Let’s start with the basic version (sale of iPhone 14 Plus starts on October 7). The Verge’s Allison Johnson expressed negativity even in the title of her review. She believed that the new product had so few functions that it should be called the iPhone 13S. The phone has hardly changed either externally or internally during the year. Same design and display, same charging speed, similar number of cameras, almost identical processor. Unless with an additional GPU core).
A similar opinion was expressed by CNET’s Patrick Holland. The reviewer compared the phone to regular food. Like, if you liked french fries a year ago, you won’t give them up now, because they haven’t changed since then. “iPhone 14 is one of the most insignificant annual updates in Apple’s history,” Holland admitted.
The subtitle of the review on the pages of CNBC does not set the reader in a positive mood. iPhone 14: what is missing? – These words begin the description of the new product. And below is the list. The cameras are worse than in the 14 Pro, the display has a low refresh rate (60 Hz), the frame is aluminum, not steel (as in the Pro version), the processor is from last year.
Photo: The Verge
Alison Johnson wrote that she noticed a “not drastic” but improvement in camera performance. After all, the iPhone 14, in fact, inherited the sensor from the 13 Pro, and the selfie camera received a wider aperture. And they worked on processing algorithms. Therefore, night photos really look a little sharper than on last year’s iPhone. This applies to all modes and standard, and portrait, and even selfie. But the journalist practically did not see the difference in the work of video stabilization.
Patrick Holland also praised the cameras – the main sensor shoots well even in low light. But the night mode still “suffers from reflections from the light source.” On his example, you can see how the store sign is reflected against the dark sky. Glare is a disease of all iPhones, and the iPhone 14 has not been cured of it.
All journalists agreed that it is not worth upgrading iPhone 13 to iPhone 14. It is better to leave last year’s device or pay extra for the iPhone 14 Pro.
iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max
A dynamic island
Photo: The Verge
“Proshki” was clearly liked by observers much more. First of all, everyone appreciated the rejection of the “bang” in favor of the so-called “dynamic island” (Dynamic Island) – a dark area in which all sensors are concentrated.
The Verge journalist Nilay Patel noticed an interesting thing: if you forgot about the existence of the old notch in a few minutes, the new island is trying with all its might to remind you of itself. It is constantly moving and transforming – it can even callous the eyes. In addition, in some applications, it closes an important part of the content.
There is another shortcoming. When you click on the widgets that constantly appear on the island, the full application opens. It’s annoying. Patel would like the screen to just expand at times like this. But for this you need to hold your finger on the island.
“Dynamic Island is one of those things that requires years of refinement and developer attention before we can really say how useful it is,” the reviewer concluded.
CNBC’s Sophia Pitt, on the other hand, raved about Dynamic Island. She called the change “the coolest feature of the year.” But then she simply listed most of the cases from Apple’s presentation with almost no personal experience.
But Wired columnist Julian Chokkattu praised the island for its convenience. But he noted that not all programs work with the new cut yet. For example, there is no support for Google Maps yet. Therefore, the journalist hopes that during the year more software developers will pay attention to the dynamic island.
Screens
Photo: The Verge
A Wired reviewer says the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro screens are much brighter. And even if you turn the backlight slider to the maximum, the displays do not fade and retain “really fantastic colors” (which cannot be said about many Android smartphones). About the function Always On Display he remembered for a moment – she must be bored by now, because everyone but Apple has years.
The Verge’s Patel also praised Apple for its “innovation.” But he did not like that the color display was always on. He would have preferred a Google Pixel style black and white picture. He is stressed that the iPhone seems to be awake all the time. “Hopefully we’ll have some customization options in the future,” he hoped.
Cameras
Opinions are divided here. An editor at The Verge says that the difference between the 13 Pro and 14 Pro is visible, but you have to look very closely. This applies to all cameras – both the main and ultra-wide. The detailing is better, the blurring of the background is better. But Patel didn’t like the post-processing of the night photos at all: “due to the aggressive sharpness and noise reduction, the shot of the night horizon looks bad,” he says.
Apparently, a staff member at The Verge has better eyesight than a Wired editor. Because the latter admitted that he does not see a significant improvement in the quality of pictures compared to last year’s models. He even came to the conclusion that periodically the iPhone 13 Pro produced clearer pictures! Instead, the journalist estimated that AI algorithms now blur not only the background behind the object, but also part of the foreground.
“Even if the updates seem minor, the iPhone 14 Pro still has one of the best mobile cameras,” Chokkattu concluded.
Productivity
All journalists unanimously confirmed the assurances of Cupertino residents that A16 Bionic is the most efficient mobile processor from Apple to date. “The iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max we tested proved to be not only faster than any iPhone we’ve ever tested, but also the fastest phones you can buy today,” wrote CNET’s Patrick Holland.
Chokkattu has almost the same message. He played the demanding Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm and Rocket League Sideswipe for 45 minutes each, and the iPhone didn’t overheat during that time. But even last year’s device coped well with such “heavy” toys, so the difference is visible only in benchmarks.
Interestingly, the issue of the battery turned out to be controversial. A Wired editor lasted an entire day on the iPhone 14 Pro, and the Max version even lasted until the morning. At the same time, Patel from The Verge complained that both iPhones seem to work less than last year’s. “Perhaps the always-on display is taking its toll,” he suggested.
Short verdict
“If you’re the kind of person who’s willing to put up with some rough edges, you’ll have a lot of fun with the iPhone 14 Pro… But if you’re happy with your current phone, maybe you should wait another year and see how the new features play out,” Nilay Patel, The Verge.
“What I liked most about the new features in iOS 16, many of which are not limited to this particular iPhone model… If you have one of the latest iPhones, you can probably skip the 14 Pro and just upgrade to the new software version. You’ll feel like you bought a new phone.” – Julian Coccattu, Wired.
“If you have last year’s iPhone 13 Pro, I don’t think you should upgrade. While the improvements and new features make a strong impression, you don’t get a dramatically different experience. Better update your iPhone 13 Pro to iOS 16 and enjoy the new features of this firmware.” – Patrick Holland, CNET.