The iPhone X, which has been available for pre-order in the US from 27 October, becomes available for the first time today.  No doubt there will be long queues to get it, even though it is the most expensive iPhone ever brought out.  It is certainly the one that I plan to get, because I always go for whatever has the best camera, but I am a little bit disappointed that they did not increase the picture size from the 12MP that the iPhone 7 Plus already had and in fact kept it at the same size.  That does not mean they did not improve the camera, they have, but I would have thought that size, and the quality of the image and number of pixels, would have increased.  

Everybody knows all about the new amazing technology involved in the design using the Oled screen, which apparently has the most accurate and stunning colours.  Most people know that the home button has been done away with and the phone now uses infrared facial ID to unlock itself, authenticate and even for you to use the device to pay people.  The Face ID apparently analyses 30,000 invisible dots to create a precise depth of your face – although I do find that my Microsoft Surface laptop cannot recognise my face most of the time these days!  

Where the iPhone X - you apparently pronounce the “X” as “10” - does have some important new features including the fact that the 4K video can now be shot at 60 frames per second which obviously is far better for people who use their phones to capture, for example, their golf swing or a sports event and would like more in-depth slow motion.  At normal HD you can get the slo-mo in-depth as 240 frames per second with obviously a lower quality.  There is also a new beta form of portrait lighting that will give you what is allegedly a studio light, although I very much doubt it will match or replace studio lights.  The chip has been upgraded and is now the A11 Bionic chip.  It is amazing when you read that it is capable of 600 billion operations per second and you will be holding in your hand a computer that is more powerful than the American government would have had 20 or 30 years ago.  

The new CPU is 70% faster than the A10 chip – the one that is currently in the iPhone 7 and (I should probably leave that for another blog) most importantly, they allege that the battery will last 2 hours longer.  The new iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone 8 will not last as long.  Whether that is true we will see, but once I have mine, I will let you know more – not to mention the fact that of course you no longer need a charging cable for the iPhone X because it now has wireless charging, just as the iWatch has.