I was one of the few million users who upgraded to the iPhone 14 Pro during its first month of availability. The new 48MP camera, Dynamic Island, always-on display, and more combine to make it a compelling purchase over the iPhone 14 — which, in my opinion, doesn’t really justify the $100 increase over the $699 iPhone 13.
Like many buyers, I upgraded from an iPhone that didn’t have any of the three aforementioned features, thinking that they’d make for an interesting product. But after a few weeks of use, I have come to terms with the fact that
Dynamic Island doesn’t add anything new to the game
“Meet the new face of iPhone,” reads the Apple website while describing the new cutout on top of the
The Dynamic Island doesn’t bring much to the table. It’s a new interface, yes, but it doesn’t do anything that wasn’t possible before. Tap and hold it to play/pause music or change tracks – I could do that by swiping down from the top of the screen. And with iOS 16, I prefer swiping down to control my music because the widget is now at the bottom, unlike Dynamic Island, where I have to reach to the top by adjusting my phone grip.
As I’ve written before, the Dynamic Island isn’t very dynamic most of the time. As a result, it’s just a big cutout placed lower than the notch that makes it eat up space when you are watching wider aspect ratio videos on YouTube or any other app. And don’t you fill your screen with the video, else you’ll be left with an ugly cutout right in your viewing experience. I hope the Dynamic Island changes in the future as developers update their apps to work with it. But as it stands right now, the Dynamic Island is distracting in a way the notch never was.
My battery anxiety is back
A few months ago, I wrote how the iPhone 13 Pro Max (my previous phone) helped me cure my battery anxiety. But it seems like I’m back to my old power bank days with the
Before you pounce on me with the argument “most users would be upgrading from the iPhone 12 or before,” that is no excuse for poor battery life. I bought the
In my usage, LTE drains battery life like crazy. Five minutes of camera use with LTE on and photo sharing on WhatsApp dropped the battery from 29% to 22%. I’m not used to it as someone who has been daily-driving the
Some say the battery drain could be a result of iOS 16. And it really could be. I also updated my
The
The only new feature I’m liking is the always-on display. I have a dark background, so it isn’t as bright for me as some are claiming it to be on social media. It works for me. But the battery drain is real, which forces me to turn off the feature.
More megapixels, but for what?
A 48MP camera sounds like a good upgrade from a 12MP camera system on paper. But in reality, it doesn’t translate to having an impact on the average Joe, since the iPhone 14 Pro clicks similar photos as my iPhone 13 Pro Max. Sometimes, the dynamic range goes for a toss or the Portrait mode doesn’t get edge detection right.
The above images were shot at sunset. While the
I hoped for a better experience
In my experience with the
The trio of issues doesn’t give me much confidence to keep my
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