iPhone 14 Review

 iPhone 14 Review

What’s New? 

Being one of the pioneers of technological evolution, Apple, has constantly surprised its users with its products over the time. This time around the company has launched its 14th series of phones which has created a lot of confusion in its user base especially the launch of the vanilla iPhone 14 which is just like its predecessor whereas all the major upgrades are reserved for the 14 Pro models. In this review of ours, we will be demystifying all the facts about the new iPhone 14 and how it is different or similar to the iPhone 13.

In the Box

The company has kept the packing very simple. Inside the box, you will get the phone, a USB Type-C to Lightning cable, and a SIM ejector tool.

Design

The new iPhone 14, is an exact look-alike of the iPhone 13 and one cannot tell the difference between the two. It has the same placement of cameras and keys, same curved corners, and feels the same in the hand. For protecting the phone the company has used the same sandwich glass body design as well with a Ceramic shield on the front side. The phone comes with IP68 ingress protection to resist water pressure up to six meters deep water.

In terms of appearance, the new iPhone 14 is identical to the iPhone 13, but internal design changes have been made by the firm. The back glass panel of the iPhone 14 may be removed as a distinct component, making it easier to repair than its predecessor.

Display

The display size of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 13 is the same. It comes with the same 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display, 1170 x 2532 pixels resolution, and 460 PPI pixel density. The display has 1200 units of peak brightness. The phone supports both HDR10 and Dolby Vision which enhances the viewing experience as the colors produced are very neat and sharp. One won’t find any difference in the viewing experience.

The dissatisfaction we noticed with the display is that the company has used the same 60Hz refresh rate which seems outdated as the iPhone competitors go up to offering 90Hz -120 Hz refresh rates. Despite having a 60Hz refresh rate the touch experience is very fluid aiding in a better gaming experience. 

Speakers

The new vanilla iPhone 14 comes with Dolby Atmos and spatial audio support. It has two speaker outlets, the first one is at the top inside the notch also acting as an earpiece. The second speaker is at the bottom. The speakers produce high-definition sounds with very fine tunings and detailings.

Software

Out of the box, the new iPhone 14 comes with iOS 16 which is a minor update to the iOS 15 seen on the iPhone 13. The new OS offers slightly improved features like notification management and a lock screen. The new iPhone allows you to customize the notification style on display as well. One good feature found on the phone is that it allows you to edit and unsend any message which you might have sent by mistake. Some features are also improved like the Focus mode, which now offers the options of Personal, Work, Driving, Gaming, and Do Not Disturb.

Unlike its predecessor, the new iPhone 14 allows the use of the Fitness app even without the Apple Watch. The new feature found on the phone is the presence of Crash Detection which can sense and contact emergency services automatically in case of any car crash. There is also the new Satellite connectivity feature which allows users to send messages using satellite in case the user gets stuck in an area without any network availability. For the time being, users in India cannot use this feature as it is limited to a few countries only.

The face unlock function has also been enhanced and now operates a little quicker but one will hardly find any difference when compared to iPhone 13. 

Chipset

The use of the A15 Bionic chipset is common in both iPhone 14 and iPhone 13 with the same CPU chipset. There is no difference in the performance as both phones have the same result in terms of performing any task. In an overall scenario the new iPhone 14 scores a little higher than iPhone 13 as it uses 6GB RAM rather than the 4GB RAM previously used in iPhone 13. The gaming experience is very smooth and when compared with iPhone 13 both phones launch the games at the same speed. We did not come across any lag while multitasking or gaming. 

Cameras

The new vanilla iPhone 14 has better camera configurations than iPhone 13 as it uses the camera lenses used in iPhone 13 Pro. The new vanilla iPhone 14 comes with a 12MP primary lens but it comes with a brighter aperture of f/1.5 and larger pixels of 1.9µm which marks an improvement over the iPhone 13. The secondary lens remains the same which is a 12MP ultrawide lens with an aperture of f/2.4 and 120- a degree field of view.

The new thing you will notice in the new iPhone 14 is that it brings down the phase detection autofocus feature from the Pro versions to basic models which was something earlier not the case. A new Photonic Engine has also been used to enhance image processing by combining multiple images into one. The user also gets a new feature called Action mode which provides more stabilization while recording videos. 

The natural colors of the surroundings were preserved in the photographs taken in daylight. We saw no evidence of noise in the photographs, and the quality of the images was excellent. When compared to its predecessor, the photographs taken by both models were identical in every way, with the exception that the new iPhone 14 produces slightly crisper pictures. The portrait images keep intact all the details with flawless subject separation and detection. We liked how the Wide lens of the iPhone 14 kept the quality level up to the primary lens by capturing crispy images.

Nighttime photography also results in more detailed images. Noise detection was at an extremely low level. You must maintain the stability of your hand for a few seconds as the phone needs to process the images. As compared to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 the images captured by the iPhone 14 were crisper.

The same 12MP lens used in the iPhone 13 is available for selfies. The selfies that were taken were excellent, keeping every feature, including skin tone and texture, in perfect unison. Selfie photographs are reduced to 7MP in portrait mode and 12MP in landscape mode by the selfie camera. The selfie camera also supports phase detection autofocus, which makes it easier to swiftly focus and take great selfies.

The iPhone 13's other features, including Portrait mode on both the front and back cameras, Cinematic mode, photographic styles, Smart HDR, and Night Mode, are all same as seen in the previously launched iPhone 13.

To sum up the camera differences it can be said that the new iPhone 14 does not differ by any significant margin in delivering images when compared to iPhone 13. It surely delivers enhanced images with crisp details but it is not something that puts iPhone 13 behind.

Videos 

With all of its camera sensors, the new iPhone 14 is capable of filming videos in 4K@60fps. EIS is present on every camera sensor, and OIS is also included on the primary sensor. The recorded movies had vivid color processing and were highly steady. Like its predecessor, the new iPhone 14 records movies with broad stereo audio at a bitrate of roughly 192kbps.

 

Battery

While the battery capacity of the iPhone 13 is 3240 mAh, the new vanilla iPhone 14 features a little more powerful 3279 mAh battery. We were able to use the phone throughout the day comfortably with a single charge and still at the end of the day we had enough battery power left to make it to the first half of the next day. The battery draining is very slow and despite having the same processor the new iPhone 14 scores a little higher in battery performance. 

The phone does not come with any adapter which you need to buy additionally raising the price a little high which will surely make users think to go for a little friendly iPhone 13. We used a 150W adapter to charge and were able to charge the phone completely within 1 hour.

Verdict

From its appearance, the new iPhone 14 is no different from iPhone 13. Internally you get some upgrades like an improved primary camera lens, new OS features, and more RAM size. It all melts down to the point of the money aspect and whether it is advisable to invest in iPhone 14 or not. We will suggest if you want to switch to an iOS platform then going for iPhone 13 will make more sense as it will help to save some extra bucks but if you like to go with the latest model then the iPhone 14 has some minor but new things to offer.