Apple introduces its new iPhones
iPhone 11 Pro Review: Major Camera And Battery Improvement Over Previous Apple Phones
The iPhone 11 Pro Max in a new color that Apple calls “Midnight Green.”BEN SIN
Every year in September, Apple introduces its new iPhones, and every year, a high percentage of Android enthusiasts scoff at what they consider to be outdated tech.
This year is perhaps even easier to do so, as the iPhone 11 series of phones have kept the 2017 iPhone X design language for a third straight year, and the two most notable new hardware additions–a wide-angle camera and a larger, near-4000 mAh battery– are features that Android fans expect on even budget sub-$300 phones.
But just looking at hardware components in a vacuum is a narrow-minded way of evaluating a smartphone, a do-it-all personal computer that has become indispensable in our daily lives.
And so while Android handsets, given the far more competitive and cut-throat landscape, is always going to be offer more cutting-edge tech–we already have a 5G-ready foldable Android with six cameras, for example–the iPhone experience is more than the sum of its hardware parts.
(I actually tested the larger iPhone 11 Pro Max model, but other than screen and battery sizes, the 11 Pro Max is identical to the smaller 11 Pro, so for the sake of simplicity, I’ll refer to the phone as 11 Pro throughout the review except when talking about battery performance)
Hardware: old design, but strong and refined
For the first half decade of iPhone’s existence, Apple gave the iPhone a design overhaul every two years. That, apparently, is no more, as the iPhone 11 Pro line keeps a three-year-old design, the second consecutive three-year hardware cycle in iPhone history (iPhones 6, 6S, and 7 kept the same design, too).
I have to admit, as an Android enthusiast who sees exciting new form factors every few months, this three-year-old iPhone X design language is starting to feel stale. The iPhone 11 Pro has only one immediately noticeable hardware change over last year’s phone: that square-shaped camera module. Almost everything else, from the size of the notch to the display resolution, are almost exactly the same as before.
But there’s no denying the iPhone 11 Pro is well constructed. The 11 Pro keeps the stainless steel frame from the iPhone X, and it is noticeably more sturdy than aluminum railings on most Android phones. Apple says its glass back is also reinforced to be strongest on the market, a claim I can’t vouch as I haven’t dropped the phone, but I do feel that the glass feels more dense.
The Vivo Nex 3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 10, with their slimmer bezels, curved screens and lack of a giant notch, are better looking phones in my opinion, but the iPhone 11 Pro design, with rounded corners and no screen curvature, is easier to use, easier to handle and should be slightly more durable.
Cameras: triple lens done right
Apple is late to the wide-angle camera game–I’ve been preaching about the usefulness of the lens since 2016–but as usual, Apple has done it right. On many other wide-angle camera offerings, such as on Huawei’s P30 Pro or Oppo’s Reno, images captured by the wide-angle lens differ wildly from main sensor photos in color science and dynamic range. This is due to the wide-angle lens usually using an inferior sensor (Note: Huawei may have fixed this problem with the Mate 30 Pro, but I haven’t had the chance to test it yet).
On the iPhone 11 Pro, the wide-angle lens produces images that are mostly consistent with not just the main camera, but also telephoto zoom lens, in color science and dynamic range. This level of continuity between lenses require extra effort from phonemakers, and Apple having more total control over its hardware and software design likely helped matters.
