In a season filled with new phone releases such as the
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and the
Google Pixel 4, the new
iPhone 11,
11 Pro and Pro Max impressed me early on.
Apple packed its latest
phones with a new ultrawide-angle camera, an A13 processor, Night Mode for photos,
iOS 13 and one of the best all-around camera systems found on any phone today. Plus, the two Pro models have improved battery life.
Over the past two months, I used the
iPhone 11 as my daily driver and the
11 Pro as my work phone. During that time, CNET has also done in-depth tests
dropping the phones,
submerging them underwater and
comparing their cameras with other phones. Here are my thoughts on both these phones over the course of my usage
iOS 13: From buggy to stable
When I first got the phones, the software felt rough. The camera app on the iPhone 11 Pro frequently froze and crashed. Screens didn't always scale and rotate properly. After seven software updates, I'm running iOS 13.2.3 now and everything seems relatively stable.
That being said, there are a few things about iOS 13 that need some work. When I send someone a text in Messages and put my phone down on the table, I inadvertently hit the Dictation button all the time. I'm right-handed and the microphone icon is at the bottom right of the Messages keyboard. This drives me nuts.
The home screen on iOS is also tedious. I wish there was more flexibility for organizing app icons to make them easier to reach.
Samsung's One UI changed the Galaxy phone interface to be simpler and more natural to use. In
Samsung One UI app icons, popup windows and folders utilize the lower part of the screen. This makes the phone easier to use with one hand.On the iPhone, app icons fill the home screen the same way you read a book: left to right, top to bottom. It would be wonderful if I could freely move icons to any part of the home screen. And if that's not possible, just having an option to fill the screen from the bottom up would help with one-handed use.
Some of these issues are solved with the built-in feature known as Reachability, which slides the entire display down so the top fills the bottom of the phone temporarily. The downside is that it requires an extra swipe before and after you open an app at the top of the screen. Allowing me to move app icons where I wanted would largely make Reachability unnecessary, at least on the home screen, and save me from having to perform extra swipes.
In iOS 13 on the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro, I also have the hardest time getting Select/Select All tool to appear for choosing text. I don't know if this has to do with the lack of 3D Touch on the new iPhones or if it's a straight-up bug. But when I'm trying to select a word or a phrase, I can't get the right tap pressure or duration to get the Select/Select All tool to popup. And sometimes when it does, the tool goes away too fast. I'm not sure what's going on there, but it's annoying.
Speaking of annoying, in iOS 13 when you create a new note in the Notes app and type a sentence, it is automatically formatted as a title. I hate this because I just want to start typing the actual body of my note, especially when I'm making a list. In previous versions of iOS title formatting wasn't on by default. Now there are probably people out there who would love to begin right at the title. I'm not them. If you're a non "title" person like me, you can resolve this format anarchy by going into Settings > Notes > New Notes Start With and change it back to "body," which lets you begin writing the actual body of your note.
Battery: iPhone 11 Pro battery life has really improved
On the inside, both phones are exactly the same. They have an A13 processor and the same amount of RAM, even though Apple doesn't share exactly how much. I didn't notice any difference in performance between the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max.
But in terms of battery there are differences. In my use, the 11 Pro lasted longer on a charge than last year's
iPhone XS. I can typically go a day and a half between charges on the iPhone 11 Pro. And I can easily stretch that to two days with Low Battery mode. On the 11, I got a solid day of use out of it on a single charge. If I'm not using it heavily playing games or watching videos, it can last a day and a half. But if you want the best battery life, the iPhone 11 Pro Max is the way to go.
The new iPhones all have wireless charging and support fast charging, but only the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max come with the 18-watt charger needed to use fast charging. It's curious how something as mundane sounding as fast charging really changed my use patterns with my iPhone. I've gone from charging my phone overnight to charging it over my lunch break with the fast charger. But it's aggravating that the 11 doesn't come with this charger and that if you want one, you'll have to buy it separately. To make matters worse, Apple charges $29 (£29, AU$49) for the 18-watt fast charger and $19 (£19, AU$29) for the cable. (Cheaper compatible alternatives are available.)
The iPhone 11 is an ideal phone for a photographer
When I first got the phones, I thought the new ultrawide-angle camera might be more of a gimmick. But I later became a fan of how it can show more of a scene in my frame. For example, I was at O'Hare airport in Chicago and wanted to take a photo of a dinosaur skeleton wearing a Bears jersey. I couldn't get the whole dino in frame with the main camera, but when I switched to the ultrawide angle camera, the entire skeleton fit into my photo. (For the record, I'm not a Bears fan.)
