Review of iPhone 11 - the most affordable smartphone among Apple's new products

We already planned to review not only the flagship iPhone 11 Pro Max (miss?), but also this year’s iPhone Xr - the “regular” eleventh, with a 6.1-inch LCD display, a dual rather than triple camera, smaller dimensions and weaker battery. And, of course, at a more affordable price - if such terms are even applicable to Apple products. The iPhone Xr can only be called successful with a big stretch, but the iPhone 11 was made taking into account the main problem of last year’s “inexpensive iPhone” - too much of a gap between it and the older Apple smartphone - and looks much more promising.

But already in the process of preparing the material, iOS 13.2 beta was released with the much-advertised Deep Fuison image processing system, which was supposed to take the iPhone to a new level in terms of photography. This news created a new dimension for the material, in which we compared the iPhone 11 in terms of photo and video quality with the Huawei Mate 30 Pro. Well, we still talked about other features of this smartphone.

I’ll make a reservation right away that there are no sections dedicated to hardware and wireless connections - the iPhone 11, in terms of hardware, repeats the iPhone 11 Pro Max, which passed all the benchmarks and proved to be the most powerful smartphone to date. iPhone 11 also received Apple A13 Bionic and 4 GB of RAM. Only the options differ in terms of storage capacity: 64, 128 and 256 GB versus 64, 256 and 512 GB for the Pro version. It is worth mentioning that the new iPhones use non-volatile memory of the UFS 2.1 standard, while the latest Android flagships, one after another, receive much faster UFS 3.0 memory.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max

In terms of wireless connections, the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro are also almost identical: Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, scheme with one SIM card slot with LTE support (all necessary bands are in place) , but the LTE modem in the “younger version” is weaker - the stated maximum download speed is 1024 Mbit/s versus 1600 Mbit/s for the Pro version.

Specifications

Apple A13 Bionic chipset with noticeable power reserves

This baby will last for years to come

On iOS 14.6 and iOS 14.7, which at the time of writing this material are still in test status, the iPhone 11 began to work much faster.

However, when directly comparing the performance of the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12, I myself did not feel the difference on iOS 14.5. What can I say, the iPhone XR, which we’ll return to later, today works no slower than the iPhone 12.

There are several reasons for this state of affairs. Firstly, in recent years, Apple has been releasing smartphones with huge power reserves. Secondly, the company is still heavily optimizing iOS. Thirdly, the more modest resolution in IPS requires fewer resources.

Apple A13 Bionic, which is used today in the iPhone 11, will definitely remain relevant for at least 4-5 years . What can I say, today the company puts Apple A12 Bionic in some new gadgets, and they work great.

Moreover, I myself think that thinking about power today is still more logical in a Mac. I realized this when switching to M1, but I’ll tell you about it next time.

On topic: I've been using iPhone 11 for six months. I found all the shortcomings

Design and ergonomics

The smartphone retained the iPhone XR body, but received new, more delicate colors: purple, green and yellow.

The glass back panels remain glossy, the metal frames remain matte.

A purple smartphone arrived at our editorial office.

The square with lenses in the upper left corner of the panel is made of transparent frosted glass.

The new camera block does not look as provocative as that of the iPhone 11 Pro. These are just two lenses in a slightly unusual module. When the screen is oriented horizontally, your fingers do not touch the lenses (the iPhone 11 Pro has this problem).

If you're used to the size of the iPhone XR or most flagships on the market, then the size of the iPhone 11 won't bother you. This is a weighty, wide and tall smartphone.

On the left is the iPhone 11 Pro, on the right is the iPhone 11

iPhone 11 loses to Pro models in frameless design. The indentations from the edge of the case to the display are noticeable here.

Apple produces transparent cases for the iPhone 11 made of hard plastic. This model has a larger case than the iPhone 11 Pro, although it makes the smartphone even thicker.

How to check the battery status

Eternal batteries have not yet been invented, so sooner or later the capacity will begin to decrease. Accordingly, a decrease in battery capacity will certainly affect the performance of the device. If this parameter decreases to certain values, the battery will have to be replaced.

Of course, no one wants to be caught off guard. In order to check the battery status, you need to find the “Battery” tab in the iPhone’s “Settings” menu, and then select the “Battery Status” tab.

Here we are interested in the “Maximum capacity” parameter, where the percentage of battery aging is indicated. If this figure is approaching 50% or has already dropped below, consider replacing the power supply.

Battery replacement is carried out only at Apple authorized service centers.

However, if you try to save money and replace the battery with a non-original one, a notification will appear on the screen. This is how the manufacturer tries to protect the user from unexpected iPhone failures caused by the use of counterfeit parts.

The Battery Health tab also displays battery performance.

If there is a sudden shutdown, when the battery does not produce the required power, the iPhone may turn off. In this case, a corresponding message will appear on the screen.

In order to prevent such shutdowns in the future, a special function that controls the performance of the iPhone is activated automatically. You can turn it off if you wish.

In addition to such warnings, when the battery capacity decreases, the iPhone will signal this by lowering the screen brightness and speaker sound level, and slowing down operation.

You can install the Battery Life app from the App Store. This free application has been around since 2014 and has already gained the trust of users. With its help, you can determine how long the battery charge of both the iPhone and related devices lasts. In addition, other battery parameters are monitored while using the application.

Screen

An IPS screen called Liquid Retina is installed here. In theory, it is inferior to the OLED displays in the iPhone X, iPhone XS and iPhone 11 Pro, but in reality this is almost not felt. The peak brightness of 625 nits is enough for use in bright sunlight, and the lack of Full HD resolution does not in any way affect the use of the smartphone in standard scenarios.

The screen diagonal was 6.1 inches. That's more than the iPhone 11 Pro, but less than the 11 Pro Max.

Apple's software features are in place: iPhone 11 supports both Night Shift, which turns the picture into warm colors for the user to go to bed, and True Tone, which adjusts colors to the environment.

How to extend your battery life

Sometimes your iPhone suddenly runs out of battery faster than usual. In such a situation, you should try to determine the cause yourself before contacting the service center. This will not require a lot of time and money.

One of the reasons that the iPhone began to quickly lose battery power was updating the operating system. There are a lot of reviews, comments and articles on the Internet about updating iOS from version 13 to newer ones.

This update causes increased battery consumption, which may run out in three days. This is due to the operation of the operating system. During the specified time, it indexes applications and correctly determines the power consumption of iPhone components.

With the update of iOS to version 14, widgets appeared. Despite the fact that the guys from Cupertino have worked hard to reduce power consumption, a large number of widgets leads to rapid battery drain. This is explained by the fact that widgets constantly download information from the Internet. Therefore, to increase autonomy, moderation in their use should be observed.

Another way to extend the life of your iPhone without recharging is to disable Siri, the voice assistant.

Constantly updating content will undoubtedly drain your battery. However, there is no point in completely disabling this feature. Instead, keep only the apps you really need, or choose to update only over Wi-Fi. To do this, go to the “Settings” menu, to the “General” tab, and turn off “Content Update”.

Disabling mail loading, geolocation services, and system services will help increase autonomy. To deactivate background mail downloading, go from the Settings menu to the Mail tab. Select "Accounts" and disable data downloads.

Disable geolocation services and system services carefully. If some services are deactivated, applications may stop working. Turn off unnecessary notifications, Reduce Motion, animated wallpapers, and automatic screen brightness.

Expert opinion

Alexey Bartosh

Specialist in repair and maintenance of electrical equipment and industrial electronics.

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Connecting to the Internet via cellular requires more battery power than using Wi-Fi. Therefore, try to connect your iPhone via Wi-Fi more often. Also, to save battery, deactivate the AirDrop function. In this case, the iPhone will not search for devices nearby when you press the “Share” button.

Constantly searching for and downloading application or software updates requires the use of a cellular connection. Of course, this uses up battery power. To save battery, you can disable this feature and check for updates manually.

Using an iPhone in the cold quickly reduces battery life to zero. This is due to a decrease in the rate of reactions that occur in the battery.

You can find out the reasons why your iPhone battery starts to drain quickly in the article below:

Performance

iPhone 11 received a new A13 Bionic chip, made using a seven-nanometer process and including six cores with a frequency of up to 2.65 GHz. RAM - 4 GB. In AnTuTu, the iPhone 11 scored even higher than the iPhone 11 Pro - 460,777 versus 454,843 - and was second only to the iPad Pro 3.

A little experience using the iPhone 11 confirms that this is a very powerful smartphone. You can easily play games from the Apple Arcade catalog, process portraits and render videos in iMovie, and the system will not even hint that it cannot cope with anything.

Apple SIM - what is it?

Apple SIM was introduced 3 years ago along with the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3, but then tablets drew all the attention, and the SIM card from the Apple manufacturer undeservedly went unnoticed. Undeservedly , because this innovation is truly revolutionary!

What opportunities does Apple SIM provide? The owner of such a SIM card is able to switch between telecom operators and change the tariff without replacing the plastic itself. It looks like a utopia: I wanted to switch, say, from MTS to Megafon - I opened the menu and chose the appropriate tariff from the “green” provider; and no office visits or statements for you!

As you might guess, in real life everything was not so simple. The appearance of a universal Apple SIM was greeted by cellular operators with obvious disapproval - in particular, the largest provider Verizon refused to work with an Apple SIM card.

The fact is that the sale of SIM cards for providers is also a source of income. For example, domestic users of mobile services are forced to buy SIM cards with a balance of 100 rubles for 150 rubles. It turns out that operators “make” 50 rubles per SIM card “out of thin air,” and Apple deprives them of this opportunity.

There is another reason for providers’ dissatisfaction: they believe that the implementation of Apple SIM will harm sales of “locked” smartphones.

In Russia, Apple SIMs have been officially available since 2015, but Apple does not yet have agreements with any of the domestic operators. Russian users of universal SIM cards can only choose between 2 global telecom operators: AlwaysOnline and GigSky. The internet plans offered by both are outrageously expensive. Here are GigSky tariff plans for Russia:

For 2 GB per month, the user must pay $50 - that’s almost 3 thousand rubles! Domestic providers ask for an amount 10 times less! Given such a monstrous difference in prices, it is not surprising that no one really knows about Apple SIM in Russia.

Autonomy

According to Apple iPhone 11 - Full phone specifications GSM Arena, the iPhone has a 3,046 mAh battery, which is enough for 17 hours of watching videos and 65 hours of playing music. This suggests that in terms of autonomy, the iPhone 11 is slightly ahead of the iPhone XR, the longest-lasting Apple smartphone of 2022.

We have not yet been able to conduct a full battery test: the iPhone 11 simply did not have time to discharge. But it really feels like it should be enough for a day of active work.

The iPhone 11 now supports fast charging from an 18-watt adapter, which will have to be purchased separately. On the Apple website the device costs 2,939 rubles. Wireless charging is also supported.

What is eSIM on iPhone

eSIM or embedded-SIM is a SIM card built into the phone itself. eSIM allows you to connect to a mobile operator and activate a data plan without having to insert an actual physical SIM card into your phone.

Two SIM cards on an iPhone allow you to fully use two phone numbers. You can make and receive voice or FaceTime calls to both numbers, as well as receive and send SMS or MMS messages. The only limitation is that data transfer is only possible through one operator.

In order to use eSIM, it must be configured to work with your mobile operator. This can be done in several ways:

• Scan the QR code using the Camera application;
• Install the mobile operator's application from the AppStore;
• Manually enter connection information in iPhone settings;

If you need more detailed information about which SIM cards are used in different iPhone models, we suggest you familiarize yourself with the table.

How iPhone 11 differs from iPhone 11 Pro

Almost everyone. Here's what can affect your choice of smartphone:

• Colors. The 11 Pro has fewer of them, and they are more strict. For unusual colors, go to iPhone 11.
• Glass on the back. iPhone 11 retained the gloss of its predecessors and received a matte camera unit. iPhone 11 Pro, on the contrary, received a matte panel with a glossy block.
• Screen. The iPhone 11 Pro is a little newer and more technologically advanced, as well as Full HD. But it’s not even this that affects the experience more, but the diagonal - 6.1 inches of the iPhone 11 versus 5.8 for the 11 Pro and 6.5 for the 11 Pro Max.
• Telephoto lens. The iPhone 11 did not receive it, which means that the zoom here is only digital.
• Memory. Only the iPhone 11 Pro is sold with 512 GB on board.
• Price. 30 thousand rubles difference.

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