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Does the iPhone X actually take better selfies?

HAMISH MACBAIN

Associate features editor

Given that I have spent the past decade or so being brilliant in this magazine and others, there is a reasonable chance you will be familiar with my byline. But unless you are a friend or family member, colleague or former colleague, sworn enemy or sworn enemy-slash-former colleague, you will not be familiar with my face because I do not like my face. Well, that is not strictly true. I do like my face (and in fact love my hair), but I detest the way that it looks in photographs.

If anyone ever even looks as though they are about to take a photo with me in it, they will find themselves on the business end of a verbal NDA, forbidding them from ever sharing it on any form of social media.

Selfie knowledge: Hamish MacBain
Selfie knowledge: Hamish MacBain

And selfies? No. I tried one once in the privacy of a nightclub toilet with my first ever camera phone, bright white light pummelling my every pore. It did not match the image in my mind. And so, long before ‘selfie’ had become the 21st century’s most annoying lexicon entry, I became a selfie-phobe. But time, and mobile-phone cameras, have of course moved on significantly — to the extent that the iPhone X’s professional standard-dwarfing spec was last week criticised for being ‘too good’. Which, I thought, is exactly what I’m after. And so, here, with the assistance of ‘Portrait’ mode and ‘Contour Light’ setting, and in a world-exclusive to rival that time we told you Gigi Hadid likes Yorkshire pudding, is my first ever published selfie. When the picture editor asked me if I liked the results, I said I was ‘not displeased’, which — trust me, Apple — is not far short of a miracle. In fact, Apple: should you wish to use the above quote on those massive billboards of yours, you have my blessing. I might even shoot an accompanying image for you.

KATIE SERVICE

Beauty editor

There are few things I enjoy more in life than taking a selfie. Call me vain, call me a narcissist, but I find there’s something intensely satisfying about taking an okay snap of oneself and then spending a good 20 minutes tweaking it until you appear fractionally better looking. I hop between Facetune and VSCO apps to smooth out wrinkles, duplicate freckles or even soften the line of my jaw. Sounds a bit extreme but, hey, I’m not 24 any more and it’s infinitely less scary than Botox.

Katie Service
Katie Service

Then came the iPhone X, with its TrueDepth camera and portrait selfie mode, which essentially allows you to ‘photoshop’ your selfie before you even take it. I was an instant convert. I start simply with the ‘Natural Light’ setting and pull a few standard poses (lips apart, chin down and eyes soft...). The clarity of the XL screen is incredible — this phone is all about display, and Apple has a 25 per cent broader true colour spectrum than other smartphones by including true black, which means I no longer have to Facetune my black mascara to make my eyes pop. Flicking to ‘studio light’ I see an instant improvement; my skin looks brighter and my eyes sparkle before I’ve taken the shot.

So far so good. But it’s the ‘Contour’ setting that I have the most fun with. In just one swipe — bam! — I have the cheekbones of a Kardashian and a jawline that could cut ice. Admittedly, indoors I look as though I’ve done 15 rounds with Benefit’s Hoola and the bronzer won, but step outside and this shading looks realistic and enormously flattering.

I think Hamish is a little frightened by how long I’ve spent staring at my own face. I’m a little frightened too. In the space of 45 minutes I have taken 583 photos of myself. That’s a record even for me. I’m starting to go selfie blind. I’m even starting to look a bit humanoid in some, an avatar of myself — all glass eyes and aerodynamics and, although I’m saving time on the post-editing, I’m definitely pouring it back in by the bucketload in pre-selfie adjustments. Final verdict? It’s a big fat yes from me.