QUICK REVIEW. iPhone 8 and 8 Plus: Different yet familiar

You could be thinking anything when you think iPhone 8 — oh, the not-iPhone X, it looks kind of familiar, I’m happy with my current iPhone.

Or you could be too busy queuing up outside the nearest gadget shop to buy one of these, especially if you hear of some interesting discount schemes.

And as it happens, all these thoughts would be valid. The more dramatically changed iPhone X, the one Tim Cook says is the future of the smartphone, isn’t here yet and may face some shortages and delays according to rumours. It’s phenomenally expensive but that may not put off die-hard fans. One gentleman asked us if we had any way of getting an iPhone X in from Singapore in time for his wife’s birthday.

Meanwhile, the two new iPhone 8s are certainly familiar looking from the front. If they’re in cases, you won’t be able to tell they’re the next generation. But I was immediately won over by the colour on the back. The gold is the palest and most subtle shade and reminds me of creme brûlée. The silver is the softest shade of pearl grey. Apple has put these on a glass back that looks really pretty. The glass backs are there for a reason: The iPhone now finally supports wireless charging, though you’ll have to buy the accessory separately.

It occurs to me that despite the iPhone’s design being copied the world over, no one will actually manage to replicate the overall look and feel with the extent of sophistication Apple manages. The two phones, one with a 4.7-inch display and the other with a 5.5-inch, have a flat solidity about them. I can’t help wishing Apple had chosen to reduce the size of the bezels on the 8s as well, perhaps not as dramatically as on the iPhone X, but enough to put more screen space in and make the front of the phone look more contemporary.

This time the iPhone 8s are water resistant to some extent and although not recommended as a swimming accessory, are perfectly able to withstand accidental splashes. The glass makes them more fragile, but it’s doubtful anyone will use them without a case.

The display on both phones, aside from the bezels being the same, sees no change either and is neither higher res than Android flagships today and nor is it higher than the iPhone 7s. But the TrueTone feature present on the iPad Pro line has made it to these phones and works so as to be immediately noticeable. Ambient light sensors sense the lighting where you are and adjust on the fly to make the screen comfortable at all times. This is a rather popular and appreciated feature.

The new iPhones now have a quick set up feature, which anyone with other Apple devices will appreciate hugely. All you have to do is let the older device ‘see’ your new device’s screen and spot the little nebula on screen with the camera. After that, everything will set up on its own, including various settings like font size, etc. This is incredibly convenient as you can then just sit back and let the new phone set up though there are still a few odds and ends where you need to enter passwords.

Apple has said this before, but look on the inside for changes. Beyond the obvious, under the hood there’s now a new chip. Apple calls it the A11 Bionic and says it has two high-performance cores and two energy efficient ones. One set works at a time and these are 70 per cent and 25 percent faster than previous ones. They can work together as well. The new iPhones do indeed feel much faster and smoother and max benchmark tests. The RAM on the new iPhones is pegged at 2 GB and 3 GB.

What the Bionic chip is supposed to do most though, is handle augmented reality applications. AR applications will work with the older iPhone 7s too, but the new chip is designed with AR in mind as is the capability of the camera. Sensing depth and motion in the real world real time, the phone can easily project objects into your surroundings and let you manipulate them. You can have a virtual pet, for example, and get it to sit right in front of you. Since there’s no way I can keep a real pet, I’m settling for an AR cat.

Both games and fun and business applications can benefit from the AR capabilities now on the iPhones. A much quoted example is how Ikea is using it to let you redesign your home or office.

The better camera always goes to the Plus of the pair and that’s how it is this time as well. Both 12 MP cameras have improvements to the optics but the iPhone 8 Plus has a dual set of rear cameras. Together, they allow for the much talked about Portrait mode with which you can focus on a near subject and blur out the background. The iPhone does this better than most others. This time, the Portrait mode includes five lighting styles, which sense and enhance light in different ways on a subject. Two stage lighting styles are especially interesting to work with because they all but darken out the background and leave the subject highlighted. I managed to take some portrait shots with this that looked like paintings. If you’re a photography buff, it’ll have to be the 8 Plus for you.

All iOS devices of the last two generations get upgrades to iOS 11 and bring many new features and capabilities that will refresh the user experience. This too should be a consideration if you’re wondering whether to pick up one of the new iPhones. But also look at Android equivalents as the iPhone is catching up with features long in existence on Android phones. For the absolute iPhone fan — little more needs to be said.

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