Rock vs Apple iPhone 8 Plus is a no brainer. The Rock wins everytime. (sic) Moving on…
Apple iPhone 8 Plus was the phone which got obsolete within 30mins of it’s launch, thanks to iPhone X. It was one of the most un-impressive launches by Apple. Yet, I pre-booked it & got it on Day 1 of the launch (MRP Rs. 86,000 for the Gold 256GB, We paid: Rs. 75,000 at Tata CliQ during pre-booking. (75Grand! Am I Stupid? Either that, or it totally made sense to get one! And it was my birthday.. so..)
Remember me going ga-ga about the Oppo F1 Selfie Expert and how it was a game changer. I needed an upgrade to my second phone (for office use, with a great camera) – and we went ahead and got us an OPPO F3. Samsung Galaxy S8 was the other obvious choice, but I am not too keen on fireworks in my pocket.
Tech Comparison
The iPhone 8 Plus has a 6-core processor at 2.37 Ghz versus the Oct Core 2.3 + 1.7 combo that Note 8 has, and the 1.95+1.44 Ghz that the OPPO F3 Plus has. Just crunching numbers, the Apple iPhone 8 Plus would be at the bottom of the ‘Ghz’ in a phone. But does that mean anything?
Well, I play Vainglory & Clash Royale everyday, and I am going to do a hands-on experience rating of the two games, without giving a F* about Ghz/Processing power.
Apple iPhone 8 Plus – 10/10 (OMG! Much Smooth Graphics, Such Awesome Gameplay)
Samsung Galaxy S8 – 8/10 (Crisp colours, some sluggishness during multiplayer)
Oppo F3 Plus – 5/10 (Sluggish as always, not really fun to play)
Don’t believe me? Check this out at Tom’s Guide – The Hardware benchmarks for various phones. The Apple iPhone 8 Plus is actually faster than a Mac Book Pro!!
The Camera
The only other thing after Speed is the Camera – which I care about immensely. The Oppo F1 was awesome for selfies & high quality interpolated photographs. The S8 has a decent camera. But the Apple iPhone 8 Plus really shines in this zone.
Check out a few comparative shots that I just took (thanks to the birthday & Diwali gifts that are pouring in).
The Portrait mode – has been improved substantially, and it is the closest one can get to a DSLR on a phone. Love it. Have a look at some portraits, with no touch-ups and a basic color filter that I apply to all images by default.
Verdict
If you are an Apple user, and have all the data/contacts etc. on an iPhone 6 or 7 – then the 8 is a reasonable upgrade. Especially with 256GB memory & the fast A11 Bionic chip. The Look & feel of the phone however is pretty dated – and the only consolation is that this might be the last iPhone with Touch ID. As soon as iPhone X is out – No more sneaking in the bag and unlocking the phone to check a quick message, no more midnight binge messaging without having to type your 4 digits to unlock the phone or the horror of the iPhone not recognising you when you want it the most.
So yea, as of now, there is no better phone available in the market for an Apple user. Google has shown some promising upgrades on the Pixel 2 – but have followed Apple in the ‘no headphone jack’ and ‘lets keep the dated look’ black-hole. This year’s vacation pictures will tell – which Phone really was the best Diwali gift!
Note : This is NOT a paid review. I love to try new Tech Gear – be it Phones, Cameras, Tablets, iMacs/MBPS and even Apps & Softwares. I am happy to buy & use a product which I feel would help me in my productivity or improve upon an existing gadget. I am happy to try/review & blog about interesting Tech innovations 🙂
Leave a reply