iPhone 14 pro - Hands on - If it ain't broke don't fix it

 It's that time of year! Every year at almost the same date (the middle of September) Apple introduces a new series of iPhone and this year is no different, Apple introduced a lot of new hardware at this event including three Apple watches, an upgraded but similar looking Air Pods pro, and the all-new iPhone 14 series. 

iPhone 14 Pro

This year’s iPhone is rather a refinement than an overhaul. The following are the main things that I want to share with you about this new pro. 

DISPLAY 

With indoor brightness of 800 nits and a peak brightness of 2000 nits, the new iPhone has the brightest screen on any smartphone. The peak brightness helps both indoor, outdoor as well as HDR performance. All this along with the improved color scheme makes this display the gold standard. 

The brighter screen also contributes to better long-term heavy usage. 

ALWAYS ON DISPLAY

Though a decade late, this is a better implementation of the always on display than most androids. Unlike most phones, Apple has a seamless switch between lock screen/home screen to the always on display. The phone too refreshes one Hz during this time in hopes of saving battery life. 

The feature not only will show the clock, but will instead show the entire lock screen of yours but dimmer. 

Unfortunately, the always-on display is a little too bright for my liking and it kills battery life by a lot, hence I would prefer it being turned off. 

It is a software feature hence an update could fix it. So, this one shouldn't feature change your buying decision. 

Lack of customization is also a drawback for a customization nerd like me 

DYNAMIC ISLAND 

Dynamic island is a replacement for the notch that Apple had for the past 5 years. It is now a pill shaped cutout that can change its shape and size to display notification alerts and background activities.  

Apps such as Apple music and Spotify can display the album cover and waveform of the ongoing song. You can long press to access media controls and tap to enter into the app. 

System alerts, notifications, screen recording, fitness and face ID animation are some of the apps that can use this feature. App developers are open to create apps that make use of the notch. Safe to say that App developers have started using this feature in both useful as well as quirky ways. 

Okay y'all, I think I found the best idea for the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro. I added a cat that lives up there like a tamagotchi and just hangs out and does cute stuff as you browse Reddit in my app (Apollo). pic.twitter.com/xJJlazHH4E

— Christian Selig (@ChristianSelig) September 16, 2022

just another nifty way to use dynamic island...

If two or more apps are using this feature (such as screen recorder and music), the island has the capability to split into two cutouts, one for each ongoing app. 

The island, unless in use doesn’t show in screenshots, but if it is in use then you will have a large floating black hole in your screenshot. 

The island can be distracting during full screen usage at times but it is something that you can get used to in a few days. 

BATTERY

Hate to say it but, the iPhone 14 pro’s battery life is comparably lower than the 13 pro. Not by a lot but adding the always on display and the NOT optimized IOS16. Battery drains fast. 

Is is possible to downgrade ios version in iphone 14 series. i am not satisfied with ios 16 yet. just living with the hope that 16.1 might fix my problems. yeah battery life is concern.

Vote down what is the better version

—Tech Passion September 27, 2022

Also, many people including me, assumed that the 1HZ refresh rate would increase the battery life but, it turns out, that feature is locked down to the always on display and is not available during normal usage. 

Not to be mistaken here, the battery life is still excellent at 8.5 hours. But it is lower than the 10 hours that the 13-pro offered. 

SPEAKERS AND MIC 

The speakers of the new iPhone is so good that it makes both the iPhone 13 pro and the S22 ultra feel tinny in comparison. The volume bass and the overall richness shows while playing music of any kind.

Though not mentioned by Apple, the mic quality is better than last time and it is very good at separating the spoken words from background noise. 

CAMERA 

source : Apple

• The decade long reign of the of the 12 MP camera finally ends and a new era of 48-megapixel camera begins! 

• Apple finally upgraded the main camera of the iPhone 14 pros to a 48 Megapixel camera, resulting in way sharper pictures and videos. 

• Though not the highest megapixel count for a 2022 flagship; megapixels aren’t everything for a mobile camera, the sensor and software plays a major role in determining the quality of the photo and video. 

• 
  Apple’s new photo rendering algorithm called photonic engine and a bigger sensor contribute to the crispness and the natural feel of the photo, thereby surpassing every other smartphone camera on the market in terms of overall consistency. 

• Apple also offered the second generation of sensor-shift stabilization for stable videos. 

• For those who need more, Apple’s new software named Action mode satisfies their needs. This uses a mix of motion tracking and video cropping to achieve absolute stability of the footage. It does produce grainy videos at times and the videos produced are cropped intensively so this feature is not for everyone. 

• Other remarkable improvements include better color reproduction at night time photos. An improved cinematic mode supporting both 4k and 24fps video. 

iPhone manages to take stunning shots of the night sky if the 48megapixels is fully used using pro raw and editing software. https://t.co/4fxB1YDSar

— Raghunath Balaji (@raghunathb007) September 27, 2022

• Apple also introduced a pseudo 2x optical zoom, achieved by cropping on the middle 12 megapixels of the main sensor. This is mainly useful for portrait photos. 

• On the downside, the camera module as well as the camera bump is huge so it does wobble a lot when placed on flat surfaces. 

• Cameras yet suffer in extreme HDR shots but it is not a dealbreaker by any means and this phone has one of the most consistent cameras. 

PERFORMANCE 

Unlike the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 plus, the pro gets an upgraded 4 nm chip – the A16. Yet, the new chip shows little to no improvement over the already good A15. 

The A15 itself was unusable to its maximum due to software limitations so I am not blaming about the lack of improvement.  

Safety 

2 features that Apple doesn’t want their users to use but adds for safety, are the new crash detection and Satellite based emergency SOS (Only in US and Canada for now). 

If the phone detects a crash, using its sensors, the iPhone automatically calls up emergency services to help people in need. It doesn’t accidentally activate it if the phone falls out of pocket or anywhere, as the phone also checks for deceleration upon impact; and various other sensors to determine a crash. 

The emergency SOS lets your iPhone directly connect to a satellite to get help if stranded somewhere remote.  

SIM 

Sim card tray is no longer available in the US, and it is E-sim only. The iPhone also is multiple e-sim compatible so you can have 3 or more numbers for yourself instead of 1 or 2. There have been reports about issues doe to E-sim in the US. 

Occasional Call declining and poor connectivity are some of the frequently reported issues. 

WHAT’S IN THE BOX 

The box for the iPhone is white, not black and the text in the box is color coded for whatever iPhone you buy. 

The phone is available in 4 colors – Deep purple, Gold, Silver and Space black.

CONCLUSION 

This is a very incremental update over the last iPhone and not anything Deal breaking. This is meant for people who have iPhone 8 or iPhone X and want to upgrade their phone. Not for people who have anything later than that. This is technically an “s” update and not a whole new generation. But it is a set of nice quality of life improvements abiding the proverb 

IF IT AIN’T BROKE DONT FIX IT