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Apple Highlights iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max Reviews
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They announced at the reveal that pixel size increased from 1.2 to 1.4 microns. Not sure why you think they buried it when they said that on stage. Simple math puts the area at around 35 percent bigger (ignoring inter pixel spacing which knocks it down a couple of percent if it didn’t decrease).
So how do they have the best silicon and software? Silicon isn’t even up for debate...the A series chips are the best.
You forget Tim Cook, for one.
Look it up.
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Tell that to Samsung. They fell all over themselves copying them...
It sounds like you want a note then. Why complain that iOS is boring when you literally have what you want in a product that already exists?
Widgets are entirely useless to me and that’s after trying to use them for years on my nexus devices. PIP I could probably use but honestly I don’t care too much about it on a phone.
Your X is pretty amazing, but not as amazing as the XS. Also this thread isn't about that phone.
No. It is about reviews of the new devices. And in some of those reviews they compare it to last year’s X and they say that the XS is not necessarily worth upgrading to from the X. So yes the X is part of the discussion of this thread as it relates to the new phones.
Exactly. Cook is an underrated genius and is an engineer by training.
His supply chain prowess is probably tops in the world. He’s that good.
I get a headache from looking at my iPhone 6s+. From what I understand, that will worsen with the OLED. Anyone experiencing headaches / eye strain from their iPhone X? I literally cancelled my order
Oh I see and understand what you’re talking about now and think that might have happened to me before. The reason I haven’t noticed a problem is because we had a kid the year the iPhone 6 came out, and then another one two years later, so we don’t get out at night very often any more, lol. Sigh… *cries inside*I’m also a trained photographer. Been shooting professionally for 18 years, 10 years as an amateur before that. You can’t control lights in spontaneous situations. The only place where you have real control over light is in a studio.
There’s a real issue with reflections on the front glass of the iPhone since I believe the iPhone 6. It became a serious problem with the iPhone X. This is caused by a gap between the front glass and the lens. A lens alone would cause lens flare which is normal. Reflections on the other hand ruin photos. Nighttime video in a city with cars and other bright lights can become unusable pretty quickly.
Here’s a good demonstration that I found:
This is of course a forced example to make the problem clear but it does pop up regularly in non staged situations.
Here’s a real world demonstration. The lights on the dock reflect in the sky like a runway.
This is not normal lens behaviour. It’s a design defect that Apple has ignored because a front glass cover is the most efficient way to build water protection for the phone. To prevent this, they’d have to build the lens elements into the case itself. You’d have a curved lens on the outside, not a flat cover glass. Reflections would not occur. Presumably, this would be more expensive to build at scale since the case and the camera components come from different manufactures.
I wonder if a lens coating would fix this. That’s why I ask if the Xs had solved it.
EDIT: there’s a whole MacRumors thread on this:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/huge-defect-with-the-camera-extreme-lens-flare.2085341/
As expected, many people don’t understand the difference between lens flare which is normal and reflections which are not.
Sorry I didn’t know that you are a photographer. Nowadays photography isn’t the main part of my job so I do a lot of personal projects such as landscapes, sports (sometimes I get press passes to SEC football games since I work for a large university), wildlife, the occasional wedding for a friend and family photos in my spare time. 13 years amateur and 6 years part-time professional. I went to school for photography, advertising and design and mostly do design now with some portraits, promotional shots, and story shoots sprinkled in along with the personal stuff. The nice thing about working for a university is you get to do everything. The worst thing about working for a university is that you have to do everything. Hah. I like it though.
Anyway, hope it’s fixed for you somehow. The lens element on the wide angle is completely redesigned so perhaps there is some element in there which helps correct for this. It’s also a larger sensor and slightly wider FOV so that could change things around too. You’d think if they’re putting so much effort into making the best phone camera in the world, they would get on that. What would be crazy is if their new neural network picks up on what is happening and removes it as the photo is being taken in real-time.
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But that’s the thing. I didn’t even know about these features until someone connected had to call up Apple and ask about it. It’s not even on the specs page. Completely hidden. You can’t spark the photographers to upgrade if you don’t even tell them.Won’t make a difference. Non Xs Max upgrades are waiting for the XR, or 2019 5.8”. Larger pixels on the sensor are a foreign concept to the average iPhone user. A wider angle lens could be of use for the selfies 70% of phone users use them for.
The percentage of users that will take advantage of the photo improvements on a weekly basis are 20% are best. Sure, you have the high end user that will upgrade just for these changes. Apple knows they don’t have to market to them for the upgrade. So, they don’t.
I love my Sony a7R III…heh. Finally made the jump from Canon last year once Sony released a more fully realized pro body. Now I’m watching both Canon and Nikon flopping around trying to make their own mirrorless cameras and it makes me laugh. They are a few years behind in several areas. Canon looks to have good autofocus and ergonomics though. I wouldn’t mind the Sony body being 10-15% larger. Their sensor isn’t nearly as good though and the shooting speed doesn’t exist.
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Huh, I haven’t heard that and haven’t seen that on their site and haven’t heard anyone else talk about it and even Gruber seemed confused in his story and had to confirm it with Apple. I’ll have to watch that part of the keynote again sometime. They still haven’t clarified (to my knowledge) what actual improvements they made to the flash. I remember Phil mentioning that.
Gruber nailed it as usual. Software and silicone with always in your pocket convenience.
Reviews for the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max went live this morning ahead of Friday's launch, and in a new press release, Apple has highlighted reviews from several members of the media who were able to spend some time with the new iPhones.
Apple shared key passages from sites that include Mashable, TechCrunch, Daring Fireball, The New York Times, Best Products, Hypebeast, Tom's Guide, Dailymail, TechRadar, Hardwarezone, Sydney Morning Herald, and photographer Austin Mann.
Daring Fireball's John Gruber, for example, praised the iPhone's custom silicon and software and its always-in-your-pocket convenience for photography.The New York Times praised the way Apple increased the iPhone XS Max's screen size without adding bulk or compromising usability, while Tom's Guide did some benchmarking on the A12 and declared the iPhone XS models the fastest iPhones available.Apple, of course, focused on the positive elements in these reviews and while reviewers did generally offer praise for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, especially for the camera improvements and the larger screen size, most agreed that iPhone X users may not be tempted to upgrade just for a new processor and a better camera.
Apple's full list of review selections can be seen in the article shared via Apple Newsroom. More reviews can also be found in our review roundup, shared this morning.
Customers who pre-ordered an iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max will be able to get their hands on the new devices starting on Friday, September 21, the official iPhone XS and XS Max launch date.
Article Link: Apple Highlights iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max Reviews
Exactly.. I'm coming from an iPhone 6 that lasted me almost 4 years before dying. I'm excited to get my XS, and I already know that next year's phone will not be for me to upgrade to. Maybe not even 2020's phone. I want to get some longevity out of this big purchase.
The problem with the iphones and iOS is that its boring. Need PIP, widgets and stylus support like the Note series to spice things up, nobody cares about animoji’s.
I’ll keep my boring phone.
I love the criticisms that I read that the Note 9 is the best thing since sliced bread.
In all actuality it’s a S9+ with a stylus and more storage. That’s it. Same camera, processor, screen.
This new iPhone has the best A12 chip, new camera system, new smart HDR, better waterproofing, better speakers just to name some.
I would call the Note 9 boring.
Of course Apple highlights this part of the review but doesn’t mention the comparison to the A11/X which completed the same task in 43 seconds...
I don’t want to hate against the XS but it seems pretty obvious that Apple killed the X because they feared too many people would opt for the cheaper yet nearly equally powerful device.
So basically what made the iPhone the iPhone since 2007?
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It really is, I agree. They should never ever point a gun to a customer and force them to buy a product. Such a crime!! They should be jailed.
On a serious not, here is a solution for you. Don't buy it. By doing that you have voted against the price.
That lens glass is sapphire crystal, and being so hard and scratch resistant, it needs to be there. Your solution is not tenable from an engineering and manufacturing standpoint. Those lens elements are plastic, and obviously can’t be exposed to fingerprints, and other hazards that will scratch and damage them.
What Apple engineers can do, is improve the anti-reflective coatings. I use UV filters with multicoatings screwed onto all my camera lenses because I live in an extremely dusty city. The cheap ones cause internal reflections identical to the iPhone’s green orbs, but quality filter like Hoya MRC eliminates the reflections. It has nothing to do with having an air gap between the front lens element and the front glass.
I really want to see the Xr camera reviews first. I know all 3 new phones have the bokeh/f-stop/Depth of Field feature, but I wonder if having the telephoto lens makes it work better on the Xs and Xs Max than it does on the Xr? I believe this feature used to require a second lens, so maybe the neural chip (whatever it's called), which is a purely software method of achieving the same result, works to improve the 2-lens method?? Maybe the feature works better on the Xs and Max?
Anyway, looks great. I know Gruber is, purportly, a biased Apple reviewer, but he brought up some great points in his review regarding the camera. I'm not sure how he missed the fact that the sensor was now 1.4um instead of 1.2um, but there you go.
They did NOT mention The Verge review by Nilay Patel, which brought up an interesting point about the Xs Max. The Xs and Xs Max show the same amount of content, in exactly the same way, except that the content on the Xs Max will be larger. That wasn't the case between the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, or the 7 and 7 Plus, 6s and 6s Plus. The "Plus" models always displayed more content -- text or whatever -- on the screen than the smaller non-Plus models. Not so for the Xs and Xs Max.
If you're on the fence about whether to buy the Xs or Xs Max, then the Xs is probably the better option. Other than battery life, there doesn't seem to be much benefit to the Xs Max's larger screen.
Anyway, looks great. I know Gruber is, purportly, a biased Apple reviewer, but he brought up some great points in his review regarding the camera. I'm not sure how he missed the fact that the sensor was now 1.4um instead of 1.2um, but there you go.
They did NOT mention The Verge review by Nilay Patel, which brought up an interesting point about the Xs Max. The Xs and Xs Max show the same amount of content, in exactly the same way, except that the content on the Xs Max will be larger. That wasn't the case between the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, or the 7 and 7 Plus, 6s and 6s Plus. The "Plus" models always displayed more content -- text or whatever -- on the screen than the smaller non-Plus models. Not so for the Xs and Xs Max.
If you're on the fence about whether to buy the Xs or Xs Max, then the Xs is probably the better option. Other than battery life, there doesn't seem to be much benefit to the Xs Max's larger screen.
Don’t be surprised if both the XS and XS Max are discontinued next year to make way for the 11 and 11 Max. At that point, the original X could re-appear as an $899 model alongside 2019’s 11/11 Max with their smaller notches, still selling at $999/$1,099.
The XR would likely also be discontinued to make space for the 11R; I doubt Apple would want a XR at $649 stealing sales from the $999/1,099 iPhone 11 Series.
I think its normal for companies to showcase positive stories, and try to take away focus on the less good ones . Its not just Apple.
Like the dude from youtube "Unbox Therapy", he had a "dont buy the iPhone X" banner on his youtube X review last year, he did not understand why he didnt get an invite to the reveal this year. what a surprise (not). No one would invite the people who dislike like their company or products in the first place. If i had a company i would never invite all the haters, it wouldnt make sense. Theres no business case in that. Its common sense. If you are brave and believe you have a good product, you invite neutral press and company-pro people. definately not the haters.
This greed has got to stop... apple ecosystem is getting worse a product after product. While I am not the most avid apple fan, my first apple product being 2006 white macbook, I fell in love with all its product immediately. Every product line was complementing each other.
But nowadays.. apple products have a sole purpose - squeeze until the last drop from all the fan boys out in the wild. It's been 2 freaking years since new macbook pro launched with only 4 usb-c but iphone still comes with lightening cable? Is Apple forcing people to buy usb-c to lightening converter just to charge a phone with their +$2k computer? I don't get how people defend apple for not having 3.5 mm considering it being old but don't mention a squat about it. Did people complain about first get ipod only having firewire? No, every apple computer came with it.
Sorry for the rant, i loved apple ecosystem so much but it's been nothing but disappointments for past couple years. I am slowly phasing out from apple ecosystem and my iphone 7 is the last device from apple. if this trent keeps going it might as well be the last apple product, which i definately do not wish..
But nowadays.. apple products have a sole purpose - squeeze until the last drop from all the fan boys out in the wild. It's been 2 freaking years since new macbook pro launched with only 4 usb-c but iphone still comes with lightening cable? Is Apple forcing people to buy usb-c to lightening converter just to charge a phone with their +$2k computer? I don't get how people defend apple for not having 3.5 mm considering it being old but don't mention a squat about it. Did people complain about first get ipod only having firewire? No, every apple computer came with it.
Sorry for the rant, i loved apple ecosystem so much but it's been nothing but disappointments for past couple years. I am slowly phasing out from apple ecosystem and my iphone 7 is the last device from apple. if this trent keeps going it might as well be the last apple product, which i definately do not wish..
I know we shouldn’t take Gruber seriously anymore, but his XR review is priceless, namely the Portrait mode fail which he claims as a revolutionary breakthrough. His ignorance is sometimes breathtaking. This passage stands out in particular.
Android handset makers can’t just buy a “neural engine” chip and stick it in a phone. Google does advanced machine learning — including for photos — but they do it in the cloud. You shoot a photo, upload it to Google’s servers, and they analyze the dumb photo to make it better. Their input is a JPEG file.
The truth is the Pixel 2 (a year old device) has a Google’s custom-designed silicon chip (AKA the Pixel Visual Core) for photo processing, which is capable of doing 3 trillion operations per second.
Android handset makers can’t just buy a “neural engine” chip and stick it in a phone. Google does advanced machine learning — including for photos — but they do it in the cloud. You shoot a photo, upload it to Google’s servers, and they analyze the dumb photo to make it better. Their input is a JPEG file.
The truth is the Pixel 2 (a year old device) has a Google’s custom-designed silicon chip (AKA the Pixel Visual Core) for photo processing, which is capable of doing 3 trillion operations per second.
They spent a significant part of the keynote talking about the camera, but it surprises me they didn't focus enough on Smart HDR. I think camera is most important to customers than the neural engine, I'd have spent even more time demoing the camera and less with games and AR stuff, as it wasn't WWDC.
The only disappointment is that the telephoto camera is the same as iPhone X, not that it was bad but as they improved the sensor on the wide lens I expected them to do the same on the other one as weel
In what universe is transcoding a 4k video to 1080p a thing? , any real world applications going on?