After years of delaying a phone upgrade, I finally gave in when my old iPhone 5S’s battery dropped from 50% to less than 5% after one phone call. I bought a new iPhone 11 last Friday at an Apple Store and wanted to share a few thoughts after using it for almost a week since I doubt that I will have major other use cases later on. It’s worth noting that while I was standing in line to get the new phone (and it’s a long line), I was pretty much one a few people who stood there to get the 11. Most customers were there to get the Midnight Green color which is only available on 11 Pro and Pro Max. I won’t be surprised to see that the color is the best selling iPhone this year. Apparently, Walt Mossberg, a famed tech journalist, had pretty much the same observation
Camera
The camera on iPhone 11 is fantastic. It can take photos with dim lights and photos have remarkable quality. I am not a photographer and I suck at making adjustments for photos, but these are some that I have taken so far
FaceID
FaceID works when my face isn’t directly in front of the camera, when I lie on my bed at night with only the reading lamp on and when I have sunglasses on. You can choose to set up FaceID so that it will work even when your eyes are closed, even though for security reasons it is not recommended. The feature facilitates log-ins and payment seamlessly, something that a person who upgraded from iPhone 5S very appreciates
No notification while driving
The phone’s default setup prevents notifications from app while you are driving. If you are on a train or bus, you can manually turn it off easily. If you just go about your day and drive without giving it much thought, don’t be surprised that you won’t receive alerts from your friends.
Blocking unknown callers
There is a feature that blocks calls from numbers that are not in your phone book. This option; however, may be annoying if, for instance, you are waiting for a call from Google to verify a log-in like I sometimes do, due to the two-step authentication security feature.
Battery
I am not a heavy phone user in a sense that I don’t listen to music much on the new phone yet and I don’t play games. So even though my battery lasts more than a day with all chat messages, Twitter, Facebook and maps, it may not be a practical true yardstick of the battery life. Nonetheless, if your use cases are similar to mine, the phone’s new battery is pretty awesome.
Because iPhone is one of the most covered products and Apple one of the most scrutinized companies, I am sure there are others that have reviews in depth. For the simple use cases and features that fit my life, the phone has been great. So far.
Disclaimer: I own Apple stocks in my personal portfolio.
Minh Quang Duong 