First Impressions From New iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max Users

[gnasher729]

So where does it stop then? Hexa camera? Octa Camera? Full back of the phone covered with cameras? To be honest, even dual lens I find it a bit stupid. I would rather have one camera that works brilliantly, then multi mediocre cameras.

It seems you don't know how cameras work. You have two cameras, each specialised and optimised for a different purpose (plus they can work together). You couldn't build a single camera that would beat each one in a phone.
[doublepost=1537523495][/doublepost]

Kind of agree. The CPU is just a mild upgrade, even though the 7nm process is a big step forward. Most of the gains are going to be seen in the GPU, that's where the A12 SOC really outclasses the A11 by a large margin.

Since the original poster talked about the A12 chip (not about CPU and GPU separately, you just agreed that it is a quite significant upgrade. The biggest change is in the AI part, which is still waiting for applications. In two years time, the XS will run applications using it that the X can't.

 

[usarioclave]

It looks artificial because the background looks flattened and blurred to make the subject stand out. It doesn't really have any natural depth. Not the bokeh I am used to with photos.

The blur is nice, but they need to work on the bokeh effect. This looks like it's doing edge detection then blurring everything that isn't inside the edges...except for that weird thing on the top right of the right dog picture.

Still, it's better than what most people can do on a P&S. The main difference might be that in real life bokeh happens from the focus point and backwards/forwards, and in this camera the whole subject is essentially cut out from the background and the background is blurred.

I'm sure that'll come in a future release. They could probably use the focus point to adjust the bokeh/DoF.

 

[gnasher729]

Well, we've already reached 16
https://light.co/camera

Someone built a ball with 24 or 32 cameras built in. You throw it in the air, it takes multiple pictures in all directions, and you better hope you catch it when it comes down

 

[iGeek2014]

Does anyone know wattage the Qi charging maxes at on the new iPhones XS? Still 7.5W or is it better/higher this year?

Could have sworn I’d seen somewhere it was faster than the 8/X then yesterday am sure I’d seen it was still capped at 7.5w but the coil was better positioned so when you place it down it connects much more efficiently.

 

[loveandhavefun]

A slightly bigger screen. Innovation!

 

[Mydel]

Here comes my plea that Im sure its not gonna change anything! Guys! Stop buying these phones! If you need a new phone go iPhone 8 or wait for XR. Buying the phones in the 1200-1500 EUR range is insane. That is not good for anyone!
It is not good for consumers as they have significant price hikes from year to year. I understand that we pay premium for the privilege of using MacOS and iOS but Apple is going too far. They testing waters how high can they go to increase the profits and maintain market share. As long as people are buying them in millions nothing would change.
It is not good for environment as we are producing tons of waste just in the name of having so called newest and greatest. It makes no sense. Our previous models are equally good!
Its not good for Apple as they will get lazy and not even try to be more reasonable with the customers. Why would they if they can sell everything at any price point? They dont even include proper cables and charger in the 1200EUR phone. Thats telling! And as I mentioned at some point I find it insulting.
Its not good for society as the social pressure to have the newest gadgets is enormous. And I bet you that a lot of people is buying things they cant afford just not to be seen as "worse". Look at the post about the delays. People are getting furious about 2 day shipment delay. It is a complete corruption of values. I could go on and on but I hope you get my point.
I payed 5000USD for the MBP and although i find it overpriced I tend to keep my laptops for many many years and use them for work so that somehow justifies the spending. But phones? They slowly creeping up with the prices of AW too. On every front starting from the hardware through the Apple care.

OK. My rant is over

 

[hifimacianer]

Question: Does the portrait mode also work with the wide angle camera?
The Xr will only have a wide angle lens, and it seems to work there, so I would suggest you can choose wich lens you want to use for portrait modes with the Xs (max) now?

 

[0014]

Anyone done a real world Geekbench score yet?

 

[Kabeyun]

iPhone XS and XS Max first impressions from regular Apple customers are now available.

Weird article title, as I didn’t see any XS first impressions in it. That’s the one I’m considering (now that Apple has officially bailed on the 4” screen).

 

[chrono1081]

I think i might get the Xr, not really enough of a difference between X and XS imo.

I thought apple would blow us away, but sadly, looks like next year will be it.

It's an S year, of course you're not going to see a lot of new stuff. It's been this way since the iPhone 3Gs. S years are always speed bumps and smaller improvements (like this year has the better camera, a new Bionic chip, and a few other things.)

 

[dilbert99]

The blur is nice, but they need to work on the bokeh effect. This looks like it's doing edge detection then blurring everything that isn't inside the edges...except for that weird thing on the top right of the right dog picture.

Still, it's better than what most people can do on a P&S. The main difference might be that in real life bokeh happens from the focus point and backwards/forwards, and in this camera the whole subject is essentially cut out from the background and the background is blurred.

I'm sure that'll come in a future release. They could probably use the focus point to adjust the bokeh/DoF.

You can't do depth perception with a single lens as far as I am aware which is why we have two eyes, so only dual lens cameras (possibly with the same focal length but need to be further apart than they are on cameras now) can do variable blur based on distance.

Computers if trained appropriately could approximate variable depth blurring in some images, but this would be really difficult because you are making guesses as to the depth of each part of the image.

This is why I think some of the fake blur photos look strange.

 

[Ramchi]

Here comes my plea that Im sure its not gonna change anything! Guys! Stop buying these phones! If you need a new phone go iPhone 8 or wait for XR. Buying the phones in the 1200-1500 EUR range is insane. That is not good for anyone!
It is not good for consumers as they have significant price hikes from year to year. I understand that we pay premium for the privilege of using MacOS and iOS but Apple is going too far. They testing waters how high can they go to increase the profits and maintain market share. As long as people are buying them in millions nothing would change.
It is not good for environment as we are producing tons of waste just in the name of having so called newest and greatest. It makes no sense. Our previous models are equally good!
Its not good for Apple as they will get lazy and not even try to be more reasonable with the customers. Why would they if they can sell everything at any price point? They dont even include proper cables and charger in the 1200EUR phone. Thats telling! And as I mentioned at some point I find it insulting.
Its not good for society as the social pressure to have the newest gadgets is enormous. And I bet you that a lot of people is buying things they cant afford just not to be seen as "worse". Look at the post about the delays. People are getting furious about 2 day shipment delay. It is a complete corruption of values. I could go on and on but I hope you get my point.
I payed 5000USD for the MBP and although i find it overpriced I tend to keep my laptops for many many years and use them for work so that somehow justifies the spending. But phones? They slowly creeping up with the prices of AW too. On every front starting from the hardware through the Apple care.

OK. My rant is over

They hired lady VP for retail from Burberry (can't get her name spelt properly) nothing! It all started with Apple Watch! It will be like that going forward! Only way they can spread their earnings this is inevitable.... People will at some point will definitely rethink...

 

[dilbert99]

It's an S year, of course you're not going to see a lot of new stuff. It's been this way since the iPhone 3Gs. S years are always speed bumps and smaller improvements (like this year has the better camera, a new Bionic chip, and a few other things.)

Isn't every year an S year now Not sure there is much you can add to any smartphone nowadays. They have all come so far.

 

[BvizioN]

It seems you don't know how cameras work. You have two cameras, each specialised and optimised for a different purpose (plus they can work together). You couldn't build a single camera that would beat each one in a phone.

I do know how cameras work, thank you very much. And yes, a single camera can be just as good or even better (you heard of a Pixel phone?) as a dual camera. If I wanted various focal lengths on my camera I would buy a proper SLR camera (which I have) rather then having a smart phone with tiny image sensor covered with spider eyes.

 

[dilbert99]

I do know how cameras work, thank you very much. And yes, a single camera can be just as good or even better (you heard of a Pixel phone?) as a dual camera. If I wanted various focal lengths on my camera I would buy a proper SLR camera (which I have) rather then having a smart phone with tiny image sensor covered with spider eyes.

You are not the immediate market of phone cameras. Where phone cameras excel is making it easier for amateurs to take better photos. But there are advantages to using multiple lenses at once to take a single photo. (Not that the iPhone does this)

 

[roncron]

All this talk of the richness of the OLED screen has me rethinking my possible XR order.

Apple LCD screens are really excellent. I’m looking at my X and my wife’s 8+ right now. I prefer the X, but only slightly. The 8+ looks damn good. I’m going to wait until next month when I can see an Xr and an Xs max side by side to see if the latest OLED is worth the substantial price difference.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Those photos aren't bed per se, but something seems off to me. Not sure about the control you have but I think the depth of field on the left had dog is too shallow. And there is something weird about the depth in the image with that thing in the photo top right. it looks to me like it is behind the dog but has about the same sharpness as the dog.

The thing in the top right is the same focal distance as the dog. That's why it's sharp. Cameras don't focus to an object, they use the object to focus to a distance.

 

[chrono1081]

Isn't every year an S year now Not sure there is much you can add to any smartphone nowadays. They have all come so far.

Agreed. People keep wanting some new amazing thing to come out but the tech is very well rounded now.

 

[lah]

After watching the Jonathan Morrison review, I will say the skatepark video footage is pretty impressive. The camera seems to be a worthy upgrade for me. I always found the X camera, to be good, but kind of difficult to get very sharp photos compared to previous models. So hopefully this one will be a bit better.

 

[weckart]

All this talk of the richness of the OLED screen has me rethinking my possible XR order.

Have a look at some OLED screens on existing phones. The first thing I did with mine was to turn down the OLED colour mode from its default 'vibrant' to 'realistic'. I found the oversaturated colours on vibrant to be a bit cartoonish. Realistic mode was indistinguishable from LCDs.

Apple may have a better tweaked gamut range on its phones but most (AM)OLED screens I have seen have colours popping a bit too much for my liking. YMMV as ever.

 

[nviz22]

Well luckily Apple makes a phone that serves everybody.

Except those who want a 4" device with a spec refresh .

 

[I7guy]

Here comes my plea that Im sure its not gonna change anything! Guys! Stop buying these phones! If you need a new phone go iPhone 8 or wait for XR. Buying the phones in the 1200-1500 EUR range is insane. That is not good for anyone!
It is not good for consumers as they have significant price hikes from year to year. I understand that we pay premium for the privilege of using MacOS and iOS but Apple is going too far. They testing waters how high can they go to increase the profits and maintain market share. As long as people are buying them in millions nothing would change.
It is not good for environment as we are producing tons of waste just in the name of having so called newest and greatest. It makes no sense. Our previous models are equally good!
Its not good for Apple as they will get lazy and not even try to be more reasonable with the customers. Why would they if they can sell everything at any price point? They dont even include proper cables and charger in the 1200EUR phone. Thats telling! And as I mentioned at some point I find it insulting.
Its not good for society as the social pressure to have the newest gadgets is enormous. And I bet you that a lot of people is buying things they cant afford just not to be seen as "worse". Look at the post about the delays. People are getting furious about 2 day shipment delay. It is a complete corruption of values. I could go on and on but I hope you get my point.
I payed 5000USD for the MBP and although i find it overpriced I tend to keep my laptops for many many years and use them for work so that somehow justifies the spending. But phones? They slowly creeping up with the prices of AW too. On every front starting from the hardware through the Apple care.

OK. My rant is over

If you want to send me my next phone, I’ll take what you send. Otherwise Xs max, here I come.

 

[arftech]

Here comes my plea that Im sure its not gonna change anything! Guys! Stop buying these phones! If you need a new phone go iPhone 8 or wait for XR. Buying the phones in the 1200-1500 EUR range is insane. That is not good for anyone!
It is not good for consumers as they have significant price hikes from year to year. I understand that we pay premium for the privilege of using MacOS and iOS but Apple is going too far. They testing waters how high can they go to increase the profits and maintain market share. As long as people are buying them in millions nothing would change.
It is not good for environment as we are producing tons of waste just in the name of having so called newest and greatest. It makes no sense. Our previous models are equally good!
Its not good for Apple as they will get lazy and not even try to be more reasonable with the customers. Why would they if they can sell everything at any price point? They dont even include proper cables and charger in the 1200EUR phone. Thats telling! And as I mentioned at some point I find it insulting.
Its not good for society as the social pressure to have the newest gadgets is enormous. And I bet you that a lot of people is buying things they cant afford just not to be seen as "worse". Look at the post about the delays. People are getting furious about 2 day shipment delay. It is a complete corruption of values. I could go on and on but I hope you get my point.
I payed 5000USD for the MBP and although i find it overpriced I tend to keep my laptops for many many years and use them for work so that somehow justifies the spending. But phones? They slowly creeping up with the prices of AW too. On every front starting from the hardware through the Apple care.

OK. My rant is over

My XS Max comes today.

 

[GadgetBen]

Has anyone else's iPhone XS prompted them to download software before iTunes can connect?

 

[DNichter]

Looking forward to my Max coming today. I went from a 7 Plus to the X and could not go back. It felt very dated to me. Happy to get back to the larger screen though, it looks like a great upgrade.