Let’s see what changes were made and how they may impact our digital solutions.
No Home Button
Removing the Home Button is the next logical step for Apple that leads iPhone users to the pure minimalistic device where every interaction will be triggered by the touchscreen.
Apple is famous for removing some hardware parts of its devices. First were floppy discs in iMacs. Then was the time for CD Drives in MacBooks. Next, Apple decided to remove almost all ports. However, even removing the headphone jack win previous phones was not so revolutionary. The new iPhone without Home Button will have to learn us how to use it again.
How it will impact UX Design
When first users will turn on new iPhone they will be probably confused by the first hours of using the device. However, the habits may be shaped.
Swiping up gesture has replaced our favorite hardware button. It seems that it is quite a natural way to interact. But, possibly some cases for the iPhone X may cause issues with the gesture usage.
Apple has introduced gesture based features earlier, so users should become familiar with the devices after the initial surprise.
To wake up iPhone X users will be able just to tap on the screen.
FaceID
It looks like the new way of authentication will replace touch ID soon. iPhone X is able to recognize the face of the owner and unlock or authenticate the transaction.
This piece of technology should work much better than present face recognition technology because it is not based on camera possibilities. Special sensors and projectors create a 3D scan of the face. It works in light and in the darkness. It even adapts over time (FaceID detects haircut changes, glasses etc).
As designers we should now explore the possibilities or even users objections of this piece of outstanding technology.
Touch ID?
It looks like Apple has passed a lot of technical issues with putting the sensor on the screen. Unfortunately, no one in Apple mentioned this fingerprint authentication technology during the keynote. It looks like it was not implemented in iPhone X…
I suppose that this may be the biggest change in iPhone usage after removing of Home Button. It may even frustrate users and developers that will have to prepare their solutions for this change.
Animoji
The latest rumors were true. Apple introduced 3D emojis that may be controlled by our face. They may be used in iMessage.
If Apple would give the possibilities of creating Animojis by designers and developers we may expect some fantastic and funny iMessage apps.
The Future of Apple Mobile Devices?
Surely the next generations of the iPhone (or even iPads) will look like the “X” model. Every Designer should focus especially on this device to prepare for the future changes.
But, it looks like a bit Samsung Galaxy?
The new look may seem to be inspired by latest Galaxy devices. However, we have to remember that Samsung is constantly trying to predict how the new Apple device will look like.
Remember, as Steve Jobs said – Good Design is not how it looks like, it is how it works. Samsung Galaxy is not so different from other devices, because of its OS – Android. Apple takes care of whole experience and we may be sure that the new iPhone will take the most of the new appearance.
Summing up
The iPhone X is truly the biggest change in mobile since its first version was released. The new features will surely inspire designers and developers to show some fresh products with outstanding UX. I hope that you will be one of them!
If you would like to share some thoughts after Apple Keynote and how new iPhone will impact UX Design, feel free to write a comment.
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