iPhone 13 NYT review of camera / 13 in general is not a glowing one

[guinnessduck]

I have an iPhone 11 and wasn't overly wow'd by the presentation for the 13. I mean, sure, it's definitely an upgrade for me, but the main reason I actually got one was because this is the year we promised our oldest he could have a phone.. so he gets mine, and I get an upgrade. Otherwise I probably would have held on to the 11 for at least another year.

 

[bluecoast]

I think there’s room for a ‘meh…’ type of review.

As others on this thread have pointed out, ‘regular’ people don’t upgrade YoY (ie unlike many in this forum).

I think it’s fine that we get new models each year though - the 12 was for people who want ‘new & shiny right now’ & the 13 is basically ‘the 12 that most people should be ok about getting’. Even then, 5G isn’t really ready yet as its rollout is still ongoing.

So I think it’s ok to dissect the hype - but if you’re on an iPhone 8 (or earlier!), X or XS, the upgrade is going to be dramatic.

 

[Nordichund]

It is always the person behind the camera who takes the picture. I have seen amazing photos taken on the most primitive cheap and nasty cameras.

I did not intend to upgrade this time from my 11 Pro, it has taken some wonderful shots, but I usually always carry my Sony RX100 II with me as well. This time I have now decided to upgrade my camera to the new Ricoh GR 111 x for less than the price of a new iPhone, and it will fit nicely in my pocket.

Saying that I love that phones are now have the potential to take such great images. I can still remember the first phone that could take a picture that I saw, the Nokia 7650 that used 33kb for a photo with only 4mb of space for the whole phone. How far we have come since then, imagine the potential in another 20 years?

 

[ShadowGuardian87]

I think both reviews are fair but Verge review goes into more detail. The changes this year aren't major and it does feel like an S year for sure. But this years phone is for folks the want the latest and greatest from apple, people that care about the little details in their phone, and people that have older iphones (XS or older) who would get the most out of upgrading.

 

[shady281]

I think there’s room for a ‘meh…’ type of review.

As others on this thread have pointed out, ‘regular’ people don’t upgrade YoY (ie unlike many in this forum).

I think it’s fine that we get new models each year though - the 12 was for people who want ‘new & shiny right now’ & the 13 is basically ‘the 12 that most people should be ok about getting’. Even then, 5G isn’t really ready yet as its rollout is still ongoing.

So I think it’s ok to dissect the hype - but if you’re on an iPhone 8 (or earlier!), X or XS, the upgrade is going to be dramatic.

I don't think it'll be very dramatic for someone on a XS. It'll certainly be dramatic from my 8+ simply due to the form factor change, lack of a button, the need for gestures, face recognition, and it'll be a little snappier I'm sure. But I compared the 12 in the store to my wife's 11 in usage and honestly could not tell much difference at all. Even the OLED was difficult to distinguish vs the LCD, even when looking for known differences like the ghosting in all black areas on the LCD. If I weren't looking for it, I'd not notice it at all.

 

[akidokraja]

Incremental? Just battery improvements are huge And the rest is bonus

 

[shady281]

Well I got my 13 upgrade from 8+. Initially, I was unimpressed, just another phone. I'm like that though, not a phone junkie.

But a day later. Man, that battery rocks. And I am seeing the performance difference more - not all the time, depends on what app I'm using, but in some places it's more than just a little perceptible.

Screen is noticeably better than the 8+ also. Not a whole lot better than the 11, but I do a lot of Kindle reading and after a while I really notice it.

Did I say the battery rocks?

 

[guinnessduck]

Well I got my 13 upgrade from 8+. Initially, I was unimpressed, just another phone. I'm like that though, not a phone junkie.

But a day later. Man, that battery rocks. And I am seeing the performance difference more - not all the time, depends on what app I'm using, but in some places it's more than just a little perceptible.

Screen is noticeably better than the 8+ also. Not a whole lot better than the 11, but I do a lot of Kindle reading and after a while I really notice it.

Did I say the battery rocks?

The battery life has been awesome. I've been using the phone more than normal (partly because, new shiny, must play with it, and partly just to see how the battery holds up) and the battery life on this just destroys my iPhone 11. I can't imagine what those people with Pro Max's battery life must be like... have any of them even had to charge it yet???

 

[3Rock]

Incremental? Just battery improvements are huge And the rest is bonus

Huge? Maybe that’s a little bit of a stretch. It’s a nice increase, but huge is not the word I would use. I would say 4 or more hours increase would be huge. 😱

 

[shady281]

The battery life has been awesome. I've been using the phone more than normal (partly because, new shiny, must play with it, and partly just to see how the battery holds up) and the battery life on this just destroys my iPhone 11. I can't imagine what those people with Pro Max's battery life must be like... have any of them even had to charge it yet???

Yeah the battery life is definitely there with the 13. I forgot to charge mine last night, it says last charged yesterday at 5:27pm to 84%. So here it is 28 hours later and it's at 25% (from 84). So it used 59% battery in the last 28 hours. I use the phone off and on all day until about 10-11pm. From those numbers, if it is at 100% I can go just shy of two days. My 8+ wouldn't last one full day, though its battery had deteriorated to 80% of max.