When my iPhone 12 Pro started succumbing to mysterious crashes last summer, I knew I would upgrade in the fall. No matter what. That’s why I was both excited and relieved by the reveal of the iPhone 14 Pro, which seemed to have just enough significant improvements over my 2020 phone to make the over $1000 drop feel nice. to taste.
Several weeks later, I can say that the investment was worth it. While it might seem like just another iPhone that fits efficiently and easily into my daily life, I often find myself enjoying the new features of the iPhone 14 Pro more and more, like when I’m taking photos or I show it to friends. At the same time, I noticed that there was a lot of room for improvement.
After two months of owning an iPhone 14 Pro, here are three things I like about it — and two things I don’t.
The best high-end iPhone
If having the best cameras, a super-smooth display, and the versatile Dynamic Island are important to you, the iPhone 14 Pro is well worth the investment.
Dynamic Island is a ton of fun
Two months later, I continue to be thrilled with Dynamic Island, which is the new animated module that surrounds the now sleeker selfie camera and can transform to provide useful, visible information. It can show everything from the song currently playing on your favorite music streaming service to the battery level of your AirPods as soon as you insert them, and it’s something I really use every day.
I love that Dynamic Island lets me see how much time is left on my timers without opening an app (super handy on laundry day), and reminds me when my personal hotspot is in use the dreaded days when Wi-Fi goes out. I also appreciate that my incoming calls now show up as a small bubble in the island, rather than taking over my entire phone screen when I’m in the middle of a major work activity on Marvel Snap game.
The feature has been further enhanced since launch with support for Live Activities, which lets you view things like your training progress in real time in the Steps app or live sports scores via Apple TV at the top of the screen. Live Activities is enabled by default once you update to iOS 16.1, so you’ll likely start noticing these benefits automatically when using your favorite apps.
The Dynamic Island has plenty of room for improvement (as I’ll discuss below), but it does enough to make my daily life easier in small ways – and just happens to be a super fun party trick that I like to show my friends.
Like someone who jumped last year iPhone 13 Pro series, it’s a real treat to finally own a phone with Apple’s ultra-smooth ProMotion display technology. This feature gives the iPhone up to a 120Hz refresh rate, which basically means things like swiping the home screen and scrolling through Twitter are twice as smooth as on an older iPhone or not. Pro. It’s the kind of benefit you’ll notice immediately when you switch back to a slower 60Hz display, because even newer devices like the standard iPhone 14 Where 10th generation iPad will feel sluggish in comparison. I’ve long been jealous of the high refresh rate displays that Android owners have enjoyed for years, and I’ve become quite the snob about them now that I have one on my iPhone.
At this point, all iPhone cameras are pretty awesome, and the average person might not even notice the difference between the latest models. But the iPhone 14 Pro’s new triple camera array, led by a new 48-megapixel main lens, brings obvious benefits that even I, as the most casual photographer, can appreciate.
The real star here was the improved 3x optical zoom, which is similar to the iPhone 13 Pro but a decent improvement over the 2x zoom I got on my iPhone 12 Pro. I go to lots of events and am constantly impressed with the level of detail I was able to capture even when zooming in from a distance – whether I’m capturing a band’s set from a crowded festival or getting up close watching a professional wrestler chiseled as he enters the arena.
And I’m only scratching the surface of what this thing can do. I’ve only briefly played with Cinematic Mode, which debuted on the iPhone 13 and lets you create spectacular mixed-focus videos, and I’ve yet to take advantage of ProRAW shots at higher resolutions (which are ideal for editing in Photoshop after the fact) that the 14 Pro is capable of. But before you even dig into any of its advanced settings, the iPhone 14 Pro takes some of the best out-of-the-box photos I’ve ever seen on a phone — to the point where I’m happy to keep my DSLR put away whenever it’s time to shoot products for work. In fact, all the iPhone 14 Pro photos you see in this article were taken by…another iPhone 14 Pro.
One of the big new benefits of the iPhone 14 Pro is its Always On display, which is designed to keep relevant information visible (such as the time and weather) even when your phone is asleep. That’s Apple’s take on a feature Android phones have had forever, and frankly, I wish the iPhone would borrow more generously from the Google team.
Always-on displays on Android phones are sleek and minimalistic, often featuring only the time and a few key widgets in white text on a black screen. By contrast, the iPhone 14 Pro’s Always On display is an exercise in excess, showing off what is essentially a darker version of your entire lock screen — colorful wallpaper and all. In addition to causing confusion (much as my colleague Jason pointed out in our iPhone 14 Pro review, I kept thinking I forgot to put my phone to sleep when it was active), the iPhone 14 Pro’s Always On display can also drain the phone’s battery by a decent amount. I turned the feature off just a few weeks after I got my 14 Pro after realizing I wasn’t using it much, and have since noticed that I have about 10% or more battery left by the time I ends at the end of the day.
I wish Dynamic Island would do even more
I’ve talked about Dynamic Island before, and while it’s gotten even better since the launch of the iPhone 14 Pro, I wish it did more for some of my favorite apps. For example, when I’m waiting for an Uber or I’ve set a route in Google Maps, all I get is an empty widget at the top of the screen that lets me know that a map-based app is active — the one I have to click (and open the full app in the process) to get information. It would be great to know how far my driver is at a glance, or to be able to get turn-by-turn directions via Google Maps, as I already can on Apple’s Maps app.
Uber is at least ready to get Live Activities functionality somewhere down the line, although there’s no word on third-party map apps like Google Maps getting the same. Your mileage with Dynamic Island will likely vary depending on the apps you use (MacRumors has a full list), but there are still an update or two to provide all the at-a-glance information I wish I had.
For the most part, having a iPhone 14 Pro for a few months I felt like I had any other iPhone – it does just what I need it to. It’s definitely not the same giant leap I took in 2020, when I ditched the chunky bezels and physical home button of the iPhone 8 Plus and had to rewire my muscle memory on the all-screen iPhone 12 Pro. But whenever I see a handy battery alert pop up in Dynamic Island or need to use a device that doesn’t have the 14 Pro’s smooth ProMotion display, I’m always happy with my investment.
The iPhone 14 Pro turned out to be a fantastic upgrade from the 12 Pro, and the one I’d recommend to anyone making the jump from a 2020 or older iPhone. The base iPhone 14 is still the best phone for most people considering its price, but you’ll be giving up Dynamic Island, ProMotion and better cameras; all things I can’t imagine living without.
The 14 Pro is a device I plan to hang onto for at least the next few years – barring another untimely malfunction, of course – and one that will hopefully get even better over the next few months of updates. up to date.
Comments are closed.