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5105973

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The microphone
I've been trying to find that out, too. In the diagrams on Apple's site it appears to have an extra mic that the iPhone 7/7 Plus does not have on its diagram, but my casual research leads me to think it's just there for noise cancellation.

I listened to the briefest video clip made by an iPhone 8 on EverythingApplePro's YouTube unboxing video, but he was talking over it quite a bit. From what sounds I could hear, I think it does NOT record in stereo. It sounds pretty much the same as videos taken on iPhone 7/7Plus.
 

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According to this video, I think we can safely confirm the new iPhone 8/8+ does NOT record in stereo audio. It appears we get the same dim, flat audio on our videos we always have. :mad:

Samsung audio recording capability has besting that of Apple iPhone at least since S7 (maybe earlier but I started with the Note 7 and S7 last year). Most people do not seem to care about this. To me, immersive stereo audio is almost as important as how everything looks when I try to capture a moment in video. I had no idea what I was missing until I got my Samsungs and later my HTC 10, which can also record in stereo audio. This is another area in which Apple has slid behind some of the Android manufacturers. Once you hear the difference it's hard to accept what Apple is doing with sound for video.

I'm pretty frustrated with Apple about this, but at least the video even on a preproduction iPhone seems smoother and overall better than that on a Note 8. And of course there's the whole phone and ecosystem to consider. So I'll still get a 2017 IPhone and just continue to use my Shure lightning mic when I want good audio with my beautiful video.

 

5105973

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Coincidentally I just came across a good demo of the Nokia 8 audio recording quality by GSMArena. Put on some headphones and give this a listen. Stereo, and as important: high dynamic range, meaning you don't get your typical distorted sound. Personally I'm very impressed.

It does a pretty good job of getting the sounds from the performance balanced with enough crowd noise to provide atmosphere. My S8+ unfortunately lets in too much crowd noise, drowning out sounds from a stage performance. The LG V30 supposedly has controls that let you control what sounds you pick up. My older S7 Edge actually did the best job of taking in ambient sounds without obscuring sounds from the main subject. Samsung took a small step back on my S8+.
 

5105973

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Exactly. I was especially impressed with how clean the bass came through, at least on my headset. The bass is usually what ends up either badly distorted, or missing altogether. I think that's the HDR mics doing their work.

As an aside, this thing has a headphone jack.. :) As a 6S+ owner I have to admit the eye watering pricing on the latest iPhones (and of Pixel phones as well) has me looking more and more in the direction of 'the new Nokia'. Nearly pure Android, decent pricing, good specs, standard ports. Let's see if they bring the 8 or the 9 to the USA.
I've got my eye on the LG V30 myself. I enjoy my Apple Watch so I'm staying with iPhone as my main phone, but would not be opposed to picking up an LG on a discount in several months. Nokia phones were my very first cell phones. If they come to the US I would give them a look, too.
 
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