Reviewers Welcome iPhone 11's Night Mode, Ultra-wide camera and Price
The iPhone 11 has landed on the hands of reviewers around the web an it seems to be a greater deal than the iPhone 11 Pro model.
The iPhone 11 packs in most of the iPhone 11 Pro’s improvements besides the three-camera setup, at a price that is affordable enough for an iPhone.
The main upgrade to the iPhone 11 is the addition of a new ultra-wide lens to the rear camera. The reviewer over The Verge described it as a fun thing to play with but noted that the quality of the ultra-wide lens is not as good as the main wide angle camera. The ultra-wide lens quality seems to be good, but not on the same par as the ‘primary’ rear camera.
Considering how poor iPhones performed in low-light situations up to now, Apple’s updated Night Mode seems to be competitive. However, the Night Mode on the iPhone comes on automatically, so there’s no need to manually switch modes.
In its review, TechRadar notes that the Night Mode "enables you to make what would normally be a badly-lit photo look as clear as… well not quite as clear as day, but wonderfully bright." The website positions Apple's Night Mode at the same level of Huawei, Samsung and Google when it comes to taking low-light and night photos.
In terms of video shooting, both iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro can now shoot 4K 60FPS video with extended dynamic range, and the front camera can record 4K 60 FPS video as well. The Verge noted that Apple has perfectly calibrated the lenses so that switching between the wide and ultra-wide lens is seamless.
The upgrades to the front camera are also praised. The front camera now shoots 12-megapixel images, and it has a wider field-of-view when taking landscape selfies. The iPhone 11 does include new features where you can adjust the framing of an image after it has been taken. This means when you are taking a 1x photo, the phone is also saving image data from the ultra-wide lens.
Apple has also improved the capabilities of Portrait Mode on the iPhone 11. Pocket-lint describes it as a welcome jump over what Apple previously offered in the iPhone XR, saying that "the iPhone 11’s results are excellent with plenty of detail, vibrant colors and minimal noise. The ultra wide angle is great, offering plenty more in the shot, and the wider selfie camera is brilliant for group selfies too. Portrait Lighting now offers six effects compared to the iPhone XR’s three effects and Portrait mode returns too. The blurred background is still not 100 per cent on the money every time, as with most smartphones, but it’s significantly improved over the iPhone XR and it’s available for more than just people."
The iPhone 11 features the same A13 chip as the iPhone 11 Pro, which means it offers best-in-class CPU and GPU performance. The benchmarks run by reviewers confirmed that.
However, the reviewers criticized Apple’s decision to continue to include a paltry 5W charger with the iPhone 11. The iPhone 11 Pro does include an 18W fast charger, but buyers of the iPhone 11 phone will still have to spend extra in order to take advantage of their fast-charging capable device.
The iPhone 11, featuring an OLED display, a better battery life than the iPhone XR, a secondary ultra-wide lens, improvements to the front selfie camera, better video recording, and the latest A13 chip, seems to be a good value for Apple's standards, priced at $699.