iPhone

DXOMARK releases iPhone 11 Pro Max camera review

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Here’s the upshot:

The camera performed very well in our tests in pretty much all areas, but some challenges remain. Still images generally show very good exposure. Dynamic range is very wide in bright light and under indoor conditions, but some highlight clipping is still visible in very difficult scenes. Overall, the iPhone is among the very best for exposure; it’s only in very low light when can’t keep up with devices with larger image sensors, such as the Huawei Mate 30 Pro. Like previous iPhone generations, the 11 Pro Max also scores very well for color and is among the best in this category in all light conditions. A slightly greenish cast is visible in some indoor scenes and in our lab tests, but overall color tends to be very pleasant: a slight yellow cast gives some scenes a warm feel and works very well for skin tones in portraits.

Overall, an excellent review. The iPhone 11 Pro Max got a 124 as a photo score, compared to the second best iPhone, the XS Max, which got a 110.

DXOMARK has the iPhone 11 Pro Max third, behind both the Huawei Mate 30 Pro and the Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro Premium Edition.

Read the review. There’s a lot of detail here, lots of images to bring home specific points.

Inside the iPhone 11 camera

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This is from the Halide blog. It goes deep, and is full of fascinating insight into the new camera system. Or, rather, the emergence of the incredibly important role that machine learning has taken on in the iPhone 11 camera.

If you are at all interested in the iPhone camera, set aside a few minutes and make your way through this.

Apple shares new Privacy on iPhone ad

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[VIDEO] I love this ad. Beautifully filmed, with no mention of Apple or iPhone until the close.

The message is powerfully crafted and presented. Well done. Watch it. Embedded in main Loop post.

Oregon judge ordered woman to type in her iPhone passcode so police could search it for evidence against her

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Aimee Green, Oregon Live:

Police wanted to search the contents of an iPhone they found in Catrice Pittman’s purse, but she never confirmed whether it was hers and wasn’t offering up a passcode. Her defense attorney argued forcing her to do so would violate her rights against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 1 Section 12 of the Oregon Constitution.

But a Marion County judge sided with police and prosecutors by ordering Pittman to enter her passcode. On Wednesday, the Oregon Court of Appeals agreed with that ruling — in a first-of-its-kind opinion for an appeals court in this state.

This is a precedent that will resonate, make it more likely that courts will order defendants to unlock their phones.

Side note, I found this sequence very interesting:

Scott said the ruling won’t affect many Oregon defendants whose phones are seized by police because police already have technology that allows them to crack into most of those phones.

But:

The latest iPhones, more often than other phones, have proven difficult, Scott said.

“For people who want their information private, I would recommend getting an iPhone,” Scott said. “And Apple is not paying me to say that.”

Yet another reason to buy an iPhone.

AnandTech iPhones 11 detailed review

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If you do nothing else, check out the side-by-side spec chart on the first page of the review. Tons of detail, visually easy to process. Tip of a very large iceberg (don’t miss the popup menu at the top of the article, a table of contents, the article is 13 pages long).

If I had to pick a second page, it’d be the “Camera – Low light evaluation” page. Unsparingly critical where it needs to be, pointing out flaws, but not sparing the praise, either.

On iPhone 11 and why computational photography matters

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Stephen Shankland, CNET:

When Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller detailed the iPhone 11’s new camera abilities in September, he boasted, “It’s computational photography mad science.” And when Google debuts its new Pixel 4 phone on Tuesday, you can bet it’ll be showing off its own pioneering work in computational photography.

The reason is simple: Computational photography can improve your camera shots immeasurably, helping your phone match, and in some ways surpass, even expensive cameras.

But what exactly is computational photography?

Nice explainer.

Kuo: Apple to release ‘iPhone SE 2’ in Q1 2020 with iPhone 8 design, A13 processor

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Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac:

Apple is set to launch the next version of the iPhone SE 2 in the first quarter of 2020, according to renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The new phone will be more affordable than the rest of the Apple iPhone lineup and feature newer internals, like an A13 processor with 3 GB RAM, in a familiar iPhone 8 chassis.

We generally don’t post rumors, but this one struck a bit of a nerve for me. The iPhone SE is the last of the phones for folks with small hands or small pockets. My family and friends group has plenty of both. And this feels like the last nail in the iPhone SE form factor coffin.

Now I know these words won’t change anything. Feels like the ship has sailed. But it doesn’t take a lot of web search to find evidence that the iPhone SE is loved, that there is a slice of the Appleverse that will no longer be served by Apple.

Here’s just one take, from earlier this year. When Apple released a refurbished SE earlier this year, it sold out pretty quickly. And that phone was released in 2016.

I recognize that, if true, this new SE will be priced to sell, and sell it will. But it is a larger form factor, and by taking the SE name (again, this is a rumor, so take with a grain of salt), it feels like Apple is creating a floor in iPhone size. And I think that’d be a shame.

The iPhone 11 glows

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[VIDEO] This is an interesting effect, a glow that outlines the iPhone 11, and an effect that only a few iPhone models over the years has shared. I always thought this was pretty cool. Useless, but cool. The video is embedded in the main Loop post.

Deep Fusion in the wild

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[VIDEO] The iOS 13.2 beta just dropped, and it includes Deep Fusion, the iPhone computational photography system.

Here are a few examples, so you can judge the results for yourself:

https://twitter.com/sdw/status/1179484341631516672

Click each picture to get a more detailed look, and keep in mind that these images are Twitter compressed. In that first image, focus on the upper right of the yellow speaker material.

Here’s another:

https://twitter.com/julipuli/status/1179507533087510528

This one shows off the overall increase in sharpness Deep Fusion brings to the table.

Next up, take a look at this blog post from JF Martin, which lays out a lot of detail on which camera modes kick in with which iPhone 11 Pro lenses, along with specific details on each of the three lenses.

And for the pièce de résistance, this video (embedded in main Loop post) lays out both examples and detail on Deep Fusion. Interesting that the decision to use Deep Fusion is made for you. Also worth noting, at this early point in the beta cycle, Deep Fusion photos appear to consume about twice as much storage as regular photos.

Haptic Touch vs 3D Touch: What’s the difference?

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Juli Clover, MacRumors:

With the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max, Apple did away with 3D Touch across its entire iPhone lineup, replacing the former 3D Touch feature with Haptic Touch.

In this guide, we’ll go over everything you need to know about Haptic Touch and how it differs from the 3D Touch feature that’s been available since the iPhone 6s.

If you are confused about Haptic Touch, or want to learn about the settings, read the article. Well done.

And personally, I am very happy with this change. 3D Touch and Haptic Touch had too much overlap, confusing discoverability.

Koss commercial, shot entirely on the iPhone 11 Pro Max

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[VIDEO] Martin Moore show this Koss commercial entirely on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, using FiLMiC Pro and the Zhiyun Smooth 4 3-Axis Gimbal. The video output from the iPhone 11 Pro is truly ready for prime time.

Watch the video, embedded in the main Loop post.

Taking pics of the stars with iPhone 11 Night mode

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[VIDEO] One of the things I am most looking forward to doing, once I have my iPhone 11 Pro (in Boba Fett Midnight Green, of course) in hand is heading down to the water, where it gets really dark, and taking pics of the stars at night.

The video embedded in the main Loop post does a nice job of both showing off the results you can achieve with just the iPhone and a tripod, as well as giving a good sense of the Night mode interface.

There’s a lot of background noise, but bear with it.

iPhone 11 and 11 Pro will show warning if non-genuine Apple display is used for repairs

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Juli Clover, MacRumors:

Apple’s iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max will offer up a new warning if a repair technician ever uses a non-genuine Apple display when repairing a broken device.

“Unable to verify this iPhone has a genuine Apple display” will show up in the General > About section of the Settings app if a repair shop uses an unverified display component.

Good to be aware of this if you:

  • do your own repair,
  • get your screen replaced by a 3rd party shop or service,
  • buy a used iPhone

Per that last, if you do buy a used iPhone, that’s the first thing I’d check.

From January 9th, 2007: Apple iPhone now real!!!

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On January 9th, 2007, Steve Jobs took to the Macworld stage and showed off the iPhone to the world.

The linked article is the Reddit page reacting to that reveal. It’s an amazing slice of history. There’s this Engadget review, worth reading all by itself, but then, best of all, are the comments below the Reddit post.

Enjoy.

Massive iPhone battery drain test

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[VIDEO] This battery test includes all the iPhones 11, and selections from previous generations, back to the iPhone 8 Plus.

Start off by jumping to 1:32 in, to see all the phones labeled with name and battery capacity. Then jump to 8:37 for the first victim.

Scientific? Rigorous? No, but scientific enough for me to find this worth watching. Video embedded in main Loop post.

iPhone 11 Pro vs the world: Night mode battle

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[VIDEO] Rene Ritchie compares all the Night modes. But even more importantly, Rene demonstrates each Night mode, from your side of the camera, and explains how the technology works, in terms I can understand. Video embedded in main Loop post.

iPhone 11 “audio zoom”

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[VIDEO] One of the little-covered announcements in last week’s full-to-the-brim Apple event, was the iPhone 11’s so-called audio zoom.

Here’s a video (embedded in the main Loop post) that shows off how this works.

Night mode on the iPhone 11 Pro. Ready to have your mind blown?

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First off, check this pair of images. So good it just feels fake:

https://twitter.com/SnellingD/status/1173919251079618566

Now move on to this video. Again, amazing. I really appreciate seeing this from the user’s perspective. Great, great work.

https://twitter.com/ZachHonig/status/1173957371783237633

I’m waiting for DxOMark to test the iPhone 11 Pro in their new Night mode comparison tests. It’ll be interesting to see how the iPhone 11 Pro Night mode compares to the Pixel 3 in a rigorous test.

The Verge: iPhone 11 Pro is the BEST camera on a phone

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[VIDEO] Follow the headline link for the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max review. But watch the video embedded in the main Loop post for the visuals.

I especially appreciate Nilay Patel’s voiceover explanation of Smart HDR and the mention of Deep Fusion, a software update for low light that is said to be coming later this year.

All-in-all, a terrific video to watch if you are interested in the iPhone 11 Pro camera.

And don’t miss the pictures Matthew Panzarino took on his trip to Disney World with the iPhone 11 Pro, especially that Night mode pic of Winnie the Pooh, inside a dark ride, with no flash.

Apple posts triple-camera-system ad

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[VIDEO] I love the new camera systems that ship with the iPhone 11 and iPhone Pro series. The most impressive thing to me is the seamless transition as you switch between cameras, both in still model and when shooting video.

Incredibly impressive engineering work. Video embedded in the main Loop post.

MKBHD, up close and personal with the iPhone 11 Pro

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[VIDEO] Marques Brownlee offers up a terrific overview of the iPhone 11 Pro, all from the hands-on area of yesterday’s Apple event. The video is embedded in the main Loop post.

Most of the video is tightly focused, so check out this video from Rajiv Makhni, which gives a much broader view of the chaos (or at least the aftermath).

APPLE EVENT: Apple announces the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max

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Apple:

Apple today announced iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, a new pro line for iPhone that delivers advanced performance for users who want the very best smartphone. The new Super Retina XDR display is a pro display with the brightest display ever in an iPhone. The powerful Apple-designed A13 Bionic chip provides unparalleled performance for every task while enabling an unprecedented leap in battery life to easily get through the day. A new triple-camera system provides a pro-level camera experience with an Ultra Wide, Wide and Telephoto camera, delivering huge improvements to low-light photography and offering the highest quality video in a smartphone that is great for shooting action videos.

iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max come in four gorgeous finishes including a beautiful new midnight green, and will be available for pre-order beginning Friday, September 13 and in stores beginning Friday, September 20.

These are the replacement for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. This is some pretty amazing gear. The cameras are a major leap forward, both in terms of computational photography and Night mode, which looks to make huge improvements in low light photography.

Follow the link and check out the images. The iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max look remarkable.

On pricing:

iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max will be available in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB models in midnight green, space gray, silver and gold starting at $999 and $1,099, respectively.

Don’t forget to use your Apple Card for the 3% daily cash bonus.

APPLE EVENT: Apple introduces dual camera iPhone 11

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Apple:

Apple today announced iPhone 11, delivering innovations that make the world’s most popular smartphone even more powerful, improving the features people use the most throughout their day.1 iPhone 11 introduces a powerful dual-camera system, offering an intuitive camera experience with the highest quality video in a smartphone and Night mode for photos. iPhone 11 is powered by the A13 Bionic chip to perform the most demanding tasks, while getting through an entire day on a single charge, and is designed to withstand the elements with improved water resistance.

iPhone 11 comes in six new gorgeous colors, and will be available for pre-order beginning Friday, September 13 and in stores beginning Friday, September 20, starting at just $699 (US).

This is the replacement for the iPhone XR (which is still available, at $599) in the big three lineup. Follow the link for all the details, including the dual camera, which seems a big step up from the XR camera system.

[VIDEO] Roller coaster rider snatches iPhone in mid-air

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[VIDEO] This happened last week, but I came across the video of this heroic and athletic act over the weekend. Just watch (the video is embedded in the main Loop post), and imagine if it was your phone that flew away from you on the roller coaster.

Camera sales continue to fall off a cliff

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Om Malik:

All four big camera brands — Sony, Fuji, Canon, and Nikon — are reposting rapid declines. And it is not just the point and shoot cameras whose sales are collapsing. We also see sales of higher-end DSLR cameras stall. And — wait for it — even mirrorless cameras, which were supposed to be a panacea for all that ails the camera business, are heading south.

Smartphone cameras are clearly destroying the compact camera market. Check the charts in the linked post. But sale of interchangeable lens cameras seems to have stabilized. As good as my iPhone camera is, there are still optical limits to a camera you can fit in your pocket.

The question is, do people care about the resolution, the sharpness of their photos when zooming in? After all, the photos will mostly be viewed on a small screen.

To me, this is similar to what’s happened to music. We are so used to listening to music on headphones we pull out of our pocket, the idea of building a wall of sound, or fitting a room with expensive, audiophile speakers seems a distant memory.

Personally, I am still a fan of telephoto lenses, and fast focusing gear. Think capturing a bird in flight, or a fast moving scene, like a soccer ball at the moment it crosses the goal line. I’d love to be able to shoot those sorts of scenes with my iPhone, but physics just gets in the way.