XS Max iPhone Review: Bigger is not always better

There is a moment when you hold in your hands the golden iPhone XS Max where you will begin to do the mental math.

"How much is $ 1,100 anyway?" you will wonder.

"If I just funded it, it's not this a lot of money a month, "you'll think.

You will begin to imagine your life with the phone, calculating mentally if it will fit in your pocket or in your purse (this will probably not be the case) and if you really need such a big screen (you probably are not).

You will want to own the XS Max, not because your life requires a smartphone that costs as much as the average mortgage payment, but because the Golden iPhone XS Max is a type of product "stop-and-stare". This is the kind of thing that arouses shouts of joy in people of good taste; the type of camera that people can not resist, even if they automatically file fingerprints on its glossy surface.

You will want to own the XS Max, because even if you hold the XS Max, you feel luxurious.

But the problem with the XS Max is that it is supposed to be a tool that will make your life easier. This is not supposed to just look incredible, it's supposed job incredibly well. And after spending a week with the camera, I can say that's what most of the time does.

Hollis Johnson / Business Insider

The big screen was not a bonus

There is no way out: the iPhone XS Max is huge.

Its screen is incredibly large, apparently suited to a giant's gloves rather than to regular human hands. If you have one of the "Plus" models from previous Apple iPhone ranges, the iPhone 6 Plus, 7 Plus or 8 Plus, you'll always notice a change. While the XS Max basically has the same size as the "Plus" models, it's as if Apple was stretching the screen up and down to fill the space previously occupied by the button. 39; home and the top corners. The result is a bigger screen in the same general form factor, and this change brings its own challenges.

During my tests with the phone, I have never felt comfortable holding the XS Max with one hand, and its one-handed use is downright impossible – j & # 39; estimates that my thumb has been able to reach less than a third. from the screen.

For the record, enable accessibility – an accessibility feature that halves the size of the application used – has not solved the problem. I still could not reach the entire screen, even if accessibility was enabled, which literally defeats the purpose of the feature.

For me, someone with smaller hands, it was a major disadvantage of the XS Max. There are so many situations in which I have to use my phone with one hand, and it is neither possible nor intelligent to try to do it with the XS Max.

Beyond the impossibility of reaching the four corners of the screen, I constantly wondered what could serve such a screen well. Of course, you can see more than one application on the screen at a time, and if you have poor eyesight, I imagine that it would be beneficial to have a great view font on a big screen.

But for me, the giant screen was only a nuisance. I could see how cool it would be to have a big screen, but none of them were played during normal use. It would have been nice to watch a video that occupied the entire screen, but it's not possible – every video I watched had big black bars up and down, and sometimes on the sides. It was the same for games, which have never occupied the entire display.

The giant screen did not help me to be more productive, creative, or even more entertaining – it made me frustrated.

The camera is really great

That's right: the XS Max's camera is better than most other phones on the market.

For me, the smartphone camera bar is usually defined by the Pixel range of Google. I think they are the best smartphone cameras on the market and I have never been disappointed. This remains mainly true of Pixel 3, released last month.

But in some situations, when using both devices, I felt that the XS Max worked better. We will soon have a full test of both phones side by side, but for the moment, I can say that the portrait mode on iPhone is significantly improved. I was impressed by my photos in portrait mode and thought that they were better than the Pixel for the first time, maybe never.

Let's not go ahead ourselves – if you have the iPhone X, and maybe even the iPhone 8 Plus, I can not imagine that the XS Max's camera is so much better than you need to upgrade. It's great, but it does not change your life.

The same old iOS

As it was a year "S", there are so many things on the XS Max that are identical to the iPhone X from last year.

The design is unchanged, apart from the new gold color, and everything else has been refined rather than revised. The battery life seems slightly better – I'm usually well over a full day, although the iPhone X already has excellent battery life – and some minor features have been improved, such as reducing the delay shutter when you take a picture. In addition, it is overall a little faster, thanks to a new chip.

But so many things about the XS Max are the same as the X and the XR, and even the iPhones of there are two, three or four years ago, thanks to iOS. Once you have overcome some of the most important changes related to upgrading to a new sophisticated phone, you end up with the same operating system as everyone else. And no, you will not often use features like Memoji and Animoji – you might even forget them completely.

That's what makes Apple so great and frustrating. If you bought an iPhone 8, for example, you still have a fantastic phone that usually works like the brand new phone. But it also makes it difficult to justify the high price of the XS Max: you spend at least $ 1,100 for a great design with additional enhancements.

So yes, do you buy the iPhone XS Max (in gold!) If you are obsessed with design, if you have an old iPhone and now want the best and greatest of Apple products, big hands are just super rich.

Apple's largest iPhone has never been so expensive for an iPhone, but it also requires the attention of everyone around it – it will make you look very very chic.