8 things you'll want to try first with your iPhone X

If you are one of the lucky 9-12 million people who will get an iPhone X this week, you'll want to explore these eight features first.

Apple, iPhone, iOS, iPhone X, features, Face ID
Apple / Thinkstock

If you are one of the lucky 9-12 million people who expect to receive an iPhone X this week, or someone already queueing outside an Apple Store somewhere, then you'll want to explore these eight features first.

Take a tour of Face ID

We explained everything you need to know about Face ID here. Once you set it up, I think you'll want to try the following things:

  • See if Face ID recognizes you in the dark (it should) or if you are wearing a selection of fake beards and unusual spectacles.
  • See if the system unlocks your iPhone when you give it to someone else and they wear a mask of your face (it won't).
  • Use it to pay using Apple ID — Wave your iPhone over the payment terminal and look at your iPhone, and your payment should be recognized.

[New iPhone X users will also need to read Life after the Home button: The iPhone X gestures guide]

Send an Animoji to your friends

There are two things that will happen once the iPhone X ships: The first is that up to 12 million new iPhone X users will proceed to create and send Animoji to their friends. The second is that those who don't have one of the new iPhones must be prepared to receive a tidal wave of the things as our luckier chums brag about having gotten the new Apple smartphone. This is known.

How do you send one? Open Messages on your iPhone X, begin creating a message and you should see tabs for the different characters on the left of the text input field (or swipe up to see larger versions of them). You can swipe them into a message for a static image, or swipe and then tap the red button to record your movements. There are 12 Animoji characters to get you started.

Take a selfie

Both the iPhone X and iPhone 8 boast a plethora of technology and hardware improvements (including a redesigned dual 12-magapixel camera). That means every photo you take will be of much better quality, so you'll be taking a lot of pictures.

The iPhone X also packs a 7-megapixel selfie camera (the TrueDepth camera) used for Face ID. This much-improved, front-facing camera also takes much better selfie shots than ever before, and it lets you use Portrait Mode to take studio-quality images in different lighting styles and powerful image editing effects.

It gets better: Apple promises an updated version of its Clips app that will include Selfie Scenes, a bunch of amusing animated backdrops into which we can place our selfie images, so we'll be able to pretend to be on the beach when we ring in sick. (Though I wouldn't recommend it).

Take a call

When someone calls, you can look forward to hearing an all-new standard ringtone, called Reflection. If you don't like it, you can change this in Settings>Sounds>Ringtones.

This is the new "Reflection" ringtone, only available on iPhone X pic.twitter.com/La0wTzB4wd

— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) November 1, 2017

Here's what it sounds like. Get used to it, even if you're not an iPhone user. How often do we all hear the existing standard Marimba ringtone coming from people's pockets?

Watch a movie

Watch a movie on the OLED display, and you can expect it to be bright, for colors to be sharp and clear (HDR quality) and for the film to sound good, too, thanks to the stereo speakers Apple somehow managed to tuck away inside the all glass device.

That's neat, but while you watch the movie, you may want to try something else: Wander around the space you are in, and try to go to different places with different kinds of light – rooms lit by daylight, dim light, fluorescent light, even darkness (where colors become incredibly vivid). You'll find that the display's True Tone technology will sense what light conditions you are in an adjust what you see, so you still experience accurate color no matter on the ambient lighting conditions you are in. The only down side of this experiment is that the tech will make these adjustments faster than you can see them take place.

Play with the augmented reality (AR) apps

Here are five more apps to use on your iPhone X.

  • Night Sky: An AR planetarium.
  • ViewRanger: This lets you plan your outdoor adventures.
  • Orbu: Feed the animals in a Japanese garden.
  • Smash Tanks: A fun tank battle game, available later this year.
  • Arise: A little like classic island puzzle game, Myst, but in AR.

You may want to explore 10+ ARKit apps you'll want to use today for more ideas.

Put it in a case

Yes, I know the iPhone X is beautiful and feels great in your hand, but no matter how robust Apple claims its glass components are, you really won't want to break them. Have you seen the replacement costs? That means you're going to want to tuck your new iPhone safely away inside a case.

When choosing a case, think about whether you plan to use wireless charging. Because if you do, you will need to make sure the case you want to buy is compatible with that. As a rule of thumb, cases with a metal reinforced back will prevent wireless charging, but some manufacturers may have taken this into account when they designed theirs. Check before you buy.

When it comes to choosing a wireless charging pad, you may find more affordable versions than those sold in the Apple Store — take a look at 9to5Mac's group test.

Put it in your pocket

The iPhone 8 Plus is a great smartphone, but it offers only a 5.5-inch display and is 6.24-inches long — that's quite a lump in your pocket. (Who else remembers the first mobile phones?). The iPhone X's 5.8-inch display is packed inside a device that's just 5.65-inches long. Not only do you get more display, but it should fit better inside your pocket (unless you're Tim Cook). Even in a case.

Are you getting an iPhone X? If so, what are you looking forward to using with an iPhone X? If you get hold of one, do you like it or are you not as happy with it as you'd hoped? Please let me know through social media.

Google+? If you use social media and happen to be a Google+ user, why not join AppleHolic's Kool Aid Corner community and get involved with the conversation as we pursue the spirit of the New Model Apple?

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Jonny is a freelance writer who has been writing (mainly about Apple and technology) since 1999.

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