So I’ve just unboxed my iPhone Air and wanted to give my first impressions. Also would be interested to hear yours.
So my first impression is wow. Taking it out of the case - it felt different. It feels like a new product. I’m coming from a pro max, I’ve just been upgrading and it hasn’t filled me with too much excitement as I get used to it and forget about it.
But this air has really got me excited - the most since my first iPhone (iPhone 4).
So the way it feels is amazing and my pro max already feels very heavy and bulky. The screen quality is fantastic (as we expected). The size seems exactly what I wanted as well, pro max had been feeling too big for me in recent years so the air is sized perfectly in between pro and pro max.
The performance so far seems very good. It has pretty much the same chip as the others so that’s expected. Things are very snappy and quick.
Now we have to talk about the compromises.
Battery life has been addressed by the reviews - it is comparable to previous years iPhone. It’s good but not great. I will miss the 1.5-2 days of battery life I get when I get a new pro max but I’m happy enough with the air’s battery life as it is.
The camera is good. From my early testing and similar to the reviews, the normal shots are pretty much identical to the other models. Some small details where depth is involved favours the other models but it’s very difficult to spot. Low light performance is great. We know about the lack of ultra wide - I will miss it for sure but I rarely used it.
Now I did notice the one speaker only when I played a video landscape. When using the phone normally, other than being a bit quieter - didn’t really notice it. I only use landscape sometimes, not very often - so I can live without it. No doubt Apple will ‘innovate’ a future iteration of the air with stereo speakers and ‘change everything’ again.
In terms of bending - no issues there. I won’t try on mine but the reviews have made it pretty clear it’s an unbelievably strong phone.
I run my phones with no case and no screen protector. The air just feels like something else. As I said, the last time I was this excited was with iPhone 4.
So those are my early thoughts on the air. It’s the model I wanted for years and now I have it.
Would be interested to hear your thoughts, positive or negative.
Edit:
Having spent a bit more time with it and comparing to my pro max model. The single speaker is noticeably worse than the Pro Max. It will depend on how important that is to you. It's not terrible, it's acceptable but it's certainly a worse listening experience than the Pro Max. It's not enough of a deal breaker to me BUT it could be for someone else. I know I'll get used to it pretty quick and won't notice it - in fact that's starting to happen already.
Still prefer the air. I've been examining it constantly, holding it, eyeing from different angles. It's brought back the excitement from the Steve Jobs era (for me), great product with a sleek design. He would go on stage and say things like 'look how thin it is, isn't that magnificent?'
I'm happy I got the air - as opposed to upgrading to another pro max model which I would have unboxed, restore from backup and then pretty much forget I even have a new phone.
