[Closed] Which iPhone?

XR or 11
What’s good.... battery life, screen size and face recognition

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/wife-apple-phone-upgrade/

Yup got her the 11 she likes it. As an samsung user some of the features confuse me, still cant get ride of the over intrusive music player that takes up half the screen but hey not my phone.

Who provides the coverage for you SE? If it's O2 stay away from the XR for now as they stopped connecting to the phone network with the 13.3 update. An Apple fix is required to allow you to use the phone.

still rocking the 7. had to replace it recently and got another the same. its the sleekest and the perfect size for me.

Samsung

Can't speak for the X but I went from an SE to an XR; everything is good except the size - it's like carrying a small tablet in your pocket. Since when did portability stop being a desirable feature in a phone? I miss my SE...

Also went from SE to XR. It's big but I've got used to it and I'm happy. Super fast, great battery, camera, faceID, waterproofing, etc.

As I said in the other thread, XR or 11 is great for 95%+ of people. The X and 11Pro are slimmer, slightly better camera, slightly more premium for an inflated price.

Has anyone got an 11 Pro or Pro Max and whether the upgraded camera is worth it?

I'm looking to upgrade but I'm also trying to restrain myself and wait for a 5G model - maybe this summer ??

I've got an 11 pro. The camera is really impressive, but I came from an SE so anything would seem impressive.

I got used to the extra size (and weight) over the SE really quickly, but I wouldn't want it to be any bigger. Battery life is the most noticeable difference over the SE. I can currently get 3 days out of a charge (just).

I kept my 6 for 5 years, now have an 11 and loving it. I would wait for the 2020 models, I have a feeling they’ll be something special. I only changed mine because it could not be used as a smart phone anymore and battery never lasted me a full working day.

I’ve got an 11 pro. The camera is really impressive, but I came from an SE so anything would seem impressive.

I got used to the extra size (and weight) over the SE really quickly, but I wouldn’t want it to be any bigger. Battery life is the most noticeable difference over the SE. I can currently get 3 days out of a charge (just).

This. the camera on the 11 Pro is so, so good and the battery life is a big step up too. It's not cheap but it's a very good bit of kit.

I got used to the extra size (and weight) over the SE really quickly, but I wouldn’t want it to be any bigger.

SE to 11. Felt way too big for about a week and I've got used to it. I'd still prefer it to be a bit smaller BUT the extra size does make it much more usable for reading/typing.

Big benefits - Face ID, battery life, camera. But also smaller things - Bluetooth makes much stronger connections with fewer dropouts. I really like the 'drag' keyboard (drag from one letter to another rather than typing each individuall;y (doesn't work on my iPad so must be hardware related)

Has anyone got an 11 Pro or Pro Max and whether the upgraded camera is worth it?

Yes I’ve got an 11pro and the wife XR. Speed is better, battery life is better, camera is better. If you can afford one then why not. I’m sure XR’s we’re going for £400 on Black Friday, which is a massive saving over a pro, but depends what’s important to you.

I came from an iPhone 8 and this does actually feel like a genuine upgrade

the camera on the 11 Pro is so, so good

That's a shame i was hoping that people would say it was not worth it!

Have you considered just getting a new battery on your SE?

The cheap replacement programme has finished now, so Apple are back to charging £49 🤔 but still a lot cheaper (and more environmentally friendly) than a new phone if you are otherwise happy with the SE.

I really like the ‘drag’ keyboard (drag from one letter to another

SE has that too - it was part of the iOS 13 upgrade.

All taken with the 11pro. Portrait is brilliant, as is night mode. I only got it just before Christmas so not really been able to test it much on general landscape etc, but can’t imagine it will be disappointing

All taken with the 11pro

This is not helping! 🙂

Cracking shots FD - but I'm seeing a few weird artefacts there.

Are they like that on the originals?

but I’m seeing a few weird artefacts there.

What do you mean by that? The phone does a lot of processing of the image when it takes the shot, and post production stuff is impressive (what you can do)

11 pro here as already mentioned camera is excellent and battery life is good.

I came from an iPhone 8 and this does actually feel like a genuine upgrade

Me too. Went with the 11 Pro rather than the Max. Smaller than the 8+ but with more screen. Expensive but like you say, feels like an upgrade for sure.

Not had a proper play with the camera yet but indoors is much better and the night mode is pretty impressive.

If you (op) can justify it I’d go for an 11 pro. Only issue I see as such is if you will want to be on 5g soon as you will then be replacing again next year when the rumours speculate Apple will go 5g.

What do you mean by that?

Well the third one down (Bella on grass) looked a bit off on my phone. Looking at it now on full size on the big screen I'm guessing has had some kind "oil painting" effect/filter applied to it? Which explains the posterisation and blotchy bits, but there is also a weird halo going on around the dog, especially above her head. Maybe a heavy sharpening filter?

The last one also looks posterised and the heavy noise on the face and light beam is a bit weird, even for a low light shot.

No snide criticism intended, They are great shots, but in terms of what the phone camera is capable of, I'd like to see the as-shot/unedited/unfiltered versions.

Well the third one down (Bella on grass) looked a bit off on my phone. Looking at it now on full size on the big screen I’m guessing has had some kind “oil painting” effect/filter applied to it? Which explains the posterisation and blotchy bits, but there is also a weird halo going on around the dog, especially above her head. Maybe a heavy sharpening filter?

Yeah that's what struck me with that photo. It's to do with the way the iPhone portrait mode works - I don't think it's a filter.

If you're using the rear-facing camera, it takes two (maybe 3 on the new models?) photos and mashes them together. It takes one using the 'telephoto' lens with the subject's face in focus. It then takes another using the wide angle lens intentionally out of focus. Then I guess some clever software jiggerypockery decides when bits to use of each one - ideally to get the the face from the first image and the background from the second. This works really well if the face is in clear air / a long distance from the background. The times it doesn't work as well is when you have a scene as with the dog where the background slopes from being in the same focal plane as the subject to far-away, so it doesn't know which element to use from each image. Also the software doesn't always mask the subject 100% accurately so you can end up with halos / blurred edges which look weird. That was much more frequent in early versions of the software (when the X first came out) but I still occasionally see it.

That said, the camera on my X is fantastic and artefacts like I've described are rare - and certainly not specific to the iPhone. My dSLR hasn't seen any use recently as my iPhone is just so good now.

I've only held a XR once or twice and they're fine but a good deal bigger and wider bezels etc than my X despite not doing anything better. Also I love the OLED screen in the X / XI / Pro. I don't know whether it'd be worth £300 for me, though.

Ah that might explain it - I've seen a similar thing with those weird 3D portraits that facebook show when someone uploads an iPhone shot : you can move them around a see "behind" the subject but the masking can be a bit off because I guess it uses calculated depth information like FaceID.

Well the third one down (Bella on grass) looked a bit off on my phone. Looking at it now on full size on the big screen I’m guessing has had some kind “oil painting” effect/filter applied to it?

Nope that’s stock picture. I think I brightened it up a little but that’s it.

I don’t often use a desk top machine but did notice on Strava some of my shots looked ‘oil painting’ effect. Certainly on my phone they look perfect. Is it that the HDR can’t be decoded properly?

The halo effect. Yes I see that if I look closely. The iphone has ability to play with the picture to create depth of field. In that pic in essence it has struggled to define the edge of the face/background.

The last one also looks posterised and the heavy noise on the face and light beam is a bit weird, even for a low light shot.

The iPhone takes a series of shots over the space of 2-3 seconds and then stitches them together. I couldn’t see my sons face when I took the picture the light was that low. Also it is the reason for the odd shape to the cloud of breath the multiple shots are added together (quite which it decides to use I am not sure) so hence why not a perfect cloud.

It’s not perfect by any stretch but it’s good for a phone , but then again would it be any good against a £1000 DSLR? Prob not, but DSLR’s can’t turn my heating on either

I had a play in the Three store today and confirmed that my new phone, at some point later this year, will be a refurbished iPhone 8.

Is it that the HDR can’t be decoded properly?

Hmm.. possibly - though my iPhone SE shows a similar thing (though it is less noticeable at that scale)

Not sure if this will work but I took a screenshot of what I see on the PC and saved it as PNG so that should show you what I see (I think):

if your thinking of buying used ebay have 20% off at the moment and musoc magpie is one of the sellets included,

i have an xr and made up with it but i want something bigger so tempted by a xs max