Every year right after Apple announces a new iPhone, Digits get in touch with me asking me if I’d be interested in one. They always make sure I have a device on launch day so I could review it for the blog, and they always hook me up with a good discount on top of that. But, this was the first year I was a bit hesitant to say yes to them. I got the iPhone XS from them last year and it has been my favorite iPhone to date. The battery life was great, the camera was amazing and the OLED screen incredible. My phone was in great shape and I really didn’t have any issues with it so I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to plunk down money on a new one. But, since I take so many photos with the iPhone for the blog, the new ultra-wide lens and the new night mode would be really helpful, so I decided to get the iPhone 11 Pro in the new midnight green color.
When it came to choosing a color for the phone, any color would have been fine with me. I actually didn’t know what color my XS was until a friend asked me and I had to take it out of the silicon case to check. But since I wanted to feel like I got a new phone, I got the midnight green with the new matching silicon case. A lot of people online have mentioned how the green doesn’t really look green in real life, not sure what they’re on about but I can clearly tell its green. Its a grey green, not a bright or saturated green, but still green. I took the photo on top in front of my grey wall and you can clearly see how green the phone looks. I like it a lot and it sucks that I’m too clumsy or else I would have really enjoyed the color instead of having it hidden behind an iPhone case.
The changes in the new iPhone compared to the previous XS aren’t that noticeable and the only time you really can tell the difference is when you use the phone side by side with an older one. I found that out because whenever friends with iPhone XS’s ask me about the new 11 Pro, I downplay it a lot. I tell them there really isn’t much of a difference but then they take my phone and start playing with it and you hear sounds like “oooh” and “ahh” either because my phone launches apps a lot faster than theirs or because the new camera takes pictures that are noticeably better and because of the new ultra-wide lens.
After personally using the iPhone 11 Pro for a week now, here are the three things that really stick out for me compared to my XS:
Battery Life
Not sure how many extra hours my new iPhone battery lasts, but I used to leave the office before at around 3PM with my XS battery at around 40% full, now I leave the office with the battery at around 70% full. So a pretty noticeable improvement.
Ultra Wide Lens
Yes the three lenses do look a bit weird on the back of the phone but it also does help differentiate the new iPhone from the older ones. As soon as people see the three lenses they ask me if that’s the new iPhone 11 Pro and want to play around with it. The third lens on the new iPhone Pro is an ultra-wide lens and I’m generally a big fan of these kinds of lenses. I have a 12-24mm ultra-wide lens for my Sony A7 III camera and I tend to use it a lot so I love having a similar lens on my phone which is always with me, unlike my Sony cam. It’s going to make capturing interior shots a lot easier and I love shooting cars with ultra-wide lenses. Below is a photo of my apartment I took using the three different lenses for comparison.
Night Mode
This is a new feature that I’m really liking at the moment even though the effect is very subtle. The new iPhone 11 Pro has a feature called night mode that activates in low light situations. The camera then takes different exposures of your photo and combines them into one brighter and better lit photo. The result looks great but because this process all happens in the background, it doesn’t feel like the phone did anything special. It’s only when you compare the photo with the same image with night mode turned off do you notice the magic. This is why I said the effect is very subtle, not because the phone doesn’t do much but because the result looks natural and more real lifelike. Below is a perfect example of this, I took the shot at Peacock, the first with night mode off and the second with night mode on. In reality, the scene looked closer to the second shot (night mode on).
I do have one big issue with the new iPhone and that is the lack of 3D touch. Not a lot of people know this (which is why it’s a feature that got removed) but with the iPhone X and XS the phone recognizes hard presses on the screen. This was a pretty cool feature that allowed me to do various things quickly. If I was typing something and wanted to move the cursor to a previous word or area in the paragraph, I could just press hard on the keyboard area and then move the cursor that way. But now with 3D touch gone, I need to change my habits. Instead of hard pressing on the keyboard to move the cursor around, I have to now long press on the keyboard space key to move the cursor which is just more awkward and slower. Even something so simple as opening the camera from my lock screen requires me to relearn the button press timing right because I’m used to hard pressing the camera button and opening it up instantly. Instead, I now have to press the camera button for a short time to open the camera and after a week I still haven’t gotten the timing right.
But, the biggest question everyone wants to know the answer to is if it’s worth the upgrade?
If you have an iPhone XS
Probably not, not unless you really want the ultra-wide lens. If you travel a lot or post to instagram a lot then you’re gonna really appreciate the new opportunities the ultra-wide lens will give you. The night mode is a great feature but not nearly as fun or obvious like the new ultra-wide lens.
If you have an iPhone X
You probably should, the camera quality difference between X and XS was big, and the difference between X and 11 Pro is even bigger. Plus the new phone is a lot faster and because your X’s battery probably doesn’t hold as good as a charge now as it did 2 years ago, you’re gonna notice an even bigger jump in battery life.
If you have an iPhone 8 or older
Yes, for sure! The larger OLED screen is the biggest reason you should upgrade but the excellent camera and much faster processor are also really good reasons to upgrade.
Let me know if you have any questions below and thank you Digits for the hooking me up again!
