Smart Android And Trik-Commenting on Andorid indeed never endless, because smart devices this one is often updated every certain amount of time. So that the market can always be garapnya menerinya with pleasure. And it is not denied if this device has become the lifestyle of each society. To not wonder if the 6th business information and many are turning to mobail smartphone. With Android which thoroughly dominated the mobile industry, choosing the best Android smartphone is almost identical to choose the best smartphone, period. But while Android phones have few real opponents on other platforms, internal competition is intense.
Introduction
In another place and another time, the Apple iPhone 8 Plus would have been one of the hottest things around. Swathed in hype, causing a stir, bringing the free ride of the competition's flagships to an abrupt and painful halt.
This turbo-powered, glass-clad, sharp-shooting and fast-charging piece of a smartphone classic seems to have everything. Except... time. No, it's not going anywhere. It's just that its days as one of the hottest things around are numbered. Now, we're sure you know what we mean, so let's slow down and start over. Time isn't always a luxury - just don't tell this to an iPhone 8 Plus.
The 8 series is about to leave generations of iPhones behind. It's been ten years of refining the visionary iPhone. We saw it grow bigger, better, more durable, more powerful. Apple kept adding more screen real estate, more processing power and advanced camera features. In spite of all novelties, the iPhone essence was always there, underneath the fancy add-ons. Now, that's about to change.
Apple isn't just on the verge of breaking clean from the past. The future has already begun with the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. But it doesn't belong to them.
Back to the here and now, the Apple iPhone 8 Plus comes across as the usual incremental upgrade. The 8 Plus gets to keep its overall styling but swaps aluminum for glass and finally gets wireless charging. The new A11 Bionic chipset boasts an extra two power-efficient cores and, for the first time ever, an in-house GPU. Then the base iPhone storage has been doubled and now starts at 64GB.
Browsing the camera specs leave the wrong impression of copy and paste from the iPhone 7 Plus, when in fact both of the dual 12MP sensors have bigger pixels, backed by a superior flash and an exclusive new Portrait Lightning mode, which hopes to make the portrait shots look even better.
Finally, the screen size and resolution might be the same, but Apple has added HDR10 and Dolby Vision support, as well as iPad's True Tone color adjustment for life-like color presentation.
Apple iPhone 8 Plus key features
- Body: Aluminum 7000 frame, reinforced glass front and rear, IP67 certified for water and dust resistance. Gold, Space Gray, and Silver color options.
- Screen: 5.5" 16M-color LED-backlit IPS LCD screen of 1080p resolution, 401ppi, HDR10 and Dolby Vision support. True Tone adjustment via four-channel ambient light sensor, wide color gamut, 3D Touch
- OS: Apple iOS 11
- Chipset: Hexa-core (2 Monsoon + 4 Mistral) 2.09GHz Apple CPU, tri-core Apple GPU, 3GB of RAM, Apple A11 Bionic SoC
- Camera: Dual 12MP camera: wide-angle F/1.8 + telephoto F/2.8, live bokeh effects (including Portrait mode and Portrait Lightning), optical image stabilization, 2x lossless zoom, quad-LED flash with slow sync, phase detection auto focus, wide color capture
- Video recording: 2160p@60/30fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps video recording
- Selfie: 7MP F/2.2 front-facing camera with BSI sensor and HDR mode, 1080p@30fps video
- Storage: 64GB or 256GB of built-in storage
- Connectivity: 4G LTE Cat.16 (1Gbps); Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; Bluetooth 5.0; Lightning port; GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS; NFC (Apple Pay and for the first time for NFC tag reading too)
- Battery: 2,691mAh battery, wireless charging (Qi compatible)
- Misc: Stereo speakers, Pressure-sensitive Home key with fingerprint scanner, Taptic Engine
Main shortcomings
- Design is getting long in the tooth now being used for the fourth year in a row
- Big screen bezels (soon to look even bigger in comparison to the iPhone X)
- No 3.5mm audio jack (ships with a Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter)
- No microSD slot
- iTunes is still required for manual music upload
- No fast charger provided in the box (and the optional one is expensive)
- Video camera still recording mono audio only
Indeed, the iPhone 8 Plus seems like a regular update but with the right touches in the right places. The screen bezels are here to stay but probably for the last time. The audio jack is already a goner, that's for sure, while memory expansion was never meant to be.
Some may still have gripes with the over-reliance on the iTunes software for music transfer to the phone, but in times of Apple Music, Spotify, Google Music, and Groove - we think this is another issue we mention one last time.
The iPhone 8 Plus is fresh off the assembly lines, but the iPhone X is just around the corner, while the iPhone 7 Plus is still relevant and cheaper.
Decisions... Is the upgrade worth it? Is a switch worth it? Should I wait? The choice has never been harder, but the answers start rolling right after the break.
Retail package
Apple has been consistent with the bundle for over 5 years, and the box of the iPhone 8 Plus hides no surprises. Inside you'll find a somewhat dated 5V/1A plug, a Lightning cable, a pair of EarPods and a Lighting-to-Analog jack adapter.
To take advantage of the fast charging support, you'll need to spend on a more powerful MacBook charger. However, the latter is available only with a USB Type-C plug so that a USB-C-to-Lightning adapter will be in order too. That's an extra 100 bucks or so to make use of a feature, which supposedly came built-in. Not to mention that the MacBook charger is way too big compared to a normal phone charger.
Apple iPhone 8 Plus retail package
Apple iPhone 8 Plus 360-degree spin
The iPhone 8 Plus measures 158.4 x 78.1 x 7.5mm which is a hair (0.2mm, to be precise) larger than the 7 Plus in each direction. This means most of the old cases won't be a perfect fit (mostly in depth though as our experiments confirmed).
Apple iPhone 8 Plus next to the iPhone 7 Plus
The new 8 Plus model has gained 14g of weight and is a pretty heavy set at 202g.
Compared to the bezel-less iPhone X and the Galaxy S8 boasting 5.8" screens, the iPhone 8 Plus is noticeably bigger. The iPhone X is 15mm shorter and 7mm narrower, while the Galaxy S8 shaves off 10mm in both directions.
Finally, the size gap between the regular iPhone 8 and 8 Plus is significant - 20mm in height and 10mm in width. But that's not exactly breaking news.
Design
Apple was the first maker to push the glass-sandwich design with the iconic iPhone 4. The unthinkable became possible (using glass on a phone), and it has since become mainstream. It was somewhat short-lived though, replaced in just two years by the all-metal iPhone 5.
Fast-forward five years to find Apple pretty much the last company revisiting all-glass builds to catch with the likes of Samsung and many others who adopted glass and wireless charging years ago. Better late than never we guess.
So, what's up with the iPhone 8 Plus? Not much, at least over at the front side. Everything else is as we left it on the iPhone 7 Plus: the footprint, screen size, sizeable bezels, physical Home key, sensors, and the selfie camera placement. The oleophobic coating against fingerprint smudges is a given, and that's something we wish to see on every flagship out there. Oh, and the 8 Plus is still IP68-grade water resistant.
The front glass ends on a subtle curve - a departure from the once popular 2.5D finish. This would make applying screen protectors on the iPhone 8 Plus easier and let them last longer.
The rear glass is the highlight of the refined design. It's flat for the most part but also ends on a subtle curve where it meets the aluminum frame. There are no antenna bands you can notice, as these are now well hidden beneath the glass.
Thanks to this change of heart Apple is finally bringing wireless charging - a feature rumored to be coming with quite a few iPhones already. The team over at Cupertino chose the Qi standard, so the iPhone 8 Plus is compatible with all existing Qi chargers - the most common standard for the technology. You bet Apple will be pushing some fancier units later this year. In 2018 Apple hopes to, we will likely also see a proprietary Apple wireless charger that will replenish a Watch, an iPhone, and the AirPods all at once all while showing the charging progress indicator of all three on the iPhone's screen. This won't be easy as allegedly, the Qi charging standard would have to be adjusted to accommodate that feature so that it remains universally compatible. Only time would tell if that will really happen.
The dual-camera on the iPhone 8 Plus uses new sensors though it keeps the same specs for both - 12MP with f/1.8 lens for the wide-angle and 12MP with f/2.8 lens for the telephoto cam. There are some new cool portrait effects and a slow-sync flash though. As far as the hump is concerned - it's still there, bulging over everything, but protected behind sapphire glass (which is not that hard to scratch mind you).
Apple likes to tout its new reinforced glass panels used on the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X as the toughest glass on the planet. If drop tests all over YouTube are anything to go by, the new Apple phones somehow fail to live up to the hype, though. Even worse, our own 8 Plus got its screen scratched by the smaller iPhone 8 we stacked on top of it for a quick comparison picture.
The final piece of the Apple iPhone 8 Plus is the Series 7000 aluminum frame running along the sides. This is the only place you can see the beginning and the end of the antennas. The frame has a sandblasted-like finish and improves the otherwise slippery grip.
The iPhone 8 Plus with its prominent screen bezels is one of the largest 5.5-inchers on the market. It's not huge by any means, it just feels oversized, and it is heavy. But handling the 8 Plus is as premium experience as ever, the build is solid, and the profile thin enough. The aluminum frame boosts the grip, while the glass panels are sweet on the eyes. Even though the 8 Plus is not comfortable to work with just one hand, the added one-hand-friendly gestures will surely help in improving the overall usability.
Handling the iPhone 8 Plus
Device overview
A quick look over the iPhone 8 Plus reveals no surprises. Most of the front is taken by the 5.5" IPS LCD screen and its bezels. Above the display is the earpiece, which also serves as a speaker, the FaceTime camera, and a couple of sensors.
Below the screen is the Home Key, force-press enabled just like on the iPhone 7 series. The ultra-fast fingerprint sensor, also known as Touch ID, is embedded within that key.
The iPhone 8 Plus • the earpiece and the FaceTime cam • the Home key
The left side of the iPhone 8 Plus has the silencer toggle and the volume keys. The power/lock button and the nanoSIM tray are on the right.
The left side • the volume controls • the right side • the SIM tray
The top is completely bare. The Lightning port is at the bottom flanked by two grilles - one for the mouthpiece, and the other one for the second speaker.
The top • the bottom • the Lightning port
Finally, the dual-camera is seen on the back, accompanied by a quad-LED dual-tone flash.
The back of the iPhone 8 Plus • the dual-camera setup • the camera hump
There is nothing out of the ordinary so far and no wonder. Apple is now using this design for the fourth year in a row after it was first introduced on the iPhone 6. Sure, the back is all glass now, but you would never guess you are holding the latest iPhone just by looking at the front.
Display
The display on the iPhone 8 Plus is a 5.5" unit with a 1080p resolution (that's 401ppi). It's a LED-backlit IPS LCD screen with RGB matrix, it supports 3D Touch, and has wide color gamut support like last year's.
The upgrades this year start with both HDR10 and Dolby Vision support. Those screen modes are available to all apps with HDR content - Netflix, Amazon Video, YouTube. When you are watching HDR media - highlights and shadows are represented with more details, gradients are smoother, colors are richer. Admittedly, these benefits are too hard to spot unless you have the same HDR and non-HDR clip playing side by side to compare.
The other improvement comes with the addition of True Tone - it's a white balance adjustment possible via the newly added four‑channel ambient light sensor. Once turned on, the True Tone algorithm will correct the screen's white balance according to the ambient light and thus make the picture look its best regardless of the ambient light. That's completely different from the blue-light filter called Night Shift, which reduces the blue colors in the evening hours to help you get a better night's sleep.
The color correction coming from the True Tone adjustment is noticeable when you compare a True Tone-enabled iPhone with a non-True Tone one. It's not a big difference, but arguably it's better for both perception and ease on the eyes. But if you don't have a device for comparison, you won't know what's different.
We did our measurements on the iPhone 8 Plus screen with True Tone turned on, and we got very accurate hues when it comes to color presentation. The screen has an average deltaE of 1.3, while the maximum deviation is at the white hue - 4.3. All measured colors except white are well below deltaE of 4, which means the screen has a close to perfect calibration.
Disabling the True Tone adjustment brought the average deltaE up to 2.0, while the white deviation remained the same.
As you can see - True Tone or not - the iPhone 8 Plus display is pretty well calibrated and has a flagship-grade color presentation.
Dragging the brightness slider all the way up allows for a maximum brightness of 530 nits. The black levels are about the average and the iPhone 8 Plus delivered the promised screen contrast of 1300:1. You can achieve an even higher brightness of 620 nits if the phone detects bright sunlight - it's an automatic adjustment to help you see better outdoors.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.392 | 530 | 1352 | |
| 0.392 | 530 | 1352 | |
| 0.471 | 621 | 1318 | |
| 0.41 | 573 | 1398 | |
| 0.50 | 681 | 1362 | |
| 0.41 | 665 | 1622 | |
| 0 | 440 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 618 | ∞ | |
| 0.002 | 414 | 207000 | |
| 0.032 | 616 | 19250 | |
| 0.409 | 575 | 1406 | |
| 0.463 | 573 | 1238 | |
| 0.228 | 468 | 2053 | |
| 0.277 | 564 | 2036 | |
| 0.335 | 547 | 1633 | |
| 0.382 | 703 | 1840 | |
| 0 | 435 | ∞ | |
We should mention Apple has buried the auto brightness toggle deep in the accessibility settings so finding it is not easy. By default, the brightness is always on.
In our sunlight legibility test the Apple iPhone 8 Plus posted an excellent contrast ratio beating most other LCD panel we have tested to date and on par with quite a few AMOLEDs out there. It matched the iPhone 7, while noticeably improved since the iPhone 7 Plus.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Samsung Galaxy S8+
4.658 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Motorola Moto Z2 Play
4.459 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Nokia 8
4.239 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
4.148 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
4.147 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - LG V30
4.022 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 8
3.957 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
3.812 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Sony Xperia XZ1
3.765 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
3.729 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus
3.725 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Sony Xperia X Compact
3.694 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - LG G6
3.556 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
3.378 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Honor 8 Pro
3.341 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Honor 9
3.289 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Nokia 5
3.261 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Xiaomi Mi 5
3.24 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
3.238 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Oppo F3 Plus
3.218 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Sony Xperia Z1
2.95 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - HTC One S
2.901 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Doogee Mix
2.642 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Xiaomi Redmi 4a
2.635 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard)
2.616 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
2.561 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto)
2.417 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Oppo F3
2.376 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Apple iPhone 4S
2.269 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - LG Nexus 5
2.228 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - LG Aka
2.145 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Xiaomi Mi 4S
2.095 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi 3
2.001 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
1.772 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Sony Xperia L
1.351 - Xiaomi Redmi 2
1.311 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Sony Xperia C
1.283 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
Battery life
The iPhone 8 Plus is equipped with a non-removable Li-Po 2,691 mAh battery, which is about 7% smaller than the one of the iPhone 7 Plus. But there is a new energy-efficient Apple A11 Bionic chip, which combined with the new battery and optimized iOS 11, should offer same battery life as before.
And in case you need your phone by the end of its charge, the Low-Power mode, which you can enable manually, should prolong your iPhone 8 Plus battery life once the charge drops below 20%.
The iPhone 8 Plus ships with a regular 5V/1A charger plug that replenish 20% of a dead battery in 30 mins. If you own a 29W MacBook charger, you will be able to fast charge 50% of an empty battery in half an hour.
We also tested the iPhone 8 Plus on a Qi-compatible Samsung wireless fast charger - it recharged 17% in 30 mins.
The iPhone 8 Plus posted balanced scores across the board - it can do about 17 hours of 3G calls, 12 and a half hours of web browsing on a single charge, or you can watch videos for about 15 hours. The standby endurance turned out above average and thus the very good endurance rating of 81 hours isn't a surprise (a few hours more than the 7 Plus).
Our endurance rating estimates how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the iPhone 8 Plus for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Connectivity
The Apple iPhone 8 Plus comes with a bunch of wireless connectivity features. It has the latest Qualcomm mode with support for fast LTE Cat. 16 (up to 1Gbps down, 150Mbps up) and has one of the widest LTE band coverage we've seen. Regular 2G and 3G connectivity are all safely covered as well with a multitude of supported network bands.
The iPhone 8 Plus also supports the latest Voice over LTE (VoLTE), HD Voice and Wi-Fi calling protocols, but those are carrier dependent features so not everyone will get to enjoy them.
Naturally, the latest Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 standards are dully covered.
There is also support for NFC and thanks to iOS 11's new Core NFC API, the reader's functionality works for NFC tag reading besides Apple Pay. The iPhone 8 Plus supports reading any NDEF formatted tag but only within an app, which can read and take action. This last requirement makes us doubtful whether this also means the iPhones will now be able to make use of the NFC-assisted pairing to various wireless peripherals and accessories, which Android users have been enjoying for ages. Unfortunately, we didn't have one handy to try it out, but we'll update this section when we grab hold of more info.
The iPhone 8 Plus uses a proprietary Lightning connector for wired data transfers, charging, and audio. There is limited USB Host support - you can attach some certified accessories or access your digital camera storage via proprietary adapters sold separately. You can pair a Bluetooth keyboard to the phone should you need this sort of peripheral.
Now that there is no 3.5mm audio jack on board the phone, you can use the provided Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter to continue using your favorite pair of wired headphones with the iPhone. Or buy some very expensive inhouse or third-party wireless headphones, if you will.
Finally, the iPhone 8 Plus supports wireless charging through every run-of-the-mill Qi-compatible charger. It's refreshing to see Apple comply with an established industry standard for once.
Apple iOS 11 on the iPhone 8 Plus
The annual iOS update was announced back in June and made available this September. It's not a major or redefining upgrade. Instead, it focuses on refining the design, adding new usability features, and introducing advanced machine learning.
As part of the new iOS, version, Apple redesigned the Control and Notification centers, the App Store, added a screenshot editor, implemented new effects for Live Photos, and made Siri smarter, among many other novelties.
Since the beginning the iOS user experience has successfully revolved around a few basic premises anyone can pick up quickly.
First - the homescreen. All apps go there, and you can group those in folders. There are no widgets on the homescreen; there is no separate app drawer either. There is a leftmost Today page, which supports various widgets and includes a system-wide Spotlight search. All available widgets reside on the Today page.
The homescreen • A folder • The Today pane • Spotlight search
Second - the Notification Center. It's gone in iOS 11 (sort of), and it's unified with the Lockscreen. A swipe down brings out the lockscreen with the most important notifications. Swipe up for more or swipe left for Today (the widget page).
Everything is fine unless you use different wallpapers for the home and lock screens. Then it looks a bit weird. We can see why Apple ditched the notification center for the lockscreen as the functionality of these two has been overlapping for a while. We just think it needs some further refinement, that's all.
Notification Center • Notification Center • Notification settings • Settings • The lockscreen
Third - Control Center. You slide out this pane from the bottom and it packs quick toggles and quick shortcuts. In iOS 11 it fits all controls on a single page (finally!) and you can manually pick the ones you need (2x finally!). You can use 3D touch to access additional controls.
Oddly, a tap on Wi-Fi or Bluetooth severs all connections, but it doesn't turn off these features. According to Apple this way you will keep AirDrop active and yet won't be connected to anything until the next morning (or until you manually initiate connection). That's fine, but now we have to dig in settings to actually turn those off, which is a step backwards. If only Apple had some additional layer of interaction to make those toggles two-step triggers. Like a longer press or 3D Touch. Oh, wait...
The Control Center • Expandable music • Expandable toggles • Force press on Flash • Settings
Fourth - the Settings menu. Every imaginable setting is packed in there, just like with any other mobile OS. It isn't the best organized settings menu, but it keeps getting better with each iOS revision.
Settings
Now that's out of the way, join us as we explore some of iOS 11 features in more detail trying to see what's new and what's gone for good.
Let's talk about the Today page we've mentioned earlier. It's like a homescreen with a list of widgets and you choose which ones should be present. The top is always the Spotlight search field, and then you can put weather, calendar, Siri app suggestions, and whatever widgets your apps are offering.
If you don't like the Today page you can disable it on the lock, home, or both screens.
Today • Adding widgets • Disable Today within Touch ID settings
The 3D Touch functionality may have started as a gimmick, but its usefulness is growing with each update. In this iteration of iOS, you can use the 3D Touch on various app icons to reveal quick actions and favorite rows, if available. You can also use it on notifications, toggles, and in-app content pop-up or expansion (pictures, links, file descriptions, etc.). You can also use 3D Touch on folders to rename them or see the apps inside that have a pending notifications.
Using 3D Touch across the interface
Naturally, pop-up preview of pictures, web links, messages, mails, notes, and photos, is available.
Popping content with 3D Touch
Siri - Apple's digital assistant - is used by 375 million people monthly. But that was old Siri, the new one is much, much smarter. And it sounds smarter too, thanks to deep learning, Apple has created a more humanly sounding female voice and there's a male voice, too. For example, Siri can pronounce the same word differently, matching natural pronunciation of a sentence.
Siri looks different now. The new UI is better at question-and-answer conversations and shows multiple results by default. It understands context so it will suggest creating an appointment based on what web page you just bookmarked in Safari. It will also suggest new topics you may be interested in, based on what you're reading. This learning will be synced across all your devices, so they improve together.
Siri can also do translations for you. You can speak to it in English and it will translate that to Chinese, French, German, Italian or Spanish.
Finally, you can now type to Siri instead of speaking, which is a very welcome option. The option is buried in the Accessibility settings menu though, in case you were wondering.
Siri
Speaking about buried stuff in Accessibility, here you can also find the diched Auto Brightness toggle. And the new Dark Mode is here, too. It's much more advanced than the Invert Colors option in the previous iOS version and will not invert essential UI elements, pictures, video, among other important visuals.
Auto Brightness toggle • Smart Invert (a.k.a. Dark Mode)
Now let's take a deep dive into the not-so-obvious features in iOS 11. For starters the Do Not Disturbed Mode has been expanded with DND Drive option, which gets a dedicated toggle in the Control Center.
Screen recording, another new toggle in the Control Center, does exactly what it names suggests.
But the newly implemented screenshot editor is probably the most obvious addition - once you grab a screen snap you can now immediately doodle on it.
DND Drive • DND Drive • Recording key in CC • Editing a screenshot • Sharing a screenshot
The App Store is a cornerstone of the iOS experience. It's turning 9 this year and has served 180 billion downloads over its exciting life. And according to Apple it has paid out $70 billion to app developers (30% of which just in the last year). So it's a huge business.
To better highlight developer creations, the App Store is now split in two - Apps and Games. The Games tab will list in-app purchases below the game (great for consumers, makes pay-to-play games easy to spot). There's also a new Today tab, which highlights Apple's favorite apps and games and their developers.
And while we are on topic, you can now enable app offloading - your iPhone will automatically delete unused apps to free some storage, and will mark such with a small cloud icon. Once you need such an app, it will be instantly downloaded from the App Store. Just like the offloaded images from the gallery.
The App Store • Apps • Games • Offloading settings • The cloud icon
Another new feature found in iOS 11 is Emergency SOS, which hopefully you will never need. You can either hit the power key five times, or trigger it from a new menu invoked by holding the lock and some of the volume keys. Then your phone will dial your emergency contacts in a pre-defined order.
Configuring SOS • The SOS menu
Finally, the last thing worthy of attention is the one-handed iOS keyboard. Yes, you can now compress the keyboard to the left or right side of the screen. The Plus users will be most appreciative for sure.
The keyboard • one-handed mode
The iSO 11 is fast, has some thoughtful additions and has seen some long overdue updates. It's still behind Android in some features, while far ahead in others. While it's not perfect, iOS is going pretty well in the right direction.
Apple A11 Bionic performance
It can't be a new iPhone without a new chip Apple chip and this year the custom silicon is called A11 Bionic. Apple has moved from a quad-core processor up to a six-core one with a first-ever Apple-designed GPU (previous chipsets used GPUs by PowerVR). There are 3GB of RAM inside the Apple iPhone 8 Plus.
The A11 Bionic chip features two high-powered 2.1GHz Monsoon cores that are 25% more powerful than the 2.34GHz Hurricane ones in the A10 Fusion. The four Mistral cores are power efficient and are 75% faster than the two low-power Zephyr cores in the A10 Fusion. All those six cores can run simultaneously.
The GPU is the first Apple-made one and is comprised of 3 cores, promising 30% faster performance when compared to the GPU inside the A10 Fusion.
The new A11 chip uses high-end 10nm manufacturing process, as opposed to the 16nm A10. It makes it smaller, more powerful, more efficient and yet cooler. According to analysis the A11 chip has 4.3 billion transistors, while the latest Snapdragon 835 has 3.1 billion and Kirin 970 we are about to see soon in the Mate10 has 5.5 billion.
The A11 Bionic also packs a dual-core Neural Engine - a purpose-built neural processor. It should provide hardware acceleration for AI machine learning. Machine learning allows the system to improve its performance in complex tasks over time without specific additional programming.
Relying on machine learning the iPhone gets enhanced and speeds up complex tasks such as face and image recognition multiple times. Face and image recognition might be a bigger deal on the iPhone X but it should have uses on the 8 as well. During its June WWDC developer conference, Apple introduced Core ML, a framework for building artificial intelligence algorithms into apps for Apple products.
Now that we got all the technicalities out of the way - it's time we run some benchmarks.
The first test we ran is GeekBench, as usual, and if anyone had any doubts that Apple will smash the competition for yet another year - sorry to disappoint you but it did it again. While a single Hurricane core is still impossible to beat, the new Monsoon core just blows away all other competitors by a mile. Single-core operations are of utmost importance for the performance of any mobile OS and Apple has been the ruler of this domain for quite some time.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 8
4234 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus
4232 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3503 - Apple iPhone 7
3459 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
1987 - Nokia 8
1925 - Motorola Moto Z2 Force
1915 - LG V30 (non-final)
1904 - Samsung Galaxy Note8 (SD 835)
1862 - Sony Xperia XZ1
1840
We are not sure if the multi-core Geekbench test uses all six cores or just the powerful two ones as it often does on Android. But two or even six - the A11 processor is the fastest mobile chipset on the planet, outperforming the competitors by a massive margin.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 8
10214 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus
10037 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
6784 - Motorola Moto Z2 Force
6629 - Samsung Galaxy Note8 (SD 835)
6590 - Nokia 8
6568 - Sony Xperia XZ1
6541 - LG V30 (non-final)
6151 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
5956 - Apple iPhone 7
5831
Moving on to the GPU, the Apple's first attempt to design its own piece was an absolute success. The raw performance of the 3-core A11 GPU is 40% more powerful than the top-of-the-line Adreno 540 GPU by Qualcomm. It's also 40% faster than the Apple A10's PowerVR 7XT Series implementation.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 8
85 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus
85 - Samsung Galaxy Note8 (SD 835)
63 - Motorola Moto Z2 Force
61 - Apple iPhone 7
61 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
60 - Nokia 8
57 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
51 - Sony Xperia XZ1
49 - Apple iPhone SE
39.6 - Apple iPhone 6s
39.5 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
39.5 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
34 - Huawei Mate 9
30 - Huawei P10 Plus
28 - Apple iPhone 6 Plus
18.6
Running onscreen graphic benchmark reaches the v-sync limit and because of this, both iPhone 8 cap at 60fps while potentially being able of even more.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 7
60 - Apple iPhone 8
60 - Apple iPhone SE
59.2 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus
59 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
56 - Apple iPhone 6s
53.6 - Sony Xperia XZ1
48 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
42 - Motorola Moto Z2 Force
40 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
38.6 - Samsung Galaxy Note8 (SD 835)
37 - Nokia 8
33 - Huawei Mate 9
28 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
23 - Huawei P10 Plus
19
Then there is the ES 3.1/Metal benchmark where not only the iPhone 7 series is still impossible to match, but the iPhone 8 generation sets a new record.
Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 8
1690 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus
1644 - Apple iPhone 7
1547 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
1517 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
1268 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
916 - Apple iPhone SE
882 - Apple iPhone 6s
879 - Samsung Galaxy Note8 (SD 835)
875 - Motorola Moto Z2 Force
867 - Nokia 8
855 - Sony Xperia XZ1
853 - Huawei Mate 9
794 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
517
Finally, we ran the compound AnTuTu benchmark and the iPhone 8 Plus is beaten only by its smaller iPhone 8 companion, taking a full advantage of the lower-res screen. While the performance gap between the Snapdragon 835-powered smartphones isn't as impressive, it's still a significant one.
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone 8
202645 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus
188766 - Motorola Moto Z2 Force
178674 - Nokia 8
175872 - Samsung Galaxy Note8 (SD 835)
175153 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
174987 - Apple iPhone 7
174532 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
172425 - Sony Xperia XZ1
144462 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
137420 - Apple iPhone 6s
129990 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
128498 - Huawei P10 Plus
126252 - Apple iPhone SE
123961 - Huawei Mate 9
122826
We expected Apple to deliver a powerful and yet very efficient chip and the newest A11 design delivers on all fronts. It has the fastest mobile processor by a mile, the fastest mobile graphic unit, and yet manages to stay away from the core-count race very successfully.
Moving to its own hardware design was probably one of the smartest decision Apple has made after the iPhone itself and it has paid off throughout the last few years with a great success. The prowess of the A11 is undeniable and our battery test confirms it's very power efficient.
In real life, our experience just confirms what the synthetic benchmarks suggested - butter-smooth performance everywhere - system, apps, games, multi-tasking. Everything runs hiccup-free on the iPhone 8 Plus.
Finally, as far as the heating and throttling are concerned, the new glass design isn't the best for thermal conduction and Apple had to rely mostly on the metal frame. That's the reason for this particular spot around the lock key where the iPhone 8 Plus warms and under peak loads this 10mm spot may even become inconveniently hot. But that's it. Then we kept running benchmarks one after another and saw minor throttling (less than 10%), which won't affect the user experience at all.
Telephony
The iOS 11 Phone and Contacts apps look almost the same as before utilizing a clean interface but with now stylized titles. You can force press around for some quick actions. Blacklist is available for those needing this feature.
The phone app with Favorites • call log • phonebook • a contact • the dialer
The Phone app has been opened for some time to third-party messengers such as Skype, Viber, and WhatsApp and those can now share the same in-call screen as your phone calls. Even better, you can assign numbers within your phonebook to make calls through Viber or Skype by default, no need of switching apps whatsoever.
A Viber call
FaceTime is naturally available for all compatible iOS and Mac devices and allows you to make free voice and video calls to any other FaceTime-enabled device. It now supports capturing a Live Photo from the stream in those video calls.
iMessage is here to stay, too - once enabled you can send free text and multimedia content, including voice-recorded messages, to any other iMessage-enabled Apple gadget.
Apple is also offering Wi-Fi calling. If your carrier supports it, your phone can be set to automatically place calls over Wi-Fi whenever you prefer. Some carriers won't even count the talk time generated over Wi-Fi against your monthly allowance.
Loudspeakers
As usual we've tested the new stereo loudspeaker setup performance of the iPhone 8 Plus, where Apple promises 20% increase in loudness. We can confirm the iPhone 8 Plus is the loudest iPhone model to date. Its two speakers are equally loud and with crisp and clear sound quality. It posted an Excellent score on our test and so it's a solid improvement over the previous iPhones.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall |
Messaging
Apple's Messenger looks pretty much the same as last year - it's highly customizable with bubble animations, stickers, handwriting, various screen effects and newly added full-screen effects. Digital Touch is still available. The new Animojis will arrive with the iPhone X though the iPhone 8 and earlier will be able to only receive such.
One new feature available since iOS 11 is the option to mute entire conversations.
Messages app
Notable default apps
With every newly activated iPhone you also get the complete iWorks suite including Pages (viewing, editing docs), Numbers (viewing, editing excel files), and Keynote (viewing, editing presentations).
The iWorks suite
Apps such as Calendar, Weather, Calculator and Alarm (now with repeating reminders) are available, naturally.
Calendar • Calendar • Weather • Calculator
The Notes app has everything from before like sketching, checklists, different formatting with bullets and lists, inserting multimedia, among others. With iOS 11 it was upgraded with table support and a document scanner - you can use the camera to insert scans in your iPhone notes.
Notes
There are two new apps coming with iOS 11 - Files and Clips. The new Files app finally brings basic file management to iOS. Don't get too excited though - it can browse and work with files from iCloud Drive and other cloud storages such as OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive - if configured. It also has its own storage space where you can save files from different apps and then access them from Files. It's not a full-blown file manager for all on-device files, but more of a unifying app that at least finally gives you access to iCloud Drive via third-party apps.
Files
Clips is another new app and is very cool - it helps you make fun videos easily. You can add texts, effects, graphics, audio, and more. Clips also supports easy sharing, so your friends could see your creations in an instant. The app will also support 360-degree clips with the new iPhone X that's coming in November.
Clips
The News app is here to stay.
The News app
Apple Maps is getting better, too. Apple Maps now has lane guidance (finally!) and it shows the speed limit. Indoor navigation is available for malls and airports, with floor by floor directory and search (initial support will be for big US cities and a few foreign ones).
The TomTom-powered Maps keeps its previous features such as layers, third-party extensions such as Lyft and Uber, traffic and public transportations, among many others.
Maps
Photos
Photos is a very easy to use gallery app with support for various automatic (places, faces, etc.) and custom albums, camera roll, and even recently deleted section.
Photos app
The automatic sorting in Memories, which scans your photos and sorts them in automatic albums by landmarks, animals, people, topics, and various other criteria, is available, too and should be much faster now with hardware accelerated machine learning. Each new Memory gets an automatically created Video Memory, which you can edit anytime. You can add or remove pictures or clips, change the background music and the stitching effects.
Memories • A Memory • Viewing and editing a Memory
The Photos app in iOS 11 brings some new features such as easy Watch Face creation. A new menu row also gives you the ability to choose different Live Photo effects - Live, Loop, Bounce, and Long Exposure. The same menu has a new Related row where thanks to the new machine learning you will see similar or related pictures.
Watch Face creation • Watch Face creation • Live Effects • Live Effects • Applied effect
The gallery also offers some rich editing skills.
The edits apply on both the picture and the Live Image
You can also search in Photos by names, places, months, or similar.
Although not limited to the Photos app, iOS 11 supports wide color DCI-P3 color profile and RAW files. The wide color support applies to images captured with the front and rear camera of the iPhone 7 and 8 Plus (but not videos) as well as images imported to the device using color spaces such as Adobe RGB. The RAW support is in the form of API where third party apps can capture RAW files, which can be edited on the phone within the Photos app or a compatible third-party app.
Limited video player
Unfortunately, this is yet another iOS update which fails to do anything about the video player. You can upload only supported formats via iTunes or purchase videos from the iTunes store. This is an extremely disappointing showing by a platform that is supposed to excel at multimedia consumption.
The video player
The lack of extra functionality is bad enough, but having to use just an extremely limited number of media formats or resorting to converting files, which is both slow and inconvenient, is a real deal-breaker.
Music app
The Music app relies heavily on Apple Music service and has five tabs - Library, For You, Browse, Radio, and Search. You can edit the Library's section if you like.
The 'For You' section shows music based on your listening history, likes, as well as the genres and artists you had previously chosen when you first launched the app. Browse helps you make your way through one of the richest song collection in the world.
Finally, the Radio tab has the Beats 1 radio, which is available 24/7 and the tracks there are chosen by real DJs, not machine algorithms. There are quite a few other stations available already, including programs created automatically by Apple. This section is available even if you don't subscribe to Apple Music.
Music app
The Now Playing screen also comes with lyrics support.
The Music app can do without Apple Music, don't you worry. You just need to add your music collection through iTunes and you are good to go. And while many people are suspicious about the Apple's player, it is a very easy process and they shouldn't be afraid.
Now Playing • Lyrics • Local library
Solid audio output could be louder
The Apple iPhone 8 Plus delivered the excellent clarity with in our audio quality test - certainly among the best out there. Its stereo crosstalk reading was only a tiny bit higher than most rivals when used with an active external amplifier, but the degradation with headphones was so limited that in the second part of the test it was actually ahead of most.
Yet the iPhone 8 Plus didn’t quite impress in terms of loudness - it was only average in both parts of the test and barring the Sony handsets every other competitors does better than it in that aspect.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.07, -0.01 | -93.5 | 93.2 | 0.0013 | 0.0088 | -80.2 | |
| +0.01, -0.06 | -93.4 | 93.1 | 0.0016 | 0.013 | -76.9 | |
| +0.10, -0.04 | -93.1 | 93.1 | 0.0015 | 0.0098 | -80.5 | |
| +0.10, -0.03 | -93.1 | 93.0 | 0.0013 | 0.015 | -76.8 | |
| +0.02, -0.01 | -92.5 | 92.5 | 0.0015 | 0.0095 | -93.2 | |
| +0.03, -0.02 | -92.2 | 92.2 | 0.0058 | 0.051 | -79.9 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -92.1 | 92.1 | 0.0020 | 0.0086 | -92.5 | |
| +0.03, -0.03 | -92.5 | 92.5 | 0.0024 | 0.046 | -77.3 | |
| +0.02, -0.01 | -93.2 | 93.1 | 0.0008 | 0.0069 | -94.2 | |
| +0.03, -0.02 | -92.9 | 92.9 | 0.0057 | 0.051 | -68.1 | |
| +0.03, -0.01 | -94.1 | 94.1 | 0.0010 | 0.0070 | -94.2 | |
| +0.15, -0.08 | -94.0 | 94.0 | 0.0033 | 0.139 | -59.9 | |
| +0.05, -0.11 | -94.1 | 94.1 | 0.0017 | 0.0067 | -94.5 | |
| +0.05, -0.02 | -93.7 | 93.8 | 0.0018 | 0.105 | -53.7 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -90.6 | 90.4 | 0.018 | 0.027 | -92.6 | |
| +0.30, -0.20 | -90.5 | 90.0 | 0.0018 | 0.145 | -65.7 |
Apple iPhone 8 Plus frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Same dual-12MP setup, new sensors and skills
The Apple iPhone 8 Plus keeps a similar dual-12MP (wide+telephoto) camera setup from last year, and both sensors are sitting behind the same f/1.8 and f/2.6 lenses respectively. A large piece of scratch-resistant sapphire glass is supposed to keep them away from harm's way.
What is new about the iPhone 8 Plus camera is the new sensors it uses. They are again Sony's Exmor RS sensors but they are different ones. Pixel size is the same though as both the wide-angle camera has a 1.22 µm pixel size and the telephoto camera has a 1.0 µm pitch as before.
The upgrades list begins with a brand-new image processor and noise reduction algorithm, and with the help of the A11 chip the iPhone 8 Plus is now capable of real-time image and motion analysis - body and face detection. The video capturing also benefits from the new powers - there are 4K at 60fps and 1080p at 240fps modes.
Apple is now aggressively pushing AR and AR-related apps, so all camera lenses are factory-calibrated to provide superior performance in AR.
Apple also advertises the new phones to have "deeper pixels" which is another name for the camera sensor using deep trench isolation tech. Deep trench isolation is not a new technology and was first introduced on the iPhone 6s generation - also available on quite a few Sony Xperia (DTI) and Samsung Galaxy (ISOCELL) smartphone cameras. It's a technology for better pixel isolation on the sensor itself, which prevents light leakage between the neighboring pixels and thus improves the overall photo quality.
The quad-LED dual-tone flash from the iPhone 7 Plus is also available on the 8 Plus, but the new flagship supports slow-sync flash. It keeps the shutter open for a bit longer, letting in some of the ambient light, making the image look more natural and not as contrasty as with regular flash images.
The Portrait mode on the iPhone 8 Plus has a new mode (still in beta) - Portrait Lighting. The dual camera scans the scene, identifies the face of your subject and (in real time, mind you) adjusts the tone curve of the face to make it better lit. And you can adjust the effect after you've taken a shot - neat!
The Portrait Mode effect can be toggled off after the picture was taken. If you don't want the background blur, you can just disable it later.
The new camera also comes with a new file format, yes, JPG's days are numbered. At least as far Apple is concerned. iOS 11 now saves all images in the HEIF file format and videos in HEVC (H.265) video format by default. This is done because of the more efficient compression these files provide. We can confirm - photos take about half as much space as before (1.4MB HEIF vs. 3MB JPG) and the same goes to videos.
The phone will convert the images to an older format if shared from within iOS but if you copy images over USB, the original files are transferred only if you have macOS High Sierra. If not - you will get converted files - both pictures and video - in JPG and H.264 formats. The conversion is done in real-time while you are transferring the files without you even noticing.
Don't you worry, you can choose the format you prefer, so if you don't like having your media stored in the new format - you can choose Most Compatible from Settings instead of High Efficiency. This way no conversion will be done while transferring, but you will waste away storage.
And mind you, the improved compression by these file formats doesn't come at the expense of quality. After careful pixel peeping, we saw no difference in quality between HEIF and JPEG and if there was a marginal difference between H.264 and H.265 it was in H.265's favor. On the other hand, quality with videos varies depending on how busy the scene is so the jury is still out on whether they are universally better than the H.264 ones. Furthermore, only the high-efficiency mode allows you to use the new 4K at 60fps and 1080p at 240fps video recording modes.
Wide-angle camera quality
Even though Apple upgraded the camera with a new sensor, the specs are the same. It's still 12MP in resolution with an f/1.8 lens. The daylight photos snapped with the iPhone 8 Plus have improved since the iPhone 7 Plus though.
For starters - there is more resolved detail, and the samples are noticeably sharper. There is a new noise reduction as promised - it leaves a bit more noise but smears less fine detail, especially in low light.
One of the most important and prominent upgrades is the much better color reproduction - the dull, washed out colors we criticized the iPhone 7 series for are gone. The iPhone 8 Plus camera captures true to life colors, lively and renders them nicely even in demanding weather conditions.
The corner softness is gone, too. It wasn't much of a big thing on the iPhone 7 lineup, but still was something that needed fixing.
The autofocus is always correct, the white balance is accurate, and the contrast is superb in all samples. Finally, the dynamic range is simply amazing - if not the best we've seen on the phone. And that's with the Auto HDR option turned off. In fact, when we manually opted for HDR - the samples turned out worse. How about that?!
It seems the new sensor, image processor, and a color filter are more than worth it as the iPhone 8 Plus delivers one of the best 12MP samples out there.
But even though we are impressed with the new colors, the dynamic range, and contrast - we are still noticing the somewhat watercolor-like foliage presentation at 1:1 magnification. The iPhones have been this way for years, and Apple may want to put some work here, too.
Apple iPhone 8 Plus 12MP wide-angle samples
And here are some iPhone 7 Plus samples for comparison.
Apple iPhone 7 Plus 12MP wide-angle samples
And here are the HDR samples we mentioned earlier - they came somewhat worse than the originals.
HDR off • HDR on • HDR off • HDR on
The iPhone 8 Plus camera resolves more detail than the Galaxy S8's and the Xperia XZ1 Compact, but the Xperia does much better at capturing foliage. The S8 photos look a bit unnatural with those oversaturated colors, while the iPhone 8 Plus is keeping them closer to real-life.
Samsung Galaxy S8 12MP samples
Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact Intelligent Auto 12MP samples
The OIS allows the iPhone 8 Plus to drop the shutter speed to as low as 1/4s when shooting handheld. This combined with the wide aperture, the new sensor, and the new image processor allows the iPhone 8 Plus to take great low-light images.
There is plenty of detail in all-low light shots, the colors are mostly accurate, and the dynamic range is still impressive all things considered. Once again, those are one of the best low-light images we've encountered.
Apple iPhone 8 Plus 12MP low-light samples
And here are some indoors samples, which may be noisy, but very good nevertheless.
Apple iPhone 8 Plus 12MP indoors samples.
We also decided to test the slow-sync flash. As promised it lets in some of the ambient light and makes the image look more natural. Or to simplify it - you don't look like a zombie anymore. But using it requires to hold the camera extra still.
iPhone 8 Plus slow-sync flash • iPhone 7 Plus flash • iPhone 8 Plus slow-sync flash • iPhone 7 Plus flash
Finally, we took the iPhone 7 Plus, the Galaxy S8, and the Xperia XZ1 Compact for another spin, this time at night. Once again, the iPhone 8 Plus is the best, with the iPhone 7 Plus almost as good, followed by the oversaturated but less detailed images (the noise reduction smears the detail) of the Galaxy S8, and last is the Xperia XZ1 Compact.
iPhone 8 Plus • iPhone 7 Plus • Galaxy S8 • Xperia XZ1 Compact
iPhone 8 Plus • iPhone 7 Plus • Galaxy S8 • Xperia XZ1 Compact
iPhone 8 Plus • iPhone 7 Plus • Galaxy S8 • Xperia XZ1 Compact
iPhone 8 Plus • iPhone 7 Plus • Galaxy S8 • Xperia XZ1 Compact
iPhone 8 Plus • iPhone 7 Plus • Galaxy S8 • Xperia XZ1 Compact
Telephoto camera quality
The telephoto camera also does a great job in good light and comes in handy when you need a bit of zoom. Its quality is close to the main camera's - the images have plenty of detail and the same great processing, lovely colors, and impressive dynamic range.
Apple iPhone 8 Plus 12MP telephoto samples
And here are some iPhone 7 Plus telephoto samples for comparison.
Apple iPhone 7 Plus 12MP telephoto samples
The telephoto lens has a relatively narrow f/2.6 aperture and won't do for low-light shots. In those scenes, the phone will stop using the telephoto camera and would instead switch to cropping the output of the main camera to achieve the zoomed effect. This, of course, takes its toll on image quality, so it's something to keep in mind.
Apple iPhone 8 Plus 12MP low-light telephoto samples
Portrait mode
Portrait mode uses the telephoto camera and some software trickery to create a photo with a faux bokeh. Now the new Portrait Lighting enhances on this shooting with new effects - the now camera scans the scene, identifies the face of your subject and adjusts the tone curve of the face to make it better lit. And you can change the effect after you've taken a shot, neat!
The feature is still in beta, and you can tell - if your subject has messy hair the photos aren't looking so good. Sometimes ears go missing, others - the clothes aren't properly recognized, and the effect isn't applied properly on them.
Natural Light • Studio Light • Contour Light • Stage Light • Stage Light Mono
Natural Light • Studio Light • Contour Light • Stage Light • Stage Light Mono
And if you are keen on using those Stage Light effects, just don't expect the results to be great every time. A lot of times, the success would depend on the color of the clothes you are wearing and even on your haircut or hair color.
Natural Light • Stage Light • Stage Light Mono
As you can tell, the Portrait Lightning needs some work, but that's probably why Apple announced it as beta.
Panorama
The iPhone 8 Plus offers 180-degree panoramic shots, and they can go up to 15,000 x 4,000 pixels or 60MP. The stitching is great, there are no artifacts, and the color rendering is good, too. The HDR panoramic shots are here to stay, and with the new rendering - everything looks just great.
You can also shoot telephoto panoramic shots, and they are as impressive as the regular ones.
iPhone 8 Plus panorama • iPhone 8 Plus telephoto panorama
Selfies
The front-facing camera is the same 7MP unit we saw on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. It can use the so-called Retina flash, where your screen lights your face up in particular color to provide more pleasing skin tones depending on the color of the available light.
There is plenty of resolved detail, though not the best we've seen. The contrast and colors are very good, while the exposure is always based on the human subject, which leaves the background overexposed at times.
Apple iPhone 8 Plus 7MP selfies
Picture Compare Tool
You can check out how the iPhone 8 Pus 12MP wide-angle and telephoto cameras perform in our dedicated compare tool.
Apple iPhone 8 Plus vs. iPhone 7 Plus vs. Galaxy Note8 in our photo compare tool
Telephoto: Apple iPhone 8 Plus vs. iPhone 7 Plus vs. Galaxy Note8 in our photo compare tool
4K video recording at 60fps
Apple iPhone 8 Plus brings new video recording modes, all of them - optically stabilized as usual. There are now 4K at 60fps and 1080p at 240fps. Those are available exclusively when the camera is set to store pictures and videos on the new high-efficiency format (H.265 HEVC). The regular 4K at 30 fps, 1080p at 30, and 1080p at 60fps are available for both H.264 and HEVC. And now there is a new film mode as well - 4K at 24fps.
All of these modes are accessible for the telephoto camera, and you get a zoomed view, naturally. The telephoto camera lacks optical image stabilization but Apple still includes software-based stabilization and it does a remarkably good job of stabilizing the telephoto videos.
The camcorder UI is as simple as it can get, offering nothing but the flash setting. You can find the resolution and file format switch in the Settings menu instead of having a shortcut in the viewfinder, which is as annoying as it has ever been.
The video options along with the other camera related settings are all buried far away in the iOS Settings menu.
The H.264 4K videos carry a bitrate of around 46Mbps, but audio is recorded in mono at 96Kbps in AAC format. Yes, Apple may be pioneering the 4K video with 60fps but it's still stuck in mono audio capturing for a decade. Let that sink in. If that's not lazy, we don't know what is. Apple should really have a look at what LG and Nokia are doing in this field.
The 1080p videos at 30fps have a bitrate of 16 Mbps, keeping the same audio, while the 60fps ones came out with 23Mbps bitrate.
The H.265 4K videos at 60fps carry a bitrate of 54Mbps, while the audio is still mono. The 4K at 30fps clips are captured at 24Mbps - half the H.264 ones. The 1080p 30 and 60fps bitrate are also halved at 8.5 and 12.5 Mbps respectively.
The 4K videos captured at 30fps are virtually identical albeit the bitrate difference. The quality is very close to the still images - plenty of detail but just average foliage presentation. Oddly - we noticed some corner softness. The colors are great, and so is the contrast and white balance. There are no focus issues or compression artefacts. And once again - the dynamic range is nothing short of impressive.
The corner softness is gone in the 1080p, whether those are 30 of 60 fps. Once again, the H.264 and the HEVC videos turned out the same in spite of the bitrate difference. Zooming in to 200% even revealed some advantage in favor of the HEVC clips, which seems impossible.
Anyway, the 1080p videos captured by the iPhone 8 Plus are one of the best, as usual, with lots of detail, smooth frame rate, and amazing dynamic range. The foliage looks somewhat better here.
The 4K videos recorded at 60fps are surely the highlight of the iPhone 8 Plus. The frame rate is steady, and no compression traces are noticeable. The samples benefit from everything so far - lots of detail, accurate focus and white balance, lively colors, superb dynamic range. A side-by-side comparison with the 30fps one revealed a slightly softer background and corners, but you can't really see it until you compare such samples. And we have to see we've seen far worse 4K@30fps videos from self-proclaimed flagship smartphones than the 60fps videos taken with the iPhone 8 Plus.
The telephoto camera offers the same video capturing abilities - all the way up to 4K at 60fps. In good light, the it matches the main one in video quality. Detail levels are high, sharpening is balanced, and dynamic range is almost as wide as on the main camera, which is impressive considering the smaller sensor size.
When the light is low, the iPhone 8 Plus will, once again, use a digitally-zoomed wide-angle camera, instead of the telephoto one.
The Apple iPhone 8 Plus is ready to meet the competition in our Video Compare Tool.
Apple iPhone 8 Plus vs. iPhone 7 Plus vs. Galaxy Note8 in our 4K video compare tool
Telephoto: Apple iPhone 8 Plus vs. iPhone 7 Plus vs. Galaxy Note8 in our 4K video compare tool
You can directly download the wide-angle 4K@60fps (HEVC) (66MB, 10s), 4K@60fps telephoto (HEVC) (68.5MB, 10s), 4K@30fps (HEVC) (32MB, 10s), 4K@30fps (H.264) (57MB, 10s), and 1080p@30fps (H.264) (19MB, 10s) video samples.
Wrapping it up
The "plus" iPhones are typically the ones that stand out. The ones that close the specs gap between Apple and the rest, the ones that are more likely to get Android users interested if you will. The ones that get the better treatment and superior equipment. The ones that can do more and do it better.
This doesn't directly translate into sales numbers and Apple typically sells more of the regular model than the Plus version but, last season, the 7 Plus was very close behind. In a usual year, the gap could've been closed, the trend reversed, but this is not a typical Apple year. And this is the first time we are just not sure.
There's a big unknown, aptly called X, and it's smaller and bigger than the Plus. Outlandish, unexpected, different. Better? We hope so - and not because we want the 8's to fail.
That's the thing. People are always drawn to the novel, the latest - and that's at least twofold when Apple is involved. The sales reports are already showing that while there is robust demand for the iPhone 8, it's not as big as in the past couple of years. Looks like people are simply waiting.
Now, that could be a mistake. If the iPhone 8 Plus is to be judged by the cover and always with the X in mind, many users, Apple fans or not, might be missing out on a great opportunity.
Let's think about it. What are we getting with the iPhone X? An infinity OLED screen of a higher resolution is a good enough reason to wait and see. FaceID replacing the highly convenient TouchID is close to a mini-revolution, but we have yet to see how this works with glasses and beards. And for payments.
How you navigate without a Home button is another thing that probably everyone is curious about. Apple is probably the least likely company to release a half-baked novelty just for the sake of it - and we hope there're enough people at Apple that don't want another Apple Maps debacle. Yes, all that new stuff is risky - and that perhaps makes you even more curious.
There's nothing about the iPhone 8 Plus to tingle your curiosity. It's familiar. It's safe. Is that a bad thing? It's probably the last phablet from Apple, for a while at least, and if you love big phones, this one could be the one to get. It has great build quality, its screen is truly impressive, and it's just incredibly fast. The new camera setup has some very nice improvements, and the loud stereo speakers will easily impress you. The base storage is doubled and the new file formats for photo and video take up half the space.
Apple iPhone 8 Plus key test findings:
- The iPhone 8 Plus looks similar to its predecessors, but the glass back makes it special enough. It is built to the highest standards, water-proof, and still one of the best-looking flagships, bezels or not. We like the no-nonsense design, but the "toughest glass" didn't live up to the expectations and it's easy to scratch.
- The iPhone 8 Plus has a class-leading IPS LCD in terms of brightness and color calibration. HDR10 and Dolby Vision compliance are welcome additions, as is True Tone adjustment. The 401ppi is behind most of the recent Android flagships but it's still in the flagship ballpark. Sunlight contrast is superb for an LCD screen.
- Battery life is above average with an Endurance rating of 74 hours. The phone has well-balanced scores across all tests. Wireless charging is finally here as is fast charging. Too bad you need a chunky and expensive MacBook USB-C charger to enjoy it. We hope third-party makers will step in and provide more portable and affordable options.
- The connectivity is improved with Cat.16 LTE support, and for the first time ever, reading standard NFC tags is also supported. The lack of analog audio port is a turn-off. At least there is a free adapter in the package.
- Performance-wise, the A11-powered iPhone 8 Plus is arguably the most powerful smartphone in the world right now. Its CPU and GPU performance, as well as the overall experience, are unrivaled (unless we count the iPhone 8, which is even more powerful due to lower screen resolution).
- Apple iOS 11 is great, a nice step forward with a refined interface, Notification and Control centers. It makes a better use of 3D Touch, has better Siri, a file manager, dark mode, among others. Apple has an industry-leading software update program - you are guaranteed to get all iOS updates in the next few years as soon as they are out. However, iOS still lacks any customization options such as UI themes or icon packs.
- The stereo speakers scored an Excellent mark for loudness, which is as high as an iPhone has ever achieved, and subjectively, they sound great.
- The audio quality through the Lighting to 3.5mm converter is very good, but not quite the best in class.
- The main camera offers the same great levels of detail, superb processing and class-leading dynamic range of its predecessor and is better in low light - lower noise, sharper images and better color and white balance.
- The telephoto camera has a neat Portrait mode which offers one of the best, if not the best, software bokeh effect on any smartphone. It's nice to have a 2x zoom camera in good light, but the smaller sensor and smaller aperture make the telephoto camera unusable in low light. Portrait Lightning effects are super cool, but they are still in beta and require further fine tuning.
- First ever 4K videos at 60fps and they turned out great, even though little softer than the 30fps. The regular 4K videos offer great detail, superb processing, and once again class-leading dynamic range. They still come with mono audio recording though. 1080p videos provide high enough quality to be considered usable in the age of 4K. Finally, the HEVC codec uses less storage for videos and doesn't hurt the quality, so we recommend it.
- The front 7MP selfie camera takes nice images though not the best we've seen.
Noteworthy alternatives
Samsung vs Apple is the dilemma of late and you can't think of the one without the other. Indeed, Samsung has a lot to offer this year, the cutting-edge Galaxy Note8 is out now and it has everything the iPhone 8 Plus has and then some. For the S-Pen fans it's the only choice, for the Android faithful, it's one of, if not the best droid out there.
There is also the Galaxy S8+, which lacks the S-Pen and the second camera, but makes up for that with a reduced price. The S8+ has a smaller footprint and a futuristic infinity screen design, but it's not the most practical of handsets, with a somewhat compromised grip.
Samsung Galaxy Note8 • Samsung Galaxy S8+
If the bezel-less displays are your thing, the LG V30 and G6 have plenty to offer. Both deliver flagship-performance and pretty unique camera experience and quality. Those two deserve every praise, be it for the display, camera, or audio. The LG G6 costs half the price of an iPhone, while the V30 is thereabout.
LG V30 • LG G6
Huawei was quick enough to adopt the dual-camera and the P10 Plus is probably one of the most prominent cameraphones out there. It may lack water-proofing but has a high-res AMOLED screen, a powerful processor, beautiful design, stereo speakers and, of course, the second-gen Leica Dual Camera 2.0 Pro with wide apertures and native monochrome photography. While it doesn't offer the same Portrait mode effects, there are equally creative camera modes, including full manual mode and variable aperture. It costs much less than an iPhone.
The Huawei Mate 10 is just around the corner and is expected to bring a bezel-less AMOELD screen, water-proofing, an arguably more powerful chipset than the A11, and the third-generation Leica camera. It will most probably cost a fortune, just like the iPhone - so it better be worth the wait... and the cash.
Huawei P10 Plus • Huawei Mate 10 Pro
Sony's Xperia XZ1 and XZ Premium both shine with durable industrial designs, extra-solid performance and 960fps slow-mo videos. The duo lacks a second camera and relies on a high-res 19MP sensor. It's not as capable in low-light, but does great the rest of the time. If you have other Sony gadgets, those would play nicely with your Xperia, so that's another point in its favor.
Sony Xperia XZ1 • Sony Xperia XZ Premium
The Android purist would surely like the Nokia 8 and OnePlus 5. They both come wrapped in metal, have the latest Qualcomm chips, and offer dual-camera setups on the back. Cheaper than the iPhone, those two are surely some sensible offers to consider.
Nokia 8 • OnePlus 5
The second-generation Google Pixel XL is just around the corner and should beat the iPhone with a higher-res AMOLED screen. It has a single camera on the back and a peculiar design, plus the Pixel is quite expensive too and not available on many markets so they might not even be an option where you live.
Google Pixel 2
The iPhone 7 Plus is cheaper, and it's got a pretty relevant skill set still. If you can live without wireless charging, you'll be getting an all-metal design and solid enough chipset and camera.
Finally, the iPhone X. The iPhone to look forward to. It has a higher-resolution edge-to-edge AMOLED screen, a brand new design with Face ID replacing Touch ID and no Home button whatsoever. The X adds OIS to the telephoto camera and Portrait mode on the selfie one, too. But its price is north of €1000/$1000, which is taking smartphone pricing to new territories. Even worse, pundits doubt Apple's ability to catch up with the demand before the spring of next year. So... how about an iPhone 8 Plus instead?
Apple iPhone 7 Plus • Apple iPhone X
Final verdict
Well, how about it really? The iPhone 8 Plus is pricey, there is no two-ways about it. It's one of the most expensive smartphones and that will be that until the iPhone X arrives.
For the price though, you're getting the fastest phone there is, a truly impressive camera and a superb quality screen. Yet, for the first time in history a Plus model is not at the top of the food chain and it doesn't have a whole year before the next iPhone arrives.
There is a shadow hanging over the 8 series and we guess the Plus could be hit worse than the regular 8. In a typical Apple year, the iPhone 8 Plus would've been the better twin. This time around, it's the middle triplet. We'll know soon enough how bad this can be. But the worst thing is, the imminent iPhone X is making it harder for everybody to notice how good the iPhone 8 Plus really is.
0 Response to "Apple iPhone 8 Plus review"
Post a Comment