Upgrading my iPhone 7 Plus to the iPhone 11 Pro
Was It Worth It?
I recently started my new job at Vodafone. While I spend five days a week with the wonderful team at the store in Bridlington, I want to clarify that these are my personal views—Vodafone has no say in what I write, and I will not be sharing any privileged information. Now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about my upgrade.
The iPhone 11 Pro
The iPhone 11 Pro comes packed with Apple’s A13 Bionic SoC, featuring dedicated cores for the GPU, CPU, Neural Engine, and Machine Learning. All this translates to one thing: the iPhone 11 Pro is incredibly fast.
FaceID vs. TouchID
Like the iPhone X, XR, and XS series, the 11 Pro uses FaceID instead of TouchID. Losing the home button feels strange for the first hour if you're coming from an older device, but once you're used to it, you barely notice it’s gone (unless, of course, you're wearing a face mask).
Camera Performance
The iPhone 11 Pro features four 12MP cameras. One is built into the FaceID sensor, allowing you to vlog in 4K while actually seeing if you’re in the frame. On the back, you have three lenses providing 0.5x, 1x, and 2x zoom. The video quality is stunning, and all lenses feature Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), making your footage buttery smooth.
Display
After shooting video, you’ll want to view it back, and the 11 Pro’s screen does not disappoint. While the 5.8-inch display is the smallest in the 11 range, it is an OLED panel that delivers the full P3 color gamut—perfect for watching HDR content. It also features a True Tone Display, which adjusts the color temperature based on your ambient lighting to reduce eye strain. It’s a feature I love, though Mrs. Jim isn’t quite as fond of it.
Software and Features
The phone comes with the usual suite of Apple services like Apple Pay, iCloud, and Siri. Running the iOS 14 beta, I've noticed Siri has improved significantly; "Siri Suggestions" now correctly predicts what I want to do nine times out of ten.
The screen filling almost the entire front of the phone is a major plus, and the notch doesn’t bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. The depth sensor is also remarkably reliable—it just works, which is a stark contrast to the face unlock features I’ve seen on other Android devices. I’ve also been having fun with Memoji and Animoji; while they might seem a bit silly, they really show off the capability of the sensors, and I’m looking forward to experimenting with them in Unreal Engine soon.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I am very happy with the upgrade. If I were coming from an iPhone X series, I probably wouldn’t have upgraded just yet, as the differences aren't drastic.
When choosing between the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max, I would still stick with the 11 Pro:
- Display: The base iPhone 11 uses an LED display rather than OLED, meaning it lacks true HDR.
- Form Factor: The Pro Max is larger, but that is the only difference between it and the standard Pro.
- Camera: The ultra-wide camera is a game-changer for filming on the go, allowing me to capture wide shots without needing to walk 10 or 20 meters away for B-roll.
I’m sure I’ve missed a feature or three! If you want to know my thoughts on something specific, drop a comment below and I’ll update this post.