The iPhone 11 Pro Max Is So Good, It's Allowed To Be Boring By MrMobile [Michael Fisher]

- My name's Michael Fisher and every one of my videos comes to your courtesy of an Apple MacBook that I have repeatedly called the worst laptop I've ever used. I've been to the Apple store three separate times to repair the widespread defect in this thing but despite the common nature of that defect, I can't help but feel that I'm just kind of unlucky when it comes to Apple products. So I wasn't really surprised when on the evening before a media trip I tried to sync the newest iPhone the old-fashioned way, with a cable through iTunes. And ended up accidentally breaking it instead. Because of course, I did. Thus begins my iPhone XI Pro Max review.

A journey that starts at a half-unpacked apartment in New York City continues across the country to an impromptu beach-side Genius bar, here in San Diego and stops, spoiler alert, with me keeping this thing in my pocket until the iPhone 12 comes out. Because yeah, it really is that good. (upbeat music) I wanna make plain that I'm not giving Apple a pass for its problems. iTunes has been an interface nightmare since I first started using it in 2004. And the only reason why I tried that cable sync was because I was ripping some clutch CDs from the early 2000s.

Shout-out to Vroom. And I wanted to listen to them on the plane from my iPhone. And when halfway through a software update, iTunes threw an enigmatic error code and the phone froze. It hadn't fixed itself by the time I went to bed or by morning, or by the time I got to the airport. So on my flight to California I booked an appointment at the nearest Genius bar to my hotel.

What I didn't realize was that I'd run into my own personal Genius bar at the media tech summit. This is David Cogen, of TheUnlockr and he became my hero right there on the beach in Coronado. With the cable and laptop and a little bit of know-how, I was iPhoning once again. (people mumbling) (laughs) - Now you might ask why it was so important to me to fix this thing quickly. I mean I've got other Android phones to fall back on.

In fact, for reasons I'll explain later, I'll still prefer Android phones. So why did I need my iPhone back? Well, because it's become a tool I rely on to get work done every day. As some folks say, we reviewers have too niche a job to speak for most people. I mean, I get it. I just flew across the country to learn about microchips and now I'm making a YouTube video before an oceanline and I understand.

But the reasons behind why the iPhone is better for people like me? Traverse that barrier. Make it better for people like you as well. Let's take an app I use about 30 times a day, Instagram. On Android, the same multitude of screen sizes that I adore is what makes Instagram such a mess. On the iPhone, it works better than on any other phone.

And you don't have to use Instagram specifically. A surprising number of iPhone apps are more fully featured or more reliable or they have fewer ads, or they get updated faster. Some of the iPhones' core features too are more mature. Hopping on the Pacific Surfliner to the Motorola event in Los Angeles, I shared a train with GadgetMatch's Michael Josh, who reminded me how seamless the Apple Wallet makes the travel experience by bundling tickets and hotel passes into one app. One app that also works on a wearable.

If you saw my Apple Watch series five review, I don't need to remind you why Apple's doing wearables better than Google either. And well, Android still organizes its notifications much more smartly, the iPhone will deliver those notifications more consistently and quickly. So how does all this relate to the iPhone XI Pro Max, my review device? Well, it takes everything Apple's achieved with the iPhone and amplifies it. Now this is the bigger one. So it's an utter brick even without the dbrand grip case.

It's goofy, pillowy, chunky and clunky. But, in exchange for the size and weight penalty, you get real two-day battery life. Apple still makes you use its proprietary lightning cable if you don't want to wirelessly charge, which is a pain. So when I'm traveling, I often can't be bothered to take that in my bag. But it doesn't matter.

I can leave the phone on my bedside table, wake up the next day, and get a whole other day's use. No mysterious overnight battery drain. No coddling the phone to protect the power. You just use it. For me, that also means using the camera heavily and the iPhone XI Pro series represents a massive leap in both versatility and quality.

Now I (mumbles) the phone's been out almost two months so rather than tell you more things you already know about features like 4k60 video recording, or the ultra-wide camera, or the new night mode, I'm just gonna show you. (cheerful music) As you can see, it's not just about the highlights, those shots of scenes so beautiful even a budget phone wouldn't be able to screw 'em up. It's product photography and challenging high contrast set ups. It's scenes you only get one chance to capture because the sun's going down. And for the first time, the iPhone can actually go head to head with the pixel for low light shooting, bringing out the details while keeping the noise much lower as well.

About the only place Google's Pixel still wins all the time is with selfies. I continue to find the iPhone's front-facing cameras pretty weak. Before we get away from that video, the key reason I was so critically in need of a fixed iPhone for this trip is because I needed it to shoot (mumbles) like this. You know, as much as I love my Fuji and my Sony, it's much easier to carry and capture with a phone than a camera, and when it comes to video, the iPhone is the only smartphone I trust to do a great job. And when I need to transfer that footage, Apple's ecosystem comes into play.

AirDrop lets me do it directly, wirelessly to my MacBook where I can get to work editing right away. (upbeat music) So why wouldn't you want an iPhone XI Pro Max? Well, if you don't care much about your camera and you don't mind charging every night, a 1000 bucks for the Pro and 1100 for the Pro Max is a big ask. Particularly when you can snap up an iPhone XI for 700 or an iPhone Xr for 600, or a bunch Android phones for still less. And then there's Apple's historic frustrations. Siri is so inferior to the Google Assistant found on Android, it's not even close.

When was the Queen Mary built? (beeps) - Okay, I found this on the web for, "When was the Queen Mary built?". Check it out. (beeps) - When was the Queen Mary built? - The RMS Queen Mary launched on the 26th of September, 1934. - The iPhone's home screen is as boring as it's ever been and Apple's unwillingness to let you customize it is a product of its annoying, presumptuous we know best philosophy. If I wanna download a file to my Android phone, it's the simplest thing in the world to do.

The iPhone obfuscates its file system behind layers of annoying abstractions that change with every app. It does this because the user shouldn't be burdened with that kind of thing, but in trying to make things easier, Apple actually makes them harder. Same with not being able to manually activate night mode in the camera. (mumbles) pixel, I can get exactly the shot I want, no matter what lighting it is. On an iPhone, I have to wait for Apple to give me permission to use the feature I want.

And on the server side, iCloud is frustrating, cumbersome, compared to Google's services, which is why I was trying to do what I thought would be a simple and quick cable sync when I ran into trouble on CD burning party night 2019. Despite those objections though, remember that every piece of tech is a compromise. And the iPhone XI Pro Max strikes the best balance I've seen in a long time. If you're an Apple user, this is the best phone you can buy. And if you've been on the fence about becoming an Apple user, well, this is the year to make the jump.

(upbeat music) if you do snap up an iPhone XI Pro or Pro Max, make sure to give it some protection from the outside world with a grip from my sponsored dbrand. It's made using an advanced shock-absorbing polymer suit, throw it on the deck of the Queen Mary and pick it up and it's fine. It's also got crescent art design to keep the edges accessible and if you don't like the look of my concrete one here, well you're wrong, but you can change it up anyway because customization is what dbrand is all about. Hit the like in my description. This review made possible by an iPhone XI Pro Max retail unit purchased by (mumbles).

A special thanks to Micahel Josh Villaneuva of GadetMatch for a lot of production assistance putting this one together. And be sure to check out his review at GadgetMatch and also a shoutout to Rene Ritchie of Vector. As always, Apple did not receive copy approval rights on this video. That means they're seeing it for the first time right alongside you. Please subscribe to theMrMobile on YouTube if that's the kind of review you'd like to see more of.

Until next time. Thanks for watching and stay mobile, my friends.

Source : MrMobile [Michael Fisher]