iPhone 14 and 14 Pro 3-Month Review: More to Offer
Phones
Speaker 1: This is the iPhone 1414 plus 14 PRO and 14 Pro Max. I've been testing them over the past few months and there are a few things I want to update you on. Since my reviews back in September, I wanna talk about the battery life, about iPhone only features the cameras and availability. Let's get into it.
Speaker 1: Let's first discuss the battery. I actually have an entire video [00:00:30] that goes in depth on all the battery tests I ran on the iPhone 14 series. But here's the takeaway. The iPhone 14 series gets good battery life, but the iPhone 13 series gets great battery life. The difference wasn't drastic, but I doi myself needing to top off the iPhone 14 and 14 pro, especially earlier than I would the 13 or 13 pro. Now out of the four phones, the 14 plus and 14 Promax had the longest battery life, [00:01:00] no surprise there. But the 14 plus actually edged out the promax in several of our tests. Now I know there's been a lot of chatter around the always on display for the 14 pro and 14 promax and how it's draining the battery. And our test, the always on display didn't decrease the battery life in any significant way versus just keeping it off.
Speaker 1: Now a lot of this is gonna depend on your lock screen wallpaper, since the always on display isn't a black screen and instead [00:01:30] just shows a dark version of your wallpaper photo. So this is gonna be different for everyone. However, while it's not out yet, iOS 16.2 might be the answer. It has a new always on display setting that lets you turn off the wallpaper, A K A, have a black screen. You can also disable notifications as well. Now at the time I'm recording this video, iOS 16.2 is still in beta In my reviews for the iPhone 14 and 14 plus, I mentioned how some of the best [00:02:00] features on these phones are largely invisible or things that most people will hopefully never have to use. Uh, for example, the back of the screen on the 14 and 14 plus are easier and more affordable replaced, which is great, but there are also safety features like emergency SOS via satellite and car crash detection, also known as I'm on a rollercoaster with an iPhone 14 detection.
Speaker 1: Now look, a few weeks ago I got to test out emergency SOS via satellite in a demonstration at Apple [00:02:30] Park and I was impressed how easy it was to use and connect to a satellite even in the rain. In fact, since then the feature has helped save a stranded snowmobiler in Alaska. And if you have any of the iPhone 14 series, it's something you can actually try out right now. Apple made a nifty demo mode for emergency SOS via satellite that doesn't contact emergency services, but does let you connect to a satellite. Now, features like these are important and I do think they [00:03:00] help the iPhone 14 and 14 plus stick out. These phones are not aimed at people upgrading from an iPhone 13. Instead, the iPhone 14 to 14 plus are for people coming from an iPhone 10 R or an iPhone 11 or even older Dynamic Island.
Speaker 1: What is it? Well, on the 14 and 14 Promax instead of a notch, there is an oval shaped cutout in the display. For the true depth camera and dynamic island is all the software alerts and animations [00:03:30] that surrounded it works great though I do wish there were more non-Apple apps that took advantage of it. Now there are some quirks. First, the Dynamic island sticks out into the screen more than the K notch did, which is noticeable when watching some videos but not all. Also, I still think that we haven't had the full experience with Dynamic Island that Apple intended. It's part of a trinity of features that also includes the always on display and live actions on the lock stream. Now, once the improvements roll [00:04:00] out to the always on display and live actions are fully adopted, I feel that's where Dynamic Island will truly shine.
Speaker 1: With the iPhone 14 plus and 14 promax, we now have two iPhone models with a big 6.7 inch screen, but I wish there were more software specific features that took advantage of them. Namely, why can't I use the phone in split screen to multitask between two apps? Look, there's so much space, so many possibilities. And yes, this does sound like the tagline [00:04:30] on a movie poster. Now the iPhone 14 Pro Maxes screen has a variable refresher rate and is brighter than the 14 plus, but both have the same contrast ratio, which looks fantastic. And I think the 14 plus is an easy way to save $180 to get a really good large screen iPhone. All four models in the iPhone 14 series have Apples ceramic shield that covers the display and all four of the phones I tested have scuffs or [00:05:00] minor scratches on the front glass.
Speaker 1: Now I haven't babied the phones, but I haven't been reckless with them either. But after nearly three months, I am shocked by how scuffed these phones are also on the front. I like being able to use Face IDs sideways to unlock my phone. Now this is an iOS 16 thing and not limited to the iPhone 14 series. The cameras on the iPhone 14 and 14 plus are good, but the cameras on the 14 pro and 14 Pro Max are [00:05:30] great. Does that mean you can't get great photos of the 14 and 14 plus? Absolutely not. But the ones I capture on the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max and that 48 megapixel sensor are consistently great. But to use it at full resolution, you have to shoot pro raw, which is fine, but the files are big and I wish there was a built-in way to save them as JPEGs.
Speaker 1: Now, one surprise for me has been cinematic mode, which is kind of of like portrait mode for video and gives your videos a blurry background. [00:06:00] On the 14th series, I can record in 4k and I've actually used this to record several CNET videos. And one trick I use is I drop the aperture to F eight, which keeps the background slightly out of focus and it looks a little more natural than a lower number, but also keeps me in focus. Let's talk about the price. The iPhone 14 PRO and 14, Promax had the same exact price as the 13 Pro and 13 promax. In fact, they have the same price as the iPhone 10 [00:06:30] s and 10 s max. When they launched in 2018, the baseline iPhone 14 is $829. That's the same as the iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 when they launch. However, in 2021 and 2020, apple also sold the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini at $729.
Speaker 1: All this to say is the most affordable way to get into new iPhone is $800 versus last year's price, which [00:07:00] was $700 to alleviate the price. Apple and US carriers have had a tremendous number of trade-in deals, but there is the fact that Apple scaled back production on the iPhone 14 pro and 14 Promax because of covid 19 lockdowns in China. Now, currently the iPhone 14 pro is showing a ship time of three and a half weeks without store pickups being available here in San Francisco. If you're trying to get an iPhone 14 pro as a gift for someone your best [00:07:30] to try carriers or third party retailers, though Apple stores typically get more restocked. But I'm not gonna dissuade you from ordering an iPhone 14 pro. It's an excellent phone and will still be one in three and a half weeks. So wrapping up, I really like the iPhone 14 lineup.
Speaker 1: If you're upgrading from an iPhone 10 R to an iPhone 14 or 14 plus, or looking for apple's absolute best like the iPhone 14 Pro or 14 promax, you [00:08:00] should find something that fits your needs, budgets, and taste. Now it's time to hear from you guys. Have you been using any of the new iPhone 14 models? If so, what has your experience been like? Let me know on the comments. Also, if you like this video, give us a thumbs up. If you wanna see more videos like this, please subscribe to cnet. And lastly, thank you for watching.
