What You Should Know About Setting Up Your iPhone X

This because Apple released a new version of iOS on the same day the new iPhone X was first arriving in customers’ hands, thus ensuring that the process of moving from an old iPhone to a new one would not go smoothly.

Fortunately, once the iOS upgrade is complete, you can connect the iPhone X to your computer and start the data restoration process from there. All of your content, your apps, and of course, the relevant passwords, will be transferred to your new phone. Once you’ve activated your phone with your carrier, you’ll be all set.

This is when you’ll really notice the lack of a home button. You will now start swiping up from the bottom of your screen with your thumb, which will get rid of the lock screen. It also dismisses any running app and it closes folders that you might have open.

iPhone X support

Once your phone is activated with your carrier, you’ll notice another nice feature. When text messages arrive, they won’t display on the lock screen. Instead you’ll see a text message announcement, but that’s all. When the Face ID features scans your face and decides it’s really you, then you can see the text messages.

You’ll know that Face ID is working because a padlock icon on the screen will change from being locked to being unlocked. So far, Face ID seems to work well, although to set it up you’ll need to swivel your face around while the Face ID camera watches.

There are other differences that you’ll notice right away. For example, the side button that used to lock the screen or turn off the iPhone has changed. A quick press will still lock the screen, but a longer press brings up Siri, the digital assistant. If you want to turn the phone off, you have to press that button, plus a volume button to power it down.

Turning the iPhone X on requires a long press of the side button as was in the case in earlier iPhones.

You’ll need to get used to using the swiping motion to dismiss apps instead of using a home button, now that the home button is gone. For me that wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. You also have to get used to not having a lower bezel as a place for your thumb when you’re holding the phone, since that are is all screen now.

It’s also not clear how you identify yourself for Apple Pay, but apparently you can do the same thing just by looking at the phone. I’ll reserve judgement until I try it a few times.

So far, my first impressions are that it’s a nice phone. It feels solid in my hand, and the glass and stainless steel combination looks attractive. Whether you’re ready for the changes depends on your patience and perseverance. But be aware that you’ll need to set aside a few hours to get everything working.

Originally published on eWeek