For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the nights have started to draw
in and temperatures drop. This can mean only one thing - we're now in what
is traditionally Apple's main season for new product launches.
Last week saw the releases of iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and Apple Watch
Series 4. The iPhone XR will begin shipping next month, and it's likely that
at the very least there will also be an update to iPad Pro before the season
ends. Beyond this, there might be new MacBooks; refreshes for iMac and Mac
Mini; and possibly even a second generation of AirPods.
Add to this mix the recent round of major OS releases, and you currently
have lots of talking points for anybody with an interest in all things
Apple; lots to have opinions on; and lots to have questions about.
I've now had nearly a week with an iPhone XS Max, so I thought that I would
share some experiences and early opinions in the hope that this will answer
some possible questions.
Before we move on, I want to make it very clear that what follows should not
be considered as a deep dive review, as I need more time to discover which
of this iPhone's mostly subtle and incremental differences to my previous
iPhone X will be meaningful over extended use. Additionally, having
previously been somewhat hostile towards 'jumbo' sized phones, it's perhaps
prudent to allow the iPhone XS Max some time to respond to any
preconceptions or biases which I might bring to my relationship with its
6.5-inch display.
Accordingly, I would encourage readers to regard everything below as nothing
more than a somewhat random collection of thoughts; some of which may prove
to be incomplete - or even downright wrong - after more time and use of the
iPhone XS Max.
But, this has to be enough preamble and caveats, lets get to some actual
experiences and opinions.
When lifting the iPhone XS Max out of its box for the first time, it felt
very familiar. And, so it should, as to all intents and purposes, it's
visually a scaled up iPhone X.
If it weren't for reading this Apple Insider article
<https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/09/21/hands-on-apples-iphone-xs-max-is
-gorgeous-and-a-boon-for-photographers> , I would probably not have found
out for myself with only touch to rely on, that there are in fact some
aesthetic differences to the iPhone X that I had been using for the past 10
months:
Aesthetically, the iPhone XS is almost identical to last year's iPhone X,
but if you take a closer look, you'll see that the speaker grille layout is
completely different. The iPhone X had six speaker holes on the left side of
its Lightning port, while the XS cuts that number down to three to make room
for an added antenna band. Users will also notice a similar band at the top
of the handset right above the camera lens.
Apparently, the camera bump is also ever so slightly larger than that of the
iPhone X. This won't make a difference to those buying an iPhone XS Max, but
anybody who gets an iPhone XS shouldn't assume that cases originally
designed for the iPhone X will also fit their new iPhone.
It's not just visually that the iPhone XS Max has much in common with the
iPhone X. Both feature OLED displays, Face ID, 3D Touch and wireless
charging: whilst features like HDR10, Dolby Vision, and Super Retina
technology are also identical.
As for differences between the iPhone XS Max and iPhone X, these include
improved speakers, the ability to record video with stereo sound, better
waterproofing, and an upgraded camera.
I'm not going to pretend that I understand the how and why, but of these
changes, the camera on the iPhone XS Max and iPhone XS is reported to be
<http://austinmann.com/trek/iphone-xs-camera-review-zanzibar> "a huge camera
upgrade". One of the reasons for this, is that the camera sensor is
approximately 30% larger, and this should convert into more detailed images
and better performance in low light conditions. Although I rarely use my
iPhone's camera to take photos, I do routinely use it to recognize text and
images. I've not performed extensive or comparative testing, but when using
KNFB Reader to scan letters, there does 'seem' to be an improvement in low
light conditions over the iPhone X.
Another notable change with the new iPhones, is that they feature Apple's
new A12 Bionic chip. Apple unsurprisingly claims this to be
<https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone-xs/a12-bionic/> "the smartest, most
powerful chip in a smart-phone"; smarter and more powerful in ways that I am
not going to pretend I fully understand or can begin to explain, so I will
let Tom's Hardware
<https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/apple-a12-bionic-iphone-xs,news-59149.html>
assist me here:
The 7nm chip has 6.9 billion transistors. It features a 6-core CPU using
Apple's Fusion architecture combining two performance cores and four
efficiency cores. The Bionic also features a quad-core GPU that's promises
to be up to 50 percent faster than the previous CPU. It allows for
tessellation and multilayer rendering and lossless memory compression. It
also features a new image processor, video processor, a faster secure
enclave and more.
It also runs Apple's neural engine, with an 8-core design. The company
claims that it can run 5 trillion operations for second, up from 600 billion
operations per second on the A11 Bionic, Apple's last CPU.
The company also claims that apps will launch 30 percent faster on the XS
and XS Max than previous phones.
I didn't expect any of this to translate in to something that I would notice
in daily use of the phone. Possibly, apps do indeed open a little faster
than they had on my iPhone X, but I wouldn't rule out that this is simply a
placebo effect from being told that they would open faster.
There is, however, one area where I do believe that the new chip may be
responsible for an actual performance improvement - VoiceOver feels faster
and more responsive. Something that makes me believe that this isn't another
possible placebo effect, is that I have switched to a voice other than Alex,
and am enjoying the experience. Whenever I have tried other voices over
recent years, the drop in responsiveness has typically had me revert back to
Alex in less than an hour. On the iPhone X, I once managed to last on
another voice for about 1 day, but spent most of that time complaining and
missing Alex. I've now spent nearly a week with Ava, and the only niggles
are the differences in some pronunciations and inflections.
Whilst on the topic of VoiceOver, I should also mention that the
improvements to the speakers on the iPhone XS Max are noticeable when
listening to VoiceOver. Not only are the speakers louder and clearer, but I
suspect that they might also be a factor in why I am taken by the Ava voice.
I don't know enough about audio and the workings of hearing to begin to
understand the how and why of Ava sounding better than she used to, but I
believe that the improved speakers of the iPhone XS Max are a contributing
factor.
But, back to that new A12 Bionic chip.
One area where I have heard reports of people experiencing an immediate
impact from the A12 Bionic chip's Neural Engine, is with the speed and
reliability of Face ID
<https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/9hsp2w/face_id_is_faster_iphone_x_v
s_iphone_xs_max/> . So far, I haven't noticed any discernible difference. It
could be that this will come over time as the Neural Engine familiarizes
itself with my face in a range of environments, but for now I am not
noticing any improvement compared to that of an iPhone X running iOS 12.
Whilst on the topic of Face ID, I would recommend that anybody who hasn't
owned or used an iPhone X and has questions about the setup and use of Face
ID, or what the lack of a Home button means for VoiceOver users, should read
my review from last year of the iPhone X
<https://www.applevis.com/blog/apple-ios-iphone-news-opinion-reviews/iphone-
x-review-there-are-some-adjustments-and> along with the additional
information shared by others in replies to that post. The only change of
note in these areas since that review, is that VoiceOver users are now told
about the <https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208245> 'Attention Aware'
feature when setting up Face ID - specifically, now being told that this
feature has been automatically disabled due to them being a VoiceOver user.
If after reading last year's review and comments on the iPhone X you still
have concerns about Face ID and the removal of the Home button, I would
encourage you not to. You will adapt; you will adjust quickly; it will
simply become what you are used to.
And this leads me on to the "adapting' and "adjusting" which I'm currently
going through with the iPhone XS Max.
Yes, it's finally time to mention what's probably most significant about the
iPhone XS Max - it sports the largest screen ever seen on an iPhone, a
whopping 6.5-inches.
If you've read my review of the iPhone X, you will know that one of the
issues I had with it compared to my previous iPhone 6S, was that it might no
longer be a one-handed device. This is even more true with the iPhone XS
Max. Even those used to one of the 'Plus' iPhones will need to adapt, as
although the XS Max is similar in physical dimensions to one of these, its
screen stretches to all four edges.
This leaves your fingers with a long stretch to reach the Status Bar and
other page elements located near to the top of the screen, whilst triggering
the Control Center and Notification Center are likely to require readjusting
your grip.
I've noticed that without making a conscious decision to do so, I have
switched to typically holding the iPhone XS Max in my left hand, and using
my right hand to do most of the tapping and swiping. On those occasions when
I do use the iPhone with just the one hand, it's already feeling less
natural, efficient and secure. I guess that this is another example of how
you adapt and just get used to whatever you are using.
One surprise with the iPhone XS Max, is that Apple hasn't taken advantage of
the extra screen space to add at least one more row of app icons to the Home
screen. There may be technical or UX reasons for not doing so. But, if they
had, it's extremely likely that I would have moved to a single Home screen
for all of my folders and apps, as it wouldn't have taken too much
re-organizing on my part to have made this happen.
I am also disappointed that Apple hasn't taken advantage of the extra space
available to the Status Bar on the iPhone XS Max. For example, the name of
my carrier and the current connection type (3G or 4G in my case) were only
displayed on my iPhone X in certain situations. It would have been nice if
some of the extra space on the iPhone XS Max's Status Bar could have been
used to make one or both of these present all of the time.
One area where Apple has taken advantage of the larger screen of the iPhone
XS Max, is by adding support for expanded landscape applications, allowing
for a two-column view in apps such as Mail, Messages and Calendar. I
initially struggled with this, as there just seemed to be more to swipe
through on the screen than I was used to. However, since switching to using
one thumb to navigate and activate what's in the left column, and my other
thumb to do the same in the right column, I actually now find myself
enjoying this layout and often opt for it in favor of holding my phone
upright.
As somebody who routinely uses a combination of swiping and touch to explore
and navigate my iPhone's screen, there are numerous times and situations
where I've been aware that the screen on the iPhone XS Max is also taking
advantage of that extra real estate to display more content than I am used
to. For example, more tweets in my Twitterrific timelines, and an extra
episode when browsing podcasts in Overcast. It's not significant, and hasn't
yet felt like it's transforming my user experience. But, it's not a bad
thing either.
As for other potential benefits of that larger screen, my assumption is that
in our community the benefits will be for low vision users and those who
routinely use the "explore by touch" method to locate screen content.
I don't personally have enough residual vision to know from experience what
the large screen of the iPhone XS Max offers to low vision users compared to
smaller variants. However, one distinction between the iPhone XS Max and the
iPhone XS that may be of specific interest and value to low vision users, is
that the former supports the Display Zoom feature.
Display Zoom can be turned on in the Settings app under Display & Brightness
and View. "Standard" shows more content on the screen, and "Zoomed" shows
larger controls for content. Display Zoom makes elements on screen more
legible with larger tap targets. This feature was first introduced on the
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, but was notably absent on the iPhone X (and now
also the iPhone XS).
All three of this year's new iPhone models have support for two SIMs. In
some Asian countries this will be offered via two SIM trays, whilst
elsewhere one by the standard nano-SIM slot and a second via eSIM, a fully
digital alternative. Apple identifiesthreepossible use cases
<https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone-xs/a12-bionic/> where Dual SIM might make
an iPhone XR, XS or XS Max a compelling upgrade:
* Use one number for business and another number for personal calls.
* Add a local data plan when you travel outside of the country or
region.
* Have separate voice and data plans. List end
The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max come in three colors: space gray, silver and
a new shade of gold. They are available with storage capacities of 64GB,
256GB or 512GB. Prices start at US$999 and US$1099 respectively.
Unlike the 'Plus' iPhone models released in the past, the smaller variant
this year has the exact same camera system as its larger counterpart. In
fact, the only difference other than in size, is that the iPhone XS Max
offers up to 60 minutes of extra battery life than the iPhone XS.
Closing Thoughts
The big 'leap' in terms of the evolution of the iPhone came last year. If
there is a big change this year, it's that there are three new iPhone
models, all of which build in mostly small ways upon the iPhone X; and each
of which aims to offer potential buyers something different. I was thrilled
last year at what the iPhone X offered compared to my previous iPhone 6S,
and I have no doubt that I would be even more thrilled if I were upgrading
from a 6S to one of this year's three new iPhones.
I am confident that anybody looking to upgrade from anything other than an
iPhone X would also be thrilled by any one of this year's new iPhone models.
For those who own an iPhone X, it's likely that only being on an annual
upgrade program or needing extra storage space or a second SIM will be a
strong reason to upgrade.
However, my strong recommendation to anyone considering buying the iPhone XS
or iPhone XS Max, would be to wait at least a few weeks for the release of
the iPhone XR, as it shares many of the headline features, but with a saving
of at least $250. And, much of what it is lacking, may arguably not offer
any added value to blind or low vision users.
The main differences between the iPhone XR and the XS and XS Max, are that
the former has an LCD display rather than OLED, has Haptic Touch in place of
3D Touch, has an aluminium housing instead of stainless steel, has 1GB less
of RAM, and that it has only a single rear camera compared to the dual
camera system of the iPhone XS and XS Max.
That leaves a lot to potentially like about the iPhone XR, and my
expectation is that it will be the most popular of this year's new iPhones.
This has me waiting with anticipation for the first batch of iPhone XR
reviews.
As I said right at the start of this post, my intention was not to go deep
in to the iPhone XS Max at this point. This will no doubt have readers
keener than ever to learn the experiences and opinions of others.
If you are looking for a deep dive in to the iPhone XS and XS Max, ,
Mashable has you covered: iPhone XS and XS Max review: The best iPhones ever
<https://mashable.com/feature/apple-iphone-xs-max-review/?europe=true#nI4UWy
Z9UaqT>
Submitted by David Goodwin - Member of The AppleVis Editorial Team at:
www.applevis.com
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