The iPhone X made me do it. Again.
I remember every iPhone I’ve ever owned. It started with an iPhone 3G as a freshman in high school. The combo to have at the time was some messaging phone and an iPod or iPod Touch loaded with illegally downloaded songs. But I didn’t have either. Until Christmas of that year. My mom shocked me, as I had already received an authentic Santonio Holmes jersey the next box was much smaller and how on earth was I to expect an iPhone?
The Beginning.
That’s where my smartphone journey began. There is more significance to that origin but my point in this article is the camera. It was the first “good” camera I owned. And it was easy to use, there were plenty of apps for it and I had fun with it. It became something I’d love to do with my phone along side Tap Tap Revenge. It didn’t last long though, being that I was only a freshman in high school with no income and data was mandatory on AT&T I had to stop using the iPhone. Not realizing until later that I could’ve just used it as a iPod Touch. I sold it.
My first iPhone ever.
Lost. 🔎
Oh how I missed it, no longer snapping cool photos of random things everywhere I go. At every function. All the time. Eventually deleting the ones that weren’t good enough to preserve space. I had a void to fill. However, not until I reached the summer before my junior year, I finally had my hands on an iPod Touch. Not exactly the same, but it did the job. Bringing me back to the joy of snapping photos at will and even the occasional video.
Fast Forward. ⏩
Multiple phones later such as the iPhone 4 after some mishap with a galaxy S2 and eventually a long run with the Galaxy Note 4 I found myself back into an iPhone. This time the iPhone 6. By this time I’ve become a seasoned mobile photographer that has a few thousand Instagram photos and a growing cloud library of photos scattered across different platforms. I was back in my element.
Simplicity. 📱
The adventure I had with other phones of the galaxy and iPhone 4 variety was a large amount of (excuse the pun) exposure. I was now familiar with the differences between a saturated and sharp galaxy photo and a neutral well balanced iPhone photo. Both looked fine to me but it was the experience of taking the photo that set them apart. Apples camera is far from perfect but it’s accessible, it’s simple, and it encourages you to want to take a good clean photo. One that looks fine the way it is but can be a blank canvas for creativity. Galaxy was the fast lane in my opinion. It looked good immediately and didn’t even think twice about edits.
Dying Breed. 📱📲📲📲
Eventually, this simple approach got old. Moving on from the 5S and into an iPhone 6, then a 6S+, onto finally a 7+ I was bored. It was the same thing for generations. It was old. It was tiring. It was the same. Yes the camera technology gradually got better over the years but it was to me micro changes. Nothing worth noting. The 7+ came close with its portrait mode in beta but it wasn’t enough.
X.
Then comes the X. A breathe of fresh air in physical design and also in camera technology. Both the rear and front facing cameras look phenomenal. The portrait mode out of its beta stage introducing a new lighting beta was a huge improvement. The low light performance was shockingly good, and the consistency of each photo was stunning. The color reproduction and detail were noticeable improvements from the usual neutral and soft approach Apple has taken in the past. All of this has brought me full circle. Bringing me back to what captured me in my early iPhone 3G days. I love taking photos with it. I’ve focused on video for the majority of this past year but I still love taking photos and I find it amazing the quality of the shots I can get out of this phone. It’s enjoyable, the granular controls that it has within 3rd party apps are also phenomenal. This camera has made me love taking photos on my phone, again.
