The big September iPhone X event wrapped up not too long ago, and, as Tim Cook was closing things out, he noted the all-new hands-on area that would give those on-site a brief moment with the newest iPhones.
So, as is par for the course, the early hands-on moments from journalists at the event are starting to trickle in, with their thoughts on the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, as well as plenty of images. We’ve compiled the hands-on reports as they’ve been published, so you can see a brief roundup below. The general consensus isn’t too surprising, even with the changes that Apple did implement: The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are iterative upgrades when compared to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus before them, with things like Touch ID and bezels in place.
“On the front, there’s still a Home button and there’s still touch ID. There are also still big bezels surrounding all sides of the phones’ displays. Like they have been for the past few years, the smaller iPhone has a 4.7-inch display and the larger model has a 5.5-inch display. This time around, though, both screens include Apple’s True Tone feature, which lets them adjust to the color tone of the room.
For the most part, though, these iPhones are iterative updates over last year’s models. They have a newer processor, the A11 Bionic, and better cameras, including new 12 megapixel sensors and an image processor built by Apple. But otherwise, these phones aren’t seeing dramatic changes like on the iPhone X.”
“That’s because, design-wise, Apple didn’t get particularly adventurous with these things. Sure, they both now sport glass backs in addition to glass fronts to make wireless charging possible. And true, both are available in pretty sweet gold that looks a little… creamier than the gold finishes we’ve seen in the past. With all that said, Apple stuck to the same screen sizes — 4.7 inches on the 8 and 5.5 inches on the 8 Plus — and both devices are a little thicker and a little heavier than the devices they replace. Is the difference really noticeable? Well, partially: the iPhone 8 is still comfortable to hang onto but the 8 Plus is now especially unwieldy. At least both versions of the iPhone 8 come with more storage out of the gate — Apple made 64GB of storage the floor for these things, and it’s about time.”
“The iPhone 8 is what we expected to be the iPhone 7s – but just a little bit better. Or a whole lot better, if you’re Apple making the case for skipping this year’s expected “s”. The iPhone X, on the other hand, has a few innovations that make it a monster compared to previous iPhone models – even compared to the iPhone 8. Or is it?
The iPhone 8 Plus rolls with a new display – it has a few changes from last year’s 7 that make it just a tiny bit better. Displays on both the iPhone 7 Plus and the iPhone 8 Plus are 5.5-inches, widescreen LCD, multi-touch display with IPS technology, according to Apple. Both have the same resolution, both the same contrast ratio, wide color display (P3), 3D touch, and max brightness.”
