iPhone 11 Pro Max One Year Later - Better than the 12 Pro Max?? By JSL Review

What is going on everyone Jason here, and today I want to take one last look at what will for sure go down as one of my favorite iPhones of all time, the iPhone 11 Pro max. Now, if you guys follow the channel, you'll know that I did get my hands on the new iPhone 12 Pro max a fantastic phone, but I did end up ultimately returning it. If you guys want to watch that video and find out why you could click on the card in the right hand, corner to check it out and honestly, my experience with that phone in many ways made me wonder why I enjoyed the 11 pro max so much more and why I believe it's still one of the best options consumers can go for in 2021. So today I'm going to be doing a one-year later review of this phone, particularly in the context of comparing it to the new 12 pro max in case you're, on the fence between both devices. Now, before we jump into this review, if you're new here, I'm basically the guy who tests out the newest and most popular tech out there before you buy them to make sure that you're informed and don't make any purchasing mistakes, that said would really appreciate it. If you give this video a thumbs up, it really helps me out and of course, if you want to stay up to date with all the coolest tech devices and toys make sure to subscribe to the channel, so you don't miss out on anything.

So the first major takeaway one year later with the 11pro max, is this. This is still a gorgeously put together device. This was the first year that apple debuted, this frosted glass material, and it's held up incredibly over time. I love how it completely repels fingerprints the way that it catches the light with this satin finish. It just gives the iPhone a much more luxurious, look and feel the stainless steel frame is one of my favorite parts of the phone.

It has a darker finish with this midnight green color that I went with here, and not only does it feel great in the hand, the polished finish adds just enough bling without it coming off gaudy or overdone, and it's no surprise that apple continued using these two design elements in the new 12 pro max. It also uses stainless steel, but it does have more of this mirror finish this time. Furthermore, it also has a lovely frosted glass back panel, which looks particularly nice in this new midnight blue and even though the 11 is slightly smaller and doesn't have the flattened frame. That's liked by so many I'm standing firm in my opinion that this rounded design, dated as it may be, is way more comfortable for the max variant of the iPhone it's much easier to grip and has a more natural feel in hand and sure the flat edges on the 12 pro max look better. But it is more cumbersome because of its larger size and weight, and it may seem odd, as they are so similar in terms of design.

But I had a noticeably more comfortable time using the older 11 pro max, and it's still a fantastic phone to hold and look at today and I think, a cornerstone of what makes this phone so great from a user standpoint. Is the 6.5 inch OLED display it's a beautiful panel that makes content consumption extremely enjoyable. It supports HDR content, which is great for all of you, who use your phone to watch a ton of videos, and it's probably my favorite phone to game with, given how much screen real estate that you have and when you compare it to the newer model again, you're not going to really see much of a difference at all. The 12 pro max uses the same super retina, Dr OLED display with virtually the same specs and resolution, and the only difference is that it's slightly larger and that might sound nice on paper. But when you factor in a larger heavier harder to hold body, you really start getting into the territory of diminishing returns when talking about design.

At the end of the day, the eleven pro max to me hits that sweet spot of giving you all the large phone benefits. Consumers are looking for in a package that doesn't interfere with the user experience and really the same could be said about the performance on this phone. One year later, I've had zero issues with lag or hiccups with day-to-day phone navigation, and it's probably one of the smoothest phones for spec intensive gaming. Even with the latest software updates, there hasn't been a single area of slowdown that I've noticed now. That's not too surprising, as apple silicone and iPhones have a reputation for being the best in the business when it comes to future proofing.

So I don't see the 11 pro max slowing down anytime soon and yes, the 12 pro max does come with the even beefier a14 bionic, no doubt more powerful than its predecessor, but at this stage you're really not going to see much of a difference at all when it comes to day-to-day performance. Ironically, an area in which I really feel the 11 outperforms to 12 is battery life. The battery life on this phone was the best by a far margin when it first came out and even a year later, I get more screen on time with the 11 pro max than I did with the 12. It may be because the display is not as power hungry, and it doesn't have to support 5g, but I still have to actively work at draining a full battery in one day, which I often can't do and to me, it's still the best iPhone for power users. Now one could argue that the primary performance difference is not going to be in the mundane day-to-day uses, but rather with the phone's cameras- and I will say most of the quote-unquote differences between the 11 pro max and the 12 is gonna, be with the camera hardware and features, but you're going to see that even here, it's not going to be too much.

The front-facing cameras are near identical in terms of hardware, and it's not surprising to see that the image quality is also virtually the same. Now. The 12 pro max, in my opinion, does dynamic range a little better, but nothing that, I would say, is 90 day both do a solid job with Portugal, shots and overall, the selfies come out fantastic on either device when it comes to the cameras on the rear, they both have a triple camera setup, one primary wide angle, an ultra-wide and a telephoto zoom. Now the zoom lens on the 12 pro max does punch in slightly more, but not by a significant amount and to me the big thing apple did with the 12 is equipped it with a larger main sensor. It's the largest sensor to have ever been on an iPhone which should make for a cleaner image, particularly in low light conditions.

Plus it has a feature called sensor shift stabilization, which should, in theory, give you sharper images and smoother handheld video. Now, when you compare still images, you're going to be hard-pressed to see a difference, both process colors really well and both have stellar dynamic range, even in low light conditions. I wouldn't say that the 12 pro max has a noticeable with the naked eye type of edge here. So it's great to see that the level of image processing that the 11 pro max is able to accomplish is still very much up to part. What the newest and most advanced iPhones can do and there's no doubt that you're still going to be able to get class-leading image quality with this older device.

Now, when it comes to video, the tone pro max does have the ability to shoot 4k and Dolby Vision HDR, while the 11 can only take advantage of extended HDR processing, and I will say that the video on the 12 is superior as it is by far the best video that you can get out of any phone right now. The dynamic range of footage you can get is truly mind-boggling, considering that this is coming out of a phone, but the video quality coming out of the eleven pro is still pretty superb. Now I will tip my head off to the 12 pro max, as the ability to shoot in Dolby Vision is a differentiating feature, but that shouldn't take away from the 11 as the quality is still a class ahead of non-iphone competition. All in all when it comes to camera differences. Yes, I do think that the 12 pro max performs better, but it's going to be really difficult to notice anything significant that would put it definitively ahead of the 11 to most consumers, and that kind of brings me to my last thought around this phone to me, the 11 pro max is still an extremely competitive device going into 2021, even when directly benched against the 12.

Sure. The newer model has novel add-ons like ceramic shield, on the front display and MagSafe capability, and even in the places where more significant upgrades are made. Most of it doesn't translate into a better user experience and when you refactor in the physical design, there's a real question of which phone is better for you. In my opinion, if you already have the 11pro max and are thinking about upgrading to the 12, I would seriously reconsider you're not going to gain much in terms of user experience and there's potential that you will actually enjoy it less due to the uncomfortable design. If you are committed to upgrading, I would check out the normal 12 pro, which is ultimately the phone.

I ended up going with this year and I think it's the best choice available. The physical design works way better for a phone with these dimensions and though it is smaller and not as immersive of a content consuming experience, it's still quite enjoyable and in many ways the better ergonomics makes up for the smaller screen. Now, if you are committed to getting yourself a bigger iPhone this year- and you don't already have the 11 pro max, I would very much consider it. You could probably scoop it up for way cheaper, and it's still a very capable, very high-end phone. That is an absolute joy to use.

It may not be the newest iPhone on the block, but the 11 pro max has a proven track record and a solid reputation, and it's still one of my favorite phones in 2021. Okay, that's about it for this review, don't forget to leave me a thumbs up if you guys found it useful again. I'd really appreciate it check out these reviews of the 12 pro max and the regular 12 pro if you're looking for more. Let me know your thoughts below, and I'll see you guys in the next one. You.

Source : JSL Review