So it’s been 14 days since I got the the iPhone 15 Pro. Do I have any regrets? and most importantly, am I going to miss my old iPhone 13 Pro?
When you first decide which phone you’re doing to buy, you’ve obviously got to decide which colour you’re going for. While everyone was talking about the natural titanium, I went for the blue titanium.
None of the other colours intrigued me (including the natural), my favourite colour is blue and that’s why I chose it, it was also the reason why I chose the Sierra blue version on the iPhone 13 Pro.
What I do with all my phone’s, as soon as I get them, I get a case on it straightaway. Protection is the first and foremost, the most important thing for me when it comes to getting a new phone.
But the only downside to many cases these days is that, apart from the transparent ones, you pop a case on it to protect it, the case stays on your phone for 2, 3, 4 years and you never see your phone without a case on again until it’s time to sell it or pass it on and sometimes by that time, you’ve completely forgotten what colour phone you had bought in the first place (if you’ve got a non transparent case).
So in that respect, if you’re going to put a case on, does it matter which colour you’ve got?
Even if you prefer not to have a case on your phone, you can’t deny the benefit of them. With my iPhone 13 Pro (which had permanently been in a case) I’m was effectively trading in a pristine looking phone that has hardly any scratches on the stainless steel, which could still be cleaned to be as shiny as the day I first opened it and not a fault on the back glass or the display screen which had been covered with a screen protector.
Now I’m jealous of the lucky person that may end up with that iPhone 13 Pro.
Back to the iPhone 15 Pro, that new titanium frame finish, although much better at dealing with fingerprints compared to the stainless steel frame of previous iPhone, they are still present, but the usual wipe away clears them off.
It would be interesting to see whether the paler iPhone 15 Pro colours deal with the visibility of fingerprints better than the darker shades.
This year I was going to get the Pro Max, but due to the website issues and availability I stuck with the smaller Pro size.
I think in truth the Pro Max would have just been a little bit too big, although I’m sure, holding the phone and using it daily would not have been no problem, but want about those times where you’re not using it, where’s it going, your pockets, most men’s trousers and jeans should be ok to accommodate a phone the size of the pro max but there will be occasions where it just won’t fit.
I’m happy with the Pro size, it’s smaller and lighter compared to the Pro Max, and thanks to the titanium build, makes it the joint lightest Pro named iPhone and thankfully those curved edges make holding this phone so much more comfortable then my previous iPhone, which was always a negative because of those straighter edges.
I was asked recently, what’s your new phone like? I had to stop and think. What is it actually like?
Apart from having a new phone that has better cameras, new design tweaks and some other extra features, my day to day use of the phone is exactly the same and I suppose that’s what happens when you have an iPhone and you set up your new phone by syncing the setting from the old phone.
I’d been using iOS 17, ever since the beta version came out and was available to the public. So the iOS which was developed and optimised for use on the new this phone, I’ve been using already for months.
So nothing’s changed, apart from the obviously noticeable differences when you do get a new phone with a newly designed chip, it works better as it is most optimised to the latest software and generally runs quicker and smoother but apart from that, that’s it.
The average user won’t notice the 10% improvement in CPU performance and 20% GPU performance of the A17 Pro chip over the A16 Bionic which was in last years Pro models and features in this years non Pro models, but what they may notice if they’ve upgraded from older iPhone generations is that apps, games and tasks are generally running faster and smoother than before, one of those things that we take for granted because it should just work and that’s what new phones do they are always quicker anyway.
But wait until we start playing those AAA games, then hopefully, if we believe what Apple are saying, this will be where the A17 Pro comes into its own.
While the phrases, “same old Apple” and “nothing ever changes”, keep cropping up, especially from those often critical about Apple devices and the efficiency of the ecosystem as a whole, those people class that as a negative mark in the box of Apple, but that’s fine, that’s what I like, the familiarity that you get from moving from one iPhone to another.
My feelings towards camera’s on the iPhone have always been hit and miss. Videos, hands down, for me, probably the best on any smartphone (although the new Google Pixel 8 Pro seems to be giving this iPhone a run for its money), but photos (on the iPhone), there just seems to be other phones out there that are able to take better looking photos.
But this year, I actually like the photos that are coming out of the main camera. I’m enjoying that although the 15 Pro can shoot at 24MP by default, which already is twice the resolution that the 13 Pro was able to shoot in, meaning that the photos produced by the main camera lens will have more detail and clarity, and you’ll be able to crop in closer without losing quality, which has notoriously been one of the historical drawbacks of iPhone photography.
Also, with it being able to shoot in 48MP on the main camera only at 1x, and not in a mode that is night, flash or macro mode, which will still be shot and saved at 12MP, you’ll be able to save them with those ProRaw or HEIF files, so they are going to be able to give you more detail and flexibility for editing.
I’m still not a fan of the whole night mode, although the main camera can capture more detail, the quality of the whole night mode for me is let down by the quality of the other lens which diminish the quality of the picture, I hope one day that Apple would make the quality and resolution of the other lens as good as the main camera lens.
My favourite camera feature is the improvements in portrait mode. It seems that Apple have refined their system of edge detection in not only people but in your pets too. Thankfully, you don’t even have to be in the dedicated portrait mode to do it either, as long as the setting and focus on the subject is correct, then the lens is automatically going to be capturing that depth information that is going to be able to create that portrait image with that added blurred background effect, that can be further modified after you’ve taken the photo.
The action button, whether you liked the mute switch or not, the move to a physical button was an important one for Apple, giving users the flexibility to be able to customise, which is something iPhone users don’t get to say a lot, but increasingly more these days.
The interface where you can customise what the action button does, is so different to anything else on the iPhone but that’s a good thing and I hope we see more things like this in the future.
I’ve currently got the action button set to open the camera, but as a further customisation, if you find yourself wanting the press of the action button to go to a particular mode within that category then you can select that too.
There will still be people out there that use this action button as much as they used the mute switch, almost never, I was that person, my phone permanently stayed on silent and I’d basically never use the switch, but this action button has given me a reason to start interacting with this part of the phone again.
Every year we’re usually promised better battery life in the new phones but this year, although the phones may be more efficient with that A17 Pro chip, it doesn’t seem like battery life is any different from last years phones, which was one of the main issues with the phones last year. Maybe they have improved the battery, but the A17 Pro chip is a bit more power hungry therefore leaving a net effect on battery life the same as last year.
Will the majority of average users still get a day’s usage out of this, I mean I use this a lot, not for power hungry tasks, but for general tasks that most people are doing, surfing the internet, checking social media, watching videos and I’m still ending the day with about 30% left. I charge the phone when I go to bed using the optimised battery charging and as long as it’s at 100% when I wake up that’s fine.
But we’ll see over the course of this phone’s life whether they will suffer from the same battery health and maximum capacity issues that the iPhone 14 Pro’s did.
I was impressed when the Dynamic Island was first introduced but now using it a year later, I’m frustrated because there’s only a select few apps that I use daily that take advantage of this, which limits its overall usefulness and potential, it will sometimes interferes with the status bar icons or the app content, making them hard to see or access and, at the moment, doesn’t offer much customisation options for those who simply just want to change the way it looks.
But it’s not all negatives, because the dynamic island replaced that notch, which was annoying and distracting.
While I said customisation was one of the negatives, it has offered a new way of accessing and controlling the different features and functions of the phone, such as tapping or long pressing the island to expand, dismiss or interact with certain content. Some users may love it, some may hate it, and some may not care about it at all, but the Dynamic Island is a novel and innovative feature that adds some value and convenience to the iOS experience, but it does have drawbacks and limitations that need to be improved and Apple will do over time.
When you’ve been used to a phone with no always on display, it takes some time to get used to Apple’s version of the always on display without being distracted and thinking that you’ve either got a notification or left the screen on, I definitely prefer the always on display without the wallpaper just to reduce those distractions, allowing me to be able to just glance at the phone without having to unlock it.
I’m sure that we all know why Apple moved the iPhone over to USB-C and it is of course it’s a significant development. But do you think Apple would have made this move without those EU guidelines?
For some, this change is going to be inconvenient, that transition from lightning to USB-C now means having to replace existing lightning accessories, like charging cables, docks, just to accommodate the new port. But isn’t disposing of the old lightning accessories creating that exact e-waste they are hoping to avoid?
Yes, moving iPhones to USB-C is slowly unifying Apple’s device lineup and yes, doing this means that most people are able to now use a single cable to charge their iPhones, iPads, Macs and non Apple products, essentially simplifying the process.
But what about those people who still have lightning accessories? For me, I’ve got a 2017 iPad Pro and the 1st Generation AirPods Pro, both of which still use lightning, and I won’t updating these two until their time is up, so for me, I’ve still got a need for the lightning cable and I’m now having to carry two cables around the lightning and the USB-C cable.
Ever since magsafe was introduced (on the iPhone 12 Series), this has significantly shifted (for me) iPhone charging from the port to the wireless charging puck, I very rarely every charge my iPhone wired because the magsafe charger is usually more convenient and my regular night time charger is magsafe compatible and charges wirelessly too.
But I must admit, where the USB-C port has come into its own for me is data transfer, plugging this in to my Mac Mini, I’m able to transfer high res videos and those large file photos much quicker compared to via lightning or AirDrop and when filming those videos, I’m able to record straight to an external drive.
So for those two things alone, USB-C gets a thumbs up from me, well done Apple for finally seeing the light, even if it was sort of forced.
So that’s been my first two weeks and thoughts of the new iPhone 15 Pro following my upgrade from the iPhone 13 Pro.
I have to say, so far it’s been definitely a worthwhile upgrade for me. It has a stunning 6.1-inch super retina XDR display, the powerful A17 Pro chip, the camera system, and a slightly refreshed sleek design with that titanium frame.
If you want to see the video version of this article, check out the YouTube link below:
iPhone 15 Pro Review 2 weeks later — Am I regretting my decision?
https://youtu.be/pzVtSkLY-pg