iPhone 8 Plus Long Term Review
iPhone 8 Plus back in space black
Everyone is talking about the latest and greatest iPhone X with an edge-to-edge screen, facial recognition, and a $1000 price tag. If you think the price tag of the iPhone X is too much, but you want almost the same specification and like to be prisoned in Apple’s beautiful ecosystem, then iPhone 8 Plus might be for you.
It has been almost five months since iPhone 8 Plus was released. Apple has retained the same design in iPhone 8 Plus for four years. But, it is the internals that has changed iteratively to make it what Apple called “the best iPhone ever”. I have been using the iPhone 8 Plus since the first day of release, and I have mixed feelings about it.
Design and Display
iPhone 8 plus looks uninspiring. Not much has changed from the iPhone 7 plus except the glass back. On the paper, it is marginally thicker and longer but I am rocking my old iPhone 7 Plus case on it. There are other minor differences. Now there are no rose gold and jet black color options but rather beautiful space gray, gold, and silver options. Antenna bands have been moved to the sides, rather than lingering out of the top and bottom on the iPhone 7 plus making it look more elegant.
iPhone 8 plus is noticeably heavier than 7 Plus but in a good way. The smoother grip of the glass back is cool to touch; however, the glass back is a fingerprint magnet especially the space gray model.
The 5.5-inch retina full HD display is the best and most accurate IPS LCD screen I have ever come across. Apple has finally brought the true tone display technology to the iPhone 8 plus from the iPad Pros. It is amazing to use once you are used to it. It is still not as sharp as the latest Samsung Galaxy phones, but the upgrades in color reproduction and temperature make everything pop up and look vivid. I still think that the display is nearly not as good as the ones found in the Galaxy S8 and Note 8.
Camera
Apple didn’t shy away from tagging the iPhone 8s as the best camera phone available on the market. iPhone 8 Plus has undoubtedly one of the best sets of cameras in any smartphone. I will not talk about its specification because you can read them by yourself, but rather what I can do with it. The two 12-megapixel can do wonders for you as a photography hobbyist. Your Instagram and Facebook photos will look better than ever. This time, the telephoto lens also has optical image stabilization. What that means is; when you optically zoom, your photos are more stable, and videos become much less jittering. It also improves the portrait mode.iPhone 8s are the first smartphones in my knowledge to have 4K video capability at 60 FPS. It is absolutely staggering to be able to do that on a smartphone. In my opinion, iPhone 8 Plus also captures the best slow-motion full HD videos on the market. Full HD supports 240 FPS, which is very impressive for a smartphone. I have been using it as my primary shooter for many tasks, and I am more impressed every day.
Battery Life, Speakers, and Speed
Another area that the plus model excels in is battery durability. It is absolutely a champ when it comes to battery life. It easily lasts me an entire day. And now, it comes with fast charging and wireless capability (finally). However, you have to spend another $70 to buy the fast charging adapter and cable. I use my iPad charger to charge my phone as well, and it is significantly faster than the adapter that comes in the box. Even though iPhone 8 Plus has a smaller battery than the previous model, Apple says it lasts as long as the 7 Plus, however, my unit lasts longer than the iPhone 7 Plus I had. And it also outlasts the Galaxy S8 by quite a margin in my use.
If I could explain in one word about the speakers in iPhone 8 Plus, it would be “Extraordinary”. Apple is making smartphone speakers cool again. The front and bottom-firing speakers found in iPhone 8 Plus are loud, clear and have a good base. I think they have one of the best stets of stereo speakers in any smartphone.
Apple has implemented AR for the first time, even though it is more of a software feature than hardware. The new A11 Bionic chip makes AR games more enjoyable to play through. Talking about the A11, Apple has emerged as a leader in making the fastest smartphone chips on the market in my opinion. The iPhone 8 Plus feels extremely responsive and fast. I play games occasionally, and I have not been let down yet. The 3 GB of ram might seem less than found in the latest flagships but believe me I have not felt like I need more ram. IOS memory management system is very impressive, and I can even play games after hours of pausing them in the background and continue from where I left.
Verdict
It may be a great smartphone, but it feels outdated in the age of new bezel-less Galaxies, Pixels, and other edge-to-edge display smartphones available on the market. I think its biggest competitor is its own cousin, iPhone X. The display could be better, and Apple could have shrunk the bezels. However, what makes this phone stands out are speed, battery life, great speakers, and amazing camera. I would recommend this phone to anyone who is invested in Apple’s ecosystem, who doesn’t want to spend more than $1000 on a phone, and who prefers Touch ID over Face ID.