Last year, Apple introduced the iPhone XR as the "affordable" offer on its new iPhone line. We really liked the XR, and we even said it could be the best iPhone that Apple has ever made. The follow-up of the iPhone XR is the new iPhone 11, and the fact that Apple decided to bless this model with the title of "iPhone 11", and not calling it something like the iPhone 11R, says a lot about where the company is positioned the phone.
In fact, it can. Satisfactory speed increase, dual camera settings and long battery life combine to make the iPhone 11 even better than last year's iPhone XR. And given its relatively low price, it is probably the best new iPhone for most people
Camera enhancements
The main feature of the iPhone 11 is its dual 12 megapixel camera configuration. It seems that Apple decided that with this year's phones, they would make the camera deliberately collide. The only camera on the iPhone XR is barely noticeable, and the dual-camera design of the iPhone XS doesn't make you think twice about how it looks. But the dual camera of the iPhone 11 demands your attention, shouting: «Smile! You are in the camera! »
The iPhone 11 has a wide camera like that of the iPhone XR, but the second camera of the iPhone 11 is an ultra-wide camera that offers a 2x zoom, allowing you to capture more of the environment you are photographing. These two cameras are also in the iPhone 11 Pro, which adds a third telephoto camera to zoom very closely.
The ultra wide is an excellent addition, which gives you even more flexibility when taking pictures. Fortunately, Apple facilitates the change between wide and ultra wide. When you frame a shot in the Camera application, a 1x button appears at the bottom of the image frame, which means that the panoramic camera is in use. Touch this button, and the phone will switch to ultra-wide camera, and the 1x button will become a 0.5x button. Touch the button again to return. Also, when you're in the 1x camera view, you'll get a preview of what a 0.5x ultra wide shot would look like.
Picture click with iPhone 11 PRO
Shot using the iPhone 11 1x wide camera.
The resulting image with the ultra-wide camera of the iPhone 11.
In terms of real image quality, both panoramic and ultra wide produce excellent looking photographs. The colors are accurate, and the cameras offer a surprising level of detail and image clarity. Of course, we've said the same thing about previous iPhones, and it's still true with the iPhone 11. In fact, if you're looking for just one reason to buy a new iPhone, it's probably this one. Night mode takes pictures taken in dark environments and uses software processing to reveal details that would otherwise be lost.
We have details on how to use night mode and how it works in a separate article: Get to work with night mode. The low light enhancement has been available on Android phones, and is finally on the iPhone, and it works very well. Our sister publication, PCWorld, even discovered that Apple's night mode is better than the Android version. Simply put: it is a useful feature that produces excellent results ..
The only problem I have with the iPhone 11's rear camera is the lack of optical zoom. As was the case with the iPhone XR, the iPhone 11 only has digital zoom, up to 5x.
In some cases, especially when you pass the 2x digital zoom, you get a noticeable image noise, which generates an unpleasant photo. So, if you're like me and you tend to use the zoom a lot, you should rethink how you use it on the iPhone 11.
There is no optical zoom with the iPhone 11 camera, although it offers a 5x digital zoom.
It is worth mentioning that Apple finally updated the TrueDepth front camera, from a 7 megapixel camera that records 1080p / 60fps video to a 12 megapixel camera that records 4K / 60fps video camera. And the front camera can record slow motion video, which was previously not available. So yes. Let's see if Apple can make slofies happen.
The fast phone becomes even faster
At the heart of the iPhone 11 is a new A13 Bionic processor, the successor of the A12 Bionic that is on the iPhone XR. The A12 Bionic is an impressive chip, so what does the A13 Bionic do to follow it?
With the performance of the CPU, the gains are modest. At Geekbench 5 benchmarks, the iPhone 11 experienced a 14 percent increase over the iPhone XR in single-core CPU performance, while multi-core CPU performance increased by 18 percent.
The results are scores. Longer bars / higher results are better.
At benchmarks that emphasize the graphic performance of the iPhone, the iPhone 11 showed more impressive gains than the iPhone XR.
A little more battery life
Apple says the 3,046 mAh battery of the iPhone 11 lasts up to an hour longer than the 2,942 mAh battery of the iPhone XR, and can get up to 17 hours of video playback, 10 hours of video streaming and 65 hours of audio playback . In particular, Apple no longer provides an estimate of what it called "Talk time (wireless)." For the iPhone XR, it was 25 hours, and we can calculate that it could get up to 26 hours on the iPhone 11. According to an Apple representative, the longest battery life was achieved through a combination of a larger battery, software and hardware. optimizations
We use the Geekbench 4 Battery Life test to measure battery life and compare it with other iPhones. The results of our tests showed that the iPhone 11 and iPhone XR have a similar battery life. In fact, in our tests, the iPhone 11 lasted only a few seconds longer than the iPhone XR.
Our Geekbench 4 battery life test runs intensive tasks on the processor (with the screen dimming turned off) until the battery runs out, so it is not representative of real-world use. However, it is an effective way to constantly test different phones.
The results are times in minutes. Longer bars / higher results are better.
During daily use, I never had to charge the iPhone 11 before the end of my day. I think I am a more demanding user than most, because I play Pokémon Go during my round trip to work and on dog walks. On my most demanding day (on a Saturday strolling through the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco playing PoGo, watching my son's soccer game and using Apple Maps navigation), I finished the day with 24 percent remaining battery. Not bad.
The only major defect regarding the battery life is the included charger. Apple still includes a small, slow 5-watt charger with its low-end iPhone model. For £ 29 / $ 29, you can buy the 18W USB-C power adapter from Apple, the same that is included with the iPhone 11 Pro. It is a pity that Apple does not include this charger with the reference model. The iPhone 11 also supports wireless charging, but you will have to buy a Qi wireless charger separately.
Design: don't mess with what works
Apple did not change much when it comes to industrial design. The iPhone 11 is very similar to the iPhone XR, with anodized aluminum sides, the notch of the screen and a glass back available in black, green, purple, white, yellow and red (Product). That said, the color execution this year is different: Apple decided to opt for pastel shades that are more subtle than the bright colors of the XR.
The bezel of the iPhone 11 (right) is thicker than the bezel of OLED phones, like the iPhone 11 Pro Max (left).
The iPhone 11 still has black bezels that are thicker than those of iPhones with OLED. And as long as this model continues to use an LCD (a lower cost part than the OLED in the Pro model), thicker bezels will persist to help stop the light leakage. Mind you, I didn't find the bezels annoying. In fact, I didn't really notice them until they were pointed out to me.
The most notable design change between the iPhone 11 and the iPhone XR (in addition to the colors and the camera bump) is the placement of the Apple logo, which is now centered rather than near the camera.
It was rumored that one of the new features of the iPhone 11 was bilateral wireless charging, and the Apple logo would be centered to mark the place where users should place their devices. But when the new iPhones were launched, the bilateral charge was not part of the feature list.
On the iPhone 11, Apple moved the logo to the center of the phone. The company also removed the "iPhone" tag.
A not so noticeable change is the improved water resistance of the iPhone 11, which is now 2 m for up to 30 minutes, twice the depth of the iPhone XR.
The design of the iPhone XR worked well, so Apple was smart to use it on the iPhone 11. Best of all, the iPhone 11 doesn't look like a cheaper version of the Pro models. It feels good and solid in the hand, and It is convenient to use. Maybe the bezels bother you, but you would have to be very particular to find faults ..
Liquid Retina HD display
Another important feature that remains unchanged is the screen. Apple is using a 6.1-inch LCD again, while the iPhone 11 Pro has an OLED.
The iPhone 11 screen (Apple calls it the "Liquid Retina HD" screen) is a Retina display with a resolution of 326 ppi, a contrast ratio of 1,400 to 1 and 625 nits of brightness. The “Super Retina XDR” screen of the iPhone 11 Pro has a power of 458 ppi, has a contrast ratio of 2,000,000 to 1 and offers 800 nits of brightness.
If you put the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro next to each other, you can see the differences if you look hard enough. The iPhone 11 Pro screen is brighter, the colors have a bit more pop, the black looks deeper and the details are a bit sharper ..
The iPhone 11 uses the same attractive LCD screen found on the iPhone XR.
But without comparisons, the iPhone 11 screen looks great on its own. The color quality, brightness and sharpness are much more than satisfactory. Yes, the OLED sets a high bar, and no, the LCD cannot match it. But the LCD screen still looks great, and unless you simply demand the best, you won't find the OLED Pro.
Apple iPhone 11: specifications
- iOS 13
- 6.1 inch LCD, 1792 × 828, 326ppi
- Haptic touch
- A13 bionic processor
- 64/256 / 256GB of storage
- 12Mp camera, f / 1.8, OIS
- 12Mp ultra-wide (120 degree) front camera, f / 2.0’12Mp, f / 2.2
- Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax Dual-band Wi-Fi
- Face ID
- Dual SIM (nano-SIM and eSIM)
- GPS
- NFC
- Wireless charging
- IP68
- 150.9 x 75.7 x 8.3 mm
- 194g
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