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The era of big leaps forward in smartphone tech are over. Gone are the days where just geeking out on the new toy is going to entertain you for very long. We’ve seen all this before. It is just a tool to get things done or entertain oneself. The 14 Pro is a better version of that tool. I’m upgrading from the 12 Pro and am looking forward to taking better pictures, making better videos, using the always on display and the Dynamic Island to get things done and see what’s happening a tad bit better/easier.

My advice: go use it for something interesting, creative, or entertaining. I think you’ll enjoy the advancements more.
 
I love this new 14 Pro Max and I upgrade every damn year…probably won’t upgrade until the iPhone 16 tho
 
I went from a:
  • Nokia 3310 (my 1st and best phone ever),
  • LG KF510 (cool slider phone),
  • iPhone 4S (a classic),
  • iPhone 6 (kept it pristine then sold it to my sis who dropped it down the toilet within a week of owning it! 🤦‍♂️)
  • iPhone 6S.

Still using my 6S and it still works great. Don’t need the latest and greatest. Would rather put my money into AAPL.

I used to get excited by new iPhones but there’s more to life than lusting after new tech.
 
I find the AOD not as apple like as I thought. Maybe it’s too bright Sometimes and I swipe up before the screen actually on and there is slight lag from AOD to on screen. Also no shortcuts to camera or flashlight unless you tap the screen first
Interesting— I find AOD pretty dim, like I almost don’t notice it’s on unless I look; I suppose if I’m not holding the phone I’d have to tap to see the proper lock screen (access camera / flashlight buttons). As it is, it seems to recognize when I move the phone to look at it, much like the always on display on the watch does. Only been using it for a day though, so I guess we’ll see how the experience shakes out over time.

I don’t know if it matters in the case of the lag you described, but I did turn off “Require Attention for FaceID” when I set up Face ID initially.
 
exactly the same feelings.. and surprised that (so far) my AT&T cellular service in 5G or 5G+ is 'slower' and even LTE is slower than with my 13 Pro Max. The 14 Pro Max has Qualcomm's X65 modem; so I expected it to be faster not slower. Maybe there are carrier settings that need updating?
LTE is almost always faster for me where I live, generally. However, that is concerning that LTE is slower on your new phone in an apples to apples (no pun intended) comparison. I’m not sure I could fairly test that myself, I’ll be interested to see if others have the same experience.
 
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Still using my 6S and it still works great. Don’t need the latest and greatest. Would rather put my money into AAPL.

I used to get excited by new iPhones but there’s more to life than lusting after new tech.
You should get the 13 mini, it's a great phone and would be an amazing upgrade from the 6S, I am surprised how is your 6S working fine? I had the 7 and in 2 years when I upgraded to the new iOS it slowed it down so much and the battery life became awful!

The 13 mini has been really great as of now.
 
Was the same last year when I went from 12 -13 max, wife got the 12, didn't bother this year as no one wants the 13 max, and not giving away a $2kaud phone for less than $1300 which FB is flooded with at that price, and they are not selling.
Most normal people have better things to spend their money on this year with inflation, interest rates rising, and the cost of living through the roof.
This is why apple will have a tough 22 a worse 23
 
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First year I’ve not bothered upgrading, more than happy with my 13 Pro. Might not even bother next year and keep my 13 Pro until it’s dead.
 
I also believe part of the rapid boredom comes from the lack of anticipation and real surprise features. There’s so many rumors and many end up being accurate so by the time the phones are here we’ve already known about them. Part of the fun of Dynamic Island was nobody really knew anything about it or expected it. But at the end of that day, that is not a feature that will ‘wow’ you for very long. I think waiting 2-3 years between upgrades makes for a much more fun upgrade.
 
The era of big leaps forward in smartphone tech are over. Gone are the days where just geeking out on the new toy is going to entertain you for very long. We’ve seen all this before. It is just a tool to get things done or entertain oneself. The 14 Pro is a better version of that tool. I’m upgrading from the 12 Pro and am looking forward to taking better pictures, making better videos, using the always on display and the Dynamic Island to get things done and see what’s happening a tad bit better/easier.

My advice: go use it for something interesting, creative, or entertaining. I think you’ll enjoy the advancements more.

That first sentence is only true if you only live within the Apple ecosystem. Exit that system and there are all kinds of fascinating phones.


My latest purchase was a security based phone called a Pinephone. You can do anything you want as it’s all Linux open source and now also the modem.


My next purchase? Xiaomi MIX Fold 2. Like the Pinephone you have to bring them in from China. But they are different and exciting phones in their own way. The foldable is the same size and width as a Pro Max - get your head around that - a foldable the same size as a iPhone 14 Pro Max.


You guys and gals are just stuck in the stagnant Apple ecosystem and can’t see out! I own and love iPhones and will probably upgrade to a 14 Pro Max. Then again I have a Blackberry Passport everyone was eye-balling in New York back in the day. They had fans called Crackberries but the company stopped innovating.



Nuff said…
 
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I’ll tell you my secret: I upgrade roughly every 5 years, I always get the super wow effect.
This time I went from the X to the 14 pro Max, and I think it is definitely worth the considerable amount of money needed for the upgrade.
 
Speak for yourself, coming from a non-120Hz PM I can’t put my 14 Pro down, it’s amazing and I’m having fun observing the different ways the island works (wish the timer wouldn’t be so persistent though, ain’t fun seeing it counting down for an hour).
 
I couldn't wait to get the squared off edges of the iPhone 13 Pro Max, coming from my iPhone 11 Pro Max with it's rounded edges. Now, however, I wish the iPhone would go back to rounded edges. The squared off design of the iPhone 4 was marvelous but it doesn't translate to the larger models for me.
Try a case with rounded edges. Much more comfortable to handle (for me).
 
That first sentence is only true if you only live within the Apple ecosystem. Exit that system and there are all kinds of fascinating phones.


My latest purchase was a security based phone called a Pinephone. You can do anything you want as it’s all Linux open source and now also the modem.


My next purchase? Xiaomi MIX Fold 2. Like the Pinephone you have to bring them in from China. But they are different and exciting phones in their own way. The foldable is the same size and width as a Pro Max - get your head around that - a foldable the same size as a iPhone 14 Pro Max.


You guys and gals are just stuck in the stagnant Apple ecosystem and can’t see out! I own and love iPhones and will probably upgrade to a 14 Pro Max. Then again I have a Blackberry Passport everyone was eye-balling in New York back in the day. They had fans called Crackberries but the company stopped innovating.



Nuff said…

“Security based” and “bring in from China” shouldn’t be anywhere near each other.

Unless you mean your data is securely being combed through by the CCCP.
 
“Security based” and “bring in from China” shouldn’t be anywhere near each other.

Unless you mean your data is securely being combed through by the CCCP.
Like China give a stuff about Joe Bloggs and his personal data. If they were that bothered I'm sure they could sneak some agents into the iPhone factory and do the same to those devices.😆
 
I honestly think the smartphone era is in its last phase. They can keep tweaking the design every now and then, add incremental camera upgrades, better battery but that’s it.
I think you need to remove the swift update blinkers. Most people don’t upgrade every year. If you are waiting three years (which seems a minimal sensible wait) then you’ll see great improvements every time you upgrade.
 
Novelty wore off real quick here too. I was most excited for the Dynamic Island but it's currently very underused. I knew that only a handful of system features tap into the functionality but I still kind of expect more from it.

Loads of things they could still do:
- Tie notifications into the Dynamic Island (nothing stopping them from having notifications pop in via the Dynamic Island, just add a small padding to the banners so they work with the cutouts)
- Loads of system prompts are still annoyingly in your face (like adding a song to your Apple Music Library), they could and should all move to the Dynamic Island
 
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