Is it worth to change my iPhone?

[revous94]

Hello everyone!
I am a user of iPhone 7 since 1 year. It is doing amazing but as I like new gadgets I am considering if it is worth to change it to a newer version. I mean iPhone XR / XS. As I compared iPhone 7 to iPhone XS there weren't many differences. What do you think guys?

 

[navychop]

I moved from a 6+ to the Xs Max. I had performance issues and lacked a couple of mobile bands. I paid big bucks to correct these problems. But the 6+ is serving my MiL quite well, with her limited mobile needs

If your 7 is performing adequately, and you’re not into the expanded photo options, save your money and wait another model year.

At least.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Foxbat]

The iPhone XR has some nice features over the 7, but unless there is something in the camera or you need more memory, I like navychop's suggestion to hold off for another year.

I went from an iPhone 6 to the 8 and it's effectively the same phone I had before, but the camera is nicer, as is the screen. Of course, the A11 CPU is no slouch, either.

 

[harshness]

It is also important to look at what you "lose" with an upgrade. Apple is sometimes a little "two steps forward and one step back" with their feature set. Some people like home buttons,TouchID and other things that are just a little simpler.

 

[lparsons21]

The Xs phone is a big improvement over the iPhone 7 IMO. I had a 7+ and got the new Xs Max and couldn’t be happier. That said, the 7 with iOS 12 is no slouch either. I upgraded because I wanted to, didn’t need the new things but I like them.

And no, Harshness, it isn’t 2 steps forward and 1 back. All the things you mentioned are trivial and take about 5 minutes to become second nature.


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[TheForce]

I switched from 6+ to XS Max and the only thing I can find that I lost with the upgrade is some money. And before anyone reminds me that I lost the stereo audio jack, I would say I just had to buy a low cost adapter for the one place where I plug in my iphone to the sound system I just leave it connected there because I've been using Airpods for a long time now. They work on my Sony phone, my ipad, and my HMD too.

 

[Ilya]

I went from 6s to X a year ago.

Positives: noticeably faster, much better camera, wireless charging, water resistance, somewhat bigger screen, Face ID that works well.
Negatives: the notch, missing home button, no finger print reader, different UI, no audio jack, much heavier, very pricey.

How significant those factors are, that's up to each user. For me personally, surprisingly, the biggest negative is the extra weight. A year later, I am still reminded about it every time I grab the phone or put it in my pocket.

The missing audio jack is an inconvenience, especially when you use multiple headphones. That tiny adapter is not just a connector, but it actually is your DAC. And the quality of the DAC is important. The Lightning port doesn't have analog outputs. So if you want high-quality audio you need to buy a high-quality adapter/DAC. You can't use iPhone's built-in DAC anymore.

 

[navychop]

Keep in mind, the current iPhone is a 7, a much better phone than the 6 variants some of us upgraded from.


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[lparsons21]

I went from 6s to X a year ago.

Positives: noticeably faster, much better camera, wireless charging, water resistance, somewhat bigger screen, Face ID that works well.
Negatives: the notch, missing home button, no finger print reader, different UI, no audio jack, much heavier, very pricey.

How significant those factors are, that's up to each user. For me personally, surprisingly, the biggest negative is the extra weight. A year later, I am still reminded about it every time I grab the phone or put it in my pocket.

The missing audio jack is an inconvenience, especially when you use multiple headphones. That tiny adapter is not just a connector, but it actually is your DAC. And the quality of the DAC is important. The Lightning port doesn't have analog outputs. So if you want high-quality audio you need to buy a high-quality adapter/DAC. You can't use iPhone's built-in DAC anymore.

I came from a 7+ to the Xs Max but had been running the iOS 12 betas for a fair bit of time before the Xs came out so UI gestures were already 2nd nature. But I didn't find the gestures an issue as they were also on my 2 iPads. The notch took a lot of negative comments when the X came out but they died down quickly when people found it not to really be an issue. In fact, most things people thought were negatives get few comments these days.

While my Xs Max is a bit heavier than the 7+, I don't notice it as it is just a very little bit. I don't pocket my phones and haven't for a very long time, I have a case/holder that attaches to my belt. Works well for me.

All that said, moving from a 7/8 to the Xs/Xr is a want more than a need unless you need the extra cell bands and do a whole lot of camera work IMO.

 

[Neutron]

I have an 8+ that I got right after launch day and it suits me just fine. I don’t want Face ID mainly due to privacy concerns but more so I don’t need the features of the X series. I had a 6s+ before and the only reason I replaced it was because it went for a swim in the Caribbean and it got damaged.

I’m hoping the 8+ lasts a long time.

 

[TheForce]

I just got back from a trip where I decided to experiment with only two new cameras, my XS Max, and the GoPro Hero 6. I went through 4 64GB micro SD for the GoPro and did not run out of storage on the 512GB XS Max. Shot all 4K 30 fps. I was going to shoot some 4K 60fps but the IS works better on the GoPro at 30fps. I used the XS Max as my primary video camera so I shot more video with the iphone than the GoPro.

Comparing the two cameras, the XS Max was superior in low light level for video noise and color saturation. But the biggest advantage of the XS Max was the lens geometry. The GoPro still suffers from the barrel distortion in 4K wide mode and I didn't use it's super wide mode.

The GoPro being smaller was great for mounting on the brim of my ball cap and IS kept the video nice and stable. This allowed me to get the camera high up as possible while not using a selfie stick or monopod pole which were forbidden where I was shooting. The XS Max worked well controlling the GoPro remotely with wifi while simultaneously allowing me to shoot 4K video with the XS Max. Comparing to my older 6+ and the Sony Xperia Premium, both of these phones would stutter and skip frames when I tried this dual video mode. The 6+ would eventually freeze and require a hard reset to recover. The XS Max only froze once during a 30 minute continuous shoot while simultaneously monitoring the GoPro with their app. I will say the XS Max battery went from 100% to 30% with everything running for 30 minutes. But I had my backup battery pack which restored battery to 80% in 30min.

Overall, I am very pleased with the results of the week of shooting with the XS Max. For the projects I am doing now, This is a very lightweight camera setup and I can leave the big stuff at home. 3D and 360VR will still demand a more robust kit, however.

Next is to off load the XS Max video to my computer and edit the shooting.



Comparing the Sony Xperia Premium in 4K30fps to the XS Max: Both do very well in daylight with the XS Max having a slight better color accuracy and saturation, especially with HDR. But the best is the interface where the XS Max ws much nicer to make changes from photo to portrait, to video to slow-mo, and time lapse. The XS Max also allowed me to operate the zoom much easier than the Sony. However, for special slo-mo the Sony offers up to 960 fps for extreme slomo quality. I carried it along but didn't find a need to that mode. Nice to have if I need it. The XS Max also was superior in low light level compared to the Sony

 

[TheForce]

Here is a video I did last week of a night time performance: River of Light at Animal Kingdom Disney World.
I was greatly impressed with the video quality of the iphone XS Max quality after viewing on my LG TV from the 4K 30fps files. The day of shooting only used 40% of the battery. I had enough storage with the 512GB model to hold all my shooting for 4 days at the parks. I'm very happy I spent the extra for the 512 model. The image stabilization was better than the Gopro 6 Black I had mounted on my cap brim. It is seen in the video as the extra wide shots. But the GoPro and the iphone were very similar in color quality, both set for 4K 30fps. The iphone image stabilization was superior to the GoPro 6 Black, so much so that that I broke down and ordered the new GoPro 7 Black with Hypersmooth stabilization. Looking forward to comparing the three. The audio on the iphone XS Max was also surprisingly much better than the GoPro and I had to do considerable processing to tweak the audio on the GoPro to get it close.

One thing I still need to research is the auto focus of the iphone. There were times when the auto focus went nuts and I needed to jump to the GoPro footage to insert the scene. Also, in this video I learned that the zoom on the iphone is nice, but in 4K viewing it makes the video soft. I have to examine that feature more to see why since the XS Max is supposed to have optical zoom. I'm probably not doing something right. I did not use any zoom in this video.