Five new or hidden features on the iPhone X
THE iPhone X hit stores in some 50 markets worldwide last Friday and arguably boasts the biggest redesign in Apple’s smartphone history.
The disappearance of the home button has changed things and new camera technology has helped Apple unlock innovative applications.
Here are some of the new changes and hidden features you can play around with if you get your hands on the expensive new device.
The new flashlight shortcut
Apple is taking advantage of extra space on the edge-to-edge screen to include a default flashlight shortcut on the bottom left of the display — just like the familiar camera shortcut on the bottom right. If you press and hold for a moment on the flashlight icon it will turn on and it feels like you’re pressing an actual button.
Enabling 4K video recording
The iPhone X has the ability to shoot in 4K but the default settings mean your camera will automatically record at 1080P. So if you do want to shoot in (data heavy) 4K, simply go to Settings > Camera > Record Video and choose 4K and the frame rate you want.
Record your screen
If you want an easy way to record a video of your iPhone’s screen you can quickly add the button to the control centre.
To do this go to Settings > Control Centre > Customise Controls and add Screen Recording. Once you hit the Screen Recording button, it will count down from three seconds before it begins recording your device’s display. To finish, hit the red button that appears in the top left of the screen and it will stop and automatically save to your videos in the photo app.
Quick access to inverted colour display
The OLED display of the iPhone X looks fantastic and if you want to play around with it, there is a way to enable quick access to an inverted colour display which can make it a little easier to read as the text stands out more against a black backdrop.
To do this, go to Settings > General > Accessibility and scroll down to Accessibility Shortcut. Tap on that and select Smart Invert Colours.
From then on if you triple click on the sleep/wake button on the side of the device, you will be able to toggle between the regular view and what is essentially a dark mode in which the whites are black and the blacks are white.
Use Face ID for everything, or nothing
One of the new flagship features is Face ID which can be used to secure all parts of your device. In terms of security, Apple says it is far superior to Touch ID predecessor which used your thumbprint.
But if you don’t want to use it for everything, you can choose between Face ID and a regular password for things like iTunes, the App Store, individual apps, Apple Pay or just unlocking your device.