Linked List: September 21, 2019

Saturday, 21 September 2019

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Nilay Patel’s Review of the iPhones 11 Pro ★

Nilay Patel, writing at The Verge:

But after using an iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max for the past week, I think they’re more than the sum of several lightly updated parts. These are some of the most well-balanced, most capable phones Apple — or anyone — has ever made. They have excellent battery life, processors that should keep them relevant for years to come, absolutely beautiful displays, and a new camera system that generally outperforms every other phone, which should get even better with a promised software update later this fall.

Yes, they’re expensive. And yes, I think most people should probably buy an iPhone 11, which has most of the same features, including the same basic camera system, for $300 less. But if you want to pay more to have the best display and the best camera, the iPhone 11 Pro is worth the premium over the iPhone 11.

Glowing review overall, and some really interesting side-by-side photography tests pitting the 11 Pro against the Galaxy Note 10 Plus and last year’s iPhone XS and Google Pixel 3.

It’s a matter of taste — and the Pixel 4 is coming next month — but I find the iPhone 11 series Night Mode to be consistently more appealing, especially in color temperature, than the Pixel’s Night Sight.

‘The Fizz Was Gone’ ★

The Economist, last week:

Apple’s product launches are not what they used to be. A decade ago the unveiling of a new iPhone would inspire quasi-religious ecstasy; devotees would camp on pavements outside shops as the release date drew near. At the firm’s latest event, on September 10th, the format was the same: Apple’s boss stood on stage, clad in a regulation black jumper, and spoke of the world-changing power of the company’s latest wares. But the fizz was gone. The iPhone 11 looks like a merely incremental improvement on the models that have gone before it.

One reason folks would camp out in the early years of iPhone is that you couldn’t pre-order them — if you wanted to buy one on day one your only choice was to wait in line at a retailer. But even now, years into the pre-order era when you can get a new iPhone delivered to your home on day one, thousands of people around the country line up for hours at Apple retail stores. And, yes, even camp out the night before. I stopped by the Philadelphia Apple Store last night around 7:30p and there were still around 50 people queued up outside the store waiting to buy a new iPhone.

Fizz gone, indeed.

Drop-testing iPhone 11 and 11 Pro ★

Lexy Savvides, CNet:

We decided to change things up with this year’s drop test. Our test zone was a concrete floor and to make the drops as consistent as possible, CNET Managing Producer Chris Parker built a system that helped each phone fall directly on the screen or on the back. While the drop machine didn’t guarantee the phones would land in the desired position every time, it did help us test in a controlled way.

Impressive results. Similar impressive results in this test from EverythingApplePro.