Second impression: the iPhone 14 Pro (Max) after 4 months of daily use

The iPhone 14 Pro (Max) appeared in September 2022 and we have now tested this iPhone for four months. It’s high time for a review update! Here you can read our second impression of the iPhone 14 Pro (Max).

iPhone 14 Pro (Max): second impression

We were quite positive about the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max in September. Are we still four months later? Yes, but not quite. That’s why we thought it was time for a second impression of the iPhone 14 Pro (Max)!

Always-on and battery life: now a lot better

One of the most striking new features of the iPhone 14 Pro (Max) is the always-on screen. It allows you to see the lock screen even when your iPhone is locked. When we just got the iPhone, you couldn’t set much on this screen, because you always got to see the clock and the background.

However, the screen was so bright that sometimes you didn’t know if your iPhone was locked. In addition, the always-on screen consumed quite a bit of your battery charge. That could even be as high as twenty percent! That’s why we quickly turned off this feature.

Now four months later, Apple has tinkered with the functions of the always-on and some things are different. For example, it is now possible to turn off the background (and notifications). You can then set it to show only the clock and date. That makes the always-on screen a lot more convenient to use.

The new functions have two advantages: you now know at a glance that your iPhone is locked. In addition, the always-on screen consumes less power than before. The little bit of power that the always-on screen now consumes does not outweigh the benefits of the function.

Even with the always-on screen on, you can now get enough iPhone fun from one battery charge. If you take a photo every now and then, read your messages, check socials and watch a video on YouTube, you should be able to go ahead for at least two days on a full iPhone 14 Pro (Max).

Camera with 48 megapixel: only for the real pro

One of the other big improvements of the iPhone 14 Pro (Max) is the 48-megapixel camera. By default, this camera is used for ‘pixel binning’. Joins four pixels in a photo. The 48-megapixel photo your iPhone takes then becomes a 12-megapixel photo.

This gives a good result, and ensures that photos look slightly better than on an iPhone 13 Pro. You can also choose to take a real 48-megapixel photo.

During the past four months, we used the option to take a 48-megapixel photo quite often. The function is especially useful for photos where you know you want to crop or zoom in just a bit further afterwards. You will get slightly better photos with this option than with the pixel binning method.

You have to enable the option (‘Settings > Camera > File formats’). Once you have done that, you can easily switch between a normal photo and the 48-megapixel version with a button.

Dynamic Island: fun, but only for a while

The Dynamic Island remains one of the showpieces of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. This renewed ‘notch’ is a bit lower than the previous notch and that takes some getting used to, even after four months. In the end, the Dynamic Island is even a bit more ‘in the way’ than the notch of, for example, the iPhone 13.

When we just got the new iPhone, the Dynamic Island was really cool to see and use. Now, four months later, it’s still nice when an app uses the Dynamic Island, but that’s about it.

The special notch is still not used enough for useful applications. Many apps where it would be really useful don’t have it. For example, Google Maps still does not have proper support for the Dynamic Island. Apple Maps has it, but Google Maps simply remains a lot better.

The functions are also useful with apps that do support the Dynamic Island well (such as Apple Music or Spotify), but in the long run you will no longer use them. When you play music with Spotify or Apple Music, you can call up a mini player by pressing and holding your finger on the Dynamic Island. Sounds nice, but the options are limited.

You can use it to pause the music, go to another song, skip a bit or use AirPlay. Options such as shuffle or quickly choosing a specific song in your playlist are not possible. For that you first have to go back to the app. This ensures that we increasingly open the app and do not use the Dynamic Island.

Conclusion: iPhone 14 Pro second impression

The iPhone 14 Pro Max remains a good device: it is lightning fast, has a good camera and excellent battery life. But the real innovations quickly lose their luster. The improved camera is cool. But you can only really get the most out of the 48-megapixel camera if you’re very critical of your photos.

The Dynamic Island was a lot of fun at first, but app support is still pretty sparse. The new notch is also more in the way when watching videos on YouTube, for example, than the previous iPhone generation.

Right now, the iPhone 14 Pro (Max) is still the best iPhone (and the iPhone to buy when you want a new iPhone). But if you have an iPhone 13 Pro or even an iPhone 12 Pro, it’s better to wait another six months for the iPhone 15.

Buy iPhone 14 Pro (Max).

Do you want to buy the iPhone 14 Pro (Max) after reading this second impression? Then check our price comparisons to score the best deal. Below you will find the best results from our iPhone 14 Pro (Max) price comparison.

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