You have to feel a little sorry for anyone who has been burning the midnight oil working on the iPhone 8/Plus. A new iPhone would normally be getting a huge amount of attention, but in this case the device has been completely over-shadowed by the iPhone X.
The iPhone 8 should, at least, get its own 15 minutes of fame today, as the first reviews go live. We’ve rounded up the early ones, including our own …
Jordan’s view is that the iPhone 8 gets you most of the under-the-hood features of the iPhone X at a more wallet-friendly price.
If that notch bothers you, and the $999 price tag doesn’t thrill you, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are still some of the best phones on the planet. More importantly, Apple didn’t hold a whole lot back from iPhone 8 and 8 Plus as far as smarts and power under the hood goes.
If you’re keeping track, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus could have (should have?) been the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus, but after spending time with them, wireless charging, the new glass design, and notable camera upgrades feel worthy of the iPhone 8 branding. And for those that could care less about the iPhone X’s OLED display and Face ID, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus offer a ton more value for money with a traditional look and feel.
Check out our hands-on video at the bottom of the post.
Business Insider says the iPhone 8 is a great device – but the price is the only reason to choose it over the iPhone X.
For the first time in the ten-year history of the iPhone, I can’t recommend buying the newest models. That’s not because the new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are bad phones. They’re actually great. But there’s an even better phone on the way […]
My advice is to ask yourself how much you’re willing to pay. If you don’t mind giving up some of the futuristic features in the iPhone X, then the iPhone 8 models will give you the same power and performance and most of the same features of iOS 11 for hundreds of dollars less. But if the price tag doesn’t scare you away, hold off on the iPhone 8s and go for the X.
CNN isn’t all that impressed, and thinks that wireless charging is the headline new feature.
After a week of testing, it’s clear the 4.7-inch iPhone 8 and 5.5-inch iPhone 8 Plus offer solid if moderate improvements, including better cameras, a faster processor and inductive charging. They could easily have be called the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus, but that wouldn’t have been as dramatic […]
The biggest iPhone 8 change is the addition of “wireless” charging, which lets you rest an iPhone on a special surface to recharge it […] It feels like a real improvement over the wired charging, especially if you plop your phone down in the same spot every night before bed.
It also somewhat solves one of the iPhone 7’s most vexing problems, caused by the removal of the headphone jack. Since the Lightning port is now free, you can listen to music and charge your phone at the same time again.
John Gruber feels that there’s a whole lot more to this model than meets the eye.
So much of what is inside the iPhone X is also inside the 8’s. These phones are in no way shape or form some sort of half-hearted or minor update over the iPhone 7 […]
No one is going to describe the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus as having a radical new design. But they do have new glass backs that are the biggest change to their finishings since this general form factor started with the iPhone 6. The displays have gained True Tone. The cameras are significantly improved, both for still images and video. (Did I mention that both the 8 and 8 Plus can shoot true 4K video at 60 frames per second when you use the new HEVC format instead of the more compatible H.264?) The iPhone 8 Plus gets the new Portrait mode lighting effects. Both phones have the amazing A11 Bionic chip. They get inductive charging.
Pretty good for a boring update.
Engadget has much the same view, saying that these phones are not just an iPhone 7s/Plus.
When I first picked up the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, I immediately decided they were actually just the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus. I was wrong: They’re definitely much more than that. They’re just saddled with a less exciting design. If you subscribe to the maxim that it’s what’s inside that really counts, the 8 and 8 Plus are big improvements. They pack more storage, great cameras, improved software and absolutely first-rate performance into some highly familiar packages. The iPhone X will continue to suck the air out of the room for the foreseeable future, but one thing has become clear after my week of testing: They might not have the X’s style, but the 8 and 8 Plus are truly excellent phones that won’t let Apple die-hards and new customers down.
The Independent sees the iPhone 8 as a worthwhile upgrade, even from a 7.
These are not the iPhone X, the one-more-thing iPhone with its bezel-less screen, facial recognition and other spiffy features.
But the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are the upgrade most people are likely to plump for: they’re on sale sooner (from this Friday), are more affordable and will be more readily available, if rumours of iPhone X scarcity are to be believed […]
These phones are both worth moving up to, especially if you are coming from an iPhone 6s or older handset. However, I’d say there’s enough upgrade here to make it worthwhile from an iPhone 7, too. The camera is improved on both sizes of phone. But on the iPhone 8 Plus, it’s especially spectacular, offering images which can sometimes match the richness and detail of a DSLR camera, but from a device which still fits in your pocket.
The Telegraph says that while it’s not for flagship buyers, it is a worthy upgrade over the iPhone 7.
There’s a certain type of person who has to have the top-of-the-line iPhone each year, and unless they are worried about facial recognition or losing the home button, they will want to buy the iPhone X in six weeks time – not the iPhone 8 today.
That said, most people aren’t like that. They simply want the phone that will work, will take photos, and get them through the day – as well as not costing them £999. In that case, the iPhone 8 fits. Unlike the iPhone X, it is no revolution. It represents a continuation of what Apple has been doing for some time – tweaking and improving its phones each year.
So the 8 improves enough on the most important aspects of a phone – the display, the camera, performance and reliability – to make me recommend it over the iPhone 7, even if you can pick up the latter for less.
TechCrunch sees the camera as the key upgrade.
This is a camera review. There are a number of updates that should appeal in the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, but the one question most upgraders are going to be asking is how good is the camera?
So, how does the camera in the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus stack up? Killer […] The marquee feature of the iPhone 8 Plus is Portrait Lighting. Using deep learning and computer vision, this mode finds faces in an image, detects the planes and angles that need to be lit and applies a variety of different lighting styles that a user can choose from either before or after the picture is taken. It works better than it has any right to […]
It’s got nearly every technical enhancement that the iPhone X has outside of the TrueDepth camera and OLED screen […] If you’re the kind of person who buys the high end iPhone every year then wait for the iPhone X. With the one added caveat of if the notch for the depth camera on the front of the X offends you, well you have most of the major tech right in the iPhone 8.
Time sees the iPhone 8 as the upgrade from pre-iPhone 7 models for those who don’t want to spend a thousand bucks.
The good: More storage space, slightly faster camera, improved screen, wireless charging. The bad: It doesn’t feel radically different from the iPhone 7. Who should buy: Those upgrading from an older model like the iPhone 6s who don’t want to spend $999 on the iPhone X […]
If you’re coming from the iPhone 7 family, on the other hand, it’s harder to make the case. If you have last year’s iPhone and want a comparable leap, I’d say boost than rainy day reserve for Apple’s duly next-gen iPhone X.
Tom’s Guide effectively pretends the iPhone X doesn’t exist, and says that if you’re going to get the iPhone 8, it has to be the Plus.
I’m not saying the iPhone 8 is a bad phone, but if you don’t get the iPhone 8 Plus instead, you might want to get your head checked […]
The iPhone 8 Plus sports a 5.5-inch display with 1920 x 1080 pixels, compared to the iPhone 8’s relatively tiny 4.7-inch screen, with a lowly 1334 x 750 resolution. For those scoring at home, that’s not full HD […]
Just like the iPhone 7 Plus, the iPhone 8 Plus comes with dual cameras, with a wide-angle lens and a telephoto lens […] But the iPhone 8 Plus goes even further than its predecessor, building on the Portrait mode that helps you get more creative with your photos. Not only can you achieve an artistic bokeh effect that blurs out the background, but also the new Portrait Lighting effects let you make Photoshop-like adjustments with a single tap […]
How much is over an hour of extra juice worth to you? On the Tom’s Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over 4G LTE, the iPhone 8 Plus lasted an impressive 11 hours and 16 minutes.
USA Today says the decision isn’t a simple one, but ultimately the iPhone 8 ends up uncomfortably squeezed between the 7 and the X.
These are excellent new phones that I’ve been testing for several days and under normal circumstances I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend either, at least if you are upgrading from an iPhone that’s more than a year old. The reason to hesitate now is that Apple also unveiled the iPhone X last week, and frankly that is going to be the model that many of you will want […]
Meanwhile, last year’s still perfectly capable 7 and 7 Plus devices now start at $549 and $669, respectively, making these attractive, and more affordable, alternatives. And with the 6S, 6S Plus or (smaller display) SE remaining in the lineup too, there are even less expensive options […]
Pro. A solid and and attractive glass iPhone with a lovely screen, excellent camera, wireless charging, water resistance, iOS 11.
Con. A sandwich device falls between the pricier but more dramatic iPhone X, as well as other fine iPhones that are cheaper.
The Verge thinks that it’s good, but not enough of an upgrade over the iPhone 7 in the light of the iPhone X.
After spending a week with the 8, I can’t think of a single compelling reason to upgrade from an iPhone 7. The 7 is still extremely fast, offers virtually the same design in a lighter package with a bigger battery, and will get almost every feature of the 8 with iOS 11. If you really want Qi wireless charging, you can get a slim $15 case that supports it. And if you’re dying for Portrait Lighting, there are tons of photo apps in the App Store that offer similar effects. Of course, if you’re upgrading from anything older than an iPhone 7, the improvements in the camera and the overall speed of the phone are going to really impress you […]
And yet, a lot of people are going to buy an iPhone 8 — it’s the phone to get if you’re on an upgrade plan, your older phone breaks or finally gets too slow, or you just need a new phone right now. It’s Apple’s new default phone, and it’s pretty great that a default phone is actually this good. But it’s not the future, and it’s not the cutting edge. It’s just the default.
The Washington Post says that while the iPhone X is flying first class, the iPhone 8 is flying coach.
The difference between Apple’s new iPhone models is a bit like flying first class compared with coach. We envy first class, but coach gets us there without breaking the budget.
The iPhone 8 will do just fine for $300 less than the glitzy iPhone X , even though it won’t make your friends and colleagues jealous. It’s also available much sooner — this Friday — starting at almost $700. The X (read as the numeral 10) won’t be out until November.
Still, the iPhone 8 remains a fairly straightforward update of the iPhone 7 , which itself was a fairly straightforward update of the iPhone 6S. Then again, no one expects much different from a coach seat.
The WSJ thinks this isn’t the upgrade you’re looking for.
Putting the iPhone 8 through its paces for the past week, I learned Apple should have called it the iPhone 7s. (The company skipped the “s” model this year, calling it a “new generation.”) The iPhone 8 is a good smartphone, but only a slight improvement, mostly in the camera department […]
If you need to have the latest and greatest, don’t buy the 8. Wait until we get a closer look at the iPhone X, which in addition to face-scanning tricks promises two things that really matter: a bigger, better screen and two more hours of battery life.
If you can’t be bothered with bells and whistles, you can save a chunk of cheese by buying a nearly-as-good iPhone 7 (albeit with less storage) for $550.
So, tl;dr – if you’re the sort of person who reads iPhone reviews, chances are you’ll be buying the iPhone X. But at least none of them mentioned animoji as a reason to do so …
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