iPhone XS Max 6-Month Honest Review.. By Max Tech

The iPhone XS Max has just had its 6-month anniversary, and we’re gonna go in-depth with which features and changes made our experience with it really special, as well as some of the features that turned out to be gimmicks. Compared to the iPhone X, the regular XS isn’t really much different, and to be honest, it’s not worth the upgrade. Now the XS Max is where things get pretty interesting. The 6.5” display is truly incredible. It makes the UI wider and it’s so immersive compared to the smaller size. The notch did stay the exact same size, but since the screen is much larger, it seems so much smaller now and it’s not as distracting anymore.

The display itself is pretty awesome. It won DisplayMate’s best display of the year award, but the Galaxy S10 is coming and the display is probably better. We’ll be doing a comparison as soon as we get our S10 tomorrow so make sure to sub now to see that! After 6 months of using the XS Max without a case, it’s now got a bunch of micro scratches on the stainless steel band, especially on the top, but you can easily polish them out. I recommend using a tempered glass screen protector since Max’s iPhone got a couple of scratches on it within the first couple of days. I’ve had mine on since I bought it, and it hasn’t chipped or cracked once.

I’ll have a link to it in the description below. It’s only been 6 months since I switched from an iPhone 8 Plus, and I’m already used to all of the gestures. My absolute favorite is swiping left and right on the home bar to switch between apps. It’s so much quicker than using Touch ID. I still use cable charging more than wireless, since the battery life is so great that I simply plug it into the wall every night before bed.

The difference in battery life coming from the iPhone X is massive. The XS Max seems to last forever and anyone hungry for extra battery life should buy the Max instead of buying one of those silly battery packs. Back to wireless charging, it’s great if you work in an office setting. Just place your iPhone on a wireless charging stand and you’ll be going home from work every day with a completely full battery. The most annoying thing with about the XS is that you still get a slow 5W charger in the box.

It doesn’t really matter for overnight charging, but if you’re trying to get some quick juice, it sucks to have to buy additional accessories for fast-charging. I’m fairly confident that the 2019 iPhones will come with Apple’s 18W USB-C power adapter, so I’m really excited for that! The speakers are simply incredible, much louder than the ones in my old 8 Plus, and the stereo separation is so much better than on other Android phones. Face ID is awesome and it works so reliably now that I don’t miss Touch ID one bit. I have a friend who refused to upgrade because of the lack of Touch ID, and when he eventually did, he got used to it almost instantly and is now really happy with it. He only mentioned a couple of downsides where Face ID won’t work when it’s laying flat on a table, and it has issues when you’re laying down.

The new iPad Pro has Face ID and it works in any orientation, so hopefully, the next iPhone will be getting this as well. After a week or two with this phone, I basically never used Animoji again. It’s honestly a gimmick, so don’t count that in your decision-making process. It’s been over a year since the iPhone X was released, and there are now tons of apps that use Face ID for logging in, and I’ve gotta say it’s so convenient that it changes the way you’ll use your phone forever. Onto the cameras, portrait selfies are amazing.

They make selfies look countless times better. However, I basically never use any of the portrait lighting filters. They honestly don’t turn out that well. What I really enjoy is the new adjustable bokeh feature. This is an absolute game-changer and I use this all the time! This feature alone helps the XS be a significant step up from the X.

Now the rear cameras are insane. The dynamic range is incredible and the quality looks amazing. I bought my wife an iPhone XS and she’s been taking awesome-looking photos for her business. With a little bit of editing, they can look somewhat like professional DSLR photos, so it’s a great investment for any business. However, there is a problem with it, and that’s the whole beautygate dilemma.

Photos just look a bit flat and they lack contrast. Unfortunately, it’s also the main reason why the dynamic range is so good, so you can’t really have the best of both worlds without editing each photo. Now let’s talk about performance. The new 7nm A12 processor gives us a decent boost in processor performance over the X, and a massive boost in graphics performance. This makes playing demanding games like Fortnite incredibly detailed and smooth, even at 60 frames per second.

However, in basic day-to-day tasks, I honestly didn’t notice much of a difference coming from my iPhone 8 Plus. Both phones are already so powerful that the UI is perfectly smooth on either phone. We’ve finally reached the day where we’re no longer limited by hardware, and any extra performance is used for shooting better quality video at higher frame rates and… basically just flexing. Realistically, the best part about the iPhone XS Max is the size. To be completely honest, if there was only the smaller iPhone XS this year, I wouldn’t have upgraded.

The size is really what makes this phone worth it. If you still haven’t upgraded and you’re thinking of doing so, here’s my advice. If you already have an iPhone X, don’t upgrade to the iPhone XS. You won’t feel much of a difference apart from the camera features, and you’ll ultimately be disappointed. Instead, go for the XS Max and you’ll easily feel where your cash went.

The iPhone XR is also a great option for the budget-minded, but the display sucks and it’s really thick compared to the XS. Now if you’re still using an iPhone with Touch ID, then the smaller iPhone XS will be a great upgrade for you. And if you’ve used and enjoyed the Plus model of iPhones, then I recommend going with the XS Max. And finally, if your current iPhone works fine, then I would honestly wait it out and see what Apple’s got in store for us with their 2019 iPhones. You can check out that video to see some of the features we can expect for this year’s iPhones.

This has been Vadim with Max Tech, thanks for watching and if you enjoyed this video, make sure to hit that sub button before you leave.

Source : Max Tech