Review: Apple's iPhone 11 convinces - but cheap is different
Does the iPhone 11 fulfil the promise of the affordable iPhone? Yes and no. The hardware and software leave little to be desired. The camera system is versatile and good. But you can get it elsewhere for the price - if not better.
A little over a month ago, I wrote about my first impressions of the iPhone 11. There, I described the phone as "the Apple smartphone for everyone" because it is much cheaper than its siblings but also shares the most important features.
In the meantime, the impressions have been confirmed. The iPhone 11 is awesome and a lot of fun. The problem: it's not cheap. At least not as cheap as Apple wanted us to believe during the launch event. Especially in comparison with other flagship phones from the competition. This tarnishes the actually positive overall impression because, despite all the enthusiasm, I feel a bit fooled.
How much cheaper is the iPhone 11 really?
I agree: The 809 francs you're currently forking out for the iPhone 11 with 64 GB system memory doesn't sound too bad at first. Do you need the iPhone 11 Pro? I don't think so. I say that because I've been running around with the iPhone 11 for just over a month and don't feel like I need the Pro version with the extra telephoto lens. Of course, it depends on whether you're flirting with the Pro model precisely because of the telephoto lens.
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The slightly better battery life and the AMOLED display of the Pro model are certainly appealing. But they don't justify the steep surcharge of 390 francs. If you go for the iPhone Pro Max, it's even 490 francs. Ridiculous. Especially because you get exactly the same thing for the price of the iPhone 11 as you do with the iPhone 11 Pro. Sometimes even more.
Let's start with the display. The iPhone 11 doesn't have an AMOLED screen like the competition in a similar price range, but "only" an LCD panel.
iPhone 11
- Liquid Retina HD display
- Resolution: 1792×828 pixels
- Pixel density: 326ppi
- Contrast ratio: 1400:1
- Maximum brightness: 625 nits
The OnePlus 7T Prowhich has also only been on the market for a short time, you get an AMOLED screen for almost the same price, which is not only larger with its 6.67-inch display, but also has a higher pixel density; the image is sharper.
One Plus 7T Pro
- AMOLED display
- Resolution: 3120×1440 pixels
- Pixel density: 516ppi
- Maximum brightness: 1000 nits
And this is just one of many smartphone competitors from Asia that offer a better display and are usually no more expensive than the iPhone 11.
This is not meant to come across as a polemic. No, at no point in the past few weeks have I thought to myself: Oh my, that's a lousy screen. On the contrary. I once said to my colleague Phil that the iPhone's LCD produces almost as beautifully bright colours as my private OnePlus 6T with its AMOLED display.
Source: iPhone 11
So the iPhone 11's display isn't bad: you can hardly see the difference in pixel density on such small screens with the naked eye, and during the day I never had the feeling that the iPhone 11 wasn't bright enough. Nevertheless, when I spend more than 800 francs on a phone, I expect the best display technology.
About the display: At the launch of the new iPhones, Apple spoke of the most robust glass they have ever used. It should no longer shatter so easily if dropped. In this context, robust means "soft" in the sense of "less brittle" so that the vibration of a violent impact is better absorbed. That's great, but the new glass scratches more quickly, as I've already discovered. Me and many other iPhone 11 users too.
But other things annoy me. For example, the fact that the iPhone 11 could "Fast Charge" but only comes with the slow 5-watt power adapter. If you want to fast charge, you have to buy a separate 18-watt power supply for around 35 francs. You won't find a dongle to connect Apple's Lightning interface to a 3.5mm jack in the packaging - another 13 francs, which you usually don't have to fork out for with the competition.
But the most annoying thing is that there's no expandable memory. Apple never has that. Why not? If I plan to keep the phone for more than two years and push it to its capacity limits, I'm forced to switch to an iPhone model with more system memory. The "cheap" 800-franc iPhone 11 suddenly becomes the 879 francs or even 999 francs for the iPhone 11 with 128 GB and 256 GB system memory respectively. The OnePlus 7T Pro has 256 GB of system memory for 807 francs.
No, the iPhone 11 is not cheap. It does give you the choice of whether you can do without certain features such as the AMOLED display or the large system memory in order to be offered an iPhone version that is actually cheaper. But if you only want flagship specs, then you can easily spend 1000 francs or more.
Tell me if you still think the iPhone 11 is a good value smartphone.
Despite this: the Apple experience is attractive
Beyond the discussion about whether the iPhone 11 is cheap or not, I still have one feeling: that I'm more enthusiastic about the phone than I should be. Especially in terms of design. Because the smartphone manufacturers from Cupertino, California, are not reinventing anything. And although I still find it quite expensive, I like the iPhone 11 straight away.
Small box with rounded corners? Check. Double camera knob on the back? Yes, of course. Glass casing encased in aluminium? We've already had that too. I should actually be disgusted by so little innovation. But I'm not. I like the way the 194 grams feel in my hands, which gives me a pleasant feeling of "Yes, there's something in here that has power". The 8.3 mm thickness is perfect. The glass makes the iPhone look classy.
Perfection in form.
When the screen is activated, there is a dampener: a thick, black frame around the display makes the phone look as if it has been wrapped in a protective cover. A less "Infinity" feeling à la Samsung Galaxy S10+ or Huawei P30 Pro wouldn't even be possible by accident. Actually, I should be annoyed. But I'm not. That feeling again that I'm too enthusiastic about the iPhone.
But the apps open smoothly and elegantly, perfectly animated down to the smallest detail. Open tabs float next to each other when you swipe back and forth. Nothing falters. Nothing lags. It simply runs smoothly. Harmony between hardware and software. Honestly, it's a mystery to me how so much minimalism can feel so good on a 6.1-inch display.
I call this the Apple Experience.
A term that would please the Marketing Manager I used to be in another life. I use it somewhat reluctantly. Not for the joy of marketing blah. I hate marketing blah. But I can't think of a better way to sum up the feeling described above. The feeling of holding something very special in your hands.
The fact that everything runs so smoothly is down to the new system-on-a-chip (SoC) in the iPhone 11: the third-generation A13 Bionic chip. According to Apple, "the fastest smartphone chip ever". Sounds pompous. But according to diverse benchmark tests, the A13 Bionic is actually faster than the super-fast Snapdragon 855 Plus from Qualcomm. You can find it in the OnePlus 7T Pro, for example.
In everyday testing, I tend to confirm the bare figures: Not once did I manage to push the iPhone 11 to its performance limits. Neither with resource-heavy games such as "Angry Birds AR" and "Asphalt 9: Legends" - both run with a smoothness I've never experienced before - nor when watching films in UHD resolution at 60 FPS. Not even when over a dozen apps are running in the background. And this despite the iPhone 11 having "only" 4 GB of RAM. I am impressed.
But apparently these 4 GB of RAM are causing trouble. The Verge and Forbes report that apps running in the background have been killed far too aggressively since the latest update to iOS 13.2. This makes multitasking impossible, according to the reports.
This already existed before. Especially if you have not used an app running in the background for several hours or even days. The limited RAM then closes the app running in the background to free up resources for the currently running apps. However, since the update, it should no longer take hours or days to do this, but minutes. Especially when the resource-hungry camera app is opened.
I tried this out in the video above. After opening the camera, many apps running in the background do not continue where I left them. Games in particular usually reload. This shows the limits of the 4 GB RAM. But: apps that I moved to the background minutes and not hours before still open in exactly the same place as before. So it's not quite as dramatic as the reports make it out to be.
Update 8 November 2019, 8.45 am: Apple is rolling out the iOS 13.2.2 update, which aims to solve the multitasking problems. I have tried it out. I hardly notice a notable difference. However, I didn't find it as dramatic as in the reports beforehand, so not much has changed after the update - at least for me. To the iPhone 11 owners: What are your experiences?
What impresses me the most anyway is that the chip is not only fast, but efficient as anything. Because although the battery capacity is "only" 3110 mAh, it's almost impossible to kill. I have rarely had to charge the iPhone 11 more than every two days. I've also experienced this with other flagship phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S10+. But that also has a battery capacity of 4100 mAh. The fact that the iPhone 11 runs just as long despite a smaller battery speaks in favour of its efficiency.
Yes, what Apple delivers under the bonnet is impressive. Suddenly I no longer find it so strange that I like the Phone 11 so much.
All-round satisfactory camera system
In terms of camera technology, the iPhone 11 doesn't do much wrong. You won't find the best camera system in the world, but the gap to the competition from Huawei and Samsung has narrowed considerably.
You can find all the photos below here in their original resolution.
Main camera with wide-angle lens
- Main camera 1: 12 megapixel wide-angle (f/1.8)
- Image stabiliser available
The number of megapixels is not as high as on other flagship phones in 2019, but if you don't intend to enlarge small image sections and watch them on a UHD TV, you don't necessarily need it: 12 megapixels correspond to a resolution of 4032×3024 pixels in Apple's image format. That's quite enough for me. In two to three years, when most televisions have 8K resolution, Apple should upgrade.
In automatic mode, the camera shows a well-balanced colour reproduction that realistically captures the bright dawn on the October morning above. Scenarios like this suit the iPhone 11: It usually snaps pictures with a warm, yellowish colour tone.
A pleasant change. Most of the phones I test take rather cold pictures with a blue tint. I find a yellow cast better; I would still correct the yellow cast a little with image editing software before the Instagram post or photo paper printout.
Main camera with ultra-wide-angle lens
- Main camera 2: 12 megapixel ultra wide-angle (f/2.4)
- No image stabiliser available
Taking photos with the ultra wide-angle lens is a lot of fun. On the iPhone 11, this means a 120° field of view. It is most useful when you want to give a photo more depth - not width. Ultra-wide-angle photos often have slightly distorted corners. This is normal, but for you it means that the focus should be on the depth in the image.
Look, wide-angle lens:
And here ultra-wide-angle lens:
The second image is better because the ultra-wide-angle distortion gives the perspective more depth, making it more exciting and less flat. It is tricky when something is close to the camera. The railing at the bottom right, for example. Ideally, you should therefore position yourself in front of the railing.
What I actually don't understand, though, is where the blurring with the fuzzy colours comes from that can be seen in the top left of many of my ultra-wide angle photos. If you pay attention to it, it's immediately noticeable. But I don't think it's dramatic enough to spoil my enjoyment of the ultra-wide-angle lens.
Nevertheless: If you have an idea where this comes from, please feel free to write it in the comment column.
Intelligent HDR mode
Pictures in which the intelligent HDR mode ensures a balanced exposure also look good. Intelligent because you don't have to activate or deactivate it manually. This is useful if you want to photograph a dark foreground with a light background.
I don't understand why Apple doesn't let me choose when I want to activate or deactivate HDR.
Impressive night mode
I find the iPhone's night mode absolutely brilliant. Especially when I compare it with that of my personal OnePlus 6T. Well, there are fairer comparisons. But the 6T model is not yet a year old. At the time, OnePlus advertised it quite grandly with the slogan "capture the night" which is why I don't expect any significant differences.
I'm wrong.
The iPhone wins the comparison hands down. And before anyone says, "Are you sure Night looks like Night mode up there?" No, it doesn't. "Night" is just black in reality. When I use night mode, it's because I want to photograph something that isn't just black like the night.
In any case, the comparison tells me that what Apple has delivered with the iPhone 11 is absolutely impressive.
Front camera with decent selfies
I don't like this part. I'm not a selfie fan. It's enough for me to see my face in the mirror in the morning and evening. I don't need any additional photos of it. I make an exception for the review.
- Front camera: 12 megapixel ultra wide angle (f/2.2)
The light intensity of f/2.2 is high. Photos in low light are regularly blurred. In good lighting conditions, however, I am surprised how little trouble the software that calculates the artificial depth of field has with the contours of my selfies:
The only places where Apple's software didn't quite understand where I start and where the background ends are where there are a few isolated hairs standing around as if drunk and at the shoulders.
Overall, however, I can live with the selfie quality in portrait mode.
Deep Fusion for better quality in low light
Since the recent iOS 13.2 update on all Apple devices, photos in low light should have significantly more detail and be better lit - in Apple's own words. Oh yes: Deep Fusion mode activates itself when necessary.
Luckily, I hadn't done the update before writing this review, so I was able to take photos before and after the update and compare them. However, I couldn't see any differences in terms of detail or colour representation. I half expected to see significantly less noise in the background, where it's dark, and when I zoomed in sharply. But it looks exactly the same twice.
Either I've done something wrong, or Apple has taken its mouth way too full.
If that's not a low-light situation, then I don't know what would be. Am I doing something wrong?
5x digital zoom doesn't convince me
Finally, a closer look at the digital zoom. First a photo of the Schiffbaus in Zürich im Automatik-Modus:
On the left an enlarged image section, on the right the fivefold digital zoom of the iPhone:
I notice that the image looks strangely gaudy in the digital zoom. In general, the details and colours look washed out, like in an oil painting. Dear software, whatever you are calculating - do the maths again.
The differences in quality become really obvious when I enlarge an image section in the digitally zoomed image and then compare it with the original, where I enlarge the same section a second time.
Both the rubbish bin and the body of the silver car behind it show clear gradations in the edges on the right. For what it's worth, if you want to zoom in, it's better not to use the digital zoom. Instead, take a normal photo and enlarge the desired image section later.
Once again: You can find all the photos above here in their original resolution.
Conclusion: Top phone. But not cheap
The iPhone 11 is a very good smartphone. I say that as someone who is usually at home with Android phones. That's why I didn't make it easy for the iPhone 11. Most of the smartphones I test leave me with a feeling of "this phone is okay": they do everything well, nothing wrong - but nothing really unique either.
I never had that feeling with the iPhone 11. Perhaps because Apple's iOS is the stage that only Apple has and that Apple doesn't have to share with any other manufacturer. And the Californians play to their strengths on this stage: Hardware and software harmonise perfectly, run smooth as silk even with resource-hungry apps and the battery easily lasts a day or two. Plus a camera setup that is versatile and good. I don't want much more from a smartphone.
Nevertheless, don't be fooled by those who talk about the "cheap" iPhone. You can get the iPhone 11 for a similar price to other flagship phones from Asia, but with significantly less features: no AMOLED display, lower resolution, much less system memory, which is not even expandable, and you still have to buy a power supply and dongle for fast charging or listening to music.
Favourable is different.
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Luca Fontana
Senior Editor
Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.chI'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»
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