Apple iPhone X Hailed Most Innovative Tech Despite Face ID Issues

Online publication Tom’s Guide has just named the biggest game changers in the tech industry this year. Among the devices that were recognized for being ingenious, Apple’s iPhone X was hailed as the most innovative tech of 2017.

On Wednesday, Tom’s Guide revealed the winners of its 2017 Innovation Awards. The publication awarded certain devices for specific categories. For Design, the outlet recognized Samsung’s innovation in the striking appearance of the Galaxy S8. For Smart Home, Amazon Alexa and Echo were recognized for providing a unified smart home experience to consumers.

When it came to the device that garnered the most merits in multiple categories, Apple’s iPhone X was chosen as “Best Overall.” Tom’s Guide even lauds the 10th anniversary iPhone for being a perfected vision. As to why this is so, the outlet explained, “The iPhone X isn't the first phone to integrate technologies like OLED or facial recognition — it simply executes those features better than the competition. At the same time, the processor inside the iPhone X is miles ahead of anything from the Android camp.”

For Tom’s Guide, Apple’s first OLED phone emerged to be the most innovative product this year because of its three advancements — the Super Retina Display, the A11 Bionic chip and Face ID.

Gushing about the iPhone X’s Super Retina Display, the outlet said its team of editors and writers chose the iPhone X’s screen over Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Google Pixel 2 XL’s displays due to its “more realistic-looking hues, higher brightness and wider viewing angles.” The outlet did recognize that Samsung Display was the one who supplied the panels for Apple, but it still gave most of the credit to the Cupertino giant for engineering a panel that’s unmatched by its competitors.

The publication also considers the A11 Bionic chip inside the iPhone X a big innovation for it is the fastest mobile CPU the outlet has tested thus far. Setting the A11 Bionic chip apart from the fastest Android phone processors also came easy for the online site since the iPhone X took just 24 seconds to transcode a 4K video clip. Meanwhile, the fastest Android phone took nearly 3 minutes to do the same thing.

Speaking on why the A11 Bionic chip is quite good in handling various processes, Apple’s vice president of product marketing Greg Joswiak said, “Our SoC team worked hand in glove with the rest of our organization, both hardware and software, to create chips that are perfectly suited for what we’re trying to do from a features standpoint.”

Lastly, Tom’s Guide praised the iPhone X’s TrueDepth camera system, which is responsible for the implementation of Face ID, because of the pretty advanced way it works to verify the identity of users. The outlet also pointed out how great it is for Apple to have packed together various technologies in one notch. “There’s a ton of tech packed into that small area … including an infrared camera, a flood illuminator, the 7-megapixel front camera and dot projector. That’s in addition to the proximity sensor, ambient-light sensor, speaker and microphone.”

Joswiak is also proud of what Apple has achieved with the TrueDepth camera system. “With all of those components, this is one of the most densely packed technology areas I think we’ve ever done. It’s one of the most sophisticated pieces of technology we’ve ever done in such an incredibly small space,” he said.

Although Face ID was well received by consumers since the launch of iPhone X, there have been reports and complaints about its lapses. Last month, a 10-year-old boy managed to unlock his mother’s iPhone X because of their resemblance. There were also reports of twins unlocking their sibling’s handset. However, the biggest issue with Face ID was reported by Vietnamese security company Bkav, who conducted tests to see if Face ID could be fooled by 3D masks. Unfortunately, the biometrics system did fail to distinguish 3D masks from the real faces of users.

In spite of the issues with Face ID, Tom’s Guide still considers it an award-worthy invention, and it’s because the feature can reliably work both in bright and dark lighting conditions. “And, unlike other phones with facial recognition, you can’t fool this one with a photograph. Face ID is so good, in fact, that Apple didn’t even bother with a fingerprint sensor,” the publication added.

Do you think Apple’s iPhone X deserves the “Best Overall” award and the recognition of being the most innovative tech of 2017? Sound off in the comments below.