iPhone 14 Review - Good Upgrade for Most

The iPhone 14: A Solid Upgrade with Some Missing Features

The iPhone 14 is an iPhone 13 without the telephoto camera, which is because the main camera on the 14 is very similar to the main camera on the 13 Pro. The 14's main shooter gets a larger sensor and a lens with a faster F 1.5 aperture, which combined with Apple's new processing pipeline called Photonic Engine helps improve image quality especially when you're taking photos in darker environments. All of this means that the iPhone 14 takes great photos and videos even when the lighting wasn't good. I was still able to get a respectable snap, check out this photo of a dog taken inside the not so bright interior of a coffee shop. Notice how the iPhone 14 captured the texture in detail in the dog's fur, also the dog was moving his head when I took the photo and the iPhone 14 did a decent job of freezing the action.

The ultra wide angle camera on the 14 is one of my favorite cameras to take photos and videos with in terms of image quality. It ranges between good under bright lighting and just okay under low and mixed lighting. The extreme field of view on the ultrawide camera gives photos and videos a dramatic look, but in terms of image quality, the ultrawide camera is still a step down from the main camera. The iPhone 14's night mode is improved, but still suffers from light source reflections. Take a look at this night mode photo of an overpass notice how the store's sign is reflected in the night sky.

Foreign Overall Videos Look Good

Videos look good and cinematic mode got an upgrade and can now record 4K video at 24 frames per second. There's also a new tool for video image stabilization called Action Mode, basically it's kind of like GoPro levels of image stabilization and if you're shooting 4K video, you just tap on the action mode button and the resolution drops to 2.8 K but the results are fantastic in bright light. Video quality is excellent but in low light things look muddy and image quality is just okay. Take a look at this video of a man pulling his dog who's prone on a portable grocery cart across the street, the details look soft.

The iPhone 14 A Repackaged 13 Pro

The thing that makes the iPhone 14 a repackaged 13 Pro is the fact that it has an A15 Bionic chip. Last year there was two versions of the chip one for the 13 and 13 mini and another with an extra GPU core for the iPhone 13 Pro at 13 Pro Max, and that's the one inside the iPhone 14. In terms of performance the 14 is speed 80, animations look smooth gaming is fun and the iPhone 14 handles well pretty much anything I threw at it from Call of Duty mobile and Asphalt 8 to Airborne plus two warped cart Racers and Lego Brawls.

Battery Life and Design

In terms of battery life the iPhone 14 lasts a tad longer than the iPhone 13. I got through a day no problem and my screen on time averaged about five hours. The iPhone 14 is also defined by what it is not, which is a Pro iPhone Apple packed the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max with a hefty amount of new features including a new processor, a notch that has morphed into a display cutout, the Dynamic Island interface that surrounds the cutout, and always on display none of which are on the iPhone 14. Instead the 14 is defined by its tried and true design so if you like the iPhone 12 and 13 then you'll be right at home on the iPhone 14. It's a solid upgrade especially when you consider that it costs the same as what the iPhone 12 and 13 did when they were new.

Who Needs to Upgrade?

Well I definitely don't think you need to upgrade from an iPhone 13 to the 14th if you're sporting an iPhone 11 or older. The iPhone 14 is a great upgrade that gives you better battery life, increased performance, a much better screen, better durability and cameras as well as safety features like Crash detection and Emergency SOS via satellite.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed my time with the iPhone 14 but realized that most of its best features are things you can't see or features that hopefully you'll never use. It's easy to overlook the improvements Apple made to the iPhone 14 or be distracted by the flashy new features on the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max which by the way make sure you take a look at my review video for those phones.

Let me know in the comments if you have questions about the iPhone 14, give it a thumbs up and thank you for watching