New iPhone 8 review. Autonomous work and heating. Hits as it should, but he is deaf and dumb

What are your expectations for iPhone review? There is only one iPhone, which will have to write a separate full review - iPhone X. Everything that came out before was not drawn to the review, to be honest. When the iPhone 7 came out, you could say: "Here, take a review of the iPhone 6s, add here 1 ... 2 ... 3, thanks for your attention, see you next year."

This time everything is the same. In the case of the iPhone 8 plus, I found some changes that don't drastically affect anything, but are worth talking about.

Apple, you have such a big ...

For many years in a row I have been waiting for Apple to make a smartphone with a large screen, but in a more compact body. This year the "miracle" happened, but not in the case of the iPhone 8 plus. Instead, Apple made the iPhone 8 plus even larger than the iPhone 7 plus.

It would seem that it is only 0.2 mm thicker - 7 , 5mm versus 7.3mm for the iPhone 7 plus. And the heaviest is 14 grams - 202 grams, versus 188 grams for the iPhone 7 plus. But, according to a subjective assessment, in direct comparison, this difference tactile increases tenfold. Perhaps I am so suspicious, but it seems to me that the maximum size barrier of the iPhone 7 plus was right next to it, but here it was increased. Not much, but increased, and it hits the perception. It is clear that this is a matter of habit, but I cannot ignore the fact that the aluminum case seems more practical to me. Aluminum is cold, itself iPhone smartphone 7 plus feels thinner, significantly thinner.

But that doesn't mean the iPhone 8 plus isn't pretty. I was holding all three models in my hands. In the new color, I suddenly liked gold, which actually looks more like baked milk, and silver, which is closer to white - under the glare of the sun and light. Black is none. My subjective assessment. Looks cheap, I wouldn't take such a color for myself. The smartphone in gray color turned out to be faceless.

Another point related to accessories - an increase in thickness by 1 millimeter did not affect compatibility with most cases. This is a lifesaver for both merchants and users. There were a couple of cases when the ultra-thin Chinese case from the iPhone 7 plus got off the 8 plus, but this is rather an exception to the rule.

Behold at the root

The screens of these smartphones now have a big difference. This is due to True Tone. The first 10 minutes seem to have gotten worse, but it is not. With True Tone, the picture is warmer and softer, after a week of using the iPhone 8 plus, the picture on the iPhone 7 plus begins to seem very cold and uncomfortable in places. Lost the habit.

True Tone is also very indicative on the street. At the time of testing the cameras on the iPhone 8 plus and Galaxy Note 8, I noticed that the iPhone 8 plus screen adjusts much better to ambient light. The picture on the screen, when taking a photo on the street, looks much cooler and more distinguishable on the iPhone 8 plus than on the Galaxy Note 8.

It is clear that this is a subjective opinion, it is clear that the screens are basically different for these devices, but here I give credit to Apple - the technology works and works with a bang.

Hits as it should, but he is deaf and dumb

The next notable change has affected the sound of the smartphone. Moreover, the sound of the iPhone 8 plus has become better in general in all scenarios. Firstly, the external speakers became much louder, while the sound remained clear. Secondly, the sound in the headphones has also changed - I'm talking about the Lightning digital output, I don't see any special changes over Bluetooth. Third, the voice speaker sound is significantly better than the iPhone 7 plus.

IPhone 8 plus now has a speaker that sounds even louder and clearer when speaking Samsung Galaxy S8 +, and is approximately at the same level as the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Few people paid attention to this, but I think it is important.

And the sadness is, of course, the quality of the sound recording. The iPhone has it really bad. I record vlogs on my iPhone and Galaxy S8 every day, and I mother Apple every day for that. The difference is strong. Indoors or in a car is still tolerable - on the street, the sound recorded on iPhone microphonewhich year merges. And I follow this very closely, often listening to the quality of the recording in headphones.

Of course, the same Xiaomi Mi 6 and any other Chinese, things are even worse than the iPhone, I also checked this. But I would like Apple to solve the issue with the microphone on the iPhone. Let's see what the iPhone X will have, although I have no particular illusions.

The camera is the main reason!

The smartphone camera is still much better. For a week I tried to understand how Apple improved the quality of shooting on the iPhone, in every possible way I tried to convince myself that the camera does not shoot much better. But, having conducted a comparative test of the iPhone 8 plus and the Galaxy Note 8, I still admit that the iPhone 8 plus camera has become a cut taller in low-light locations. Video at 4k / 60fps is fantastic for a smartphone. Slow-motion FullHD / 240fps too. Here you can see, here is another comparison, only purely with. And here is a video where I show how these smartphones shoot video ...

The new function of portrait photos, with different lighting, requires you to have a decent knack and, most importantly, perfect lighting. If there is even a small hint of shadow on or near the object, the photo will be like a piece you know what. But if you are good at photography and know how to find the right locations with perfect lighting, the "wow" effect is guaranteed.

The operating time of the smartphone, in my opinion, has not changed at all. Except for iOS 11, which can cut off a piece of charge for unforeseen reasons, right before our eyes. Performance ... Well, what can I say, the iPhone 7 plus has not yet caught up with any Snapdragon 835 in terms of optimization and performance, which, by the way, is also a monster, but the A11 Bionic is a hell of a break into space.

Now I understand what Jony Ive meant when he told everyone in an interview that Apple has the best silicon chip engineer in the world, and Intel and Qualcomm are not even close. I would not be surprised if in the near future the processor for Macbook and iPhone is the same processor. And maybe the iPhone itself will be able to deploy a full-fledged macOS on the hump of some kind of docking station. While I'm sure it can technically already, it's just not the time for such a turnaround.

Should I buy the iPhone 8 plus? The devil only knows. If you are satisfied with the form factor and size - definitely buy. I even know people who are in love with its size. These are people whose right thumb is the size of my ankle. I won't buy, I'll wait for the iPhone X, its dimensions are what I have been waiting for from Apple for 4 years.

The premiere of new iPhones is always a celebration. And it doesn't matter what exactly Apple showed - its new products are always hotly discussed, and even by those who, as a rule, are not interested in technical innovations. But if opinions are usually divided into typical "cool, I want!" and "well, no, Apple is not the same," then this time everything is a little more complicated. It turned out that many did not understand why the iPhone 8 is called that way, and not the 7S. In addition, people were perplexed: why do they even need an iPhone 8, which differs little from the model of the previous generation, if soon after it comes the iPhone X - a fundamentally new gadget in the spirit of the times. The question that I heard from literally every acquaintance sounded something like this: "Well, take the iPhone 8 or wait for the X?" But there is no definite answer to it and cannot be. I would, of course, wait and take the iPhone X, but after getting to know both "eights" I can say that there are many reasons for buying them right now. Do you remember how well you started? It was a smartphone in the old design, but with a new camera and new hardware. The current iPhone 8 essentially plays the same role - the unchanged form factor that many have become accustomed to, the new hardware base with all that it implies, but the old price.

In general, the iPhone 8 will somehow be in the shadow of the iPhone X, but it has already gone on sale, while the “ten” is guaranteed to be in short supply until the beginning of next year (if it ever hits the shelves in 2017). Well, let's try to take a sober look at the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus and evaluate how good these devices are on their own, without comparing them with the upcoming flagship.

Specifications

Design, ergonomics and software

Perhaps the main news is that in iPhone design 8 hasn't changed - the bezel looks exactly the same as on the iPhone 7. The most notable innovation in the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus is the glass surface on the back. Last time this was in the iPhone 4 / 4S, and since the fifth generation of smartphones, the company has used metal cases with one exception - the iPhone 5C.

The return to the glass back is due to the possibility of wireless charging - it was impossible to implement it with a metal panel. Or Apple simply failed to do so.

The frame around the perimeter of the case is still made of aluminum, painted in the same color as the case. By the way, there are three color options again - gold, silver and "space gray". The latter could be conventionally called black, but against the background of the true black Galaxy Note 8, the new iPhone does not look dark enough. In my opinion, this particular shade is the most pleasant, but from a practical point of view, white or gold should be preferred - fingerprints are not so noticeable on light glass. And they remain in decent quantities, despite the oleophobic coating.

The arrangement of the elements remained unchanged. The top edge is completely empty. Below is the Lightning connector, and next to it is the slot for one of the speakers and microphone. The mini-jack, which was located on the bottom in the iPhone 6 and 6S, is gone again. And Apple, it seems, is not going to change itself.

The left side contains two buttons for volume control and a convenient mute switch. By the way, I would really like all manufacturers imitating Apple's design to pay less attention to the overall look and look more closely at such trifles. Until now, very few Android smartphones can offer the same simple and quick way to mute the sound. Finally, on the right side there is a power button and a SIM card tray. Yes, there is still only one SIM card, and there is no memory expansion slot. This is where Apple remains true to itself, too.

The fingerprint reader is still in the center button below the screen and works exactly the same as on the iPhone 7. At least I didn't notice any difference in speed or accuracy. Well, those who have not dealt with the "sevens" should be reminded that the physical home buttons in iPhones no longer. In the iPhone 7 and 8, this is a small touchpadpressure-sensitive design for a crisp tactile response. Well, in the iPhone X this element will not be at all, as well as the fingerprint scanner itself.

Protection against dust and moisture remains the same as in the iPhone 7/7 Plus - IP67 standard. This means that the smartphone will remain fully functional after a half-hour submersion under water to a depth of one meter. But a drop on a hard surface, as the authors of the first crash tests on YouTube found out, a glass case withstands worse than a metal one. So I would immediately recommend getting a cover or at least a bumper. Even the one offered by Apple itself will do. And by the way, cases for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are ideal for eights, and their choice is huge now.

I usually had no questions about the operation of Apple operating systems, but iOS 11 is a completely different case. This is the rawest and most buggy iOS in the history of the platform. And if it can still be used somehow on the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, then in the case of the iPhone 7 Plus everything is very bad. From the lock screen and notification center, widgets to control playback are constantly disappearing. And if in the standard audio player you can at least pause, then with the proprietary Podcasts application and the popular Vox player this does not work at all. Navigation applications periodically hang tightly, and the smartphone itself refuses to connect to long-familiar wi-Fi networks... In general, the days of total superiority of iOS in terms of stability are in the past. All this, of course, will be corrected in the next updates, but the sediment will remain.

In general, iOS 11 pleases with a large number of new features. For example, I really like the new panel quick accessthat slides out from below. All elements are now located on one screen (horizontal scrolling has been completely abolished), and 3D Touch is used to work with them. With a strong press, you can now adjust the power of the flashlight, select the camera mode for quick launch and include an advanced widget to control playback.

The problem of eternal scarcity free space for owners of basic iPhone models, it was partially solved by the introduction of new formats for storing photos and videos. Still images are saved in HEIF, which takes up half the space and is superior in quality to JPEG. And for video, the HEVC codec is used. At the time of writing this review, Lightroom did not know how to work with the new photo format, but upon export, all images are converted to JPEG on the fly. And of course, the iPhone still can shoot in rAW format... True, this requires a separate application.

The new generation of the apple line apple smartphones in 2017 received the names: iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, instead of the expected - iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus. Why did it happen? Nobody knows. Perhaps Apple has decided to change the tradition of naming its smartphones and who knows if we will see another S-series, some kind of iPhone. In the meantime, let's check out the new features and other features that make the iPhone 8 unique and cool compared to other smartphones in 2017. Let's start reviewing the iPhone 8, let's go!

Appearance and design

The iPhone 8 design remains unchanged. This is the same iPhone 7, only in a glass case instead of an aluminum one. Apple decided not to bother with a new design, but simply focused on new technologies concentrated in the device itself. Thus, wireless charging appeared in the iPhone 8, thanks to the back panel of the smartphone, which is made entirely of glass. The glass transmits waves, which can charge the battery in the device. An aluminum cover would not provide the same result.

So, the front and back of the iPhone 8 is made up of tough, scratch-resistant glass that's covered in an oleophobic coating. And what about the side, at the end? The iconic aerospace-grade aluminum metal frame we remember from the iPhone 4 / 4S. So the design went back to 2010 when the Quartet was released. Strangely, Apple abandoned such an idea earlier, switched to metal monolithic cases and now it's back to the old one. Are the ideas of innovation really over? As for the rest, the iPhone 8 remains the same as the iPhone 7. The Lightning connector was not cut out, although they did wireless charging. It will be possible to charge from it too. The 3.5 mm audio jack was not returned back, but this is obvious. All buttons and holes are in place.

the iPhone 8 received only three colors: black, silver and gold. The colors “rose gold” and black mat are gone. At the same time, the standard colors have also changed, for example: black - similar to Space Gray; and gold - more reminiscent of the color of Champagne, which was painted "like" gold cases for the iPhone 5, at one time; silver color - became brighter, it became lighter. Well, it's good that Apple decided to make the iPhone 8 in only three colors - like before.

Apple claims that the glasses are very durable, that such glasses have never been found in iPhones! And I don’t know if we can believe it or not, but I think we will all find out soon when we get new iPhones and start dropping them. I remember the days of the iPhone 4, as every second owner had a “beautiful” spider web on the back. And also, thanks to the durable and tightly welded body, the iPhone 8 has received an IP67 degree of protection against moisture according to the IEC 60529 standard and, like the iPhone 7, the iPhone 8 can be washed under the tap. Of course, I do not recommend doing this, I would not do this myself, but the fact that dropping the iPhone 8 into the water - we have some kind of guarantee that it will work as before.

Display

Thanks to the design retained, the iPhone 8's display hasn't changed much. It remains the same as in the iPhone 7. Except for some internal nuances. The new display is based on lCD technology IPS, thanks to which the viewing angle has become wider, and the maximum brightness has increased to 625 nit. Also noted is the support for the DCI-P3 color space, which gives more accurate color reproduction and support for the HDR10 standard.

The iPhone 8 has a 4.7-inch display at 326 ppi, while the iPhone 8 Plus has a 5.5-inch display at 401 ppi. And, of course, 3D Touch technology, without which you can't go anywhere, is a useful and crown feature of the iPhone. The most important innovation of the iPhone 8 display is the introduction of the True Tone function, as in the iPad Pro. The color temperature of the display adjusts to the ambient light, making our eyes less tired from reading or playing games. Previously, this effect was achieved through a feature in iOS, and now it is built into the hardware level.

Iron

CPU

iPhone 8 is equipped with the top-end 6-core A11 Bionic processor, which is made using a 10nm process technology. Also, the iPhone 8 has a built-in M11 motion coprocessor and a neural engine. The iPhone 8 GPU has 3 cores. Previously, there was some kind of stability in terms of increasing power in iPhones. Now the performance of hardware in iPhones is growing every year. For a long time, iPhone processors had 2 cores, and only in the recent iPhone 7 it was decided to deliver 4 nuclear percent. And a year later, the iPhone 8 has 6 cores. But this is not surprising, because every year in new iPhones there are many serious innovations that need to be processed somehow. That's what multithreading is for.

RAM

The RAM in the iPhone 8 is 2 GB, and in the iPhone 8 Plus is 3 GB. No change here. The predecessor had everything the same. The new hardware will be able to handle well the device's camera, wireless charging, and overall device operation. The hardware of the eighth iPhone will be able to run the most advanced and resource-intensive games. I would rather like GTA 4 on iOS.

Persistent memory

the iPhone 8 has a minimum of 64GB of storage and a maximum of 256GB. The iPhone 7 had 32, 128 and 256 GB, the question is: where did the variation with 128 GB of memory go and why are only two options available? Apparently this is another departure from Apple's tradition this year.

Battery

The lithium-ion battery of the iPhone 8 received a capacity of 1821 mAh, and the iPhone 8 Plus - 2675 mAh, from which you can see that the battery capacities have become smaller than their predecessors. Why is that? Everything is simple. No one in the world, not even Apple, worries about the autonomy of devices. They do not want to increase the size of devices in order to cram a more powerful battery there. Therefore, it remains to wait for the development of ultra-capacious batteries for smartphones. However, there is no need to be upset. iPhone 8 will last as long as iPhone 7. There are two days. This happens due to the energy efficiency of the A11 processor and the high-quality optimization of iOS 11.

What's more, Apple has provided the iPhone 8 with fast charging. This means that somewhere around 50% of the battery charge can be achieved in just 30 minutes. And a full 100% charge is enough for 40 hours of listening to music on a bluetooth headset, 12 hours of surfing the Internet via Wi-Fi and 14 hours of talking on the phone via a bluetooth headset.

Wireless charger

Finally, the iPhone has got wireless charging. True, this is no longer an innovation, because today there are already smartphones that charge contactlessly. Apple was late in this regard.

This technology works thanks to the glass body. Aluminum does not transmit the necessary waves to charge the battery, so previous iPhones made of aluminum could not support this technology. One thing is not clear why it was not already getting rid of the Lightning connector? He's already superfluous. This is not Steve Jobsky. Although everything becomes clear when you realize that Apple does not put wireless charger in the kit. To use contactless charging, you must first purchase it separately. (No comments)

IPhone 8 cameras

Main

With every new generation of iPhone, Apple has improved its camera. And the iPhone 8 is no exception. In the past, the iPhone 7 has built in a dual camera that provides depth and blur, as well as 2x optical zoom. This year, Apple has only slightly improved the aperture to f / 1.8 in the main camera and f / 2.4 in the second (tele) camera. And it's a shame, because the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 in 2017 has an aperture of f / 1.6, which means a small loss in parameters from Apple. The iPhpne 8 camera has everything modern featuresthanks to which she can create great pictures. True Tone Quad-LED flash with Slow Sync function, six-element lens, BSI sensor, hybrid IR cut filter, autofocus with Focus Pixels technology, and noise reduction.

Main video

The video camera in the iPhone 8 can record video:

• 4K at 24, 30, or 60 fps
• 1080p HD video recording at 30fps or 60fps
• 720p HD video recording at 30fps

The camera also supports optical image stabilization during video shooting, optical zoom and 6x digital zoom (only for iPhone 8 Plus). Cool feature - take photos while recording 4K video at 8MP resolution.

Frontal

The front camera has not changed, the same 7 MP, ƒ / 2.2 aperture, BSI sensor, Retina Flash and automatic image stabilization. It seems that the cameras have not changed at all - that the iPhone 7, that the iPhone 8 - the same will take pictures.

Brief technical characteristics of Apple iPhone 8

Display: 4.7 ″ and 5.5 ″ in Plus, LCD IPS, 3D Touch
Processor: A11 Bionic, 6 cores
Coprocessor: M11
RAM: 2 GB, 3 GB
Own memory: 64 GB, 256 GB
Camera: main - 12 MP, f / 1.8, f / 2.4; front - 7 MP, f / 2.2
Battery: 1821mAh and 2675mAh in Plus
Interfaces: wireless charging, Wi-Fi 802.11ac with MIMO technology, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC

IPhone 8 release date

On September 12, 2017, Apple presented the iPhone 8 to the world in the United States. The release date will start on September 29 in the countries of the first wave.

The iPhone 8 release date in Russia now coincides with the US release date. Starting with the iPhone 7, Russia began to enter the list of countries of the first wave, where sales of new iPhones begin. It will be possible to buy an iPhone 8 in Russia at any mobile technology store.

The iPhone 8 release date in Ukraine is October. Don't wait for the iPhone 8 right away. Usually, always after the presentation, new iPhones appear in Ukraine in a month. It will be possible to buy an iPhone 8 in Ukraine in any large store mobile phones and other smart gadgets.

IPhone 8 price

How much will the iPhone 8 cost? This time, iPhones have risen in price. If earlier a fresh iPhone in the minimum configuration cost 649 bucks, now the price for the iPhone 8 starts at 699 dollars.

IPhone 8 price in USA

• iPhone 8 64GB - $ 699
• iPhone 8 256GB - $ 749
• iPhone 8 Plus 64GB - $ 769
• iPhone 8 Plus 256GB - $ 969

IPhone 8 price in Ukraine

In turn, in Ukraine, the iPhone 8 will cost much more, because of the markup in stores.

• iPhone 8 64 GB - 24500 UAH
• iPhone 8 256 GB - UAH 31,000
• iPhone 8 Plus 64 GB - UAH 27,000
• iPhone 8 Plus 256 GB - UAH 34,000

IPhone 8 price in Russia

The situation in Russia is no better. iPhone 8 will cost as much as it does in the US due to the same in-store markups.

• iPhone 8 64GB - $ 980
• iPhone 8 256GB - $ 1190
• iPhone 8 Plus 64GB - $ 1120
• iPhone 8 Plus 256GB - $ 1330

Prices were calculated at the rate of 58 rubles per dollar.

Conclusion

iPhone 8 is a beautiful smartphone, one might even say that it is the best and most beautiful among all iPhones in their entire history. And it has no equal in power and quality. But somehow it is not clear why Apple decided to change traditions and after the seventh iPhone to release the eighth, and not the 7S. It is also not clear where the third model with medium memory went, why there is a charging connector if there is wireless charging and headphones. Apple is trying to take small steps in terms of innovation, therefore, it loses in recent times to your competitors. What will happen next?

What pleased the iPhone 8, and to a greater extent the iPhone 8+, is the amount of RAM and the improvement in the quality of photos and videos - it's just cool. Sorry, guesses about appearance iPhone 8 refers to the iPhone X, which was also shown at the presentation. OLED technology, Face ID, no Home button, screen size 2436x1125 - so far only in a few copies of the tenth model, which will go on sale in 1.5 years. But in order

The iPhone 8 and 8+ are made of aluminum and glass with a laser structure, which gives the smartphone additional strength and resistance to dust and moisture. Two horizontal cameras are installed. The body is equipped with a Home button.

Three colors: pink, black and dark gray.

IPhone 8 & 8+ displays

Upgraded to HD quality. Each has a built-in cinematic level, a new sensor and filter, due to which light is absorbed 84% higher, better brightness and saturation.

Wireless bluetooth

Equipped with beautiful W3 generation headphones.

Wireless charger

This improvement was made already on this model, which is good news. On the back of the smartphone there is a sensitive sensor with which charging takes place. Apple is already in talks to install such chargers on trains, airplanes, and other devices.

RAM

the iPhone 8, like the 8+, comes with 64 GB and 256 GB of RAM, which is pretty good for a smartphone.

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CPU

The iPhones of these models are equipped with the most powerful and intelligent six-core processor A11 at the moment. It has 2 cores working 25% faster than in previous generations and 4 energy-saving efficient cores.

A dedicated 3D chip is built in for enhanced image processing. He is responsible for:

• elaboration of texture,
• has more pixels,
• and programmed to suppress noise (less blurry photos)

Cameras

The iPhone 8+ has 2 sensors for the backlight and two horizontally positioned cameras. One with a diaphragm 1.8, the second wider than 2.8. There is optical image stabilization. Due to an additional decoder installed in the chip, the camera allows you to shoot photos and videos with a higher frequency - 240 frames / s.

Additional reality

IPhone 8 and 8+ have new and improved gyroscopes and accelerometers.

And also the APKit software, with which you can automatically determine horizontal surfaces and place suitable objects on them, transferring them from games, cartoons to reality. Also, right during the game, you can see the player's statues, or find out what stars are above you simply by turning the iPhone camera to the sky.

Video from the presentation

In general, everything related to images in this brand of iPhone is amazingly beautiful.

Price. When it goes on sale

So, the iPhone 8 with 64 and 256GB starts at $ 699, and the iPhone 8+ starts at $ 799. Model ordering will be available from September 15th. And the purchase will become possible from September 22, 2017.

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Last year, the iPhone X was in the spotlight, and we haven't ignored it: read our articles and. In addition, we told you about the compact model. But next to these two new products, the iPhone 8 Plus faded into the background, which seems to be not quite a flagship, but at the same time cannot boast of the compactness and attractive price of the iPhone 8. However, it would be wrong to completely discount it. Therefore, we decided to use the iPhone 8 Plus in real life and share our impressions of it - both in comparison with the iPhone X and with. But, of course, you will find traditional test results in the article.

Let's take a look at the characteristics of the novelty.

Specifications Apple iPhone 8 Plus

• SoC Apple A11 Bionic (6 cores, 2 of which are high performance and run at 2.1 GHz, and 4 are energy efficient)
• GPU Apple A11 Bionic
• Apple M11 motion coprocessor including barometer, accelerometer, gyroscope and compass
• RAM 3 GB
• Flash memory 64/256 GB
• No memory card support
• Operating iOS system 11
• Sensory iPS display, 5.5 ″, 1920 × 1080 (401 ppi), capacitive, multitouch, support for 3D Touch technologies and Taptic Engine response
• Cameras: front (7 megapixel, video 1080p 30 fps, 720p 240 fps) and rear with two lenses (12 megapixels, optical zoom 2 ×, video shooting 4K 60 fps)
• Wi-Fi 802.11b / g / n / ac (2.4 and 5 GHz; mIMO support)
• Cellular: UMTS / HSPA / HSPA + / DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM / EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), LTE Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, LTE Advanced support
• Bluetooth 5.0 A2DP LE
• Fingerprint scanner Touch ID version 3
• NFC (Apple Pay only)
• Universal Lightning connector
• Supports Qi wireless charging
• Li-polymer battery 2675 mAh, non-removable
• GPS / A-GPS, Glonass
• Dimensions 158 × 78 × 7.5 mm
• Weight 202 g

For clarity, let's compare them with the iPhone 8 and iPhone 7 Plus in order to understand, firstly, what is the difference between the two generations of larger Apple smartphones, and secondly, is there a difference between the two models of the new generation (in addition to size, of course).

The main difference between the larger new iPhone and its younger brother (in addition to the size and display area, of course) is 3 GB of RAM instead of 2 GB. We'll talk about how this affects performance later. As for the comparison with the iPhone 7 Plus, here it is worth paying attention to the emerging 4K 60 fps video recording mode (the "seven" had only 4K 30 fps), as well as to the slightly reduced battery capacity. However, it is too early to draw any conclusions from this - one must look at it in practice.

Well, let's get to know the smartphone live.

Packaging and equipment

In terms of the set, the iPhone 8 Plus is completely identical to its younger brother, the only difference is in size. And in terms of size, it, in turn, is completely identical to the iPhone 7 Plus - so much so that even covers from that will fit.

However, using a case with an iPhone 8 Plus is a dubious idea, because you won't feel like switching to a new iPhone if you had an iPhone 7 Plus before. Of course, the main design innovation is the glass back.

I must say that in addition to the obvious aesthetic advantages, it also has an important practical plus: it is much less scratched than the coating on the iPhone 7 Plus in Jet Black. In less than a year of use, our iPhone 7 Plus Jet Black is already covered with scratches, although the vast majority of this time the smartphone was in the case. In the case of the iPhone 8 Plus, for a month of equally active use in everyday life, no visible damage appeared - not a single smallest scratch, although it was far from always in the case.

At the same time, it is quite obvious that the case reduces the likelihood of breaking the smartphone and allows it to keep its “marketable” appearance longer. So the question of whether to use the cover or not remains open. By the way, Apple has also released new cases for the new iPhones: the photo below shows the iPhone 8 Plus in a charcoal gray leather case.

As for the colors of the smartphone itself, then, as you know, the iPhone 8/8 Plus is sold in three colors - silver, gold and space gray. Pink is no longer in the assortment, nor is Jet Black. But the gold version that we used just gives a noticeable pinkish tint. This is an effect on the amateur, albeit a very curious one. The other two colors are more versatile.

The glass back has another plus (at least Apple claims that is the case): new iPhones support wireless charging. We mentioned this in the review of the iPhone 8, but now we decided to check how this is in practice.

IPhone 8 Plus Wireless Charger

Unfortunately, Apple has not yet released a proprietary AirPower charging station, so you have to use third-party solutions.

iPhone 8 Plus (as well as iPhone 8 and iPhone X) support the Qi standard. This is the most popular wireless charging standard, so if you see wireless charging in the store it will most likely be the right option.

As it turns out, finding inexpensive wireless chargers in retail is not easy. The author went to a number of large chain stores near the central stations of the Moscow metro and everywhere came across bewildered sellers. At first they did not understand what wireless charging was, in principle, then some of them recalled that “it seems that we have, but only for samsung phones”(I had to explain that it would work for the iPhone too), but in the end it turned out that the only option cost about 4000 rubles, and the desire to buy it immediately disappeared.

However, if you go to the sites of the same stores, we will easily find many more attractive offers. Prices start at 1000 rubles. True, charging really needs to be ordered - either with delivery by courier, or for pickup from a store. Apparently, they are not in sufficient demand to put them on the shelves.

So, we decided to try one of the cheapest options - Buro Q5 - and measured how long it takes iPhone charging 8 Plus.

The result was not very happy: in half an hour, a heavily discharged iPhone charges by about 12%. In total, the process will take at least four hours. Here, however, it should be noted that the current strength of the Buro Q5 is 1 A. Of course, there are wireless chargers for 2 A on sale, but there are much less of them than single-amp ones, and their price is from 2000 rubles.

In general, if you want to use a third-party wireless charger, you can do it, and there shouldn't be any problems, but be prepared for a slow recharge, or look for a dual-amp charger and pay much more for it.

Screen

Options iPhone screen 8 Plus do not differ from those of the iPhone 7 Plus: 5.5-inch diagonal, IPS-matrix with a resolution of 1920 × 1080. By modern standards, these are far from record-breaking parameters. However, as we know, screen quality is not determined by resolution alone. On top of that, the manufacturer has implemented a number of interesting technologies in the next generation screens.

The editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections will tell you about the quality of the display. Alexey Kudryavtsev .

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are better than that of the screen (hereinafter simply the Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the turned off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Apple iPhone 8 Plus, then they can be distinguished by their size):

The screen of the Apple iPhone 8 Plus is slightly darker (brightness in photos is 104 versus 113 for the Nexus 7). The doubling of reflected objects in the screen of the Apple iPhone 8 Plus is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (such as glass / air) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense ambient light, but their repair in the case of cracked outer glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (effective, similar to that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are much easier to remove, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 580 cd / m², the minimum - 2.7 cd / m². The maximum brightness is very high and, given the excellent anti-glare properties, the readability of the screen even on a sunny day outdoors will be good. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable value. In the presence of automatic brightness control by the light sensor (it is located above the slot of the front speaker), which is enabled by default. In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider - with it the user sets the desired brightness level for the current conditions. If nothing is changed, then in complete darkness, the brightness drops to 3.0 cd / m² (very dark), in an office lit with artificial light (about 550 lux), the screen brightness is set to 100-160 cd / m² (acceptable), and in very bright environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or slightly more) rises to 670 cd / m² (even higher than with manual adjustment). The result did not quite suit us, so in the dark we slightly moved the brightness slider to the right and for the three conditions indicated above we got 15, 120 and 670 cd / m² (ideal). It turns out that the automatic brightness control function works adequately, and it is possible to adjust the nature of the brightness change to the user's requirements. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering either.

IN this smartphone matrix used iPS type... The micrographs show the subpixel structure typical of IPS:

For comparison, you can see those used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift, even with large gaze deviations from the perpendicular to the screen and without tint inversion. For comparison, we present photographs in which the screens of Apple iPhone 8 Plus and Nexus 7 display the same images, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m² (along the white field across the entire screen), and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 TO.

White field perpendicular to screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.

And the test picture:

The color balance is slightly different, the color saturation is normal. Recall that a photograph cannot serve as a reliable source of information about the quality of color rendition and is provided only for a conditional visual illustration. In this case, apparently due to the peculiarities of the radiation spectrum of the screen, the color balance and brightness of colors in the photographs of the Apple iPhone 8 Plus screen are somewhat different from what is seen with the eye and is determined by the spectrophotometer.

Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens and the contrast remained at a high level.

And the white box:

The brightness at the angle of the screens decreased (at least 4 times, based on the difference in exposure), but in the case of the Apple iPhone 8 Plus, the drop in brightness is less. When deviated diagonally, the black field is lightened to a medium degree and takes on a purple tint. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is about the same!):

And from a different angle:

When viewed from a perpendicular view, the black field uniformity is good:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1270: 1. The response time for the transition black-white-black is 26 ms (14 ms on + 12 ms off). The transition between gray tones of 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes 34 ms in total. The gamma curve, plotted using 32 points at equal intervals in terms of the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 1.81, which is below the standard value of 2.2, so the image is a little lighter. In this case, the real gamma curve significantly deviates from the power dependence:

The color gamut is sRGB:

We look at the spectra:

Such spectra are found in top mobile devices Sony and other manufacturers. Apparently, this screen uses LEDs with a blue emitter and a green and red phosphor (usually a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor), which in combination with special matrix light filters allows obtaining a wide color gamut. Yes, and in the red phosphor, apparently, the so-called quantum dots are used. For a consumer device, a wide color gamut is in no way an advantage, but a significant drawback, since as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photographs and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and there are the vast majority of them) have an unnatural saturation. This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. However, in this case, the color gamut is neatly adjusted to the sRGB borders, and as a result, visually the colors have natural saturation.

This applies to those images in which the sRGB profile is registered or no profile at all. However, the Display P3 color space with slightly richer greens and reds is native to today's top-end Apple devices. Display P3 is based on SMPTE DCI-P3 but has a D65 white point and a gamma curve of approximately 2.2. In addition, the manufacturer claims that since iOS 9.3 color management is supported at the system level, this makes it easier for applications under iOS task correctly display images with the prescribed color profile... Indeed, adding test images ( jpg files and PNG) with the Display P3 profile, we got a wider color space than sRGB (output in Safari):

Note that the coordinates of the primary colors almost exactly coincided with those prescribed for the DCI-P3 standard. Let's look at the spectra in the case of test images with the Display P3 profile:

It can be seen that in this case, no cross-mixing of the components occurs, that is, this color space is native to the Apple iPhone 8 Plus screen.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is good, as the color temperature is close to the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the spectrum of the absolute black body (ΔE) is less than 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, the color temperature and ΔE vary little from shade to shade - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of the color balance. The change in values \u200b\u200bfrom hue to hue indirectly indicates that software color correction is being used. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since there the color balance does not matter much, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This Apple device has the function Night shift, which makes the picture warmer at night (how much warmer - the user indicates). For a description of why such a correction can be useful, see. In any case, when having fun with a tablet or smartphone at night, it is better to lower the screen brightness to a minimum, but still comfortable level, and only then, to calm your own paranoia, turn the screen yellow with the Night Shift setting.

Also, the smartphone has a function True Tonewhich, when enabled, adjusts the color balance to the environment. For example, we activated it by placing the smartphone under LED lights with cool white light, and we ended up with 6.6 for ΔE and 6900 K for color temperature. Under a halogen incandescent lamp (warm light) - the same parameters turned out to be 4.0 and 6100 K, that is, the color temperature became lower. The function works as expected. Note that the current standard is to calibrate display devices to a white point of 6500 K, but in principle, correction for the color temperature of external light can be useful if you want to achieve a better match of the image on the screen with what is seen on paper (or on any medium where colors are formed by the reflection of incident light) under the current conditions.

Let's summarize. The screen has a very high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-reflective properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. It is also acceptable to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, no air gap in the layers of the screen and no flickering, good black stability to deviation of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen plane, high contrast, as well as support for sRGB color gamut (with the participation of the OS) and good color balance. There are no significant shortcomings. At the moment, this is perhaps one of the best displays among all smartphones.

Performance

Like the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, the iPhone 8 Plus runs on the Apple A11 Bionic. It is a 64-bit SoC with 6 cores, of which two are high performance and four are energy efficient. Moreover, at maximum load, all six cores can work simultaneously.

As before, the difference between the iPhone with the Plus prefix in the name is 3 GB of RAM instead of 2 GB for the younger brother. How this affected performance - let's see!

Let's start with browser tests: SunSpider 1.0.2, Octane Benchmark, Kraken Benchmark and. The Safari browser was used. Especially for a more visual comparison, we ran new benchmarks on the iPhone 7 Plus, updating the smartphone OS to the latest version.

As you might expect, the iPhone 8 Plus outperforms the iPhone 7 Plus, and quite confidently. But there is no superiority over the iPhone 8, in these browser tests the difference in total memory does not affect.

Now let's see how the iPhone 8 Plus performs in the comprehensive AnTuTu and Geekbench 4 benchmarks.

Again, it confidently overtakes its predecessor, especially in the Geekbench tests, which measure cPU performance and RAM. But there is no tangible gap from the iPhone 8, and the larger model even lost in AnTuTu. Apparently, the increased amount of RAM does not give a clear advantage in these tests.

The last group of benchmarks is dedicated to GPU performance testing. We used 3DMark, GFXBenchmark Metal, and Basemark Metal Pro, which is specifically designed for devices with Metal technology.

Recall that Offscreen tests are displaying a 1080p picture regardless of the actual screen resolution. And Onscreen tests are displaying an image in the resolution that matches the device's screen resolution. That is, the off-screen tests are indicative from the point of view of the abstract performance of the SoC, and the rest of the tests are from the point of view of the comfort of the game on a specific device.

Judging by the GFXBenchmark, the iPhone 8 Plus is not that much superior to the iPhone 7 Plus, while it lags behind the iPhone 8. But this is quite logical: the lower the screen resolution, the more frames per second the device can show. However, in all tests with a fixed resolution, the iPhone 8 Plus is in the lead, and this is already strange - what ensures such a clear victory over the iPhone 8?

And again, the iPhone 8 Plus outperforms the iPhone 7 Plus, and much more significantly than in the GFXBenchmark. But the difference with the iPhone 8 is already within the range of possible measurement error.

Finally - Basemark Metal Pro.

And here the iPhone 8 is already the leader, for the same reason as in the onscreen tests GFXBenchmark. However, the difference between the devices is not so great, and the advantage of the new products over the iPhone 7 Plus is rather modest (although undoubted).

In general, the iPhone 8 Plus performed at about the same level as the iPhone 8; we did not record a significant effect from the increase in the amount of RAM in our tests. As for the difference with the iPhone 7 Plus, it certainly is, but in different modes it manifests itself in different ways.

Cameras

As before, the difference in cameras between the two iPhones of the same generation is that the Plus has a second lens for optical zoom. As for the comparison with a smartphone of the same size, but of the previous generation, here it is worth paying attention to the emergence of a 4K 60 fps video shooting mode (the "seven" had only 30 fps).

Digital Photo Editor Anton Soloviev commented on the shots on the iPhone 8 Plus and tested the smartphone camera on our test bench.

The camera copes well with shooting even in the evening on a cloudy day and in the wind. The program manages to select the exposure in such a way that the fluttering foliage is not smeared, and small details are not eaten up by noise.

The smartphone has two cameras, like the previous generation Plus. In fact, they differ not only in focal length. In addition, in the G8, Apple decided to remove the dubious zoom and endow the cameras with different functions: the wide-angle camera is proposed to be used for normal shooting, and the tele one - for portrait photography. It's hard to disagree with this move, but we will still compare two cameras under the same conditions.

29 mm	57 mm

It is noticeable that the portrait camera works a little worse: in places it slightly lathers, a little more noise and generally creates a "soft portrait picture". However, for a telephoto lens in this form factor, this is quite acceptable - for sure, they will be brought to a good level someday, as has already been done with wide-angle lenses.

Here's a portrait camera at its core, albeit in challenging environments:

With a lack of lighting, of course, it is difficult to reveal its merits, but still the camera copes well. And since a wide-angle lens will not give such good geometry in such a close-up, the camera is quite useful. By the way, many modes have been added to it for different portrait shooting scenarios. In particular, the program itself can clip the portrait, as in the third photo. For a smartphone, this result looks very decent.

And a few more photos showing the capabilities and effects of Portrait Mode.

It is impossible to say unequivocally that the promised "deep pixels" make a tangible contribution to the quality of the picture, so we will check it in laboratory conditions.

29 mm	57 mm
Illumination ≈3200 lux
Illumination ≈1400 lux
Illumination ≈130 lux
Illumination ≈130 lux + flash
Illumination ≈1 lux + flash

The sensor's maximum effective resolution remains the same as a couple of years ago. But the programmers managed to tame the noise, and now, even in very low light, the camera practically does not lose detail, which is surprising. The camera actually does an equally good job of capturing the measurement world in different light. And this with good reliability can be extrapolated to ordinary plots not in laboratory conditions. The portrait camera looks more modest - however, we could already notice this when comparing them and shooting portraits.

As a result, we can say that the wide-angle camera turned out to be excellent, it is well suited for various scenes. The portrait camera is rather ordinary, it does not reach the wide-angle one in terms of image quality (but I would like it), but by itself it works well and is quite suitable for creating avatars.

Autonomous work and heating

As noted at the beginning of the article, we used the iPhone 8 Plus for a month in real life as our only smartphone. And these are calls via cellular communication and instant messengers (Telegram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp) on average one and a half hours a day, communication in instant messengers, regular updates of the FB feed, reading websites, mail with push notifications and a stream of letters in the region of 30-50 a day, less regularly - heavy use of the camera and voice recorder. Almost all the time, the iPhone was connected via Bluetooth to the watch. Apple Watch and about half an hour a day - to apple headphones AirPods.

In the described mode, the smartphone lived for two days, that is, it had to be charged every other night. Let's say you use it on Monday and Tuesday, put it on charge at night; Wednesday morning you have 100% and you use without recharging until the night from Thursday to Friday ...

In general, this is a good result, roughly comparable to the iPhone 7 Plus, especially for very intensive use. Of course, if you play games or watch movies or online videos (we did not do any of this during our acquaintance with the device), the result will be different. But, we believe, for the majority of potential owners of the iPhone 8 Plus, our scenario is quite relevant.

Of the minuses, we note that the battery is discharged unevenly. So, at the end of the first day, you usually have about 65% of the charge, and at the end of the second day, the charge is already running out (it is obvious that the smartphone almost does not lose charge overnight - a maximum of one to two percent).

Of course, we also conducted traditional testing of battery life in several modes.

Below is a thermal image back surface obtained after two consecutive runs (approximately 10 minutes of operation) of the Basemark Metal test:

The heating is strongly localized in the upper right part of the device, which, apparently, corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 41 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees). The heating in this test is the same.

conclusions

Moving to iPhone 8 Plus from iPhone 7 Plus doesn't feel like a big step forward. The only good thing is the rear glass surface, if you use a smartphone without a case, and the possibility of using wireless charging (although the latter is more relevant, rather, for those who are ready to wait for the release of Apple AirPower).

If we compare the feeling of using it with the iPhone X, then, of course, the iPhone 8 Plus is perceived as a more bulky and less impressive device, but on a single battery charge it lasts a little longer. Plus, having a Home button is more comfortable for conservatives, although we've seen the transition to Face ID and full gesture control on the iPhone X go smoothly and quickly.

The above, however, does not mean that the iPhone 8 Plus is bad. On the contrary, the smartphone is good for everyone, it has no serious flaws. Screen, battery life, performance - everything is great. But there is no "wow-effect". Why? Probably because the "wow-effect" is in store for the main novelty: iPhone X. But, for a minute, it is 15 thousand rubles more expensive. A significant difference!

We can say that the iPhone 8 Plus is not an option "for show-off" and not for technologists, but for real everyday use. Of course, it doesn't make much sense to switch to it from the iPhone 7 Plus, the 2016 model remains more than relevant. And even iPhone 6s Plus owners can postpone the upgrade. But if you didn't have iPhone latest two generations and the question arose about buying a model with a large screen, and you are not ready to overpay for innovations in the iPhone X, then the iPhone 8 Plus is the most logical option. Moreover, the difference in price from the iPhone 7 Plus is 12 thousand rubles, but the minimum amount of memory is more: 64 GB versus 32 GB.