> Does it have a fingerprint reader?

Reminds me of the attributed quote from Ford saying "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse"

Fingerprint reader is just a mean to an end to provide secure login. How quickly people forget that a few years back people were asking Apple to introduce gesture-based pin entry like on Android phone. Fingerprint reader made that requirement obsolete.

Also, there are new workflow that are enabled by FaceId. For example, it is completely reasonable to require authentication before popping out the keyboard, before sending any message, change any option, or switch to another application, ...

That's huge. There was no way back to pin code to me once fingerprint allowed me to remove the grace period for no authentication on the lock screen. The workflows I mentioned above (if practical in reality) similarly would change the game and remove any interest to fingerprints reader. (well assuming FaceId works as Apple demoed - that's a big if in the first gen of the technology)

edit: side note - fingerprint working on the whole screen would allow the same workflows that I mentioned. That would be a competing technology worth looking at.

If new devices don’t give you anything new you want, maybe you should just keep using your phone as long as it keeps working?

That’s probably what’s going to end up happening.

The X has 3gb of RAM, this is one of the drivers moving me to upgrade

Yeah, the X is nice, but when I trying it out I felt a slight bit of sluggishness - like when the 6 was newly released.

A high jump in resolution/PPI will do that.

It really should have shipped with 4GB of memory.

>It really should have shipped with 4GB of memory.

Why? The iPhone 8 doesn't even have the 3GB that the X has and it's been deemed the fastest smartphone ever tested. That sounds like a case of valuing specs more than the actual usage.

Have an X

Face ID unlock is waaaay faster than touch ID every was for me. Especially considering how often touch ID failed due to sweat / grease.

My phone is typically resting on my desktop most of the time. I want an unlock solution that doesn't require picking up the device.

Touch ID authentication misses are rare in my experience with the devices I've owned since the 5S.

I have an X right here, and it usually rests on my desk. It will unlock from a VERY oblique angle, way beyond what i expected it to be able to handle. The only failures i've gotten with the scanner were when a pillow was covering part of my face and i was in bed. Basically any position that i can reasonably read the display from that isn't a joke or a test will unlock the device if i'm glancing at it.

I have some complaints about the device, but this feature rocks as far as i'm concerned

You can tap the turned off screen to wake up and it works from a surprisingly steep angle. (I just did this exact workflow)

My understanding is that the screen wakes up to a slight nudge on the screen, though I’m not sure how well Face ID works at such an angle.

> I'm not asking Google to focus on ease of use for the OS, just get QA/service/hardware correct

Apple does the QA/service well because of their focus on usability. Usability has been a focus since their founding.

They spend more money on design, which is why their hardware can cost more than the PC/Android equivalent.

My comment pertains to the hardware issues Google has had with Pixel - OLED bleeding, phones shipping without an OS, etc. Mostly hardware defects, not OS design choices.

There’s quite a few threads on reddit.