iPhone X review: The best damn product Apple has ever made

For over a decade, iPhone has embodied modern mobile computing. iPhone 8, launched last month, is the culmination of that Home-button-and-bezel vision, of everything that's come before. iPhone X (pronounced "Ten"), launching now, is something else entirely — the beginning of what comes next.

The two phones have many things in common, including the A11 Bionic processor inside, inductive charging on the back, along with Portrait Mode and Portrait Lighting on the rear camera system. Both are water resistant, have the same high-speed wireless radios, and 64 GB and 256 GB storage options.

What iPhone X doesn't have — aside from a gold color option — is a Home button, Touch ID, and bezels. Apple has deleted all of them. And, in their place, created new, gesture-based navigation, Face ID, and the TrueDepth camera system.

The result is a display that goes edge-to-rounded-edge, wrapped in a design that harkens back to the original iPhone while still looking like something straight out of sci-fi. Starting at $999.

So, is iPhone X — wait. Stop the review and rewind that. I can't stick to being purely analytical with this one.

I've now spent a week with iPhone X as my primary device. So far, it's the most fun I've had with any gadget since the original iPhone. I'm not being hyperbolic here. There are shortcomings. There are things I'd love to see changed. But I can't stop using it. The new display is beyond gorgeous. HDR is glorious. Fluid navigation gestures are sublime. Face ID is so fast I'm forgetting I have a passcode. Attention aware interactivity is the bomb.

I'll still walk you through all the little details and give you a ton of #protips. I'll still share plenty of gripes. And I'll update this review throughout the next week and month. But know that I'm going to be smiling the whole time. Because iPhone X might just be the best damn product Apple has ever made.

iPhone X in Brief

For people who want:

• Edge-to-edge design.
• Optically stabilized ƒ/1.8 and ƒ/2.4 dual-lens rear camera.
• Depth-aware front-facing camera.
• Face detection biometrics.
• Tomorrow's iPhone today.

Not for people who want:

• Classic iPhone design.
• Home button.
• Fingerprint identity biometrics.
• Gold or other color options.
• Lower pricing.

If you want a familiar iPhone experience, iPhone 8 is ready and waiting for you. If you want a radical new design, with as close to an edge-to-edge OLED display as possible, a TrueDepth camera and Face ID on the front and an even-better-than-iPhone-8 dual camera system on the back, and you have the cash for it, then get iPhone X and enjoy not only tomorrow's iPhone today, but the best damn product Apple's ever made. And that's saying a lot.