The first batch of iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max review(s) are out, and it looks like Apple has managed to hit it out of the park. The new features, including the Dynamic Island notch, always-on display, and the 48MP camera, have left all the reviewers quite impressed.
Check out the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max review roundup from all major publications down below:
The Verge
Image Credit: The Verge
Starting with the display, The Verge notes that the always-on display is ” a little too on.” They also note that there are no customization options for the always-on display.
At long last, Apple added an always-on display mode to the iPhone 14 Pro, which, well, Android phones have had always-on displays for a long time now. It’s fine! The display refresh rate drops to just one hertz, and the brightness goes extremely low to save battery life. Apple’s done some nice work to keep wallpaper colors accurate in the low-power always-on mode, but honestly, I would prefer a Pixel-style black and white clock to something that sort of looks like my phone is awake all the time. I hope we see some customization options here in the future.
Talking about the Dyanamic Island notch, The Verge says that it’s a “neat concept, but like all first versions of anything, Apple’s made some choices that really work and some others that… well, it’s the first version.”
This is the central tension of the island: it’s much more noticeable and useful than the notch, but you’re not really supposed to interact with this thing — it’s background information. […] But because the island is so much more prominently highlighted by the animations, you’re still looking at it all the time. In apps that haven’t been updated, it can cover up some content because it sits lower on the display. So right at this second, the tradeoff between how noticeable the island is and how useful it is is a little imbalanced — it doesn’t quite do enough to always be in the way.
Sadly, unless you pixel peep, you won’t notice the jump in image quality between the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro.
In general, the 14 Pro and 13 Pro take really similar photos. The 14 Pro is a little cooler and captures a tiny bit more detail at 100 percent in dim lighting, but you really have to go looking for it. It’s the same in bright light: these photos of Mariya outside look pretty much the same, but if you zoom in to 100 percent, you can see the iPhone 14 Pro is getting a bit more detail and has a nicer background blur because of the substantially larger sensor. It’s really nice — but at Instagram sizes, it’s not particularly noticeable.
However, the Night Mode isn’t as impressive as Apple claims it to be:
Where the iPhone 14 Pro falls down in these comparisons is really in the details of the processing: Apple’s been ramping up the amount of noise reduction and sharpening it does over the years, and the 14 Pro has the most aggressive sharpening and noise reduction yet. Sometimes it just looks bad: this night skyline shot is an overprocessed mess compared to the Pixel.
Lastly, it seems like the always-on display is using a bit more battery than Apple claims it to use.
While battery life certainly ran all day, all of us felt as though the battery ran down a little bit faster than before. To be fair, all three of us were running around taking lots of photos and videos and generally testing these phones like mad for the past week, but, well, we test a lot of phones like that. Apple claims the 14 Pro and Pro Max will get slightly better battery life than the 13 Pros, and we all still got through a full day with the 14 Pro Max, so maybe that always-on display was just taking its toll.
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CNET
Image Credit: CNET
CNET reviewers believe that Dynamic Island “defines the iPhone 14 Pro.”
But it’s that strangely named Dynamic Island that defines the phone. The more time I spent with the 14 Pro, the more delightful I found it. It works in numerous situations and is an easy way to see what’s going on without pulling your attention completely away from what you’re doing.
The iPhone 14 Pro and the Dynamic Island are an excellent example of Apple packaging a powerful tool into an enjoyable interface. It’s a shame you can only use it on the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. Such a fun and approachable feature is bound to be a big hit with people who don’t use Pro versions of the iPhone.
Talking about the ultra-wide camera, they feel the image coming out of the two non-primary sensors is much better than the last generation.
The ultrawide camera gets a new sensor with more focus pixels and a stepped-down f/2.2 aperture lens. All this adds up to much sharper ultrawide photos. The sensor — combined with Apple’s revamped photo processing, which it calls the Photonic Engine — gives you much better photos in less ideal situations. Ultrawide photos and videos are still a step down compared to those from the main camera, but these improvements are welcomed.
And again, they point out that the always-on display should be more customizable.
I wish there was an option to make the always-on display look more discreet and, for example, just show the time and date. Technically, you could probably set a black wallpaper as your lock screen and only select the date and time for a more minimal always-on display. Visually, the 14 Pro’s always-on display has a lot going on which I found distracting when my phone was face up next to me.
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The Wall Street Journal
Image Credit: The Wall Street Journal
Lastly, in Joanna Stern’s iPhone 14 Pro review, she points out that the display on this year’s model is much better than last year’s iPhone 13 Pro.
I usually have to pull out my glasses to spot Apple’s display “improvements.” But this year the changes on the Pro models hit me as soon as I opened the box. […] The name alone made me assume this was going to be Apple’s greatest gimmick since 3-D Touch on the iPhone 6S, yet it’s the iPhone’s best multitasking addition in recent memory.
However, it seems that the battery life has taken a hit this year.
As far as battery life goes, none of the iPhone 14 or 14 Pro models I tried lasted significantly longer than their predecessors. The story might be different with the step-up model, the iPhone 14 Plus. Apple says it has
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iPhone 14 Pro Video Reviews
Many major YouTubers, including MKBHD and SuperSaf, have also uploaded video reviews of the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. You can check out some of the best video reviews of the iPhone 14 Pro down below:
What do you think about the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max based on the above reviews? Are you impressed by the Dynamic Island notch? Would you buy it for the new 48MP camera sensor? Drop a comment down below and let us know!
