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Hi All,
I'm excited to share that I bought an iPhone 15 Black 128 GB. It's almost been 3 years since I bought the iPhone 12 and although it's still working great, I thought it was time to upgrade. As usual, the Pro models are priced way too high. Though they have differentiated the Regular and Pro models even more, I would always go for the regular model based on my usage. I pre-booked the device at the Aptronix store on Thursday, 21-Sep-23 and picked it up yesterday 22-Sep-23, as soon as it was made available.
PRICING DETAILS:
Mobile Price - 79900
Trade-in Value for iPhone 12 - 30000
HDFC Cashback - 5000
Effective Price - 44900
IN THE BOX:
As has been the case since the iPhone 12, the packaging is straightforward with just the phone and a Type-C to Type-C (FINALLY) cable inside. The cable is braided and is stronger than the normal one they used to provide before. A couple of pictures of the packaging.
DESIGN:
I had a complaint about the sharp edges of the iPhone 12 when I bought it and I also mentioned the same in my review. This had been addressed up to a large extent on this device. The edges are a bit more curved and it is easier to handle the device for longer periods. It's also much better the lift the device from flat surfaces. The buttons stay the same as before i.e., the silent switch and volume rockers are on the left side top, SIM tray is at the bottom. On the right side, we have the power button which is similar to the button on 12. On the bottom, is the much-awaited Type C port along with the speaker grill and mic. The back panel also has been changed to a matte finished glass which is not slippery to hold. Some good decisions have been made in terms of design this year to make the device give more comfort and grip in the hands. The device feels very light in the hand due to the weight distribution. Although it's around 7 grams higher than the iPhone 12, it doesn't feel so. However, the Camera bump is really huge and the phone doesn't have balance when kept on a flat surface due to the bump. Seems like the bigger sensors made the camera module heavier hence the bump. I have installed a backcase and protective glass for safety. A few pics of the mobile are below.
With Back Case:
DISPLAY & PERFORMANCE:
The display panel had also been upgraded with the peak brightness going up to 2000 nits from 1200 on my previous device. This should certainly give much better sunlight legibility. With the time I spent on the device, the display performance is excellent, especially the dark mode is very pleasing to the eyes. However, it's ridiculous not to include a higher refresh rate even after all these years and restricting such an important feature to just the Pro models is a poor decision. Though the scrolling and overall navigation feel smooth as usual, it just doesn't feel right to exclude this in 2023.
The performance is good. However, I don't feel much difference between the 12 and 15 in the regular usage though there is 2 GB of extra RAM, and a much better chip is at work here. The phone did heat up during the initial setup and also during charging. In fact, the charging was stopped at 80% due to the overheating. This usually happens during the initial days of usage, and I'm expecting this to gradually subside. Coming to the games, I played Tennis Clash and it was surprisingly terrible and worse than the iPhone 12. It was dropping frames and lagging horribly. I'm not sure if the issue is with the game or something else.
Update 26-Sep-23: As expected, the heating subsided and the phone charges normally to 100% now without any heating
Update 27-Sep-23: I raised the frame drop and lag issue with the Tennis Clash game support team, and they fixed it last night. The game is now running very smoothly as expected.
SOFTWARE:
Out of the box, the phone came with iOS 16.6 and there was an update available to bump up to 17.0.2. Dynamic Island made its way to the regular models and it felt a little odd during the initial usage, not to have the notch! As explained by several reviewers, this little space has been utilized really well by Apple. It displays useful information throughout the day including Album Art from the music player (Be it any music app), Hotspot notification if we are using the hotspot, etc,
Storage-wise, almost 15 GB is used by the System and OS, and the rest is available for usage. I have transferred all my data from the iPhone 12 to the new device and I'm left with around 64 GB.
CAMERA and CAMERA UI:
The Camera has got several upgrades as well. The main camera gets a bump to 48 MP and ultra-wide to 12 MP. There is a 10x zoom up from the 5x in my 12. The Camera UI has also been upgraded with several new options. The main camera defaults to 24 MP. It's important to use the High-Efficiency mode to save space taken by the pictures. If we don't use it, each photo takes up almost double the storage. The 24 MP pictures are consuming around 2.5 MB if we use High efficiency and around 4.5 MB if we don't use it. It's a significant difference. There is an option to manually turn on 48 MP with lesser space consumption if we need the higher resolution and it's called HEIF MAX. This mode can't be used with Live Photos though. It's either or.
Setting to enable High Efficiency and Resolution Control
HEIF MAX
Various Options
Different Modes
One thing I really like about this Camera system is that we don't have to worry about taking a picture in both regular and portrait modes. I always used to do this on my iPhone 12. The camera module captures all the details related to depth etc., when we take a picture, if it detects a human/pet/object that's eligible for a portrait. Once the picture is taken in regular mode, we have an option to make it a portrait just by a toggle. So if we need both regular and portrait versions of the same picture, we can just duplicate the regular picture and enable portrait on the copy! Very convenient.
A few Camera samples are below.
Day - 24 MP:
Day - 48 MP:
Day - Zoom (12 MP):
Day Selfie 12 MP:
Day 24 MP Before Portrait Edit:
Day 24 MP After Portrait Edit:
Night 12 MP:
Night 24 MP:
Night 48 MP:
Night Ultra Wide:
Night Zoom:
BATTERY:
The battery capacity is around 400 mAh higher than the iPhone 12. So ideally, I should get more SOT. I will update this section after a few days of usage. As I mentioned before, the phone heated up a lot during the charging and it stopped charging above 80%. I'm expecting this to be a temporary issue, but I will update here if this continues to be the case.
PROS:
- Gorgeous display
- Excellent Cameras
- Feels Light in the hand
- Great Software Improvements
- Unmatchable iOS Privacy Features
- No Big Notch (Finally)
- Type C Port (Again, Finally)
- No Accessories in the box
- Heating (Resolved Now)
- Poor Gaming Performance (Resolved Now)
- Huge Camera Bump
- 60 Hz Refresh Rate (Come on Apple, this is 2023)
If you are using an iPhone 11, 12 or 13, this will certainly be a big upgrade. We get 2 GB of additional RAM, a 4 nm chipset, an Upgraded Camera system, a Smaller Notch, a Type C port, and Dynamic Island. With the launch offers of an additional exchange bonus of up to 9000 and an HDFC card discount of 5000, the price should also come down significantly. If you are using the iPhone 14, you will still get a better camera system, a smaller notch, and a Type C port, but not any other improvements. You can wait till the Refresh Rate is bumped up on the regular models if you are using 14.
I will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the device. Thanks for reading!!
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