iPhone 11 vs iPhone X - and Why I Didn’t Buy the iPhone 11 Pro

I’ll start off be talking briefly about my experience with the iPhone X.

Just over two years since Apple launched it’s flagship phone, featuring a new design, new construction and heavily updated hardware, the makers of all things sexy (that man can legally pay money for anyway) have released the iPhone 11.

While the iPhone 11 may not be distinctly different to any of its predecessors, the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max certainly are - just flip them over and take a look at the back - you’ll know what i mean.

Having got my hands on my iPhone X at launch in 2017, my excitement was quickly culled by a screen issue. Well, basically, it didn’t work - apart from flashing and showing me a few colourful lines, i couldn’t really use it.

A trip to the Apple Store, and an amusing comment about Samsung having supplied the screens for the X, i left with a new replacement.

Two weeks later, i was back at the Apple Store with exactly the same problem! I started November 2017 with an iPhone 7, and entered December on my third(!) iPhone X.

This third handset served me well, and didn’t really miss a beat until the summer of this year - then the problem began…

First, Face ID failed. It took me a couple of days to realise that every time i opened my phone, i had to use the passcode.

I made an appointment with apple, and they diagnosed a problem with the Face ID sensor - this despite the fact that Animoji’s still worked flawlessly! This was something no-one could really explain, and owing to the €585 repair cost from Apple, the nice employee there whispered that i could get €500 cash back for my iPhone X and then i could use the money to buy a different handset - the iPhone XR.

Now, i had done my homework before making this trip to the Genius Bar. I know, at worst, the Face ID sensor would cost around €90, and i’m no stranger to taking apart iPhones (I have daughters who like to break the screens on the things), so i thought i would repair it myself.

One hour, and €24 later, i had installed the new Face ID sensor, which by the way also contains the front camera and proximity sensor (the part which automatically adjusts the brightness, and plays voice messages through the ear piece when you lift the phone to your head). The problem still remained. Everything worked as it should - just no Face ID.

I decided to leave things as they were - there was no way i was paying Apples repair cost - they would probably have done the exact same thing i just did, with the same result!

Going back two months ago, the shit really started to hit the fan as far as my phone was concerned!

I noticed apps were complaining about not being able to use location services. Sure enough, when i opened maps i had no location. My family couldn’t find me anymore on apples stalking service either! GPS dead now too?

Then, sure enough, the next problem occurred. And then the next. And then the next.

At the point where it (or I) finally gave up, my as new on the outside, but completly rotten on the inside, boasted the following list of ailments:

• Face ID sensor failure

• Proximity sensor failure

• GPS failure

• Battery in ‘service’ condition

• It rattled (?)

• Battery from full would run down to 3% in a matter of minutes, then stay at 3% for several hours

• SIM card not recognised / Searching for network

• Screen hanged or shudder while animating

• Gyroscopic senor failure (this is a guess, but when you picked the phone up and tilted it in any way it would swith off)

Eventually, 10 days ago, my iPhone X decided enough is enough, and refused to switch on for any longer than flashing the Apple logo at me for a second or two.

So, with all this in mind, a had to pull the trigger and get a new iPhone - but which of the iPhone 11 range would be best suited to me?

Being a photographer of course, the new tripple lens system of the 11 Pro really appealed. However, the standard Pro has the same size as the X, and i wanted more real-estate under my thumbs. So, the Pro Max was clearly the way to go right? Wrong. Here’s why. In one sentence. 4 characters…

€450

Yes, four-hundred-and-fifty-euros is what Apple deems a necessary bounty over the price of the standard iPhone 11. Why? Well, that’s the big question! The short answer: A bigger, better screen, bigger battery (of course, it’s a bigger phone) and the tripple lens rear camera.

My reasons for wanting the Pro Max were the camera system and the big-assed screen. However, there are two points of contention here for me where it makes it really difficult to justify the extra money:

1. The Pro Max features the tripple lens camera. BUT, the sparkly new toy of the ultrawide lens is available on the standard 11 at the cost of the telephoto lens of it’s predecessor. The wide angle lens is the toy i wanted most, and the standard wide angle lens of the 11 is stablised and has up to 5x digital zoom - which in fairness is only really usable up to 2x - which is perfectly acceptable in most use cases.

2. The 11 is built around the chassis of the iPhone XR - which makes it, and therefore it’s screen bigger that that of the iPhone 11 Pro. It’s not that easy for me to understand why apple did this - they must of had a bunch of unused X and XR chassis hanging around in storage somewhere.

Of course, the 11 Pro Max is better, but just how much better? Here’s a little, to-the-point-comparision to help you decide:

The Pro Max (both Pro’s) has more RAM 6GB vs 4GB

The Pro Max has a better screen: 6.5’’ vs 6.1’’, 1242x2688 463dpi vs 828x1792 324dpi resolution and Retina vs LCD (as far as screen sizes go….it’s a bigger phone! The 11 Pro for reference has a 5.8’’ 463dpi retina display with 1125x2436 resolution.)

The 11 has the Aluminium/Glass construction, similar to that of the iPhone XR vs Stainless Steel / Glass akin to the rest of the X series - is this really a big concern?

Both Pro handsets have the tripple camera system - which we already covered.

The 11 Pro Max has 3400mAh battery - again, like the screen, it’s a bigger phone, and that bigger screen needs more power - so this makes sense - and is it really an issue. The extra juice equates to about 3 hours more contiuous use over the 11 standard.

The forces swinging in favour of the 11 Standard vs the 11 Pro Max

• Massive price saving - on contract up to €15 per month.

• Same A13 processor as the Pro’s.

• Same 12mp f2.2 front facing camera with up to 120fps (in 1080p) video

• Lighter weight compared to the Pros

• Same 4k 60fps capability with the rear camera array.

• Waterproof - just like the Pro’s, allbeit up to two meters and not 4.

• Same sound system as the Pro’s.

• Range of colours available (not that important to most).

All in all, my decision to pull the trigger on the 11 over the 11 Pro Max was influenced by not being able to justify the higher cost against the better quality screen, which most users won’t notice anyway, and the extra camera, which the majority of users wouldn’t miss either. Plus, i don’t think i have any pants or jackets with pockets big enough for the Pro Max, which would mean i’d need to buy one of those silly round-the-neck-pouch-thingies!

Living with the iPhone 11

Well, it’s been a good start!

There are, needless to say, some really noticable improvements in this phone when comparted to my iPhone X - apart from the obvious fact that it works!

The A13 processor is markedly faster than the A11 of the X. Lightning fast in fact. This has, so far, been most noticable for me when using Face ID. You look at the phone and it opens in the exact instant your face is in front of it. 4GB of RAM, compared to 3GB in X certainly play a role here too.

The screen is clear, sharp and blacks are nicer than on the X dispite only having an IPS LCD here - i really see no real disadvantage of not having the OLED of the X - it really is a pleasant experience. The larger screen of the 11 is really nice to have in a phone that is only 20g heavier. A 3110mAh battery means extra play-time when compared to the 2617mAh cell in the X. And the final, really noticable thing is the front camera. Snapping a selfie for the Mrs, it really is noticable there is an addition 5mp in the front camera!

So, what about the camera?

This is where things get fun.

Enter the camera app, and you’re by default in the standard wide angle mode. Hit the 1x button to jump to ultra wide angle, and, fuuuuuuck! How does that happen! I love having a really wide, border fish-eye lens on a DSLR - and this thing is just as much fun!

Even though the screen is of a lesser resolution and pixel-density when compared to the iPhone X, images and videos just look so much better. This is potentially down to the new, faster A13 Processor combining with the new IPS LCD.

Portrait mode looks great and focuses better and faster than before. Although the filters on offer in portrait mode still leave something to be desired! One really cool feature of portrait mode, is now you can adjust the aperture when editing the shot afterwards, this adjusts how blurred the background is, which is pretty cool!

We also now have the ability to shoot 4k video at 60fps, which means when using the clips in editing software you can slow these down to 24-30fps and have slow motion which remains crystal clear and natively in 4k resolution!

As mentioned, the iPhone 11 packs 2 cameras, but unlike the X the 2x Optical telephone lens has given way to an ultra wide angle lens.

The specs:

26mm f1.8 Wide Angle, 6 element lens with 100% focus coverage and on-board image stabilisation. Focus areas as before can be selected in the camera app. This lens uses Apples new Deep Fusion engine. There’s no setting for this, and it only works with the ‘Photo Capture Outside the Frame’ turned off - more on this soon!

13mm f2.4 Ultra Wide Angle, 5 element lens with 120 degree field of view. Focusing on this lens is Phase Detection auto-focus. Which essential means you can’t, and don’t need to select your focus area. Selecting areas of the screen while in Ultra Wide will of course set your exposure levels as always in iOS.

Night Mode

Night mode is only available when using the default wide-angle lens. It effectively lengthens the shutter speed depending on what the phone decides the available light is. It really does work well, but i suspect there is some serious ISO hocus pocus going on behind the scenes, which could have a negative effect on what you can achieve in this mode.

So, be warned, Night Mode is cool, but your phone is slowing down it’s shutter speed, and it can shoot at 10 seconds depending on the light - so you need to keep still. The on board stabilisation of the wide angle lens will help you out to a degree - but anything over 2 seconds (which is shown in the moon logo on the top of the screen, and you’re gonna need some kind of tripod.).

Ready for something clever? And confusing?

Deep Fusion. Yeah we mentioned that already. Some kind of Apple hocus pocus going on in the background that only those in cahoots with the dark arts will understand. It makes pictures with the default lens look sexier - and that’s about it. We don’t need to know any more.

BUT

The camera has one final cool-assed feature…

When shooting in a 4:3 or similar ratio, the phone will effectively take an image of everything outside of the ratio up to the maximum ratio available. This means, you can come back later and expand the crop of an image to add the parts that were outside the frame of the original shot. Neat. Watch out though - this feature only works when it’s activated in the camera settings in the settings menu. Aaaaand when it is active, then Deep Fusion is no longer active! I said it was confusing right?!

Missing 3d touch?

Yup! It’s gone. Did you ever used to test your strength by pressing the bathroom weighing scales as hard as you could? Well, that experience with the iPhone has finally been taking away from us. Is it an issue? Well, we used to long press things to get them to move or provide an expanded menu so i’m not really seeing the issue. Many have complained, but many also complained when the headphone jack disappeared. No-one died right?

Conclusion

Well, it’s early days, and as you’ve seen by my two lazy-arsed pictures taken with the phone to demonstrate the wide-angle lens, i’ve not done much shooting with it. But i’m excited to. The ultra wide angle lens looks a lot of fun!

For users of the iPhone X, upgrading to the 11 is a must! For XR/XS users, if you don’t care too much for taking pictures then stay maybe stay where you are. The speed advantages of the new processor are really cool if you’re into gaming, but otherwise, sit it out - in September you’ll most likely be able to get the 11 at a bargain price.

If you’ve money to throw away, then get the normal iPhone 11 and send me the €450! Of course, if you’re a rapper, then your trousers will most likely have pockets large enough to accommodate the 11 Pro Max’s girth!

Get the iPhone 11 here!