JollyLNB
Contributor
- Joined
- 5 Oct 2014
- Messages
- 1,227
- Reaction score
- 2,435
To O.T.F. (Our Team and Friends),
Though it had not even been two years since buying an iPhone 11 in February 2021, I take so many photos and screenshots everyday that 256 GB was quickly turning out to be inadequate, and it was not very long before I hit the limit. For most of 2022 I have been compressing my existing pictures and deleting the originals every few days, along with transferring them to my hard drive, which now occupy a huge amount (currently nearly 400 GB) of storage. I also use cloud backup; now that Google Photos has ceased its free unlimited plan, I use OneDrive (through my university account) and IDrive Photos for unlimited storage. Honestly, more people should use IDrive Photos because of its affordable unlimited plan. However, doing this on a daily basis proved to be unsustainable, forcing me to offload apps every now and then, and so I had to take the decision to buy a new phone with 512 GB storage before the end of the year.
Now I have graduated from university and have got a well-paying full-time job, which put me in a good position to afford a flagship, top-model iPhone. For the record, I also have a Xiaomi Redmi Note 10, which I use for several purposes that my daily-driver iPhone cannot do: in other words, the best of both worlds. I will be updating this post with pictures of not only the phone and accessories but also some screenshots and camera pictures.
When the iPhone 14 series was announced in September, I immediately set my sights on the 14 Pro variant, as it was a massive upgrade, boasting among other things 5G (introduced with the 12 series), a 120 Hz ProMotion display, an advanced 48 MP camera setup and — perhaps the best-known feature that only the 14 Pros have for now, though next year’s 15 models will all get it — the Dynamic Island. Above all, it was available in a Deep Purple colour, which is so much nicer than the Sierra Blue and Midnight Green of previous Pro models, given that I am a fan of all things purple, and my existing 11 is purple as well.
However, many of you know that unfortunately supplies of the 14 Pro (Max) have been severely impacted worldwide because of factory closures and protests in China. The waiting period for a new model slipped into weeks, and I was getting desperate. Fortunately a listing popped up on Carousell (Singapore’s version of OLX) with the exact same model and storage that I was looking for!
The very next day, Monday, 5 December — I have a tradition of buying new electronics on Monday as it is an auspicious beginning to the week — I met up with him and paid the hefty amount of SGD 2,200 or nearly ₹1.35 lakh (a bit more than the retail price of SGD 2,149) to get my hands on a rare brand-new model. Apparently, the person had bought it from a StarHub (telecom company) shop for his wife the previous day, but she did not want it as she was satisfied with her humble Samsung, so he decided to sell it. And how lucky it was for me!
If not for him, I would have had to wait weeks and weeks while sitting and clearing my storage, leaving me almost no space for the Christmas/New Year holidays! 
On Wednesday, 7 December, I went to the Apple Store on Singapore’s famous Orchard Road and bought a few accessories: a MagSafe charger, a case (no prizes for guessing the colour: light purple) and an AirTag. The whole set cost me S$180 (₹11,000) but it was a small price to pay in comparison. But I did not want to start using my new phone until today, because I had to clear out more storage before transferring all my data, photos and settings via Quick Start, as the process was failing otherwise. Today I have finally completed the process, and though some apps are still to be set up, most of them are ready and I can enjoy!
Afterwards I will trade in my previous device and get some monetary value so that it can be reused or recycled.
Accessories:
Some pictures of Apple Orchard Road taken with my previous phone:
The first pictures from my new phone, at Raffles City mall:
Ultrawide:
Telephoto (3x zoom):
Home screens, with some Indian apps at the end:
For comparison, a home screen from my previous phone: almost everything is the same except the position of the time in the top corner. Also this is the night wallpaper, while day has a different wallpaper.
Though it had not even been two years since buying an iPhone 11 in February 2021, I take so many photos and screenshots everyday that 256 GB was quickly turning out to be inadequate, and it was not very long before I hit the limit. For most of 2022 I have been compressing my existing pictures and deleting the originals every few days, along with transferring them to my hard drive, which now occupy a huge amount (currently nearly 400 GB) of storage. I also use cloud backup; now that Google Photos has ceased its free unlimited plan, I use OneDrive (through my university account) and IDrive Photos for unlimited storage. Honestly, more people should use IDrive Photos because of its affordable unlimited plan. However, doing this on a daily basis proved to be unsustainable, forcing me to offload apps every now and then, and so I had to take the decision to buy a new phone with 512 GB storage before the end of the year.
Now I have graduated from university and have got a well-paying full-time job, which put me in a good position to afford a flagship, top-model iPhone. For the record, I also have a Xiaomi Redmi Note 10, which I use for several purposes that my daily-driver iPhone cannot do: in other words, the best of both worlds. I will be updating this post with pictures of not only the phone and accessories but also some screenshots and camera pictures.
When the iPhone 14 series was announced in September, I immediately set my sights on the 14 Pro variant, as it was a massive upgrade, boasting among other things 5G (introduced with the 12 series), a 120 Hz ProMotion display, an advanced 48 MP camera setup and — perhaps the best-known feature that only the 14 Pros have for now, though next year’s 15 models will all get it — the Dynamic Island. Above all, it was available in a Deep Purple colour, which is so much nicer than the Sierra Blue and Midnight Green of previous Pro models, given that I am a fan of all things purple, and my existing 11 is purple as well.
However, many of you know that unfortunately supplies of the 14 Pro (Max) have been severely impacted worldwide because of factory closures and protests in China. The waiting period for a new model slipped into weeks, and I was getting desperate. Fortunately a listing popped up on Carousell (Singapore’s version of OLX) with the exact same model and storage that I was looking for!
The very next day, Monday, 5 December — I have a tradition of buying new electronics on Monday as it is an auspicious beginning to the week — I met up with him and paid the hefty amount of SGD 2,200 or nearly ₹1.35 lakh (a bit more than the retail price of SGD 2,149) to get my hands on a rare brand-new model. Apparently, the person had bought it from a StarHub (telecom company) shop for his wife the previous day, but she did not want it as she was satisfied with her humble Samsung, so he decided to sell it. And how lucky it was for me!
If not for him, I would have had to wait weeks and weeks while sitting and clearing my storage, leaving me almost no space for the Christmas/New Year holidays!
On Wednesday, 7 December, I went to the Apple Store on Singapore’s famous Orchard Road and bought a few accessories: a MagSafe charger, a case (no prizes for guessing the colour: light purple) and an AirTag. The whole set cost me S$180 (₹11,000) but it was a small price to pay in comparison. But I did not want to start using my new phone until today, because I had to clear out more storage before transferring all my data, photos and settings via Quick Start, as the process was failing otherwise. Today I have finally completed the process, and though some apps are still to be set up, most of them are ready and I can enjoy!
Afterwards I will trade in my previous device and get some monetary value so that it can be reused or recycled.Accessories:
Some pictures of Apple Orchard Road taken with my previous phone:
The first pictures from my new phone, at Raffles City mall:
Ultrawide:
Telephoto (3x zoom):
Home screens, with some Indian apps at the end:
For comparison, a home screen from my previous phone: almost everything is the same except the position of the time in the top corner. Also this is the night wallpaper, while day has a different wallpaper.
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