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Iphone 8 parameters. Fast battery charging. Bundling or Apple's boundless greed

Detailed review of the iPhone 8 Plus.

The iPhone 8 Plus smartphone is new for 2017, which received a glass body, support for QI wireless charging, a 5.5-inch display with support for True Tone technology, and a six-core A11 Bionic processor. The start of sales in the world of iPhone 8 Plus took place on September 22. In Russia, the iPhone 8 Plus has been on sale since September 29. Official price of iPhone 8 Plus 64 GB - RUB 49,990, iPhone 8 Plus 256 GB - RUR 59,990. We present to your attention detailed review of iPhone 8 Plus.

Name

Apple has named the next smartphone after the iPhone 7 Plus not the iPhone 7s Plus, but the iPhone 8 Plus. Thus, the company jumped over one generation of smartphones, at least according to the usual logic of the release of new iPhones. Why did Apple decide to name the new iPhone iPhone 8 Plus? The point is the huge number of innovations that the device received.

Equipment

Apple is not used to experimenting with the packaging of its smartphones. The company did not decide to come up with anything new in the case of the iPhone 8 Plus. The smartphone is delivered in Apple's traditional rectangular packaging, painted to match the body of the smartphone.

The front side of the iPhone 8 Plus packaging shows the smartphone itself.

On the side faces there is the inscription “iPhone”, on the back surface there is a description of the product and a separate item at the very top is the amount of built-in memory of the smartphone. In general, everything is as usual.

The equipment was not surprising either, although in theory it could have been. The iPhone 8 Plus comes with:

  • Charger,
  • USB/Lightning cable,
  • EarPods headphones with Lighting connector,
  • branded clip for removing the SIM card tray,
  • documentation.

What could surprise you with the iPhone 8 Plus? The iPhone 8 Plus, along with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, received support for wireless charging. A few months before the presentation of the new iPhones, some experts suggested that Apple may well want to stand out from other manufacturers by placing a wireless charging dock in the package with smartphones. However, this did not happen. Apple, like its competitors, has offered customers the option of purchasing a wireless charging dock separately.

Fortunately, Apple not only did not want to stand out, but also equipped the iPhone 8 Plus with support for the generally accepted Qi wireless charging standard. This means that iPhone 8 Plus owners will be able to purchase any docking station that supports the Qi standard, even budget ones.

The packaging and accessories of the iPhone 8 Plus are the most ordinary; is the smartphone itself unusual?

Design

At first glance it doesn't seem so at all. The iPhone 8 Plus is as similar as possible to the iPhone 7 Plus. The shape of the new 5.5-inch Apple smartphone has not changed compared to the previous model - the smartphone still has the same recognizable body with rounded corners. However, the design of the iPhone 8 Plus has been significantly updated.

The back and front of the iPhone 8 Plus are covered in glass, which Apple says is the most durable it has ever used on its devices. The protective layer of iPhone 8 Plus glass has become 50% thicker than the glass on the front panel of the iPhone 7 Plus. Despite Apple's assurances, the iPhone 8 Plus doesn't feel particularly durable. However, the level of reliability and strength of the glass of the smartphone case will become known only after it falls.

We didn’t drop the iPhone 8 Plus on purpose, but we looked at how YouTube bloggers do it. Drop tests clearly showed that it is better not to drop the iPhone 8 Plus on the back cover. It breaks instantly and over almost the entire area. The front part withstands falls from a height of about one and a half meters much better.

Both glasses of the iPhone 8 Plus have an excellent oleophobic coating. It is not very easy to leave smudges or fingerprints on a smartphone, but even if this happens, they can be removed extremely easily.

The iPhone 8 Plus case is reinforced with a steel base and frame made from 7000 series aluminum, which was used for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus cases. This type of aluminum is used in the aerospace industry. For each iPhone 8 Plus color, the frame is painted to match the body. Apple did the painting in a special way, applying the color in six layers. Thanks to this, it was possible to achieve the correct shade, depth and proper density.

Now, regarding the location of the body elements. Everything here is the same as the iPhone 7 Plus, without a single change. On the front surface there is a traditional Home button, a front camera, a microphone and a built-in stereo speaker. Just in case, we note that the Home button has disappeared only on the iPhone X, Apple's flagship, which will go on sale only in November.

On the back surface there is a dual camera, next to it is a flash, and below it is the classic Apple logo and the inscription “iPhone”. It feels like the camera protrudes from the body of the iPhone 8 Plus less than in the iPhone 7 Plus. The bottom edge is given over to the Lightning connector, a second microphone and a second stereo speaker.

On the right side there is a SIM card tray and a power button.

On the left are volume control buttons and a silent mode switch.

The top edge is empty.

The dimensions of the iPhone 8 Plus case are 158.4 x 78.1 x 7.5 mm, weight - 202 g. The thickness of the smartphone has increased by 0.2 mm, and the weight has increased by 14 grams compared to the iPhone 7 Plus. The height and width of the 5.5-inch iPhone cases of the last two years are practically the same.

The appearance of the iPhone 8 Plus has not changed dramatically compared to its predecessor. Moreover, if you put a smartphone in a case, it will simply be indistinguishable from the iPhone 7 Plus. However, there is a wow effect from the iPhone 8 Plus. The glass “back” of the smartphone gives some special sensations, in no way comparable to the aluminum one in the iPhone 7 Plus. And if you use the iPhone 8 Plus without a case, the glass back surface will always remind you of itself.

We also note that the iPhone 8 Plus in “space gray” color does a good job of collecting dust, which is visible to the naked eye in almost any lighting. At the same time, don’t wipe it like a smartphone; you can’t completely remove dust particles. Here's what the iPhone 8 Plus case looks like in its most normal state.

And here, for comparison, is what the iPhone 8 case looks like in silver. There are undoubtedly dust particles on it, but the coloring makes them completely invisible.

Case colors

iPhone 8 Plus is available in three colors: silver, gold and space gray. We received an iPhone 8 Plus in “space gray” color for review; you can see it in the pictures in the article. But to complete the review, we will also show images of the iPhone 8 Plus in two other colors.

Silver

iPhone 8 / apple.com

Gold

How much does the case get dirty?

The glass back of the iPhone 8 Plus is very pleasant to the touch and is not at all slippery, at least in dry hands. However, it has one serious drawback. The iPhone 8 Plus in space gray literally collects fingerprints. Even after using your smartphone for a short time with clean hands, noticeable stains will remain on it. They are easy enough to clean, but you have to do it more often than you would like.

Fortunately, this problem is limited to the dark iPhone 8 Plus. On the silver and gold iPhone 8 Plus, due to the fact that these colors are light, fingerprint stains are only visible from a certain angle.

Display

iPhone 8 Plus has a 5.5-inch Retina HD LCD display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, 401 ppi pixel density and 16:9 aspect ratio. The display occupies 67.63% of the front surface of the smartphone. All the main characteristics of the iPhone 8 Plus display are completely identical to the iPhone 7 Plus screen. So what has changed?

The main improvement to the iPhone 8 Plus display is the presence of support for True Tone color temperature adaptation technology. The smartphone is equipped with a four-channel ambient light sensor, which automatically adjusts the white balance on the screen in accordance with the color temperature of the lighting. This makes the iPhone 8 Plus display look like it was printed on paper.

True Tone's performance is noticeable and very pleasant. No matter what light you look at the iPhone 8 Plus screen in, it will always be perfectly adjusted, significantly reducing eye strain. The change in color temperature occurs instantly, without bothering the user to languish in anticipation. As with the iPad Pro, where support for True Tone technology first appeared, the feature can be turned off in the Settings → Display & Brightness menu.

The maximum brightness of the iPhone 8 Plus display is 625 cd/m². The brightness is high, it is enough to easily view the image on the screen even in bright natural light. However, this characteristic of the iPhone 8 Plus display has not changed compared to the iPhone 7 Plus.

The iPhone 8 Plus display also has improved color reproduction, making photos on the smartphone screen look even brighter and more saturated. And thanks to dual-domain pixels, the display can be viewed from almost any angle.

Of course, the iPhone 8 Plus display has an oleophobic coating. Its quality is traditionally high for Apple smartphones. It is quite problematic to leave fingerprints and other stains on the display, but on the contrary, there are no difficulties in removing them.

Display output. It's better in the iPhone 8 Plus than in the iPhone 7 Plus. The image has become more saturated, viewing angles are even wider. The key improvement is the unique True Tone technology - no other smartphone can boast of the ability to adapt the color temperature of the display.

Specifications

The iPhone 8 Plus is based on a six-core A11 Bionic processor, a chip unique to all Apple mobile devices. Four A11 Bionic cores are responsible for efficiency, and two for performance. The performance cores of the A11 Bionic are 25% faster than those in the A10 Fusion processor, which is installed in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and the efficiency is 75%. The A11 Bionic processor has 4.3 billion transistors.

iPhone 8 Plus features a second-generation Performance Controller that gives the processor extra power when needed. It is noteworthy that with such acceleration of the A11 Bionic, the charge of the iPhone 8 Plus is consumed economically.

iPhone 8 Plus has a triple-core graphics chip that is 30% faster than the previous model. Apple developed the new video chip themselves, without the help of other companies. How fast does all this technological splendor work?

In synthetic tests, the iPhone 8 Plus blew its competitors to smithereens. In the Geekbench 4 benchmark, the smartphone scored 4241 points in single-core mode, more than twice ahead of both Samsung flagships from 2017.

In multi-core mode, the iPhone 8 Plus' dominance continued. It was not possible to beat the latest smartphones twice, but the overall picture remained the same. iPhone 8 Plus is the most powerful smartphone of the year.

The previous statement was confirmed by testing in the AnTuTu 6 benchmark.

Benchmark screenshots

The A11 Bionic processor has a special focus on augmented reality. Work with it is performed at the highest speed, due to which the smoothness and realism are significantly increased. What's more, the most demanding and immersive AR-enabled apps and games will work exactly as intended, only on iPhone 8 Plus.



Sound

iPhone 8 Plus has noticeably improved stereo speakers compared to those found on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. They are louder, noticeably louder, and produce excellent deep bass. The latter is best felt when watching films. If for some reason you are not a fan of watching movies on your smartphone, then the iPhone 8 Plus can convince you once and for all. The magnificent picture on the large and high-quality screen of the iPhone 8 Plus is complemented by amazing sound - loud and rich.

Apple says the volume of the iPhone 8 Plus' stereo speakers has been increased by 25% compared to the iPhone 7 Plus. Let's make a small correction. We compared the sound of the iPhone 7 Plus and the iPhone 8 Plus and came to the conclusion that Apple has slightly embellished the capabilities of the updated stereo speakers. There is an increase in volume, but not by a full quarter. The speakers of the iPhone 8 Plus are 10-15 percent louder, which is a very decent increase.

Battery

Presenting the iPhone 8 Plus, Apple executives, as usual, did not name the exact battery capacity of the smartphone. They only clarified that the iPhone 8 Plus “works about the same as the iPhone 7 Plus.” The official specifications of the smartphone indicate that it can work:

  • Up to 21 hours talk time.
  • Up to 13 hours when working on the Internet.
  • Up to 14 hours of video playback.
  • Up to 60 hours of music listening.

It was later revealed that the battery capacity of the iPhone 8 Plus is 2675 mAh, which is 225 mAh less than that of the iPhone 7 Plus, the direct predecessor of the smartphone. It is noteworthy that the battery capacity of the iPhone 8 Plus has not increased even though the smartphone is 0.2 mm thicker than the iPhone 7 Plus. On the other hand, thanks to the extremely energy-efficient Apple A11 Bionic processor, Apple engineers did not have a strong need to maintain or increase the previous battery capacity.

However, the increase in battery life of the iPhone 8 Plus did not occur only according to official data from Apple. In fact, we have the complete feeling that the iPhone 8 Plus can work longer without the need to recharge than the iPhone 7 Plus. We loaded the smartphone to its full potential: we took photos and videos, launched benchmarks, resource-intensive applications and games, and also sent gigabytes of content to our work cloud storage. The iPhone 8 Plus held up incredibly well and was completely discharged only late at night. The external battery I took with me just in case was not useful.

Wireless charger

Due to the fact that the back surface of the iPhone 8 Plus is made of glass, Apple was able to painlessly equip the smartphone with support for wireless charging. Apple did not come up with its own wireless charging standard and equipped the iPhone 8 Plus with support for the Qi standard. This means that the smartphone can be charged wirelessly using any accessory of this type. The choice of such charging stations is huge.

Fast charging

Apple didn't highlight this during the presentation, but the iPhone 8 Plus does have support for fast charging. The smartphone charges from 0 to 50% in just 30 minutes, however, with one important condition. To ensure your iPhone 8 Plus charges quickly, you must use an 87W USB-C power adapter. This adapter is sold in the official Apple store for RUB 5,790.

Water resistance

iPhone 8 Plus is protected from water, splashes and dust according to the IP67 standard, exactly the same as the iPhone 7 Plus. Thus, the new 5.5-inch Apple smartphone is not fully waterproof, but only water-resistant. It is assumed that Apple was unable to improve this parameter due to the use of glass as the main body material.

Cameras

iPhone 8 Plus has a camera with a six-element wide-angle lens with ƒ/1.8 aperture and a telephoto lens with ƒ/2.8 aperture. The resolution of both cameras is 12 megapixels. Optical image stabilization is only present on the wide-angle lens.

iPhone 8 Plus is equipped with an improved image signal processor, which is capable of recognizing motion, people, lighting brightness and many other parameters in the frame. All additional camera features of the iPhone 8 Plus have been improved. The quality of pictures in HDR mode has been increased, autofocus has become faster, and the color range has been expanded.

Portrait mode in iPhone 8 Plus has been significantly improved. Details of the subject you're focusing on are clearer, and the background blurs much more naturally. iPhone 8 Plus' Portrait mode produces excellent quality photos in low-light conditions. In addition, when shooting photos with the effect of depth of field, it is now possible to use the flash.

The Portrait mode in the iPhone 8 Plus has new options for setting portrait lighting. When shooting in mode, users can set daylight, studio, contour, stage or stage-mono lighting with one touch.

The front camera of the iPhone 8 Plus has also been improved. The new True Tone Quad-LED flash with Slow Sync allows you to take high-quality selfies in low-light conditions. Combining a long shutter speed with a short pause between flashes allows you to illuminate the subject without darkening the background.

Examples of pictures taken with the iPhone 8 Plus camera

Daylight shots

When there is excellent natural light, iPhone 8 Plus's dual cameras produce stunning images comparable in quality to non-professional DSLR cameras. If a defect can be noticed anywhere, it is only in the foliage of trees in the background.







The camera's excellent color rendering is particularly noticeable in the two images below.


Pictures taken under artificial light

The iPhone 8 Plus camera was also impressive in artificial light. Excellent detail of large objects, excellent brightness and color rendition. However, the lack of natural light is noticeable. When looking closely at objects with a lot of detail or many objects located close to each other, outright noise appears. A clear example of this is shown in the first picture. Pay attention to the flowers. While the first rows are well detailed, the last rows, where the lighting leaves much to be desired, exhibit outright noise.





Shots with depth of field effect

Below are prime examples of how much the Portrait mode has been improved in the iPhone 8 Plus. Focusing on subjects is done perfectly, and the background is blurred in the most natural way. Depth-of-field photos on the iPhone 8 Plus are leaps and bounds in quality compared to the iPhone 7 Plus, truly reaching the level of DSLR cameras.


Zoom photos

An example of 6x digital zoom on the iPhone 8 Plus camera. Even if we zoomed in using software, the quality of the shooting remained virtually unchanged.

An example of 10x digital zoom. A colossal approach, but the sharpness dropped and outright noise appeared. However, it would be wrong to expect a different result from a digital zoom at such a distance.

Panoramic photos

iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus: comparison of shooting quality

In natural conditions, the iPhone 8 Plus camera captures colors more accurately than the iPhone 7 Plus camera. Note that last year's Apple smartphone with a dual camera, however, looks very decent compared to its improved version.

iPhone 8 Plus

iPhone 7 Plus

In one photo

Below is the clearest proof that Apple has really improved the Portrait mode. In Depth of Field mode, your subject is illuminated to the fullest and is in better focus than with the iPhone 7 Plus. The background is blurred in the most natural way.

iPhone 8 Plus

iPhone 7 Plus

In one photo

iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 8: comparison of shooting quality

In the first photo, in bright artificial lighting, the difference between the cameras of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus cannot be called serious. Only by closely studying the detail of the ornament on the walls can you see that the dual camera of the iPhone 8 Plus coped with the task better. Against the general background, there are no significant differences between the images.

iPhone 8

iPhone 8 Plus

In one photo

The situation is similar in the second test image; there is no significant difference in the quality of the photo cameras of the two smartphones.

iPhone 8

iPhone 8 Plus

In one photo

The overall picture remains the same in the photo with excellent daylight. Both cameras handled shooting large objects perfectly and at the same level. The only visible difference is the wide shooting angle of the iPhone 8 Plus camera.

iPhone 8

iPhone 8 Plus

In one photo

Examples of shooting video on the iPhone 8 Plus camera

Regular shooting

Shooting video in motion

How optical stabilization works

Evening shooting

Night photography

49,990 rub.

  • iPhone 8 Plus 256 GB - RUR 59,990 .

    • Bottom line

    The iPhone 8 Plus is a great smartphone. However, it leaves a double impression. I would like to call the iPhone 8 Plus exactly like “iPhone 7s Plus”. Yes, there are a lot of changes in the smartphone, but they don’t make the iPhone 8 Plus a representative of a frankly new generation. This is an improved version of the iPhone 7 Plus, and better than ever.

    This last point can easily be omitted if we consider the iPhone 8 Plus separately, without looking at the iPhone 7 Plus. And in this case, the iPhone 8 Plus deserves the most flattering ratings. True, we do not recommend buying a smartphone for everyone, and more on that below.

    Who should buy

    If you have an iPhone 6s/6s Plus or older iPhone models, then the iPhone 8 Plus is definitely worth considering as one of the options for a successful smartphone upgrade. The new Apple product will delight and surprise with every component, especially the dual camera, which takes great pictures and shoots very high-quality video.

    Who shouldn't buy

    If you are the owner of an iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus and want to update your smartphone, then you are recommended to take a closer look at, or. They are very different from all previous Apple smartphones and will definitely be able to give you a completely new user experience.

    The new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have been especially transformed internally, but externally they are still difficult to distinguish from their predecessors, at least on the front panel. Both smartphones received fast memory and other gadgets that simplify the life of the average user.

    Technical characteristics of iPhone 8
    SmartphoneiPhone 8iPhone 8 Plus
    Screen4.7 inches, IPS, resolution 1334 by 750 pixels, pixel density 326 ppi, 3D Touch, DCI-P3 color gamut support, True Tone function, Night mode5.5 inches, 1920 x 1080 pixels, pixel density 401 ppi, 3D Touch, DCI-P3 color gamut support, True Tone function, Night mode
    CPUApple A11 Bionic (2 high-performance cores and 4 energy-efficient ones)
    RAM2 GB RAM3 GB RAM
    Storage device64 or 256 GB of internal memory
    ProtectionFingerprint scanner Touch ID, PIN code
    Main cameraOne 12-megapixel lens with optical image stabilization, dual-tone flash, f/1.8 apertureA pair of 12-megapixel lenses with optical stabilizers, dual-tone flash, f/1.8 and f/2.6 apertures
    Front-camera7-megapixel with f/2.2 aperture and Retina Flash
    operating systemiOS 11
    Connection4G LTE, Cat.12 (up to 45 Mbit/s)
    WiFiWi-Fi 802.11ac, dual-band (2.4 and 5 GHz), support 2x2 MIMO
    BluetoothBluetooth 5.0 LE, NFC (Apple Pay support)
    NavigationGPS (A-GPS) and GLONASS
    Battery1821 mAh (6.91 Wh), wireless and fast charging2691 mAh (10.22 Wh), wireless and fast charging
    Available colorsGrey, Gold and Silver
    FrameAluminum-glass, waterproof according to IP67 standard
    EquipmentDocumentation, EarPods, Lightning cable, 1-amp charging

    Considering its small dimensions, the power of the hardware platform is truly impressive. At the same time, the characteristics of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have improved significantly. Here you will find a six-core processor made using 10 nm technology, 64 GB of internal memory, and not 32, as on its predecessors, and 4.7- and 5.5-inch screens, respectively. The battery capacity of both phones has decreased, but they have received fast charging and wireless functions.

    In terms of design, both devices still have metal frames around them, but there is now a glass cover on the back, which has several advantages over anodized aluminum.

    Processor and memory

    The Apple iPhone 8/8 Plus uses an A11 Bionic processor with 6 cores on board, which is equipped with an advanced neural engine and an integrated M11 coprocessor. This solution uses 2 high-performance Monsoon cores and 4 energy-efficient Mistral cores. As far as we know, this is the first time the company has used a video accelerator of its own design, and its specifications remain secret. Thanks to this combination, smartphones score a record 200 thousand points in the AnTuTu benchmark.

    Regardless of the model, be it 4.7- or 5.5-inch, you get two options of internal memory to choose from: 64 or 256 GB. Apple doubled the nominal ROM capacity compared to the previous generation, but left the RAM capacity the same. Thus, the iPhone 8 has 2 GB of RAM on board, and the iPhone 8 Plus has 3 GB.

    Screen and camera

    The general characteristics of the display panels of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have also not undergone major changes. These are the same IPS screens, but with improved color reproduction thanks to support for the DCI-P3 and HDR color space. The pixel density remained the same: 326 ppi in the case of the 4.7-inch model and 401 ppi in the 5.5-inch.

    It should be noted that here and there the True Tone function has appeared, which adjusts the hue of the display colors at its own discretion. The picture becomes a little yellowish, but the eyes get tired much less.

    Cameras began to shoot better, despite the fact that their characteristics remained virtually unchanged. iPhone 8 received one 12-megapixel module with an f/1.8 aperture, optical stabilizer and autofocus. His brother has acquired a pair of lenses that have sensors with the same resolution (12 MP), but with different apertures. The main module boasts an f/1.8 aperture, and the secondary module has an f/2.8 aperture. There is an LED flash at the back, and Retina Flash is used to highlight selfies.

    The selfie camera on both phones has a 7-megapixel sensor with f/2.2 aperture.

    Battery, autonomy and new features

    Unfortunately, Cupertino engineers had to reduce the battery capacity of the regular Eight and Plus. Compared to last year's Seven, the new model has lost more than 100 mAh, and the difference in capacity between the Pluses is more than 200 mAh. One way or another, in terms of autonomy, the new products showed themselves to be no worse, or even better, in some specific use scenarios.

    The iPhone 8 battery capacity is 1821 mAh and its power is 6.91 Wh, while the iPhone 8 Plus has a 2691 mAh battery with a power of 10.22 Wh. According to the manufacturer, the more compact model is capable of 14 hours of talk time or 12 hours of surfing in Safari. The older model can withstand 21 hours of calls and 13 hours of web surfing, despite the fact that it has the same characteristics.

    Both devices support wireless charging, which allows you to increase the battery level to 50% in 30 minutes, provided that the phone is in standby mode. There is also wireless charging, powered by Qi technology.

    Other Features

    All Apple smartphones of 2017 are protected from moisture and dust according to the IP67 standard. iPhone and iPhone 8 Plus can be submerged in water to a depth of 1 meter and remain there for 30 minutes. They are equipped with a physical Home button with a built-in fingerprint scanner.

    Both gadgets are equipped with Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC for Apple Pay contactless payments, as well as GPS and GLONASS for navigation. The LTE module built into the processor provides download/upload speeds according to the Cat.12 standard (up to 450 Mbit/s).

    Also, do not forget about the presence of support for ARKit, which ensures the operation of augmented reality technology. It uses Metal 2 and Core ML software to improve system resource efficiency.

    I noticed a very interesting thing. During two days of active use of the new eights, I showed them to many friends. And the scenario was always the same - everyone snatches the 8 Plus out of my hands, but it remains unattended. Makes me wonder... What did Apple do so cool in the new generation? We'll figure it out iPhone 8 Plus review.

    Bundling or Apple's boundless greed

    The box is now painted in the color of the iPhone inside. This is, of course, great, but the company would be better off spending the money to put a Lightning to USB C cable inside, which, by the way, costs 2 thousand rubles separately. Using it, we could at least connect the new iPhone to a MacBook, or to another modern laptop. Fortunately, USB C is now being actively implemented by everyone. By the way, a wide range of original iPhones, from 4S to X, is presented on the apple-original website, at low prices!

    But no! Instead, the Cupertino team left the outdated 1-amp charger. From the master's shoulder, so to speak.

    In addition, inside are regular wired EarPods with a Lightning plug, an adapter from it to a mini-jack and... stickers. There is nothing else interesting. You can see for yourself by watching my unboxing.

    Design - the same thing for four years

    The new plus makes several impressions. Here are the key ones.

    Lord, how healthy he is!

    The iPhone 8 Plus is the worst example of a smartphone with a 5.5-inch screen. Why did I raise this topic again, since this was already clear with the example of the 6 Plus? Because this perfectly demonstrates the manufacturer’s relationship with its fans: “everything is for their sake, so that they feel good, so that each new generation is more comfortable than the previous one.” Yeah!


    The market is full of smartphones with the same screen, but in a more compact body. Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi have especially succeeded in this.

    Length

    Width

    Thickness

    Weight

    iPhone 8 Plus (5.5’’)

    158,4

    78,1

    iPhone 7 Plus (5.5’’)

    158,2

    77,9

    Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 (5.99’’)

    151,8

    75,5

    Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (6.3’’)

    162,5

    74,8

    A smartphone is inconvenient anytime, anywhere. It barely fits into the front pants pocket. If you still shoved it there, got into the car and drove off, God forbid, they will call you. It’s simply impossible to take the device out of your pocket while moving and not dig it into a pole.

    However, a large display is truly a boon. Surfing the Web, scrolling through your Instagram feed, typing on a normal keyboard - all this is much more convenient to do than on. When I was using the latter, I found myself thinking that I needed to stop and concentrate in order to type without errors. Plus allows you to use it in a more relaxed way.


    How to show off now?

    For the fourth year in a row, the same front panel. Nothing, literally nothing new.

    Oh yes! Apple now claims the glass is 50 percent stronger. I didn't check this, but I'm sure one of you will do it sooner or later.

    But I tested the device for something else - for scratch resistance, and the new iPhone failed the test.

    In just a week and a half of use, scratches appeared on both the display and the back cover. This is completely out of the question!


    All the changes are at the back - now we don’t have smoothly polished metal, but tempered glass. But with an oleophobic coating, which is of very high quality.

    There is no exact information on the type of glass. They say this is the latest generation of Gorilla Glass, and this, if anything, is the fifth version.

    Such a panel was installed at the back for one single purpose. The nosebleed smartphone needed at least some innovation, so it was decided to place wireless charging inside. However, this cannot be called an innovation, because “skis” have been actively using this technology in their flagships for four years now.

    Since a special coil is used under glass for this purpose, the battery had to be reduced in size. We write down 225 mAh as a loss (the 7 Plus had 2900 mAh, but now it’s 2675).

    He's never black!

    Have you looked at the “ass”? We have already realized that black iPhones from the current line are no longer available. Now we have space gray or Space Gray. Actually, as it was before.

    Personally, I don't like it. The back panel looks okay, but it's not exactly a "wow" thing.

    Things are even worse with other colors. Look at the golden one, the back of which is white in the light, but is “rusty” indoors?

    The silver version is the most boring. For conservatives and those who are not at all embarrassed by the huge frames on the sides of the screen.


    It slides, but not like that

    One of the main tactile-visual iPhone 8 Plus specifications— it’s still slippery, but it’s not comparable to its metal predecessor (not Jet Black). The glass on the back definitely adds a touch of grip. Well, how? Not much, 30-40 percent.

    However, due to its large size, dropping the smartphone on the floor and now saying goodbye to both glasses is still a piece of cake. So purchasing a cover is strictly required.

    If anything, iFixit has already disassembled the new product and gave it 6 out of 10 points on the maintainability scale. This means that if something happens, repairing a new product will be more difficult than the same seven (7 points).

    Plays louder

    As in its predecessor, the sound comes from two speakers at once: from the main one at the bottom and the speaker at the top. The latter sounds quieter, but adds good stereo.


    The new Plus plays louder than the old one. By 25% according to official statements. I’ll check this later in a separate review, where I’ll compare both generations of devices, but for now we’ll take Apple’s word for it.

    The sound itself is of high quality and loud, not even above average, but rather closer to the maximum of what I have heard. And of course, the 8 Plus is a little louder. Another argument in favor of buying its older brother.

    Little things

    The antenna frames are now very short and visible only at the ends. If anything, the base of the case is made of 7000-series aluminum (it doesn’t bend, that is), and Apple also talks about some kind of “steel base.” Apparently it's inside the case.


    The physical buttons are made very carefully and do not wobble in their grooves. Not a single manufacturer of Android smartphones pays attention to this - everything rattles like a rattle. But not the iPhone.

    Don't worry about the protruding camera. Here we have sapphire glass, so it will be extremely difficult to scratch the lenses.

    The display is nothing new. Practically...

    There's nothing new about the iPhone 8 Plus screen. Unless they added support for True Tone technology. The bottom line is that a special sensor next to the front camera monitors the ambient light and adjusts the temperature of the screen colors to a specific situation. In short, the screen becomes either very yellow (in a room with low lighting) or slightly yellowish (in bright sun).

    And no, this is not Night Shift. This setting works separately. If, of course, you activate it.

    Compared the screens of the iPhone 8 Plus and . That's what came out of it.




    If you compare it head-on, it becomes obvious that the 8 Plus display renders colors a little more pleasantly. The youngest ones are sharper and have a slight green tint.

    A strong deviation along the diagonal axis shows that this is a very ordinary IPS matrix. Yes, it’s high quality, no doubt about it, but it still floats like a whitish fog. This is not AMOLED.


    Apple tirelessly claims that the screen here is “Retina HD”, that it is new and all redesigned, that it supports the extended P3 color gamut and all that, but in reality the display easily looks like someone’s Optic AMOLED.

    What's new in hardware?

    Technical characteristics of iPhone 8 Plus 64 GB(in my case) we will compare with iPhone 7 Plus. It is logical, visual and practical. Let's go!

    iPhone 7 Plus

    iPhone 8 Plus

    Display

    IPS, 5.5 inches, 1920 x 1080 (401 ppi density), 1300:1 contrast ratio, 625 nits brightness

    IPS, 5.5 inches, 1920 x 1080 (401 ppi density), 1300:1 contrast ratio, 625 nits brightness, True Tone technology, HDR and Dolby Vision support

    CPU

    A10 Fusion (2.34 GHz, 4 cores, 16 nm) + M10 motion coprocessor

    A11 Bionic (6 cores, 10 nm) + M11 motion coprocessor

    Graphic arts

    Own graphics accelerator

    Proprietary triple-core processor (30% more powerful than its predecessor)

    RAM

    3 GB

    Built-in memory

    32, 64 or 128 GB

    64 (53.83 GB actually available) or 256 GB

    Main camera

    dual 12 MP module (wide-angle and telephoto lenses, f/1.8 and f/2.8, 2x optical zoom, sapphire coating, optical stabilization, 4-section True Tone flash, 4K 30 FPS recording, Slo-Mo 1080p at 120 FPS)

    dual 12 MP module (wide-angle and telephoto lens, f/1.8 and f/2.8, 2x optical zoom, sapphire coating, dual optical stabilization, 4-section True Tone flash Slow Sync, 4K 60 FPS recording, Slo-Mo 1080p at 240 FPS)

    Front-camera

    7 MP (f/2.2, HDR, EIS, 1080p recording)

    Battery

    2900 mAh

    2675 mAh (fast and Qi wireless charging)

    Connectors

    Lightning

    Sensors

    The company from Cupertino wanted to make a flagship at minimal cost, but overestimated its strength and was embarrassed. Pavel Gorodnitsky collected four stories at once that prove: the iPhone 8 is a stain on Apple’s reputation.

    When you rape the same design for the fourth time in a row, there can be no compromises or failures.

    Apple thought differently: Tim Cook approved the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, but did not track the quality of the devices at all.

    Either the boss was busy with the iPhone X, or in general did not doubt his team, but the fact remains: now there is a risk that the iPhone 8 will turn out to be the same tragic device for Apple as the Galaxy Note 7 was for Samsung a year ago.

    Disgusting performance

    In fact, everything started out quite well. Journalists praised the glass body of the new product, took high-quality selfies and enjoyed the main camera. Moreover, the authoritative service DxOMark conducted a study and named the iPhone 8 Plus camera the best in the history of smartphones.

    After such a start, it seemed that Apple had again created a brilliant product: there is nothing new in it (except for wireless charging), but you still want to buy it. At a minimum, because of the pleasant-to-touch body, and at a maximum, because of the excellent (from hearsay) photo module.

    In parallel with the odes to the camera, IT publications distributed another resounding headline: “The A11 processor is comparable in power to the chip installed in the MacBook Pro.” Considering that Apple smartphones are almost always remarkably optimized, there was hope that the iPhone 8 would run at turbo speed.

    It cannot be said that the same iPhone 7 Plus lags or slows down a lot, but periodically (very rarely) it thinks for a second or two, and only then does what it is asked to do. Accordingly, they expected a cosmic reaction from the iPhone 8 Plus, but in vain: this device was probably programmed to limit its performance. It dulls even in basic applications - several journalists and dozens of upset users report this at once.

    In addition, the new “Plus” completely lacks RAM: if the conventional Galaxy Note 8 can keep dozens of applications open, then in the iPhone everything is different - programs slam shut almost immediately, but remain in the list of recently launched ones.

    General conclusion: there was no revolutionary leap in speed. If you are not excited by a glass case, a decent camera, or the knowledge that you are holding a current iPhone in your hands, it is better to take the proven “seven”. It is both cheaper and more practical.

    However, there is an option that in one of the next versions of iOS 11 the problem with the processor will be solved. But obviously nothing can be done with the RAM - three gigabytes are desperately missing.

    iPhone bombs

    Sometimes smartphones explode - this is unpleasant and scary, but most often the owners are to blame for the incidents, who use cheap pirated cables, and then download their rights and demand compensation. The iPhone 8 has a completely different fate: in Asia (Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong), three devices that were charged via a proprietary cable and adapter swelled and simply split in half. Similar cases have also been recorded in Canada and Greece.

    The display naturally separated from the rest of the body, and pictures of the mutilated devices ended up on all major IT resources. Apple immediately promised to take control of the situation, but so far the percentage of defective batteries does not exceed the permissible limit, which means it will be extremely difficult to find out the cause of the fires.

    A small forecast: there is a feeling that there will be more and more unstuck displays in the coming weeks. The symptoms of the first victims are too similar - probably everything is as serious as the iPhone 6, which broke when slightly bent. Only those iPhones were safe for life and health, but these ones can easily lead to burns.

    Cracking in the speakers

    Another massive Apple failure is the release of the iPhone 8 with unfinished software. Dozens of users have noted that during a normal conversation on the phone, an annoying noise is periodically heard, most similar to interference. The same problem, unfortunately for Apple, was revealed to journalists from reputable media, so the corporation quickly blamed everything on the crude version of iOS and rolled out an update.

    This is a normal solution if you forget that:

    1. Inside the iPhone 8 is exactly the same as the iPhone 7. How the ill-fated crack got there is a mystery. This is an obvious negligence of the testers - they probably thought that the world had long switched to instant messengers and did not communicate “by voice”;

    2. Not everyone has the opportunity to quickly update the firmware. Sometimes users download updates and then take a long time to get the iPhone to install them;

    3. The noises did not stop for ten whole days.

    Once again: an emergency software update is the right decision, but basic functions (and calls are still one of the main options) need to be checked more carefully than in the case of the iPhone 8.

    What else is bad?

    "eights" tend to crack when dropped. Everything is logical - it's glass.

    3. Under heavy load, the iPhone 8 not only lags, but also heats up. Testers have already found that the body temperature increases even in standard applications, not to mention games.

    What's the result?

    "eight" will fail in sales: numerous notes and reviews about the device's disadvantages will clearly influence the decision of those who choose between the iPhone 8 and iPhone X.

    By the way, it’s now also scary for the “top ten”: even if a proven (seemingly) iPhone has such problems, then what will happen to a completely new smartphone?

    The new generation of Apple's line of Apple smartphones in 2017 received the names: iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, instead of the expected ones - iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus. Why did this happen? No one knows. Perhaps Apple has decided to change the traditions regarding the names of its smartphones and who knows if we will ever see the S-series or any iPhone again. Well, in the meantime, let's check out the new features and other features that make the iPhone 8 unique and cool compared to other smartphones in 2017. Let's start the iPhone 8 review, let's go!

    Appearance and Design

    The design of the iPhone 8 remains unchanged. This is still the same iPhone 7, only in a glass case instead of aluminum. Apple decided not to bother with a new design, but simply focused on new technologies concentrated in the device itself. Thus, wireless charging appeared in the iPhone 8, thanks to the rear panel of the smartphone, which is made entirely of glass. The glass allows waves to pass through, which can charge the battery in the device. An aluminum lid would not provide the same result.

    So, the front and back of the iPhone 8 consists of durable scratch-resistant glass that is coated with an oleophobic coating. And what about the side, at the end? The legendary metal frame made of aerospace-grade aluminum, which we still remember from the iPhone 4 / 4S. Thus, the design returned to 2010, when the Quartet was released. It’s strange, Apple abandoned this idea earlier, switched to metal monolithic cases, and now they’ve returned to the old way again. Have we really run out of ideas for innovation? Well, otherwise, the iPhone 8 remained the same as the iPhone 7. They didn’t cut out the Lightning connector, although they did add wireless charging. You can charge it from it too. The 3.5 mm audio jack was not returned, but this is obvious. All buttons and holes are in place.

    iPhone 8 received only three colors: black, silver and gold. The rose gold and black matte colors are no longer available. At the same time, the standard colors have also changed, for example: black - similar to Space Grey; and the gold one is more reminiscent of the Champagne color that was used to paint the “type” gold cases for the iPhone 5 at one time; the silver color has become brighter, it has become lighter. Well, it’s good that Apple decided to make the iPhone 8 in only three colors – like before.

    Apple claims that the glass is very durable, that such glass has never been seen in iPhones before! And I don’t know whether you can believe this or not, but I think we’ll all soon find out when we get new iPhones and start dropping them. I remember the days of the iPhone 4, how every second owner had a “beautiful” cobweb on the back panel. And thanks to the durable and tightly welded case, the iPhone 8 received an IP67 degree of moisture protection according to the IEC 60529 standard and, like the iPhone 7, the iPhone 8 can be washed under the tap. Of course, I don’t recommend doing this, I wouldn’t do this myself, but if we drop the iPhone 8 into water, we have some kind of guarantee that it will work as before.

    Display

    Thanks to the retained design, the iPhone 8 display has not undergone any significant changes. It remains the same as in the iPhone 7. Except for some internal nuances. The new display is made using LCD IPS technology, thanks to which the viewing angle has become wider and the maximum brightness has increased to 625 nit. There is also support for the DCI-P3 color space, which provides more accurate color reproduction and support for the HDR10 standard.

    In the iPhone 8, the display has a diagonal of 4.7 inches and a density of 326 ppi, and in the iPhone 8 Plus it is 5.5″ and 401 ppi. And of course, 3D Touch technology, without which there is no escape, is a useful and signature feature of the iPhone. The most important innovation of the iPhone 8 display was the introduction of the True Tone function, as in the iPad Pro. The color temperature of the display adjusts to the ambient light, due to which our eyes will be less tired from reading or playing games. Previously, this effect was achieved through a function in iOS, but now it is built into the hardware.

    Iron

    CPU

    iPhone 8 is equipped with a top-end 6-core A11 Bionic processor, which is made using a 10-nanometer process technology. Also, the iPhone 8 has a built-in M11 motion processing coprocessor and a neural engine. The iPhone 8 GPU has 3 cores. Previously, there was some stability in terms of increasing power in iPhones. Now the performance of hardware in iPhones is growing every year. For a long time, iPhone processors had 2 cores, and only in the recent iPhone 7 was it decided to install 4 core processors. And a year later, iPhone 8 already has 6 cores. But this is not surprising, because every year many serious innovations appear in new iPhones that need to be somehow processed. That's why multithreading is needed.

    RAM

    The RAM in the iPhone 8 is 2 GB, and in the iPhone 8 Plus it is 3 GB. No changes here. The predecessor had everything the same. The new hardware will be able to handle the operation of the device’s camera, wireless charging, and the overall operation of the entire device well. The hardware of the eighth iPhone will be able to run the most advanced and resource-intensive games. I already want GTA 4 on iOS.

    Persistent memory

    The iPhone 8 has 64 GB of memory in the minimum configuration, and 256 GB in the maximum configuration. The iPhone 7 had 32, 128 and 256 GB, the question is: where did the variation with 128 GB of memory go and why are there only two options available? Apparently this is another departure from Apple traditions this year.

    Battery

    The lithium-ion battery of the iPhone 8 received a capacity of 1821 mAh, and the iPhone 8 Plus – 2675 mAh, from which you can see that the battery capacities have become smaller than those of their predecessors. Why is that? It's simple. Nobody in the world, not even Apple, is worried about the autonomy of their devices. They don’t want to increase the size of devices in order to fit a more powerful battery into them. Therefore, we just have to wait until they develop super-capacitive batteries for smartphones. However, there is no need to be upset. The iPhone 8 will last as long as the iPhone 7. A day - two. This happens due to the energy efficiency of the A11 processor and high-quality optimization of iOS 11.

    What’s also nice is that Apple has equipped the iPhone 8 with fast charging. This means that somewhere up to 50% battery charge can be achieved in just 30 minutes. A full 100% charge is enough for 40 hours of listening to music via a Bluetooth headset, 12 hours of surfing the Internet via Wi-Fi and 14 hours of talking on the phone via a Bluetooth headset.

    Wireless charger

    Finally, the iPhone has wireless charging. True, this is no longer an innovation, because today there are already smartphones that charge contactlessly. Apple was late in this regard.

    This technology works thanks to the glass body. Aluminum does not transmit the necessary waves to charge the battery, so previous iPhones made of aluminum could not support this technology. One thing is not clear, why didn’t they already get rid of the Lightning connector? He's already redundant. This is not Steve Jobsky. Although everything becomes clear when you realize that Apple does not include a wireless charger in the box. To use contactless charging, you must first purchase it separately. (no comments)

    iPhone 8 cameras

    Main

    With every new generation of iPhone, Apple improves its camera. And iPhone 8 is no exception. In the past, the iPhone 7 had a dual camera built-in that provides depth and blur, as well as 2x optical zoom. This year, Apple just slightly improved the aperture to f/1.8 in the main camera and f/2.4 in the second (body) camera. And this is a shame, because the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 in 2017 has an aperture of f/1.6, which means a slight loss in terms of parameters from Apple. The iPhpne 8 camera has all the modern features that allow it to take great pictures. True Tone Quad-LED flash with Slow Sync, six-element lens, BSI sensor, hybrid IR filter, autofocus with Focus Pixels technology, and noise reduction.

    Main video

    The video camera in iPhone 8 can record video:

    • 4K at 24, 30 or 60 fps
    • 1080p HD video recording at 30 or 60 fps
    • 720p HD video recording at 30fps

    The camera also supports optical image stabilization when shooting video, optical zoom and 6x digital zoom (iPhone 8 Plus only). A cool feature is to take photos while recording 4K video, with a resolution of 8 MP.

    Frontal

    The front camera has not changed, the same 7 MP, ƒ/2.2 aperture, BSI sensor, Retina Flash and automatic image stabilization. It seems that the cameras have not changed at all - that the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 8 will take photographs the same way.

    Brief technical specifications of Apple iPhone 8

    Display: 4.7″ and 5.5″ in Plus, LCD IPS, 3D Touch
    Processor: A11 Bionic, 6 cores
    Coprocessor: M11
    RAM: 2 GB, 3 GB
    Own memory: 64 GB, 256 GB
    Camera: main – 12 MP, f/1.8, f/2.4; front – 7 MP, f/2.2
    Battery: 1821 mAh and 2675 mAh in Plus
    Interfaces: wireless charging, Wi-Fi 802.11ac with MIMO technology, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC

    iPhone 8 release date

    On September 12, 2017, Apple presented the iPhone 8 to the world in the USA. The release date will begin on September 29 in the first wave countries.

    The iPhone 8 release date in Russia now coincides with the US release date. Starting with the iPhone 7, Russia began to be included in the list of first-wave countries where sales of new iPhones begin. You can buy an iPhone 8 in Russia at any mobile equipment store.

    The iPhone 8 release date in Ukraine is October. You shouldn't wait for the iPhone 8 right away. Usually, always after the presentation, new iPhones appear in Ukraine within a month. You can buy an iPhone 8 in Ukraine at any major store of mobile phones and other smart gadgets.

    iPhone 8 price

    How much will the iPhone 8 cost? This time iPhones have become more expensive. If previously a new iPhone in the minimum configuration cost 649 bucks, now the price for the iPhone 8 starts at $699.

    iPhone 8 price in USA

    • iPhone 8 64 GB – $699
    • iPhone 8 256 GB – $749
    • iPhone 8 Plus 64 GB – $769
    • iPhone 8 Plus 256 GB – $969

    iPhone 8 price in Ukraine

    In turn, in Ukraine, the iPhone 8 will cost much more due to markups in stores.

    • iPhone 8 64 GB – 24500 UAH
    • iPhone 8 256 GB – 31,000 UAH
    • iPhone 8 Plus 64 GB – 27,000 UAH
    • iPhone 8 Plus 256 GB – 34,000 UAH

    iPhone 8 price in Russia

    In Russia the situation is no better. The iPhone 8 will cost the same more than in the US due to the same markups in stores.

    • iPhone 8 64 GB – $980
    • iPhone 8 256 GB – $1190
    • iPhone 8 Plus 64 GB – $1120
    • iPhone 8 Plus 256 GB – $1330

    Prices were calculated at the rate of 58 rubles per 1 dollar.

    Conclusion

    iPhone 8 is the most beautiful smartphone, one might even say that it is the best and most beautiful among all iPhones in their entire history. And it has no equal in terms of power and quality. But it’s somehow not clear why Apple decided to change traditions and, after the seventh iPhone, release the eighth, and not the 7S. It is also not clear where the third model with average memory went, or why the charging connector is present if there is wireless charging and headphones. Apple is trying to take small steps in terms of innovation, which is why it has been losing out to its competitors lately. What will happen next?