Apple iPhone 8 & 8 Plus - Quick Look in 2021.
The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus came out right before the iPhone X in 2017 and served as the transitionary option for those not quite ready to move on from the home button. And they fit that role perfectly, hitting the mark with great specs, an excellent camera, and that classic iPhone design (just modernized a bit).
Today discuss and talk about how the refurbished iPhone 8 in Australia holds up in 2021 and whether or not they could even still be worth buying.
Design
Let's talk about the design of the iPhone 8 and 8 plus, they might look similar to the iPhone 6 and 6 plus but the phones are much more premium and in my opinion, Apple kind of perfected that general design from the iPhone 7. It's good having a plethora of colors, the iPhone 8 has a glass back instead of aluminum while retaining the aluminum frame and same general look. The glass back not only looks and feels great but it also allows for wireless charging, something that was new to the iPhone line in 2017. These phones are fast charging capable and water-resistant so you get a lot of the quality of life features you would get with a flagship iPhone. So, I'm definitely a fan of the design and it's offered in multiple storage capacities, the iPhone 8 256gb has enough storage to last you quite some time.
Everything else about the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus holds up very well besides the fact that they do have that older design albeit intentionally so if you have the iPhone 8 or 8 plus right now you don't need to upgrade yet especially if you have 8 Plus.
Display
The Apple iPhone 8's biggest concession was retaining the older Retina LCD display that Apple had been using for ages although it did have the addition of true tones so it does look good. Don't get me wrong it's a Retina display which means everything is sharp and clear. It's actually equivalent to the iPhone 10r and 11 as those phones also have Retina LCD screens, in fact, the iPhone 8 Plus actually has a higher resolution and pixel density than both the XR and 11 bringing 1080p to its 5.5-inch panel. The smaller iPhone 8 has a 4.7-inch screen. and of course, what works for you comes down to personal preference. I do really like the 8 plus’s size, a big screen is nice to look at, and at the same time, the small iPhone 8 fits my hand perfectly.
Battery
The iPhone 8 and 8 plus are basically the same phones just the plus is bigger, at least that's probably what most people think and they're not far off but the plus does have an extra gigabyte of ram, an extra telephoto camera lens, and more importantly a larger battery. The smaller iPhone 8's biggest flaw from launch to now has always been the battery life and given the phone is over 3+ years old.
Both the phones can easily last you a do and have decent battery life. I wanted to start with the battery life of these phones because I think in 2021 just like any older smartphone that's going to be the main point of discussion for most users.
Performance & Software
The iPhone 8 and 8 plus hold up very well in 2021 they run the latest version of iOS and they run it really well, performing exactly how you'd expect with little to no slowdowns anywhere to be found. They feel fast and practically speaking, they can do basically anything the newest and greatest iPhone 12 Pro can do. You download any app or play pretty much any game. Besides the battery life and older camera, there are few to no gripes i find with these iPhones especially the 8 Plus. On the software side of things, it can be upgraded to the latest iOS 14 which makes it up to date. It can run all the games and apps. It is equipped with Apple’s A11 Bionic chipset and its performance is as expected, exceptional. Apple chipsets outperform the competition and this can be seen here.
Camera
The camera is decent and performs exceptionally well. It is a significant improvement in both battery and camera. I don't think there's much point in an upgrade to the Plus from the iPhone 8 as they kind of are really the same phone have the same camera, just improved on the software side so photos do look quite good. The smaller 8 is equipped with a single 12-megapixel wide-angle lens and the bigger sibling, the iPhone 8 Plus comes with a dual-camera setup featuring 12-megapixel wide-angle lens and a telephoto one. The camera performance of the devices is good as briefly discussed above. Just be sure to buy the storage capacity according to your needs, an iPhone 8 Plus 64gb can be enough for you if you don't have a lot of data or you use cloud services. and if that isn't the case then you should go for an iPhone 8 Plus 256gb.
The dynamic range, color accuracy, and saturation are all masterfully balanced. The selfie camera of both devices is 7 megapixels and it too performs well in our test.
Wrapping Up
So, this was our brief take on the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in 2021. These phones have proof that Apple devices perform well even after a couple of years. You should definitely consider buying a refurbished iPhone 8 or 8 Plus if you are looking for a phone.
Check out Best Apple iPhones You Can Buy Right Now
