Two-minute review
The iPhone 11 Pro is Apple’s latest iPhone that has people asking us “What’s really changed?” It’s a fair question because it looks very similar to last year’s iPhone. But use the new cameras for a few minutes and both that question and inquisitive looks from doubters quickly fade.
Apple put a lot of effort into its triple-lens rear camera, offering a trio of 12MP lenses that shoot regular, telephoto, and brand new ultra-wide perspectives. Not having to back up to fit everything into the widened frame is a big perk. Also, all of our friends appreciate not having their heads cut off in portrait photos.
Triple-lens camera versatility
Its rear camera trifecta offers wide, 2x optically zoomed and all-encompassing ultra-wide perspectives, the latter being a first for the iPhone. We found the iPhone 11 Pro cameras tout incredible versatility – even in our own daily tech reporter lives.
We found better HDR and definition to what’s normally lost in shadow or blown out with bright light. This applies to portrait mode, too; we observed brighter, sharper subjects. Photos remains realistic with warmer tones, not the cooler, saturated look of most Android phones that come primed for Instagram with punchy colors.
Night mode shines
Night mode is the single-greatest reason to upgrade to the iPhone 11 series if you’re into photography after dark. It’s baked into Apple’s main photo mode, not a separate mode like we see on Android rivals, and that makes the feature wholly more useful.
The automatically applied long-exposure settings usually land between 2-5 seconds depending on how dark things are. It can dial up the exposure length to 30 seconds if your iPhone is on a tripod or resting against a wall. A blank night sky can become visible with stars with this mode.
Front camera and video
It’s fascinating to see how far along HDR has progressed when you snap a photo with the front-facing iPhone 11 Pro camera. It’s 12MP (up from 7MP) and packs in a lot of detail. It could be brighter and we felt the need to tone down the warm colors at times when editing our pictures, but overall, this is an impressive upgrade.
Both front and back cameras record 4K video at 60fps (we’ve been waiting for 4K on the front camera for some time) and slo-mo video has finally come to the selfie cam. No, ‘Slofies’ wont change your life and they’re not actually called that in the UI. But we did have some fun testing the feature at 120fps in 1080p. Know that you can get much slower 240fps 1080p video out of the main camera, though.
Display
Even with the unchanged 5.8-inch screen size, the iPhone 11 Pro display has been re-worked to be brighter, and it’s noticeable when viewing the phone outdoors in sunny conditions. Its maximum brightness reaches 800 nits with normal content onscreen.
That’s taken to another level when viewing HDR video content, with Apple claiming a max brightness of 1200 nits. Its returning support for Dolby Vision and HDR10 video is best viewed at 100% brightness. Watching an iTunes movie revealed new detail while maintaining deep black colors in scenes.
More Information: iPhone 11 Pro review