iPhone 11 Long Term Review (1 Year Later) By TecworkZ

"Music" If you are in the market for a new iPhone, this is the one you should be getting. Not the iPhone 11 Pro, not the 11 Pro Max, not the new iPhone SE, but the iPhone 11. And in this video, I am going to tell you why. Hey guys its Sagar from Tecworkz, and let’s get started with this video. I like to take my time reviewing these smartphones because, with a new product, there is a honeymoon period, where almost everything feels just right. And we tend to overlook some of the wrinkles that are clearly visible after a while.

It also gives the phone some time to mature, both physically as in show us its durability and how it withstands to daily wear and tear, and give the software some time to fix some of the minor bugs, that are always a part of any new device. In the US there is a $300 difference between the price of the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro. But in India, difference between these phones is almost $525. Making the iPhone 11 the popular choice. And honestly, for the extra price, other than the higher resolution OLED displays, and 1 extra camera at the back, there is not a lot that the Pro’s offer over the regular iPhone 11.2 things that disappointed most people more than anything, when this phone came out, were the lower resolution display, and the measly 5 watt charger in the box. And one of those things still annoy me.

It is the 5 watt charger. This phone supports fast charging via the 18 watt fast charger that comes with the iPhone 11 Pro models, but you will have to buy that charger, and the USB C to lightning cable separately. I have the iPad Pro and the iPhone 11 Pro, so I use that 18 watt charger to juice this phone up, and I don’t think I can ever go back to charging my phone with the 5 watt charger again. About the lower resolution LCD screen that everyone was so angry about, truth is, you won’t even notice that it is not an OLED display. It was the same for the iPhone XR.

Last year I switched from the iPhone XS Max to the iPhone XR, and this year I am using both the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro Max together. But unless I am holding the phone just a few inches from my face (which we never are in normal day to day usage), or I am using a camera to zoom way in on these displays, I can barely tell the difference in resolution. Apple calibrates their LCD panels better than anyone in the industry, and the colour accuracy and viewing angles on this display are simply the best amongst any LCD displays out there. You might hear about the specs and straightaway think that it is inferior to even many of the budget smartphones. But all displays are not created equal, and this one is much nicer than the LCD screens that the budget devices have.

Something that I would say I miss when moving from iPhone 11 Pro to iPhone 11 is the support for HDR playback. Other than that, unless you compare these displays side by side, it is difficult to tell the difference between OLED and LCD, yes Apple’s LCD displays are that good. You don’t have to take my word for it, go to the nearest Apple store or one of their resellers, and check the display out for yourself. You just have to see one to believe it. I think the 6.1 inch is a very comfortable display size. Actually I think a 5.8 inch iPhone 11 at an ever lower price point, would have been the ideal device for my needs. The notch is still there, and it is just as big as it was on the iPhone X.

At first, I was not too bothered by this notch, because the tech that hides behind that notch works perfectly. But having a look at what Android manufacturers are doing with the notch, I’ve started to wish that the notch was a bit smaller. It is not too intrusive, or anything, and just like you forget about the display having slightly lower resolution than other smartphones, you also get used to the notch, and start looking past it in a day or 2. What i miss on this iPhone 11 and even on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, is that 3D touch is now replaced with Haptic Touch. While Haptic touch made way for a bigger battery and lets you use most functions of the 3D touch by long pressing on a particular part, it misses out on some features, and it is not as fast.

I was one of the few people who used 3D touch a lot, so much so, that I made a dedicated video showing what all it can do, and now that it is gone, I miss it. - Design of the iPhone 11 is identical to that of the iPhone XR, with just the addition of the extra camera in a raised square camera module at the back. While it’s not too different, I don’t mind having this design, as it worked pretty well for me. There are now different colour options to choose from. I would have loved to see the matt glass back on the iPhone 11, just like the 11 Pro.

But that process seems to be a bit costly, and including it on the iPhone 11 would have increased its price. - I talked about the durability at the start and I would like to elaborate a bit on that. Like on the iPhone XR, Apple has again used anodised aluminium for the frame of this iPhone 11, which has held up pretty great for me so far. Most of the time I do have a case on it, but every now and then I use it without a case. And I have accidentally banged it against a wall once, but it didn’t even gather a scratch.

This year Apple is using the same best gorilla glass that corning has to offer, for the front and back glass of this phone, as they do on iPhone 11 Pro’s. Which means even the lower priced iPhone 11, gets top of the line protection. Now my iPhone had held up pretty well against the scratches, but I have seen other peoples phone gathering some big scratches, from nothing but carrying them in their pockets. So although Apple says this is the toughest glass, it won’t hurt to use a good tempered glass screen protector. This phone also has better resistance against water.

XR was able to withstand being submerged under 1m of water for 30 min, and the 11 can be submerged in 2m of water for up to 30 min. - Remember, I came to the iPhone 11 after using the iPhone XR for a long time. So the cameras while falling 1 lens short than the Pro’s is still an upgrade for me, both in quality and quantity. While the camera on the iPhone XR was a beast, the ones on the iPhone 11 are even better. Both the normal and wide cameras are same as the ones on the iPhone 11 Pro.

Features like a better smart HDR algorithm, Deep Fusion and Night mode, makes this the best camera at its price. Front camera also gets a bump in resolution from 7 to 12 megapixels, and now you can take normal or wide selfies with it. I have made a very detailed video about the cameras on the iPhone 11, with lot of image and video samples from various lighting situations. Make sure to check that out for a detailed look into the cameras. I will leave card to to it on the top right corner of therein, and also link it in the description section.

Apple is not doing anything too crazy like adding a lot of megapixels, or an absurd amount of zoom to one of its lenses. But whatever they are doing, has been working out pretty well. I just hope they start using physically larger sensors like some of the recent Huawei and Samsung phones. I just want to see what Apple can achieve with that sort of data and their computational photography algorithms. All of that, may be in store for the next iPhones, but on the iPhone 11, we are left with these cameras, and I think they are capable of taking on any of the competing smartphones.

Video performance of the iPhones has been the best for some time now. It is so good, that many times when I am taking outdoor shots, I take a few shots with this phone, and mix them up in the video. And even after watching, no one can differentiate between shots taken with the iPhone 11 and my DSLR. - If you have ever used an iPhone, you know that performance is not one of the things that you have to worry about. iPhone 11 gets the same Apple A13 Bionic Processor as the Pro’s.

So just as you would expect, iPhone 11 can handle anything that you can throw at it. In fact, there are not many apps out there which can fully take advantage of the hardware that this phone packs in. All this headroom means this iPhone 11 is built to last. As and when developers will develop better apps in the future, this phone will be able to run them without any issue. Apple generally provides software updates and support for any phone for 5 years.

So rest assured that the performance of this phone will last far longer than your willingness to use it. Chances are, you might get bored and want to upgrade to a newer iPhone just because it is available, and not because there is some issue with this ones performance. Software and hardware work hand in hand on the iPhones like they do on no other phones. Apple tightly integrates the software and hardware, and keeps most of it under walled gardens, and that’s the reason performance of these iPhones is so good. Everything, right from the processor is designed by Apple, so they know how to get the most out of their hardware via the software, at any given time.

Simplicity of iOS is what attracts most people to iPhones. And if you have more than 1 Apple devices, all of them work together flawlessly. Like with many other devices, there were a few bugs on the iPhone 11 at the launch. But with each subsequent updates Apple has been fixing them, and adding more features to the phone. I think iOS 13 has been Apples buggiest version of iOS till date, and I just hope, they straighten things out on the iOS 14, right from the start.

I know any operating system has its share of bugs, and I am glad that Apple has been on top of fixing them bugs right from the early days on this phone. But I would expect that a huge company like Apple, with its huge program for developers and Beta testers, would iron this bugs out prior to releasing these versions to all the users. Somethings I wish Apple gives us with the next version of iOS, is relatively bug free experience from the start, ability to put some sort of widgets on the home screen. I know I can put some widgets on the left most page, but that is not nearly as convent as having them on your main homepage. I would also wish to have the ability to use multiple apps at the same time.

With the screen becoming bigger, I think we can easily use at least 2 apps at a time, if not more. I would also like for them to add night mode to the ultra wide lens and more importantly, to the front facing camera. And maybe a few more computational photography features to make the cameras even better. I love that with each new update Apple has kept on adding a few new features to this phone. Features like the deep fusion mode, which helps camera take much better and detailed images in indoor light was added later on, and even the option to change the video resolution and frame rate right from the viewfinder, was added to iOS 13 in a later update.

There are lot of more small features that they have kept on adding, so these updates have not just been about fixing bugs. If there is something on the hardware side that I don’t like, it has to be the storage option. I don’t like that these iPhones still start at 64GB, because for price this high, 128GB should be standard. You can obviously pay Apple more and bump up the storage. For the iPhone 11 Pro, after 64GB, you get the 256GB storage option, and in India with the current pricing, you have to pay Rs.14,700 to go from 64 to 256GB. With the iPhone 11, after the 64GB variant, there is the 128GB storage option.

While it costs Rs.5300 to go from 64 to 128GB, if you want to go with 256GB of internal storage, you will have to spend Rs.15,800, which is 1100Rs. more than what you would have to spend on the Pro’s. Which doesn’t make any sense.64Gb sounds good enough for most people, but if you plan on using this phone for 3 to 4 years, choosing the 128GB storage option is a smarter thing to do. - Last year, I went with the XS Max because I wanted the battery on my iPhone to last me an entire day, but as it turns out, iPhone XR had an even better battery life so I switched to it. Having a battery that lasts for more than a day is important to me, so knowing that this iPhone 11 could last even longer than the XR, was an amazing thing.

My normal day to day usage compromises of an hour or so of making and receiving calls, about an hour or so of video calls, watching YouTube videos for about half an hour, listening to music for about an hour, Constantly checking Twitter and Instagram feeds throughout the day, chatting on iMessage and WhatsApp, and streaming some shows on Amazon Prime, Netflix or Apple TV, and taking a few images and videos here and there. And with this usage, I mostly end my day with more than 30% of the battery still remaining. Sometimes, I need more than a day’s battery on my phone, because I drive a lot, and during those days, navigation apps are used a lot, and sometimes I just forget to carry my charger. So having a battery that can go on for more than a day, is very important on those days. When it is time to charge the phone, I just hate that Apple still included a 5 watt charger with the 11.

I have a few 18watt Power Delivery chargers, and after having used it, I never went back to the 5 watt charger. I also have a wireless charger on my desk and on my bed side table, so sometimes, like when i am scripting for a video or doing some other work at the desk, I just place it on these docs, and it is pretty much fully juiced up when I get off the desk. Now this is definitely the least expensive of all the iPhone that Apple announced at their last major keynote, but it is in no way the lighter iPhone or the less powerful one in any way. So Apple was right to not call it the XR 2 or something like that and just go with the iPhone 11, because this is every bit as powerful as the iPhone 11 Pro’s. With all that being said, for me this iPhone 11 has held up pretty well for the past 6 odd months, and I am sure it is still an amazing phone to buy, even if the next phones are scheduled to launch later this year.

It is an amazing value for money, and offers you most of the features that the 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max do, at a much lower price point. In china Apple has reduced the price of this phone, considerably. So if they follow that by further reducing its price like they did with the iPhone XR last year, iPhone 11 will be even more popular in India, and I am sure people will choose it over the iPhone XR. Most people getting a new iPhone are bound to use it for 2 years or more, so it is only fair to get the one that offers you most of the latest features that you would use, for a reasonable price. So if money is a factor in your buying decision, going with the iPhone 11 over the 11 Pro is the smarter choice.

I’ve mentioned a few times that I am using this with the 11 Pro max, and I think I might sell that one hold on to this iPhone 11, until the next iPhones arrive. If we believe some of the news that is floating around, that could be longer wait than normal this year, due to the outbreak and manufacturing and supply constraints. So if you are looking to buy a new iPhone, and unless you have a ton of money which you don’t need, iPhone 11 is the one to get. I also understand that the iPhone XR is much cheaper than the iPhone 11 in India, and some of you might want to know what do you miss out on, by going that route. So if enough of you are interested, let me know in the comments, and I will make a detailed videos comparing all the aspects between the iPhone 11 and iPhone XR.

Same with the new iPhone SE. iPhone 11 is clearly much better alternative than the newly released iPhone SE. If you want a detailed video telling you why, then again let me know in the comments. How many of you own an iPhone 11, and how has your experience been so far. I would like to know.

I would also like to know if any of you are planing to it the iPhone 11 and what drove you to it. So let’s spark up a few conversations in the comments section. If you plan on getting this phone, please do so from the affiliate links in the description section. If you purchase the phone from those links, you guys are not charged anything extra, but I get a small commission, which helps me make these detailed videos on the channel. That is it for this video guys, please hit the like button if you enjoyed this video, and subscribe to the channel for more quality tech videos like this.

You can also check out some of the other videos from this channel. This has been Sagar, and I will catch you guys in the next video. Take care.

Source : TecworkZ