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Hello all. I’m back writing at BTN and I thought that I’d start with my most recent purchase of the iPhone 11. Now I’ve added this to the blog channel opposed to our review one as you’ve probably read everything you need to know about specs and performance. This is just how an everyday Jo is finding living with this new device. So whether you’re thinking about upgrading or are just unsure I hope this enlightens you as such.

Now the main reason for the format of this piece is that I went from an iPhone 7 Plus to the 11. I actually got the 7 Plus after the announcement on the X back in 2017. Why you may ask (or not) but my reasoning was that one, I had never owned a plus sized phone before and at the time I didn’t believe that the latest model at the time offered any more than the 7 as I was moving from a 6 and the price point of a grand was rather off putting and deals on the 7 Plus were really reasonable at the time.

I was of course going to benefit from the improved speed of the 7 Plus and the better cameras and even though the X had even more than this it didn’t justify the outlay. So I lived the notch-less and big bezel life for 2 years missing out on the X and the XS, XR. But now I’m in the club with those of you who probably keep more up to date with iPhone models than I am.

So why 11? Why not the 11 Pro? Well price is one major factor but I think that Apple did something really clever for this iteration. Where last year the XR was positioned as the cheaper option iPhone compared with the XS this year they made put the 11 front and centre and this was reflected in their keynote where they spent much more time talking about the phone that majority of people would buy and spent less time on the Pro’s.

A lot of the functionality of the Pro line is now in the ‘standard’ iPhone where before there was a much clearer distinction between the normal iPhones and the Plus models.

So first impressions. The thing that really has made a difference to me is the size. I did love having a big phone but it was sometimes unwieldy and bulged in my pocket. But now I have basically the same size screen but in a smaller form factor. And talking about the screen by getting the 11 I am not using the OLED life but the screen looks perfectly fine to me, no less quality than the 7 Plus. If you look at it side by side with the Pro’s in the Apple Store, yes, there is a noticeable difference but for my purposes it is perfectly acceptable.

Also, I was a little concerned about the notch and lack of a home button but I soon got used to it. Admittedly I did accidentally click on the non-existent home button like a chump in the same way I try and touch the screen of my Mac after using my iPad. But the new gesture system is pretty intuitive once you get to grips with it. 

Face ID is a nice feature. The only criticism I have is that when I had a home button and my phone was sitting on a desk it was much easier to press the button with Touch ID to unlock the phone but now I have to adjust myself with a little more effort to get the cameras to see me and also in low light situations I do find myself having to enter my passcode more than I did with my old phone. I think that if they ever come out with a home button under the screen to go along with Face ID that would be a decent option to have.

Obviously there are lots of other things that you get with the latest line of iPhones. These being things such as Animoji’s and Slofies (slow-mo selfies). The novelty of this lasted for the first couple of days that I had the device and since then I have not gone back to them but it’s nice to have them there nonetheless.

In terms of the camera system. It does seem better to what I have been used to but I’m no serious photographer so I will never get the most from it but I do like the wide-angle option. This is something that was missing from what I was used to plus having Night Mode is also a bonus, once I get used to how to use it properly.

All in all it’s a decent upgrade. It’s beautifully built and I love the colours (I went for the Product Red option). I don’t find myself really doing anything differently than I did on my 7 Plus but the Lightning port was knackered and battery was starting to die so for those two options alone makes it worth the upgrade. And speaking about the battery it is immense. I don’t spend half as much time charging as I used to. I haven’t invested in a wireless charger yet as I'm not sure which one to go for so if someone has any suggestions please drop me a line.

Author

Paul Wright

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