WEBVTT 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:01.520 Thanks for watching Techquickie. 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:05.920 Click the subscribe button, then enable notifications with the bell icon, so you won't miss any 00:00:05.920 --> 00:00:06.920 future videos. 00:00:06.920 --> 00:00:10.590 Oh, hey, what's that thing? 00:00:10.590 --> 00:00:15.190 Well, I guess if you're watching this on an iPhone X, you're used to it by now. 00:00:15.190 --> 00:00:18.950 But for the rest of you, this is probably pretty annoying. 00:00:18.950 --> 00:00:24.010 So what exactly is the point of the notch, which is either suddenly in vogue or a huge 00:00:24.010 --> 00:00:26.710 source of complaints, depending on your opinion? 00:00:26.710 --> 00:00:30.510 Is Apple just trying to tell us all, yeah, we're Apple, and we can do whatever we want 00:00:30.510 --> 00:00:33.190 with our gadgets, just like we do with a headphone jack? 00:00:33.190 --> 00:00:34.870 Well, not exactly. 00:00:34.870 --> 00:00:39.510 In fact, the lesser-known Essential Phone was actually the first modern smartphone to 00:00:39.510 --> 00:00:43.670 feature a notch for its front-facing camera, though it's quite a bit smaller than the one 00:00:43.670 --> 00:00:45.530 you'd find on the iPhone X. 00:00:45.530 --> 00:00:49.790 Released just two months before the iPhone X, the Essential Phone was our first look 00:00:49.790 --> 00:00:54.230 at how a phone designer might try to fill as much of the front of the device as possible 00:00:54.230 --> 00:00:57.690 with actual screen instead of bezels. 00:00:57.690 --> 00:01:00.490 And although they figured out how to bury a fingerprint sensor under the phone, they 00:01:00.490 --> 00:01:09.050 figured out how to do it with a front-facing camera, which is now a critical feature in 00:01:09.050 --> 00:01:14.130 all modern smartphones due to its utilization by popular apps and, of course, our narcissistic 00:01:14.130 --> 00:01:16.590 need for on-demand selfies. 00:01:16.590 --> 00:01:20.890 Of course, many phone makers simply hide the camera and other phone components inside of 00:01:20.890 --> 00:01:25.370 a bezel, but Essential went with the notch approach because Android OS fills the top 00:01:25.370 --> 00:01:29.850 notification bar from the left and right, so the idea was that the camera in the middle 00:01:29.850 --> 00:01:32.430 wouldn't block anything super important. 00:01:32.430 --> 00:01:36.770 And they even built in an option allowing the user to choose whether or not to hide 00:01:36.770 --> 00:01:41.750 the notch in landscape mode by turning the notch side of the screen into a black bar 00:01:41.750 --> 00:01:43.270 that won't block anything. 00:01:43.270 --> 00:01:48.270 Of course, Apple's notch is significantly larger, leaving only two small loaves of screen 00:01:48.270 --> 00:01:49.910 space at the phone's corners. 00:01:49.910 --> 00:01:55.010 A big part of the rationale for this is that the iPhone X's Face ID recognition system 00:01:55.010 --> 00:01:59.750 needs additional equipment, such as an IR camera and a dot projector, that can't also 00:01:59.850 --> 00:02:02.210 —yet— be buried under the screen. 00:02:02.210 --> 00:02:06.330 So to be fair, the iPhone X is sporting a pretty cool piece of tech that Essential Phone 00:02:06.330 --> 00:02:11.410 and other Android devices don't yet have, and iOS also doesn't display notification 00:02:11.410 --> 00:02:16.710 icons across the top of the screen like Android does, making the notches a little easier to 00:02:16.710 --> 00:02:18.090 get away with. 00:02:18.090 --> 00:02:22.690 And Apple does designate safe areas in app development to prevent content from being 00:02:22.690 --> 00:02:24.390 obscured by the notch. 00:02:24.390 --> 00:02:28.350 Now of course, this doesn't mean that the notch should be immune from criticism, with 00:02:28.350 --> 00:02:29.470 many users noting that it seems like the notch is a bit too big for the iPhone X, and Apple's 00:02:29.470 --> 00:02:38.190 technology has completely caught up, especially as we're now seeing phones that are bezel-less 00:02:38.190 --> 00:02:44.050 on three sides — a more appealing alternative to the awkward notch, at least for some. 00:02:44.050 --> 00:02:46.590 Because awkwardness is in the eye of the beholder, right? 00:02:46.590 --> 00:02:51.010 And there's been speculation that Apple is intentionally using the bezel as a signature 00:02:51.010 --> 00:02:54.050 look, just like the scroll wheel on the iPod. 00:02:54.050 --> 00:02:59.470 And any time Apple does that, other companies, including OnePlus and ASUS, follow suit. 00:02:59.470 --> 00:03:03.430 And both have already confirmed they'll be using notches in their upcoming phones, with 00:03:03.430 --> 00:03:08.130 one ASUS exec even going so far as to say it's what the people want. 00:03:08.130 --> 00:03:13.030 So whether you love or hate Apple for starting this trend, there's a good chance we'll 00:03:13.030 --> 00:03:17.430 see notches become more common until solutions for hiding phone components beneath the display 00:03:17.430 --> 00:03:19.410 become widespread. 00:03:19.410 --> 00:03:24.250 In fact, Android P has features specifically for developers who want to incorporate notches 00:03:24.250 --> 00:03:28.650 into app design, so if you are hoping that the phone industry will relent and suddenly 00:03:29.470 --> 00:03:35.320 consider a bad idea, you might want to dial your hopes back a notch. 00:03:35.320 --> 00:03:40.040 Not only does PIA work on up to five devices at once by hiding your IP address and allowing 00:03:40.040 --> 00:03:44.000 you to bypass geo-restrictions and censorship by making you appear that you're connecting 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:49.120 from somewhere else, it also blocks unwanted connections to help prevent attacks, auto-blocks 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:53.260 all traffic if the VPN disconnects, keeps your data out of the hands of advertisers 00:03:53.260 --> 00:03:58.360 and other snoops who are tracking your activity, prevents DNS leaks, and even includes MACE, 00:03:58.360 --> 00:03:59.360 PIA's built-in malware block. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:05.420 PIA supports multiple VPN protocols and encryption levels, allowing you to dial in the exact 00:04:05.420 --> 00:04:07.400 level of protection that you need. 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:12.700 They have apps for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux, and a Chrome extension, with support 00:04:12.700 --> 00:04:15.020 for even more platforms coming soon. 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:20.960 And PIA has over 3,000 servers in 28 different countries and does not log user activity, 00:04:20.960 --> 00:04:21.960 so what are you waiting for? 00:04:21.960 --> 00:04:23.940 Check them out today at the link below. 00:04:23.940 --> 00:04:25.840 Okay guys, thanks for watching TechWiki. 00:04:25.840 --> 00:04:27.680 Like this video if you liked it, dislike it if you didn't. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:29.120 Like for more notches and bad news. 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:35.980 Leave a comment in the video description, check out other channels, and don't forget 00:04:35.980 --> 00:04:36.980 to subscribe.