Glitzy iPhone X Aside, The iPhone 8 Is Fine For Most

The difference between Apple’s new iPhone models is a bit like flying first class compared with coach. We envy first class, but coach gets us there without breaking the budget.

The iPhone 8 will do just fine for $300 less than the glitzy iPhone X, even though it won’t make your friends and colleagues jealous. It’s also available now, starting at almost $700. The X (read as the numeral 10) won’t be out until November.

Still, the iPhone 8 remains a fairly straightforward update of the iPhone 7, which itself was a fairly straight forward update of the iPhone 6S. Then again, no one expects much different from a coach seat.

WHAT YOU’RE NOT GETTING

It’s hard to talk about the iPhone 8 without comparing it to my 15 minutes with the iPhone X after the Keynote.

The X wowed with a fancy new display that flows to the edges of the phone. The phone is compact, yet features a screen slightly larger than the one on the supersized iPhone 8 Plus. The X also features facial recognition that lets you unlock the phone with a glance; you can also create animated emojis that match your facial expressions.

The 8 has none of that, although it does share other new goodies the X is getting, including wireless charging. The 8 and the X both have faster processors and sensors to enhance graphics in augmented reality, a blending of the virtual and physical worlds, though older iPhones will also run AR apps with iOS 11 update.

WIRELESS CHARGING

Apple is embracing wireless-charging technology that Android phones have had for years. It’s a rare case in which Apple isn’t going its own way; instead, it’s adopting an existing standard called Qi (pronounced chee). That means the iPhone gets all the technical advancements from the consortium behind Qi and can take immediate advantage of a slew of public wireless-charging stations.