Gone are the times when iPhone updates carry gotta-upgrade-now enhancements for everybody, however hundreds of thousands of us will in all probability purchase a brand new iPhone anyway. It’s like staying with a great life companion lengthy after the spark is gone.
The query lately isn’t whether or not to improve your iPhone, however when. To provide help to resolve, we’re answering questions we’ve heard from Washington Post readers by means of our web site, e-mail and Instagram. (Please keep the questions coming.)
To begin, the Help Desk made a quiz to reply an important query: Do you want a brand new telephone?
Then, we targeted not simply on how the iPhone 14 compares with final 12 months’s iPhone 13 — however slightly, what you would possibly expertise coming from an iPhone 11, XS, 8 and even older.
Here’s what you could know:
Apple has 4 new iPhones with acquainted costs, however the lineup is slightly totally different this 12 months. The normal iPhone 14 ($799+) sports activities a well-recognized design and final 12 months’s processor, and it will likely be joined on Oct. 7 by a 14 Plus mannequin ($899+) with a much bigger display and longer battery life.
Apple saved a lot of the enjoyable stuff, just like the quicker A16 Bionic processor, an always-on show and a cute new use for the front-camera cutout referred to as Dynamic Island, for the iPhone 14 Pro ($999+) and Pro Max ($1,099+).
So, must you go Pro? Those telephones are meant for people who find themselves extra obsessive over some options. We’ve discovered that the Pro fashions can do some duties, like rendering some movies, barely quicker than the usual 14, however the distinction is imperceptible in regular use. The Pro screens are smoother and brighter, too, though that may not imply a lot to people who don’t play graphically wealthy video games or spend plenty of time exterior.
What about going Pro for the digicam? It’s price it, however it helps in case you prefer to spend time poring over your pictures. (See our helpful digicam comparisons under.)
One of the most-hyped new options throughout all of the iPhone 14 fashions is Apple’s Emergency SOS by way of satellite tv for pc characteristic. You’ll be capable of textual content key information like location and your situation, to emergency responders in case you’re caught someplace with out cell service, plus share your location with others whilst you’re off the grid. (Sorry, you may’t satellite-text your buddies.)
Alas, we haven’t been in a position to take a look at this — it gained’t be prepared till November.
For individuals who haven’t gotten a brand new telephone in 4 or extra years, the iPhone 14 is a fantastic place to begin.
The A15 Bionic processor inside is greater than highly effective sufficient in your each day routine and will final for a few years of software program updates. The battery lasts solely an hour longer than on the iPhone 13, however Apple has made bigger enhancements over the previous 5 years, leaping from 13 hours of video playback in 2017’s iPhone X to twenty hours within the iPhone 14. We’ve managed to make use of it for full working days with sufficient energy left to make amends for emails the next day.
But wait: “Is it the same as the iPhone 12?” reader Pablo Beltrán requested on Instagram. The design of the 14, 13 and 12 do look almost an identical. And 2020’s iPhone 12 is now a good deal: It helps 5G networks and has a barely inferior digicam and battery. Apple is now promoting the iPhone 12 for $599 — $200 lower than the brand new mannequin.(Don’t overlook, for $429, you may also purchase an iPhone SE, which resembles an outdated iPhone 8 however is as quick as an iPhone 13.)
One extra query on value: “What makes it sooo expensive,” Seungmin Ryu requested on Instagram. Apple didn’t elevate its costs this 12 months, however right here’s our recommendation: Don’t pay full value. Between trade-in offers and promotions out of your wi-fi provider, it is best to be capable of choose nearly any new iPhone at a stable low cost.
If you’re utilizing an iPhone 12 or newer, await the following batch. Upgrade when it feels proper to you. There is a few nifty tech within the 14, however we’re all about getting as a lot use as potential from our gadgets earlier than upgrading.
The iPhone 14 can be not for individuals who desire smaller telephones. If you’re fearful about this, strive final 12 months’s iPhone 13 mini for $599, or solid your eye over to Samsung’s $999 Galaxy Z Flip 4, a smartphone that folds over like a flip telephone.
What’s the take care of eSIMs?
All iPhone 14 fashions offered within the United States are constructed to work solely with embedded SIMs, or eSIMs, and thus far, the swap has been painless. Activating the telephone with a demo line of service took a few minute, and transferring a private telephone quantity from a bodily SIM card took a minute and a half — and nil calls to customer support.
But some vacationers wrote in to say they’re fearful about taking these items overseas. Prepaid telephone service by way of eSIM has grown extra widespread in the previous couple of years and plenty of major travel destinations have native carriers that supply eSIM service with out a lot fuss. Even so, it might not be lengthy earlier than we begin listening to about points – bizarre edge instances might be type of unavoidable whenever you’re touring.
How significantly better is the digicam?
“Tell me why the camera in the new 14 model is better than the camera in the 11 Pro Max,” requested Vicki from Florida. To some, a greater digicam is the No. 1 purpose to improve, and folks like Vicki could be shocked.
For our checks, Chris hit the town with a stack stuffed with iPhones from a few years, in addition to a number of Android opponents. Then he took the identical pictures on every of them and requested Geoffrey (who didn’t know which image got here from which telephone) to select the most effective photographs.
Geoffrey selected the iPhone 14 Pro pictures each time. That signifies that digicam actually is healthier, notably at selecting up element and capturing in darkish situations — a results of the best way its 48-megapixel essential digicam sensor acts like a 12-megapixel sensor to seize extra gentle.
But consider, in some instances, Geoffrey needed to spend fairly a little bit of time zooming into the pixels simply to have the ability to inform the distinction. A couple of occasions, he almost selected the shot from the iPhone 11 Pro — and there have been even instances the place an old-timey iPhone 7 shot appeared simply fantastic, too.
The variations are particularly powerful to identify whenever you’re capturing throughout the day, or in a brightly lit room. Take a gander at these photographs of the Golden Gate Bridge, taken on a Sunday afternoon:
If you zoom manner in on the unique photographs, you see that the one taken by the iPhone 14 Pro Max retained probably the most element, adopted intently by the 14’s photograph. But zoomed out, the 11 Pro caught our eye a bit extra. That’s the factor about smartphone photographs: Taste issues simply as a lot as technical prowess.
In low gentle, although, the variations between these cameras are far more obvious.
The iPhone 7 was a dud, however nearly each subsequent iPhone did a greater job of capturing element and brightening the scene. (The iPhone 14 fell brief right here, for causes that aren’t fairly clear.)
And even whenever you think about telephones which might be identified to be stable at evening images, like Google’s Pixel 6 Pro, the photograph that got here out of the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s huge digicam sensor had — to our eyes, anyway — the most effective mix of colour and element.
We didn’t discover a lot use in one other iPhone 14 digicam improve: Autofocus on the entrance selfie digicam. As with common photographs, selfies taken with the 14 showcase fantastic element slightly higher however weren’t dramatically totally different. And at nighttime, selfies from Apple’s new iPhones didn’t look significantly better.
One extra digicam query: “Is Portrait Mode (main cam) faster?” a person named Sacafotos requested on Instagram. This is an enormous one for fogeys. In our checks, portrait on the iPhone 14 Pro was simply barely quicker — however nonetheless not as quick because the common digicam.
How helpful is the Dynamic Island?
The Dynamic Island replaces the notch within the iPhone 14 Pros, and this shape-shifting blob that covers the digicam gap within the display affords a fast visible reminder that your telephone continues to be doing one thing within the background. (Think enjoying music or counting down in a timer.) And if you could bounce again into no matter app is doing that work, a fast faucet of the Island brings you there.
Instagram person Peter Philpott requested what number of gadgets can perform contained in the Dynamic Island on the similar time. For now, the reply is simply two, however irrespective of — we haven’t discovered ourselves counting on it a lot. In time, app builders might cook dinner up methods to make use of the Dynamic Island. In the brief time we’ve used it, although, the Island hasn’t ever felt terribly helpful — simply form of cute.
What do you get from an always-on show?
“What are the benefits of always-on display?” requested Sam Dixon on Instagram.
The iPhone 14 Pro fashions have screens that may keep on almost on a regular basis at a really low brightness and replace themselves extraordinarily occasionally — simply as soon as per second typically.
Mostly it boils down to at least one factor: you may look at your telephone display to see the time or take a look at that notification that simply rolled in everytime you need. Thankfully, it isn’t too vibrant to maintain in your nightstand. And the most effective half? The characteristic barely appears to place a dent within the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max’s battery life.
