Before you start reading the next lines, it is necessary to make a premise: this was for me the first time with an iPhone and it is therefore inappropriate to call it a "review". That's why everything you will read below is the result of my impressions after a long experience with this 8 iPhone Plus, and after putting my OnePlus 3T (Android) on the shelf.
The iPhone is in fact already on the market for some time, and another review would be useless. However, being for me the very first time with an iOS device, I assure you that you will find many interesting aspects to read (some of which I have already mentioned in the video above) whether you are already an iPhone user, whether you want to become one: let's get started right away!
iPhone 8 Plus: Unboxing e Design
Let's start with the packaging first: the eye wants its part, and this Apple kept in mind when presenting a minimal and clean packaging (which I personally appreciated). And therefore a simple packaging, without too many details.
Of course, they didn't try too hard: a minimal packaging is certainly of impact, but I have seen smartphones (also Chinese like my OnePlu 3T) with much more detailed packaging. But these are little things, let's see what's inside:
After opening the package, you will find your beautiful iPhone 8 Plus, a charging cable with a 5V / 1A power supply and headphones with the 3.5 mm audio jack adapter to use other headphones as well. In short, the bare minimum without even a user guide or a cover. But that's fine, just to keep everything very minimal.
But Apple definitely goes back with the design: iPhone 8 Plus is a real riot of style and materials. The design picks up a lot (too much I would say) the old generations, but the quality to the touch is undeniable, then enhanced by the adoption of a glass cover also for the rear part, obviously forced by the choice to adopt the wireless charging.
This coloring is also beautiful - space gray - which marries and blends perfectly with the rest of the details. Too bad only for the dual rear camera that protrudes (and not a little) from the whole body, thus forcing you to ruin the beauty of this smartphone with a cover.
Ergonomics & Data Sheet
The sore spots begin. After months of testing, I was convinced of one thing: iOS was not meant for large displays! Well yes, because leaving out the weight of 200 grams, leaving out i slippery materials (and very little oleophobic), leaving out uncomfortable grip - which must necessarily prefer the thumb near the central button - to make everything worse is the operating system.
The software in fact - which we will discuss in more detail shortly - it was conceived with the intention of being quite intuitive (which is good) but sadly they haven't thought about these effects on a much larger smartphone than the standards they followed until recently.
A few examples? For any operation you do, if you want to go back (to the previous screen, to the previous app, to the previous page and so on) you have to swipe from left to right, or click on the top left corner: practically impossible if at the same time you also want to avoid a ruinous fall of the smartphone.
In short, iPhone 8 Plus is used only and exclusively with two hands. Alternatively, you can do "some" of those operations using the center button, but it takes more than double the time. With this in mind, I have often found this iPhone 8 Plus unintuitive and boring to the point that I often gave up on doing some (apparently very simple) operations.
But if any of you are interested in numbers, then let's also talk about the technical data sheet: iPhone 8 Plus boasts good specs, but the thing that surprised me the most is that this smartphone manages to be a top of the range even with numbers lower than those I am used to seeing on Android, a symptom of the fact that Apple has worked hard (and well) on software optimization:
DATASHEET
- Dimensions and weight: 78.1 x 158.4 x 7.5 mm | 202 g
- Display: 5.5 inch IPS - 401 ppi in FullHD resolution (1920 x 1080)
- Processor: A11 – hexa core a massimo 2.1 GHz
- RAM: 3GB – LPDDR4
- Internal Memory: 64GB o 256GB
- Operating system: iOS 11
- Rear cameras: 2x SONY Exmor RS 12MP with 4K video recording and up to 240fps - main f / 1.8 and secondary f / 2.8 telephoto
- Front Camera: 7MP FullHD f/2.2 e HDR
- Battery: integrated 2.691 mAh
- Other: WiFi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS
Display
The front unit of iPhone 8 Plus is a display IPS retina with 5.5-inch diagonal in 1920 x 1080 resolution (FullHD): good but not very good! On the market there are now much more resolute displays with better technologies from the point of view of color rendering and brightness, such as SuperAMOLED.
However though, it cannot be denied that such a display is in some respects "friendlier to the battery" and however the very high contrast - 1300:1 and the excellent color range obtain a good performance allowing you to fully enjoy all multimedia content, even at high brightness and on blacks, where IPS panels usually lack a bit.
Unfortunately, Apple's choice to remain very faithful to the classic design that has been adopted on all previous smartphones, did not allow the adoption of a display in 18: 9 wider and with design borderless, which turned out to be a winning choice for the other brands.
On the other hand, to adopt a similar solution, one would have to say goodbye to the central button (fundamental for the use of the system) and then develop a software rich in gestures: and here is the iPhone X. So let's talk about software!
Software & Performance
To access the iOS features, all you have to do is place your finger on the fingerprint sensor placed exactly under the central button. Touch ID is simply great (although not as fast as the competition) and will unlock the device 10 times out of 10 without any problem! Worthy of note then, it is precisely the key that - although no longer physical - gives a feed to the touch that is nothing short of perfect.
The software on the iPhone 8 Plus is iOS 11.2.6, recently updated to compensate for the Indian character bug. The system is full of very pleasant animations, transitions and aesthetic effects, but the heart of the operating system is all in the Settings app, from where you can manage the behaviors and parameters of the entire smartphone.
Unfortunately, however, there is nothing more than this: leaving out the most important features and some well-curated animation, iOS is an almost completely aseptic system which will allow you to distinguish your iPhone from another just for the background, the keyboard or some other very small detail. The customization certainly not important, but here alas: not received!
On the other hand we are still talking about a "top of the range" and this is it you can see from its reactivity, the speed of opening the various apps, gaming and multitasking which - despite not having as much RAM memory as often happens with Android smartphones - manages to keep many apps open (including games), a symptom of an excellent job done by Apple.
Camera
The photographic sector is a matter of particular interest: iPhone 8 Plus is equippedor on the front with a more than discreet and quite bright camera, albeit with an aperture of f / 2.2 and not very resolute with its 7 MP. In any case, enjoyable and well exploited by the software.
But the protagonist is the dual rear camera with two fantastic sensors SONY Exmor RS 12 Megapixel, which are also found on the iPhone X: the first very bright (f / 1.8) and the second used as a telephoto lens (2X).
Overall the shots are excellent and detailed in any light condition, even at night when the opening of the main camera allows you to accumulate little noise and not to mix the colors too much with the noise reduction software.
Also beautiful Live, Panorama and Portrait modes (which uses the second camera to create depth of field with beautiful bokeh effects). But the best part comes with video footage, where iPhone 8 Plus leaves many behind!
The sensor in fact, creates beautiful 4K (UltraHD) footage stabilized at 60 fps, and manages to go up to 240 fps (in FullHD) per creare Slow-Motion really surprising, comparable - but not better - only to the top of the range created by SONY (but okay?).
That said, the pains begin: Apple, in order to be able to get to those resolutions and to compress photos and videos as little as possible, has created two new compression formats: HEIF (for photos) and HEVC (for videos).
The two formats are only compatible with updated Apple devices - that means you will not be able to view them on other devices such as Windows PC, TV Box, Smart TV and so on. Unless you manage to convert them or transfer them in "compatibility" mode, irremediably losing quality.
To remedy the problem, in the Settings It is possible to set photos in JPEG and videos in MP4, but you will lose the 4K resolution and in general the quality will be lower. This thing is very nerve-wracking on such an expensive smartphone!
In short, let's recap: if I buy an iPhone and make a video in 4K I can only view it on the smartphone, but I will see it in FullHD because the display is in 1920 x 1080. Alternatively, I have to spend thousands of euros for an Apple PC to see my videos, from my smartphone, in full resolution. Need to add more? iPhone 8 Plus could have been a camera phone, but Apple has clipped its wings.
Autonomy
But let's change the subject, and let's break a lance in favor of autonomy! With only 2.691 mAh of battery the smartphone manages to make it to the end of the day with any type of stress immediately (or almost).
Definitely thanks to the good software optimization, difficult - if not impossible - to find on an Android smartphone! Only the charge is a bit too slow (especially considering that the battery is not very big), but this is due to the power supply.
In fact, in the package, we will find a 5V-1A power supply, a standard that was seen on smartphones of 5/10 years ago! However slow charging means linear charging, which increases the longevity of the battery.
Sure, all these battery saving tips are very well accepted, but then I see that by setting an alarm you cannot turn off the smartphone: I have my alarm clock every day = I haven't turned it off for months and I've always charged it when it is on (unhealthy for me that I sleep next to the phone, both for the battery!).
Conclusions & Price
In short, let's sum it up a bit: iPhone 8 Plus is a top of the range with nothing (or little) special, which does not differ much from the other top of the range for performance, responsiveness and price. And therefore it must be evaluated for features, functionality and integrations with other software and devices.
So choose a smartphone like this - in my opinion - if you already have other devices with an apple on the back, otherwise save yourself these 949 euros for the 64GB version or even 1119 euros for the 256GB one. Because let's face it, each device has its strengths and weaknesses.
And like a normal smartphone, even iPhone 8 Plus has its pros and cons and - always personally - I noticed that the "Cons" exceed the "Pros" if I have to make the comparison with my two year old smartphone, and paid 600 euros less! So let's see them in detail:
Speaking to Android owners I can say that using this iPhone 8 Plus I had the feeling of a smartphone (certainly with excellent performance) which seemed to me "not very intuitive": in doing simple operations (such as replying to a message, viewing an email or notification, writing a message or surfing the Internet) the smartphone requires you to know in advance how to do them and - generally - they require more actions. Sometimes it even happened to me not to do some operations because it bored me to think of having to do all those steps.
Not to mention the price: even if on Amazon you can save a few hundred euros, it still remains an absurd price to say the least, especially when I think of Android smartphones that cost half the price and have far fewer flaws (did anyone say OnePlus 5T?). And then the world of Refurbished smartphones - not used, it's different! - with which you can take a very recent iPhone about 500 euros, or at the right price!
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Here are some links on the world of refurbished that might interest you:
- SEE ALSO | Other refurbished devices
