The Truth About The iPhone XS Max: 2 Months Later By SuperSaf

(Bright upbeat music) - What's up guys! Saf here on SuperSafTV and this is my full review of the iPhone XS Max after using it for over two months. Now although in this video I'm going to be talking about the iPhone XS Max pretty much everything also translates over to the iPhone XS which is very similar apart from slight differences, so do bear that in mind. And a lot of you guys will also know that in my full reviews I don't go over specs. Specs have been covered in my boxing video which you can check out in the cards. In this video I'm simply going to be talking about my experience, what I like about the iPhone XS Max, what I don't like about it, and what I think can be improved. Right so let's initially start off with what I like most about the iPhone XS and XS Max and that is the cameras.

This has some of the best cameras on the market right now and we've got a big improvement compared to last year and that is thanks to Smart HDR. This makes your images look absolutely awesome because of the amazing dynamic range. It's something that I have been ranting about for a long time is that iPhones should just have HDR switched on by default unless you want to switch it off. This is something that lots of others do as well such as on the Google Pixels. And it looks like Apple has finally listened and the XS and XS Max have Smart HDR switched on by default and it works really, really well.

Some people might think it's a bit too aggressive because it does brighten up the shadows quite a bit and this is specially noticeable for the front facing camera where a few people were saying that it's beautygate where it's actually applying a beauty filter. I don't think it's a blanket beauty filter it is brightening up those shadows which gives you more of a flatter image. This is going to come down to your personal preference I don't mind it too much it's not going to give you like a plastic beauty mode that we've seen on many other smart phones. Portrait mode has also been improved, the front facing camera portrait mode actually works really well. I wouldn't say it works as well as something like the Google Pixel 3XL.

And portrait mode in the rear facing camera I absolutely love. It does a great job in terms of edge detection you can also edit the blur after the fact, both the front and rear facing cameras. But one area where I think the XS Max can improve is in low light. When you put it up against some of the competition for low light photography the iPhone XS Max does struggle. And that is because we've got others like the Note9 with a super wide F1.5 aperture and manufacturers like Huawei and Google are offering a dedicated night mode which uses software processing and longer shutter times in order to give you better low light photography. This is something that we don't have on the XS Max and it's unfortunate I hope we will be getting something like that via a software update or maybe for the next version.

Now what about video work, I would go as far as saying that the iPhone XS and XS Max has the best video recording on any smartphone out right now. Colors are great. Dynamic range is once again really, really awesome. We've got great stabilization. And this year finally, finally we have stereo audio recording.

Once again this is something that I've been ranting about for many, many years, because previously iPhones only recorded in mono sound. And compared to lots of other devices which recorded in stereo sound the previous iPhones did not sound good at all. This year it has changed we've got stereo audio recording and it sounds absolutely great on the new iPhones. Now I would recommend shooting below 30 frames a second on the iPhone XS Max and that is because extended dynamic range is not supported at the higher frame rates. So although you can film at 4K at up to 60 frames a second I'd recommend to sticking to below 30 frames a second because the video is going to look so much better.

So all of the videos and images you take on the iPhone are going to be viewed on this display and this display is absolutely awesome. It's one of the best displays out there. We've got all the technology which means blacks are deep, colors are vibrant, and details are also very sharp because of the resolution. Now yes there's a notch but we don't have a bottom chin like we've got on other devices that do have a notch. So it's something that I think you'll get over very quickly.

I was over the notch on the iPhone X after using it for a few days. It's not that much of a big deal and I really do like the display of the XS Max and I also like this larger size. I'm glad we've got this larger size because in terms of physical dimensions the XS Max is very similar to something like the iPhone 8 Plus but you're getting a much larger display because of the smaller bezels. Now within this notch you have a bunch of sensors because of Face ID and Face ID has also improved compared to last year. It's so quick and easy just check this out.

Boom swipe up and you're in. Very quick, and also very, very secure. Now there are certain issues that you're going to be finding if you've not used Face ID before, such as the fact that if your phone is lying flat on a table then you are going to have to lift it up and point it at your face. You're not just going to be able to unlock it like this. Like you would have been able to do if it had a fingerprint scanner at the front.

And also there's certain situations which I've mentioned before these just might affect me personally I'm somebody who uses my phone a lot when I'm in bed and sometimes my face is halfway sunken in the pillow and I just want to quickly look at something but I either have to kind of get up halfway to be able to use Face ID or tap in my password. Neither of which I want to do when I'm half asleep and just want to quickly check my phone. These are very minor issues I don't think they're going to affect people that much Face ID is absolutely great and I do like it. Now let's look at the build and design very similar to what we had last year on the iPhone X although we do have this new gold color now which I personally do really like. And the XS Max also feels really premium because of that stainless steel band and the glass panels in the front and the back.

We've also got IP68 water and dust resistance which is great. Now we do have a camera bump which means (light tapping) when you've got the device flat on the table it is going to rock about, once again not a huge deal but just something to bear in mind. And we only have three color options so we've got the space gray, we've got the silver, and the gold however if you do want to personalize the iPhone a little bit more to your liking then you can always pick up a skin from our channel sponsor dbrand. I've been rocking the black matrix skin and also the marble skin which I think goes really well with the gold version. I'm going to be leaving a link to dbrand skins in the description below if you want to pick up a skin for yourself.

Now speaking of speed and performance the XS Max is one of the fastest devices out there. It's so fast and smooth, I've not really had any issues in terms of lag or anything like that. And I've done some speed test on the XS Max versus some of the competition on the Android side and the XS Max really does hold its own. That is thanks partially to the Apple A12 Bionic chip which is one of the fastest chips out there. But also because of how well the XS Max is optimized for the software.

Of course we do have iOS 12 on here and it works really well with the iPhone XS Max. iOS 12 has also been improved compared to previous generations. I do like it a lot more now, specially in the way of notifications, which is something that I've complained about before. Now that we've got group notifications it's a lot more organized, but I still think it could be better. So what do I mean? For instance if you're within a messaging app and somebody messages you 10 different messages you're still going to be seeing their name 10 separate times on each message.

I mean what is the need of that it's just wasting lots of space on your screen. These should be in grouped or maybe sub grouped so that things are a lot more organized and the space within your notification area isn't taken up by repeated information. There are also other improvements that can be made to iOS. Everything just seems to be buried in the settings. Like for instance if I'm within the camera and I want to change the resolution from 4K to 1080P I can't do that within the camera app I have to go all the way into settings, find the camera app, and then change it there.

That's just too much of a long process. And also icon arrangements, why does everything have to be towards the top? This is a large device, every time I'm going to be using it my hand and my thumb is going to be towards the lower portion of the display, but all my icons are here at the top. So if I've got a page where icons have not filled up the screen I can't move one of these down towards the bottom. It's just not going to let me do that. It's going to snap everything towards the top where my finger or my thumb can not reach.

I really do think the next version of iOS should really address some of these issues. Now lets talk about the speakers very, very good. We've got wider stereo sound so we've got a speaker here in the ear piece and one bottom firing. They do sound really, really good. Yes you can cover the right hand speaker a little bit sometimes when you've got your device in landscape mode.

Not a huge deal though. And of course we don't have a 3.5 mm jack. This is something that we've not had for a long time and it's something that you should've got used to. However this year you no longer get the dongle out of the box, the 3.5mm to lightning dongle. Something you do have to bear in mind it looks like Apple are really going for that whole wireless audio experience and don't want you to use a 3.5 mm jack anymore. Now lets talk about Memojis, you might remember from my review of the iPhone X when it came to Animojis I wasn't too keen.

I mean I found it a bit of a gimmick because I used Animoji for the first few days but then the novelty really quickly wore off. Maybe because I don't like making myself into a dog, or a monkey, or a pig. It's not something that I'm personally into, but Memoji is something that I really like. My Memoji looks so much like me, lots of people have said that it looks more like me than I look like me, it's absolutely awesome and it also tracks really, really well. Memoji is also miles ahead of the competition.

I mean we can just take one look at AR emoji and see how bad that is and how good Memoji is in comparison. But I wish you could use Memoji a bit more within other apps. Say Snapchat, Instagram, et cetera. Yes you can use it within iMessage and for FaceTime but I think it should be a stand alone app which should be integrated with others. So for instance if I'm doing an Instagram livestream I can do that as my Memoji.

That would be pretty cool and I hope Apple can do that in the future we'll see. Now let's talk about the battery life of the iPhone XS Max. It's been pretty good for me over all, it does get me through the day on most occasions. I am a pretty heavy user. I would say that the iPhone XR does have better battery life compared to the iPhone XS Max.

Now that is in part because of the low resolution display that the XR has and personally I would pick a better resolution display over better battery life, that's just me. The iPhone XS Max will get most people through the day without problem and you do have wireless charging. Wireless charging is something that I really, really like. If you don't have a wireless charger and you have a device that supports wireless charging my advice would be to pick up a wireless charger and put it on your bedside table. So when you're about to go to sleep and you want to leave your phone and charge, you don't have to go around trying to find a cable in the dark, you can just drop it on your wireless charger wake up and your phone will be charged.

You will thank me later trust me. But all is not good when it comes to charging on the iPhone XS Max and that is because although it does support fast charging we do not get a fast charger out of the box. Now this is something that I simply don't understand why Apply don't include a fast charger out of the box. Pretty much every other manufacturer includes a fast charger out of the box. Even for devices which are maybe a few hundred pounds or dollars.

On top of that if you do want to buy a fast charger it's going to cost you around 74 pounds. Now I'm hoping that next year the new iPhone may have usb type c maybe and if that is the case then I'm hoping that Apple do include a fast charger out of the box because it really should be included. Especially for a device at this price. And this device starts at around 1,100 pounds or 1,100 dollars. Which is very expensive making this one of the most expensive devices out right now.

And it does go up to 1,450 pounds or dollars if you want to go for the 512 gigabyte version which is of course a lot of money. Now this is something that I think is expected we had 1,000 dollars or pounds for the iPhone X last year. So of course because of the bigger screen and the bigger battery, et cetera you are going to be paying more. And it's something that I think a lot of people were expecting. And if you can afford that price point then I think you will not be disappointed with the iPhone XS Max.

In my opinion it is the best iPhone you can buy right now. So that's what I think about the iPhone XS Max. (upbeat techno music) What do you guys think of the iPhone XS Max? Definitely drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts. I hope you enjoyed this video and found it useful. If you did then do hit that thumbs up button for me.

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Source : SuperSaf