iPhone 8 Plus review: Same old iPhone.

iPhone 8 Plus review – Apple introduced three new top-of-the-range smartphones this year: in addition to the infamous iPhone X, it has decided to renew its current range of products with the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. Both don't introduce any particular new features, but they are a good hardware upgrade compared to the 7 and 7 Plus, with the introduction of a few small features.

Simply put, it's easy to tell from the introduction that we weren't impressed iphone 8 plus during our usual tests it is an excellent device with the best features but at the same time a smartphone conceptually too old which has its roots in a product born 4 years ago (iPhone 6).

Let us now analyze in detail the new top of the Apple range in ours iPhone 8 Plus reviewdiscovering their strengths and weaknesses.

Unboxing the iPhone 8 Plus

Hardware and connectivity: 9.5

iphone 8 plus can count on the new processor Apple A11 Bionicwith a 10nm production process, a Neural Engine chip and one dedicated to the ISP, it also accompanies it 3GB RAM. The A11 on paper is a System On Chip with huge potential and it shows in benchmarks, but currently you won't be able to see particular differences between an iPhone 8 Plus and 7 Plus in everyday use.

Apple's operating system works fine on both smartphones, clearly on theiphone 8 plus there's more power that could pay off in the long run. Daily operations are always smooth and smooth, as are the more complex ones like gaming or operations dedicated to augmented reality, which Apple relies on a lot and which gives its best in the new iPhones.

In short, there is little to do, the iPhone is still the best option along with very few other smartphones if you need fluidity and immediacy at the highest level.

The connectivity is good, the iPhone 8 Plus gets along a bit well in all situations but it is in the average of the top of the range of 2017, in short it is not at the top as reception but there are no particular problems. Even the audio from the capsule is good, while the speaker is perfect thanks to the double speaker that we will talk about in the section dedicated to audio.

In the front we find a fingerprint sensor Integrated into the home button that remains capacitive, always working great and out of the box. The glass on the back allowed the addition of wireless charging: finally Apple adds this standard with which you can recharge your smartphone simply by placing the device in any charging base that supports the Qi standard, which can be purchased for a few euros.

Ergonomics, Design and Materials: 7

The weak point of ours. iPhone 8 Plus review it's just the design: the back is the only thing that changes compared to the previous generation and iPhone 6/6s, now we have a very nice glass panel that makes all the colors different from last year.

Fingerprints are preserved in the new material, while the grip and ergonomics do not change much: friction is slightly higher on glass than on aluminum, also thanks to the shape of the device. The materials and construction are commendable, in classic Apple style, from this point of view you can't really say anything about the Cupertino company.

Going back to the smartphone, however, we find ourselves aesthetically identical to an iPhone 6, a device launched 4 years ago. There is little to say about it. iphone 8 plus has dimensions exaggerated and anachronistic if we consider the diagonal of the screen. Even considering only devices with a 16:9 screen, therefore excluding the various S8, G6 or the iPhone 10 itself, the dimensions are excessive: we are talking about more than 200 grams of weight and the borders around the screen are really important as you. can be seen in the photos.

All this makes even one-handed use difficult, thankfully, however, the accessibility feature that stays on iphone 8 plus.

Screen, audio and multimedia: 8

Also regarding the screen iphone 8 plus we find the same panel of the iPhone 7 Plus with a diagonal of 5.5 inches and resolution Full HD. The quality is always the same, excellent and with colors that are very faithful to reality, as we know it is an IPS and the technology in question has already reached its limit. A small novelty, however, is the True Tone: it is a function extracted from the iPad capable of adjusting the colors of the panel depending on the ambient light, so we will see slightly warmer tones when we are indoors with little light, and colder. in direct sunlight.

Brightness and visibility in sunlight are good, but not the best in today's smartphone market, but nothing to complain about.

The new iphone 8 plus it has a dual speaker, one positioned at the bottom and the other frontally under the ear pod, just like the 7 Plus. The audio, however, has improved slightly: it's now more full-bodied and a bit richer in bass.

Camera: 9

To look at the classic numbers the cameras of iphone 8 plus seem to remain unchanged, in reality the quality is slightly different: the two sensors remain from 12MPwith the main one having an F1.8 aperture and the secondary one having an F2.8 aperture and with 2x optical zoom capability without quality loss.

There photo quality It is at the top, during the day the colors are reproduced perfectly and the light management is excellent, the panoramic photos have good definition and the aperture helps to obtain an excellent natural bokeh effect. The software then helps to make everything closer to perfection thanks to automatic HDR and live photos: in this sense, with iOS 11 Several functions have been added thanks to which we can create loops or long exposure photos thanks to the use of live photos.

The "old" iPhone 7 Plus, at night, distanced itself a bit from current camera phones, with iphone 8 plus this gap has been closed and it is now a question of details. Although the aperture remains unchanged, the new sensor manages to give a little more satisfaction in terms of the definition of the elements affected by low light. Wanting to be picky, in some conditions the noise is too present compared to other smartphones. However, what is most surprising is the color management and of the scene, always very faithful to what we see with our eyes, even in quite difficult conditions.

The second sensor, as always, only works in certain light conditions given the rather high aperture: if you're not outdoors and during the day, the iPhone will crop the image with 2X zoom, instead of activating the other sensor. The portrait function does not seem to have suffered any particular shock, also in this case excellent results can be obtained with an effect digital bokeh really very nice, but only in good light conditions. However, it must be said that the software with this feature works better than many other smartphones that offer it.

Another novelty of the new iPhone is the function portrait lightning, still in beta (and it shows). Let's start at the beginning: with this new feature you can have effects in portrait mode that simulate studio lighting, to apply in real time or after taking the photo. The first 3, namely "natural light", "photo studio light" and "edge light" will only change the light on your face. The other two, "stage light" and "single stage light", will darken the background to make the subject in the foreground stand out, and this is where the problems arise: since the feature relies on the blur obtained with the second camera, often the garnishes are far from perfect.

in the classic portrait mode everything is less noticeable and the software makes up for it, with these effects, however, the results are often disastrous. On average 1 in 6 photos will also be usable for social media only, but in this case the result is really good: a feature that has good potential but has been postponed until it's out of beta.

There frontal camera It's still the same, it's still very good and the best in terms of the details of the faces. It sins a bit in terms of the wide angle but it makes up for it with the excellent front flash made with the screen.

In the video sector there are interesting developments thanks to recording on 4K and 60fps already slow motion a 1080p and 240fps. Unfortunately, it is possible to activate these two options only using the new HEVC format, which is not yet supported by many applications, but it does not matter, the iPhone is currently the only smartphone that records with these values. Thanks to the optical and digital stabilization you will have a small video camera in your hands, Apple has gone one step further than its competitors when it comes to video.

Battery and Autonomy: 9.5

the battery of iphone 8 plus and of 2675mAh, lower than that of the iPhone 7 Plus (2900mAh). It doesn't matter, thanks to the 10 nanometer processor and the optimization of the operating system, autonomy is really at the top: we can easily end the day with intense use, while used in a calmer way we can also reach a day and a half.

programs: 9

The new iphone 8 plus comes with iOS 11 already installed, a version of Apple's operating system that adds some interesting new features that we have already summarized in a previous video. It completely changes the control center that is now full screen and customizable to a large extent from the settings, thanks to different widgets that can be added or removed. There is the new notification center that calls the lock screen with the ability to go to the widget section or directly to the camera. There are also new effects on live photos that we have already told you about and the new compression format for photos and videos.

In the video above you can see all the news of iOS 11it remained unchanged from the first beta version.

In conclusion

How to conclude this iPhone 8 Plus review? In short, it is a product that makes little sense in the range of Apple devices today: the iPhone 8 is the iOS smartphone for traditionalists, those who are used to the usual iPhone and do not want to change, or for those who want to save a few hundreds of euros; The iPhone X, for its part, is the authentic novelty of Apple, for those who want the most and are not afraid of the technological step or spending a large amount.

The new iphone 8 plus is in limbo: with a starting price of 949 euros (in the 64 GB size) cannot be defined as a device for those who want to "save money" and demand an iPhone, but it is not the choice of "traditionalists" either, so in all probability it will be Apple's smartphone. to sell less during 2017 and 2018.