This is the first time I upgraded to the Pro Max version of iPhone…Well,
I did have the iPhone 6 Plus, does that count? I don’t know, maybe,
but this is the first time I upgraded to the largest size iPhone in any recent time rather
than going with the more mainstream size or even the more compact and comfortable to hold mini.
Man, I miss the mini……
Anyway, it has been about six months with the iPhone 14 Pro Max so lets talk about how
my experience has been with the larger model, the features that were new to the 14 Pro line,
some issues, and if I recommend this after 6 months of use.
So first of all, coming from the regular pro size iPhone did take a
bit of adjustment and after a few days I was mostly used to it…Mostly…..I actually find
myself thinking about the size frequently. I am not a tall person and my hands are just not big
so every time I pick this up I just feel the size in my hands and the weight. Its
not something that is completely out of the question for me to use and if this were the
only sized iPhone I would be just fine, but I do find myself wanting to return to the
regular 14 pro or even the 13 mini from time to time……That is until I think about the battery.
Oh my god, the battery on this iPhone 14 pro max is everything I wanted it to be. That’s the main
reason I switched from the 14 pro to the pro max shortly after the release. I have this irrational
battery anxiety that I just can’t explain. I work from home more than 90% of the time. I am near a
charger anywhere in my house. I have MagSafe chargers in our vehicles. There is no reason
I should be worried about battery at all. But I am….or at least I was….
The battery life is just insane on the 14 pro max. I mean look at this….I average
well over 5 hours of screen on time each day on this beast….which yes,
I know is super unhealthy especially given that I am also spending time on Macs and
iPads. But over the last 10 days you can see I spend a lot of time in safari, watching video,
scrolling twitter, checking email and teams and messages. The regular stuff.
With all that usage I am still going to bed with
20-40% battery life each night without charging during the day.
And if you are curious about battery health, I am still showing 100% for battery health
and that is with MagSafe or wireless charging exclusively. I use a Belkin stand next to my
bed and I also have chargers on my desk and in my vehicles which I rarely use.
The battery is simply unbeatable in this phone and
if there was any reason to keep using it, it’s that.
Now the overall design of the iPhone 14 Pro Max is very similar to that of the
iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 line in that it has the flat edges and flat glass with a big ol
camera bump. The big color this year was deep purple and it’s nice…..I think……Much
of the time I do not notice the color because in a lot of light the iphone just looks gray.
The camera bump is huge and is starting to get comical. I really dont know what
the best alignment is for the cameras but it just looks oddly sized, especially on
the regular pro. And there is constant dust around the lenses which is hard to remove.
I still think that this overall design is one of the best ever,
for iPhone and matches the other devices like iPad. I know that there are rumors about an
updated iPhone 15 with a rounded frame towards the back and that some people do
not like the squared off edges because they find it uncomfortable to hold.
I actually really prefer the flat edges because I feel like I can get a better grip on the device,
overall. With the older, more rounded edges I felt like I had less surface area to grip
and the phone felt more slippery. Hopefully with one edge rounded we
will still have flat sides to provide grip, otherwise you can always add a
case like this Magic Stand from Casekoo, and Casekoo is sponsoring this video……….
Casekoo
The biggest feature update of the iPhone 14 pro is the Dynamic island which changed the notch
into a dynamic pill shaped thing that changes as needed for showing things like incoming calls,
timers, music controls, sports scores or whatever. I actually like the dynamic island and think it’s
a great way to enhance the phone when dealing with cutouts for the cameras and sensors.
The dynamic island really just kind of delights me sometimes when I see simple
little animations like when using Apple Pay or when I am on a phone call and I
see the little audio graphic that is in sync with the voice on the other end.
This is nothing revolutionary after using it for 6 months and if I had the choice of no island I
would choose that but because technologically there still needs to be holes in the display
it is nice that we got a new feature out of it; however, The island is in the way sometimes when
watching videos or playing games. Its less easy to ignore than the notch was, but I don’t hate it.
The display itself is even brighter with up to 1600 nits for HDR content and 2000 in
direct sunlight which is awesome! It really is an improvement to pull you phone out of your pocket,
outside, and have no issues seeing the display. This is good for quick
notification checks or a quick article read but the display will heat up when
running that bright and start to dim down after just a couple minutes so
if you are using the device outside a lot you may not get as much benefit.
Also new to the iPhone 14 pro was the always on display. When this was first announced the only
option was on or off and when on it just dimmed the display and slightly muted the colors. I
found this very distracting, and actually I had to turn it off. It always just looked like my
iPhone was on or a notification came in because I could see it out of the corner of my eye.
2 options have been added to disable the wallpapers and notifications.
Others online have said that having the always on display on but disabling the wallpaper and
notifications have made it the right mix but at that point its just a clock and I have an
Apple Watch and other devices to see the time if needed so I still just have that feature disabled.
Now with the cameras, as with every year, there were some decent changes but the
overall experience for me has not really changed in the last couple of years. I do
want to upgrade for better cameras each year because teyt give me slightly better
photos of the things I actually want to remember. And for me, thats worth it.
There has been a lot of iPhone camera bashing in the last few months with over smoothing,
unnatural color balance and other issues, but as a whole in regular
use the photos have been pretty good for me. If I compare the 14 and the 13 cameras side
by side in regular mode I can’t see much difference, but with the new 48 megapixel
main camera sensor and shooting in raw, you can absolutely see a big difference!
Side by side, the raw images have a lot more detail than their processed and compressed
brethren, and if you are a pro, prosumer, or aspiring photographer who uses something
like Lightroom to actually edit your photos then this is a very nice upgrade. If you are
like me and you just point and shoot a photo of your kid doing something cute or stupid,
then the massive file sizes and post editing work needed just isn’t worth it for everyday use.
I do love the new 2x camera zoom, though, which just takes a crop of the big new main
camera sensor to give you a zoomed in shot. The quality out of this is much
better than the “real” 3x zoom lens and makes me wonder why Apple even includes that now.
The last thing about the camera is the new Action Mode which does super great video stabilization
for those times when you are moving a lot to keep up with a kid or pet. I love the results..
Here is a video of me running full boar on a trail with the camera watching
my shadow. I am running as fast as I can with one hand holding the camera.
I don’t know about you, but when I am running, especially on an uneven surface,
my body and arms are not steady. I was bouncing all over the dang place
and this video looks like it was shot by someone else, or a drone.
I have played with the feature quite a bit over the last 6 months, way more than I played with
cinematic mode last year…oh and cinematic mode now does 24 frames per second in 4k.
Now before I get to some things that I wish could be changed and issues I have had,
I want to quickly mention the a16 bionic and performance. The performance of the a16 chip
was an increase of about 10-15% over the a15 bionic. And this is no small feat when the
processors are already faster than anything else out there. Everyday activities, for the most part,
are smooth and fast. Games load and play smoothly and there are no apps in the App Store that can
really bring this iPhone to its knees. …….but that was the same story last year, and the year before.
Apple’s chips and hardware are so good that for most people, and for most tasks,
you are not going to see an improvement over the last generation or 2. And that’s good
because it means your phone will not be held back by performance, for years, as it ages.
So there are a couple of things that have bugged me with the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro
Max and the first one is the removal of the physical sim card in the US.
In previous years I have switched back and forth to multiple phones almost monthly and
now the possible failure or needing to call my stupid carrier makes me reconsider. To be fair,
I have switched 2 times and so far I have not had an issue. I just don't like the fact
that it's not as easy as just popping out the physical card and putting it in another phone.
The material itself is also something I would like to see changed, specifically
the stainless steel. Sure it looks nice, but it just makes the phone annoyingly heavier than
it needs to be. The colors of the stainless band are just bland compared to the aluminum
options on the non pro models. Luckily the colored stainless models hold up pretty well
but I specifically haven't been getting the silver because those bands start scratching instantly if
you look at them. I am curious to see if there is a materials change with the iPhone 15 Pro.
The rest may be software related but the iPhone 14 pro has had issues since
the release with the screen sometimes not responding to touch. Like I will wake the
phone and sometimes swiping to unlock just doesn't register. I have to hit the sleep
wake button to turn the display off and then try again. I believe apple released
an update a while back to address this but it has not fully fixed the issue for me.
Also, I frequently find myself trying to swipe down from the top for the notification center
and it can take multiple tries. And if I am trying to do this one handed with the
pro max it is quite annoying. I don't think I have ever had this issue with other iPhones.
And generally, i don’t know what is up with bluetooth and airplay. Sometimes everything
works and its like magic, and sometimes it just won’t. I will open up the airpods case and put
them in my ears and the phone doesnt even see them as an option so I need to put them back
in the case and try again, or leave them in the case for a period of time before trying again.
Same thing with airplay, sometimes it just does not see all of my
devices and sometimes, it just works…..sometimes.
I wonder what we would have thought if back in the day,
indeed of the slogan “it just works”, the slogan was “it just works….sometimes”.
So, the bottom line is yes, I do like the iPhone 14 pro max and I can recommend it
after 6 months of use. This is the best iPhone Apple has made and the battery life is just
the best. I do find myself wanting to go back to the regular pro just for the hand feel,
and even the mini. What I really want is an iPhone
mini with a larger display that’s easier to see and a battery that lasts all day.
A guy can dream…
But what do you think? Are you happy with your decision on the iPhone 14 pro or pro
max or are you thinking of getting one? Let us know in the comments below. If you are curious
about the gaming controller that I was using in the video you should definitely check out
this video right over here…..really, its the best controller for iphone. Hit the thumbs
up button if you liked it, hit subscribe if you want, and ill see you next time.