I’ve had the iPhone X for about 4 days now. Here are some early initial observations. Overall more positive than I was fearing but I am afraid unlike the rest of the internet, I don't really see "the future" staring at me in this phone yet. I would say it largely feels the same as previous phones - which though is a massive credit to Apple because this phone is, in its own small ways, is the most different from previous iPhones.

The portrait mode on the iPhone X offers some passable bokeh options

Handling

The phone feels huge and heavy in the hand - much much bigger than the 7 even though it is only marginally bigger
Handling is awkward - my hand barely reaches anything at - the bottom or the top making one-handed use quite difficult. It is decidedly an odd-shaped thing.
The notch is stupid but you don’t seem to notice it as much as I thought I would

Screen

It looks good and probably a bit better than the 7 but my tired old eyes really don’t notice much improvement.

Face ID

Happy to report that it has worked as expected so far. I don’t really miss the Touch ID
It feels just slightly slower inside apps but feels just the same and even better when used to unlock the phone

Battery Life

So far so good - too early to tell - all new phones perform well. The real test is after 6-8 months of heavy usage
Wireless charging is useful though quite slow to be the only way to charge so not getting rid of the umpteen lightening charging cables I have

Camera

The 56mm lens (‘portrait’) is useful and the software blurring is a good option and works quite well even though it is nowhere near as natural as a regular lens.
Some of the studio lighting options (Stage light for example) are downright dirty, rushed hacks that should never be used.

Worth $1,400?

With taxes and AppleCare you end up paying about $1,400 for this phone - which is about $2 a day. While $1,400 sounds a lot - the phone is definitely worth 2 dollars a day.