- [Michael Fisher] This video is sponsored by tech21.
I didn't expect to have to try this hard.
I came to New York city specifically to go
hands-on with the new iPhone.
I've now gotten to try all three of them.
I've shot endless sample photos with their new
wide-angle cameras, which I've been badgering
Apple to include for three years.
The phones have slipped back into my pockets
with a resounding thud,
testament to another answered prayer.
Stop making your phones thinner, we said.
We don't need thinner phones,
we need better battery life.
Well, wish granted.
These are thicker, heavier and they promise
to last longer.
And most surprising of all to me, the price point
is $50 lower than last year.
In short, Apple has given us everything we've
asked for.
So why, as I walk the streets with my friends
Renee and Hayato with a brand new smartphone
on it's very release day,
why is it so hard for me to care?
(exciting electronic music)
I have a theory about that
but I'll save the navel gazing for the end,
because right now I want to tell you about
the phone you came here to see.
You've probably heard that the iPhone 11
is split into two categories,
one of which has a pro at the end of it
and comes in two sizes.
How do you tell them apart?
Well, the colors are different,
the display bezels are thinner on the pro,
and the pro also packs many more pixels per inch
on a more saturated, higher contrast display.
But the main difference is this electric razor,
fidget spinner, journeyman project Turbo logo,
however you want to make fun of it,
it's the camera module.
And look, while it does look goofy in pictures,
the triple lens on the iPhone 11 Pro is
actually okay in person.
And really, what matters is the camera's output,
right?
The iPhone 11 and 11 Pro each pack the same two
base cameras.
A 12 megapixel primary and a
matching 12 megapixel sensor
behind an ultrawide 120 degree lens.
Many Android phones have similar arrangements,
but almost always
the differences in either sensors or lenses.
or both,
have meant that the colors vary significantly
between wide and ultrawide.
The iPhone 11 hasn't totally solved for this.
The smaller aperture on the ultrawide means
it can't let as much light in and so it does
suffer in the dark.
But the color matching across cameras has never
been better than it is on this phone.
That applies to the third camera,
on the 11 Pro as well.
Another 12 megapixel sensor made into
a telephoto lens for long shots.
I'm disappointed Apple stuck to just
2X magnification here while the competition
is out doing 3x and even 5x optical zoom.
But you forget all about that when you try
Apple's new night mode.
First it was Huawei then Google
then...
...well, technically Samsung but (derisive vocalization)
point is, Apple has finally put some work into
photos taken after dark.
And the results early on are hugely promising.
Dimmer but more authentic than Huawei.
Better in all respects than Samsung.
And going below for blow with Google.
That's truly astounding.
After a year of falling over myself saying how
great the Pixel 3's night sight because it is,
but Apple it seems has caught up.
I'm going to talk a lot more about these cameras
in the review so let me wrap up with a word
on selfies and a word on portraits.
We finally have a wider front facing camera
on the iPhone.
Not as wide as the Pixel 3 can go
it maxes out at 85 degrees.
But it does compare favorably against the
Galaxy Note 10+ in terms of quality.
Look how much more there is to the picture.
Watch out.
Also I'm a big pumpkin man over there.
And I'm my real self over there.
Video, the iPhone does it better.
No new lessons were learned.
And over in portrait land the iPhone continues to
just kill it when it comes to color science.
The Pixel has the edge in...
...edge detection.
And Samsung does do good work too,
but in terms of colors and the quality
of the bouquet Apple usually wins.
It's just a shame that in 2019,
nearly six years after HTC first made portrait
photos a thing,
screwing up these photos is as easy as
having glasses,
or, you know, hair.
What else is new?
Well Apple is finally shipping a fast charger
in the box,
at least relatively fast at 18 watts
and only if you buy the Pro.
Face ID is said to be 30 percent faster
and capable of working at a wider range of angles
but in my brief testing against
an older version of iOS
that improvement wasn't consistent,
either on the table or in the hand.
And 3D touch is gone now which makes me sad
because it was one of the first truly new
ways to use a touchscreen.
The other stuff- the longer lasting batteries,
the spacial audio, I need time to test it.
And yes, I'm getting ready to wrap up
but don't go anywhere because we still have to
talk about my pesky disillusionment.
Right now though, in the midst of a hectic Day 1,
it's all I can do to remember that the 11 has
glossy glass while the 11 Pro's is frosty glass.
And that glass may be the strongest ever
but I wasn't willing to test that claim on some
of the first iPhones 11's to hit the street.
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Now here's why getting excited for this iPhone
this time around has been tougher for me.
I look back to how jazzed I was about the
iPhone 10 a couple years back and it's because
so much was new, from the gestures to the
hardware, even the notch.
It's natural for Apple to have a so-called S year
but that was last year
and I think I just expected more.
On top of that, and this is more important,
the new software iOs 13.1
still won't be here for another week.
And that will enable a lot of features
no one has been able to try yet,
like the U1 chip inside this thing
and Deep Fusion for even better photos.
So it's kind of hard to evaluate this phone on
the merits while it's still waiting for half its
brain to get delivered, you know?
Maybe most of all...
...I still believe we're on the brink of a
sea change in mobile.
With foldable phones just on the cusp of release.
And while I know it's so early for those,
and really no one should buy them yet, probably,
they're always on my mind when I'm testing out
the latest plain old rectangle.
I'm just eager for the next step, I guess.
That's said, if there is a rectangle you
buy this year, there probably will be,
these should be near the top of your list
for consideration.
And if you want a lot more photo samples
and insights than I was able to get into here,
hit up Renee Ritchie's videos at Vector.
And also Hayato Huseman's face-off between
the iPhone 11 and the Galaxy Note 10+
at Android Central.
I'll link them both below.
Thanks to both of those gentlemen for all their
help putting this video together.
And for the record, Mobile Nations purchased
both of my review iPhones from Apple.
They are retail units and no copy approval or
compensation provided either, of course.
If that's the kind of tech video you'd like to
see more of please subscribe to theMrMobile
on YouTube and stay tuned for that review
coming soon.
Until next time, thanks for watching,
and stay mobile, my friends.