Apple iPhone 8

The iPhone 8 is the least exciting device in this year's iPhone lineup, but for the 'base' iPhone of the lot, it's still a powerful smartphone. It gets the same A11 Bionic chipset as the 8 Plus and X, and dons the new design with a glass back panel and wireless charging capabilities. For users who own anything older than an iPhone 7, the iPhone 8 is a solid upgrade, and one that should tide you through the next couple of years.

One of the biggest disappointments with the iPhone 8 is the unchanged design. From the front, it’s virtually impossible to distinguish it from the iPhone 6 that was launched back in 2014. After using a slew of bezel-less smartphones this year, the iPhone 8 feels decidedly dated with its chunky bezels on the top and bottom. There are some changes to the rear panel though ­– instead of aluminium, Apple has opted for a glass back – reminiscent of the iPhone 4/4s. This is primarily to enable wireless charging, which is a new feature for iPhones. Of course, you’ll need to purchase a wireless charger separately to use the feature. While the design is nothing to wax eloquent about, the iPhone 8 does feel more solid in the hand compared to the 7. But the slippery back panel warrants a case, especially because you don’t want to risk cracking the glass (even though Apple claims it's the strongest glass ever used on a smartphone). The iPhone 8 comes in three colours ­– silver, black and a new gold hue which is surprisingly elegant. And before you ask, there’s still no headphone jack, so don’t forget to carry the Lightning earpods with you. Apple continues to bundle a 3.5mm to Lightning adapter in the box, in case you want to use your old headphones.

The iPhone 8 essentially has the same camera setup as the 7 – a 12MP camera with f/1.8 aperture and OIS. Apple says it’s added a few enhancements though, such as faster autofocus and better pixel processing, but you’d be hard pressed to notice the changes from last year’s model. That said, the iPhone 8 continues to impress with its consistent image quality across shooting conditions. On the 8, you miss out on telephoto zoom, Portrait mode and the new Stage Lighting feature of the 8 Plus (head to our review for details on these), but it’s still one of the best smartphone cameras out there. Images display realistic colours with more saturation than earlier models, and low light shots are outstanding in terms of detail and noise reduction. The always-on HDR mode is now tucked away in camera settings, and I’d advise you to keep it turned on. The iPhone 8 can now also shoot 4K videos in 60 fps, and Live Photos of course is still around. The front camera is the same, a 7MP fixed focus unit with f/2.2 aperture and screen flash. Selfies turn out detailed with natural skin tones, and even ones taken in low light are very usable.

The iPhone 8 runs iOS 11 out of the box, and there are quite a few new features on board. There’s a redesigned Control Center which I personally love, the ability to edit and annotate screenshots, the new Files app and an all-new App Store.