My friend, Dave, got a new iPhone X. I went over to help him set it up and move all the data over from his now “old” iPhone 6 Plus. Even at 98 years old, Dave is always excited about getting the next new iPhone.

To “sum up” he loves it. And I agree it is really quite nice, and beautiful to look at. Given that, there are some notes I have about the setup, and also the iPhone X itself. So bear with me here. I will be brief.

The unopened box!

Dave opening the box!

I was really excited to try this new feature that is supposed to let you transfer everything directly from your old iPhone to your new iPhone. But I found it only works in part. Many many things are missing in this process, including all your message addresses, your photos albums, and your music.

…So I hooked up the iPhone X to Dave’s iMac, setup as a new iPhone and then restored from a complete backup I made that day. That worked smoothly, recovering everything – over 1,600 photos, all of Dave’s CDs, etc.

The new iPhone X on the left, and his old iPhone 6 Plus on the right. An important note here! The iPhone X’s default display mode is their new “True Tone” setting, which is a bit “warmer” (yellower) than the old setting. I actually prefer the old setting and would turn True Tone off if I had one. But Dave looked back and forth between the two and said he thought the True Tone setting was easier on his eyes.

Dave checking out his neighborhood in Apple Maps.

Well, let’s see what happens if I touch this…

Dave also set up the new Face ID and “Hey, Siri!” and seemed to get used to the new “swipe up” gesture right away, which is what I was hoping for.

I did notice something strange about the new iPhone X though, considering that Apple is moving away from buttons.

When you download an app from the App Store using Face ID you need to double click the physical button on the side of the iPhone to confirm.

It seems ironic that they went out of their way to get rid of the home button, but require a double-click of the side button, which is more awkward, don’t you think?

I couldn’t figure out how to confirm the download at first because the message kept on saying to “double click to install” and I didn’t know what they were talking about, because you can’t double-click something on the screen. I had to do a Google search to figure out what they meant.

Now the side button performs three functions: sleep/power, activate Siri, and confirm Face ID for purchases. At lease for the purchase confirmation part, I think the non-mechanical haptic touch button on the iPhone 7 and 8 series is easier.

Otherwise the Face ID seems to work well, and Dave was able to phone me later. It’s quite a nice phone. And some lucky person at Hibikinokai in need of a smart phone will inherit Dave’s in-perfect-condition iPhone 6 Plus.