An entire decade has passed since Apple launched its first iPhone in the market – it’s amazing how time flies. Back then, it came out with a bang, sweeping people off their feet and establishing Apple as the leading innovator in the mobile phone realm. It offered mobile users an interactive, mind-blowing alternative to devices with keypads, giving them sleek designs and multi-touch functionality to wow at. Now 10 years later, iPhone maintains the status of being one of the most innovative, feature-heavy, high-performing phones on the market.

This year, Apple came out with two phones: the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X. While the iPhone X marks the 10-year milestone, the iPhone 8 is the replacement of what we have been waiting for through the year, i.e. the iPhone 7S. The latest phone by Apple has gone bionic, offering smarter cameras, inductive charging, neural engine processing, fantastic displays better than ever before, and the first time ever, Augmented Reality (AR) optimization. Following suit of the last two iPhone generations, the iPhone 8 has been launched in two versions: the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

The Burning Question – What’s New and Different?

With innovation being synonymous with iPhone, people expect to get new features that no one has ever seen or heard of. However, over the past few years, Apple has been lagging behind a bit in introducing such technology in their iPhones, because users have to delve into their phone to learn about the superior performance and other cutting edge features integrated in the device.

Let’s take a look at what’s new and different in the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

Design and Connectivity

Back in the day when the iPhone 7 hit the market, a majority of the fans were underwhelmed in terms of its design. While there is no doubt that it was sleek and classy, it looked almost similar to its predecessor—just without a headphone jack. Unfortunately, things haven’t changed much since then. If a brand new look is what you are looking for, the iPhone 8 is going to disappoint you to some extent.

What’s new though is the all-glass back, adding to its sleekness, shine, and grandeur. As the Apple officials put it, “It’s the most durable glass ever in an iPhone.” However, the problem with a glass back is fingerprints, scratches, and whatnot, that can turn your beautiful iPhone into an ugly mess by the time new iPhone is released. Aside from this, the iPhone 8 is slightly thicker than the iPhone 7. In terms of connectivity, almost everything is the same, except for Bluetooth 5, which is an upgrade from the iPhone 7’s v4.2.

Performance

Here is what makes the iPhone 8 a truly remarkable device. The other areas may not have received many improvements, but the performance has been taken to a whole new level. The new iPhone is equipped with the A11 Bionic chip that makes both the devices impressively fast, smooth, and efficient. Believe it or not, this chipset may be the fastest, most powerful we have seen to date, when it comes to mobile devices. It is coupled with an M11 motion coprocessor, the first GPU that Apply has developed in-house. The iPhone 8 is packed with 2GB RAM, while the iPhone 8 Plus has 3GB.

The last year’s model had the A10 with four cores – two efficiency cores and two high-performance cores. This year, the iPhone 8 has the A11 with six cores – four efficiency cores and two high-performance cores. Certainly, a sizable upgrade, if you ask me.

What does all the Bionic jargon and more cores means to the average user: Well, in the simplest sense, everything will feel smoother and faster under the finger – better than the previous iPhones.

Display – True Tone Retina HD

The display specs are somewhat same as the iPhone 7, i.e. 4.7in 750 x 1,334 IPS display. In the battle of LCD vs. OLED, the addition of the True Tone feature can be called a game-changer for the new iPhone. True Tone Retina HD display was first rolled out in the iPad Pros, which allows the device to adapt to your environment by changing color temperatures. With this, you can experience a better, more comfortable viewing experience, which is a great benefit for the iPhone 8 Plus users.

Augmented Reality (AR)

AR is one of the most fascinating, and arguably the highlighting features of the iPhone 8. Augmented Reality has been around for some time now, but having the functionality in your phone is, well, kind of cool. Apply has demonstrated how the iPhone 8 and the upcoming models will allow users to use AR in different ways, such as through sports apps, educational apps, games, and more. A few other noteworthy features include spatial change in the audio volume and texture of the sound as the user moves further or closer to the source while in the AR.

Video Shooting Experience

We’ve already seen the 4K ability two generations ago in the iPhone 6S. The iPhone 8 is equipped with an upgrade – now you can shoot videos in 4K at 60 FPS. What this means is your videos will be smoother, enhancing the viewing experience. Not only that, the iPhone 8 has 240 FPS slo-mo at 1080p, which is a leap from the previous model in terms of quality.

iPhone 8 in a Nutshell

The Good

• Solid still pictures and excellent video shooting quality
• Mindboggling performance, thanks to the new and improved A11 chipset
• Wireless, fast charging to add to the convenience
• Supports a multitude of new apps and games, as well as enhanced functionality, due to iOS 11

The Bad

• Battery life for the iPhone 8 is still questionable, though the iPhone 8 Plus can last a bit longer
• Design and aesthetics are not something one would say meet the consumer expectations
• The phone lacks mobile HDR
• While the glass back gives the luxurious feel, it is not completely resistant to fingerprints and scratches

The iPhone 8 is a high-performance and those who realize it are going to love it. But for those who are all about aesthetics and what’s new, they may not be wowed by this new Apply release and might want to wait out till the iPhone X is released.

by Bobby J Davidson

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