The older brother of the iPhone family consolidates the dual camera that worked so well last year. Interestingly, its biggest competitor is in Apple itself and it's called iPhone X
When Apple launched the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus last year, in Teknautas we are not completely convinced. The biggest change, the dual camera, did not have the portrait mode incorporated from the beginning, and the first sensation was that of being in front of a phone with very few improvements. Apple, knowing that this year he had to risk, has delivered a product that, overshadowed by the iPhone X, has some things to say. Most very good, some not so much.
What differentiates Apple from other manufacturers? It can be argued that their products have a premium over the competition or that the Californian firm seems to go to slipstream on more than one occasion in recent years. Apple is also that firm able to remove from the sleeve tricks brand of the house, as the ability to pair a bluetooth headset, whether Beats or Airpods, is a process that is resolved in seconds instead of that nuisance that forces to match devices.
We put this example because just before launching the iPhone 8 Plus, was one of the topics of conversation that came along with other colleagues journalists, the soporific that involves starting a device from scratch with all its string of passwords, applications that have what to download and photos to upload. How has this Apple process solved with iOS11? Turn on your iPhone, put it next to an iPad with the same operating system and forget about the rest: the phone is set up only in a few minutes and, yes, nobody is going to spare you from waiting for all the 'apps' to load and the pictures.
Although the exterior does not present major changes, it is worth noting that the iPhone returns to the glass in the back, glass like the one that once adorned the back of the iPhone 4. The problem? If you put a cover that is not transparent, the effect will go virtually unnoticed. In fact, that the design is conservative is one of the points against the phone, because, at this point, the design has been outdated before newer proposals, whether they come from Samsung, LG or even Xiaomi.
What does notice, and from the beginning, is the change in the screen .There are no major changes compared to the previous year - it is still a panel of 5.5 inches - but this year Apple has introduced an improvement already present in the latest iPad: True Tone. For those who have not been able to try it on the tablet, it is an improvement by which the screen adapts the white balance to the light with which it works at all times.
This results in a phone with warmer indoor light similar to the lighting that activates when Night Shift makes its own at dusk. For intensities such as the one that writes this, the phone looks more like any page of the 'Financial Times', but the idea is clear: to dim the colors of the screen so that the True Tone effect removes any hint of coldness in the panel.
Beauty is inside
Apple is not a company that gets used to breastfeeding in the technical section. Yes, it is true that every year presents its traditional slide in the 'keynote' shift that speaks of the increase in speed of its new processors , but the firm led by Tim Cook used to put aside the bombardment of data: There is little talk about processing speed, RAM or cores.
The performance results are overwhelming: the iPhone 8 beats any phone call on the face of the Earth
It has not been different this year. Yes, the chip is called A11 Bionic, and that nickname is a novelty, and in the 'keynote' there was talk that, for the first time, it was a chip with six cores. The Apple team explained at the time that this is the first iPhone that can devote all the cores to the same task, which increases the performance of the terminal, but those same employees influenced the same idea that prevails in the company: no It's a matter of 'hardware', it's a matter of experience.
But this year it is worth taking a look at what the A11 Bionic hides, because the results that have appeared published in different websites specializing in performance measurements have shown overwhelming results: the iPhone 8 surpasses by a score any phone on the face of the Earth.
In figures: the iPhone 8 Plus is about 50% faster than Samsung's latest Galaxy. The time it takes for an iPhone to render a two-minute 4K video?42 seconds , for the slightly more than three minutes of the Galaxy Note 8.
And how does it behave with respect to the same phone as a year ago? The surprise is that the performance on a daily basis is noticeable in small details, such as the speed at which the 'apps' open up, but neither is it a radical change and can only be seen in some small details, such as the ability to record Full HD video at 240 fps in crystal clear manner.
The camera, the winning argument
The iPhone 8 Plus camera is the real selling point, and the one that differentiates the phone and puts several bodies ahead of his little brother, the iPhone 8 . After a year with the 7 Plus and the portrait mode, it would be very strange for me to make the leap to a phone, either iOS or Android, that does not have a double camera that allows these games of contrasts when it comes to portraying people.
In the purely technological section, the differences are small. Both the iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone 7 Plus mount a dual camera with 12MP optics and aperture f1.8 and f2.8 depending on the lens. The biggest difference is the capacity of the 8 Plus to record video at 1080p and 240 fps , while the 7 Plus only achieved a resolution of 720p.
But let's go to what matters. To the photos. Because portrait mode has become the star of the phone with less than a year old. Every time I show it to a family member, friend or acquaintance who is not up to speed in telephony, I know that it is the ultimate weapon to convince him of the benefits of the Plus model compared to normal.
Our complaint lies in the problems that the algorithm has to differentiate what is in the foreground and what is part of the environment
This year, Apple has wanted to play again with an addition, a professional lighting mode that allows to change the light in the face in the portrait mode both when shooting and 'a posteriori'. The mode is in beta and you can still see the seams, since the results we have obtained are not at all like those that Apple showed in the 'keynote'.
Our main complaint is the problems that the algorithm has to differentiate which element is in the foreground and which element is part of the environment . If in the photos of the portrait mode the work done by the software of the iPhone is almost imperceptible, the lighting still has work ahead to soften the shapes and enhance the faces.Because in our tests, in the contour lines the excess clipping is noticeable. Judge yourself:
Beyond that way, which promises a lot but is not yet ready to run at full speed, the performance of the dual camera remains exceptional, although it weakens in that place where Apple has always had problems: images with low luminosity . And it can not be denied that the 8 Plus has been a leap forward compared to the 7 Plus, as can be seen in the image below: you can see elements in the image that, in low light, still do not appear with the necessary sharpness.
We have put face to face the iPhone 8 Plus and the 7 Plus and, although there are subtle differences, they do not seem so abysmal when comparing both optics . Yes we can give the iPhone 8 the ability to obtain more vivid colors, as you can see in the red of the quilt of this image of a dog in the foreground.
Even in street painting, although very lightly, you can see how the colors stand out more in the images taken with the latest Apple smartphone
And it is in the portrait mode where, in our opinion, the lines are completely diluted . It must also be said that the camera of both terminals, with a good light, usually takes portraits worthy of a gallery and that it is in low light conditions where it continues to suffer.
I buy it?
The iPhone 8 Plus is a curious contradiction in the Apple catalog. Now that the firm has up to 64GB minimum storage, we can not think of a reason to not go head-on for this model instead of the normal, beyond those extra 100 euros and the size, which according to which user It is a capital issue.
The iPhone 8 Plus is plenty of features, has one of the best cameras in the market and even shows the first steps of Apple in augmented reality.And, despite everything, it has a threat on the horizon that is ready to steal all the limelight. That threat, yes, it's called iPhone X.
Does it make sense to get an iPhone 8 Plus with the X around the corner? There are some reasons why we believe that this year Apple has hit the key, although it may have manufactured a sterile phone.
The iPhone 8 is a paradox: it is difficult to resist him and, despite everything, it is very likely that we forget him in just over a month
The first, being the second year that is already committed to the dual camera, the jump is more justified compared to 2016 , when the iPhone 7 added few improvements beyond the optics and the resistance to water and dust. Taking into account that in the mobile telephony market the user tends to change every two or three years, now you can use enough motives to jump from a 6s to an 8 Plus.
But it is indisputable that the design of the phone is still one of its biggest weights. In a year in which they have begun to impose devices that are all screen, the iPhone 8 Plus is far behind competitors such as the Galaxy S8, the Galaxy Note 8, the LG G6 or even the Mi Mix of Xiaomi.
The 8 Plus keeps the huge frames in the upper and lower areas and also narrower ones on the sides, ample space so that the addition of a cover makes the phone too bulky to be used with just one hand.
The iPhone 8 is a paradox: with numbers and data in hand, it is difficult to resist him and, despite everything, it is very likely that we forget him in just over a month.
