iPhone XS: Why it's harder than ever to pick the best iPhone this year
Phones
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Last year, the iPhone X changed a lot of the design with the iPhone.
This year Things are pretty much all iPhone Xs, and that's the thing.
Apple has blown up the entire line to become iPhone X's, and now there's an iPhone X explosion that's happened between the iPhone XS, the iPhone XS Max and the upcoming iPhone XR.
So what do you do, how do you make a decision here?
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Well, the iPhone Xr doesn't come out until late October but I've been using the iPhone Xs and the Xs max and I can at least tell you how those work.
Now, one of the biggest features in the Xs and Xs max is the camera, in fact, we shot this intro on it.
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So what's changed in cameras this year?
Well, for portraits, front and rear, Apple has a way to finally adjust portrait effects or Bokeh inside both modes.
So it's supposed to not just create better looking portraits, but also you can adjust them.
It looks good.
I still think there are some things that look a little bit fuzzy about it.
There's also added Smart HDR.
And what that is is basically a way that HDR photos can have a greater range and still look crisp.
And I found that a lot of my photos, when taken near really bright light versus the iPhone X, have a lot more detail in those bright light areas without looking as blown out.
And it also helps that the speed is better in the single processor so that the photos do end up looking sharper with a less blur.
Apple's also claiming lower light photography with higher quality.
So far that has held up, but the competition is really fierce when it comes to phones.
So stay tuned for a really deep comparison to find out which one is now the best.
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Yes, Apple put new processors on these phones.
The A12 Bionic, which sounds dramatic, and is supposed to offer advances, especially in machine learning and AI and augmented reality.
These are future technologies built for the stuff to come.
But you may not necessarily need all that stuff right now, and phones are already really fast.
In fact, last year's iPhone X and the iPhone 8 had a really nice jump in speed.
So far, the A12 is not that dramatic a speed leap in everyday uses, but it's still a little early to tell, so stay tuned.
The biggest leaps could come in those future technologies that can play out in apps down the road.
These phones also have a few more features that could be of interest [UNKNOWN] come into play for you.
One is that these phones who are dual-SIM in additional to gigabit LTE.
Now dual SIM cards support won't come till later this year.
One of them will be an e-SIM, and one of them will be a physical SIM.
That could matter if you're travelling.
Also, these phones are supposed to charge faster.
Using wireless chi chargers.
Now, stay tuned for more testing on that.
These phones also have better speakers.
So I notice that when you're playing music on them or movies, it definitely sounds crisper.
Stereo sound sounds a little bit better.
These phones also have added water resistance and dust resistance, IP68.
Now the real difference there is two meters for 30 minutes versus last years one meter.
Which really only comes into play if you've dropped your phones into a really deep pool.
In case you've never used an iPhone 10 before, all of these iPhone 10S models and the 10R have face ID.
The face ID is the best facial recognition system for unlocking and security that's out there on smartphones, but still It replaces the home button, and when I used it last year, there were a lot of times that I felt it was too slow or just sometimes didn't work.
And this year Face ID is faster on all the models, which is nice.
And so far using it, logging in feels a lot quicker.
It's basically unlocked and ready by the time I lift the phone.
I'd still say that there are times that the Face ID doesn't exactly recognize me.
By design because maybe I'm too close, or maybe I've got my head on my pillow or my hand to my face.
Now the fact that the iPhone X has been improved with two new models in less than year since it debuted in November, is great.
And these are a little faster, and they also got better cameras and they feel good, and Face ID is faster.
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But they're not the only game in town, and the iPhone 10R is coming in October, and that costs less, has a screen that falls in between the size of these two, although it's lower resolution, and has a lot of the same camera features, not dual camera, but maybe a lot of what makes these photos look so good, maybe even better battery life.
Now that one, we haven't reviewed yet, and it's impossible to really tell how good it is.
But is it worth waiting?
Absolutely, especially when these phones are so expensive.
And that's a thing, wait for the other shoe to drop because right now the iPhone has three models and your best bet might be the one that I don't have.
