New iPhones smarter than ever
David Court gets the chance to test two new iPhones and is very impressed.
Since I got back from the Apple launch last week, I’ve been asked one question more than any other. ‘‘What’s the new iPhone like?’’ It’s a fair question. But it’s impossible to answer without sounding like a phone salesman. And the fact that Apple launched not one, but three new iPhones makes it tricky to articulate.
It’s much easier (for me) to organise my thoughts in the form of a ‘‘review’’.
Luckily, I’ve been testing the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro Max this past week.
So here’s my review.
iPhone 11 Pro Max
Yes, it’s a dreadful name. But the phone itself is incredible. I’d even go as far as to say it’s the best smartphone that the world has ever seen. That’s how highly I rate it.
Let’s start with something easy. Its design. The 6.5-inch 11 Pro Max is a big phone – 158mm x 77.8mm x 8.1mm big to be exact. And this won’t be to everyone’s taste. Nor will the trypophobia-inducing arrangement of its three cameras. But inside its stainless steel and (strongest-ever) glass body is top-ofthe-range hardware.
For me, the phone’s three cameras are where Apple has made its biggest advancements this year.
Onboard the iPhone 11 Pro Max is a standard camera, an ultra-wide camera, and a telephoto camera. The iPhone 11, by comparison, only has two cameras (not the telephoto lens).
Apple has worked on some cool new photography features, too. The headline of these is the phone’s performance in ultra low-light settings. All new iPhone 11s can take a photo in a near-lightless setting and produce images that are full of colour and vibrancy.
Of course, this feature isn’t new to the smartphone industry. Huawei, Google, Samsung, and Oppo all debuted smartphones with a Night Mode this past year.
But, as per, Apple has perfected the feature and, in my opinion, the iPhone 11 cameras do a better job of capturing real detail in low-light settings than its rivals.
How does Apple achieve this? It’s complicated. The iPhone 11 doesn’t magically create more light than its rivals. Instead, it uses its advanced image-processing technology to achieve better results.
It does a similar thing with its regular HDR images. Users will notice a big improvement with ‘‘regular’’ photos on this year’s iPhones as well.
This is because the phone will start capturing images as soon as the camera app is open. This allows it to instantly attach four underexposed images and one overexposed image to your regular photo.
The iPhone then uses smart HDR and a technique reported as ‘‘symantec rendering’’ to recognise certain attributes of a photo. A human face, hair, hands, a pet, a car, a tree, the sky. You get the idea.
The iPhone 11 then applies different rules to each of these attributes – reducing the noise of the sky while sharpening aspects of the face, for example. Finally, it combines all after-effects into one, ultra-detailed photo that looks amazing. And it does all of this instantly, without you even knowing.
That provides a nice segue into the A13 Bionic Processor, as this is what makes it all possible.
In fact, the A13 chip is so good that Apple even boasted about it on stage at the iPhone launch event, trash-talking rivals with the A13’s benchmark results (which are way ahead of its competition).
This is nothing new for iPhones, of course. The self-designed and self-made chips are what gives Apple’s smartphones their unmistakable speed and smoothness. But the added power here makes things like 4K video (on all three cameras), AR and higherend gaming less taxing on the device.
It’s also been suggested that Apple has worked hard on the A13 to ensure that it still performs well at the end of the iPhone’s lifespan – even after several iOS updates. These added years of (promised) service makes the iPhone 11 Pro’s $1949 and Pro Max’s $2149 price tags look a little more affordable.
Last but not least on this year’s big iPhone improvements, there’s the battery life. Apple has done something it rarely does with its phones. It has compromised the design to accommodate a bigger battery.
The iPhone 11 Pro boasts an extra four hours battery life over last year’s XS, while the iPhone 11 Pro Max jumps to a whopping fivehour improvement.
I’d argue that the extra 0.4mm thickness and 11 grams of weight is a fair compromise for this benefit.
iPhone 11
This is the iPhone that most people should be looking to buy (if they want a new iPhone).
It’s a massive $600 cheaper than the 11 Pro and $800 cheaper than the 11 Pro Max. And it’s largely the same device.
By not paying that 600+ bucks for a Pro, you’re only missing out on a slightly better screen, the telelens camera and improved battery performance. Oh and the finish is aluminium and glass. That’s it.
The iPhone 11 is also $50 cheaper than last year’s equivalent, the iPhone XR.
How Apple has managed to shave any money off the price of a significantly improved (middleweight) iPhone, I have no idea.
5G
The elephant in the room is 5G. None of the iPhone 11 phones will support it.
But, I’m here to tell you not to get too fixated on 5G. Yet. New Zealand is still a long way away from being 5G ready, certainly long enough for this crop of iPhones to run their course.
And while the United States, United Kingdom and other countries are further down the road, they’re still a long way off too – only capable of delivering 5G in certain environments. And even within these environments, there are complaints of overheating due to downloading at high speeds.
My advice is to a) wait for 5G to actually arrive in New Zealand before letting it determine what smartphone you buy next and b) let 5G sort out its teething problems before you make it a priority.