iPhone 16 / 16 Pro Impressions!

Video ID: 8p-hK56jc14

YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p-hK56jc14

Added At: 13-06-25 21:18:27

Processed: No

Sentiment: Neutral

Categories: Tech, News

Tags: iPhone, Apple, Camera Control, AI Generation

Summary

• Apple introduces new iPhone models, including the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro. • The normal 16 and 16 plus have a new ultramarine color option. • The camera control button is introduced, allowing for manual focus and other features.

Transcript

I've just spent the last couple of hours
Hands-On with every new iPhone so that's
the iPhone 16 and 16 plus as well as the
iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max so buckle
up this is The Good the Bad and the Ugly
okay let's start with the normal 16 and
16 plus and aesthetically aside from
this I have to admit quite spicy new
ultramarine color they're basically the
same as the iPhone 15s including the
same size screens so the base iPhone
gets a 6.1in screen and then the plus is
basically the same phone but stretched
out to a 6.7 in screen with a bigger
battery too there is an upgraded ceramic
Shield covering those screens though
which apple is saying is 50% stronger
than the first gen ceramic Shield which
is a large number and everyone wins when
it comes to durability improvements but
then they didn't really give any detail
on specifically how that 50% was
measured so it will probably be some
really Niche test that's been done and
the day-to-day difference won't be
nearly as transformative as that but the
one visual difference that you
absolutely will notice are these cameras
they've gone from the boxy squarer
camera Arrangement on the 50 to now a
straight line down the phone kind of
exactly how they used to be on the old
iPhones it really does make me feel like
we're on some sort of roundabout when it
comes to iPhone design where instead of
just deciding that one thing is better
and sticking with it we're actually just
rotating between the different options
to keep whatever's new feeling different
but yeah the reason that Apple's saying
they've made the cameras like this again
is so that the main Cam and the ultra
wide can work together kind of like your
eyes to be able to record spatial video
that you can watch on the Apple vision
Pro so big moment for the uh seven
people who own one of them they are also
slightly better cameras than last year
because the ultra white has now been
given autofocus which means when you go
super close to something your phone can
still keep it in Focus which is not a
new feature the pro phones have been
able to do this for a while now but
Apple does this dance every year the
pros will always come with some new and
exciting hero feature that the normal
phones don't get but then as soon as the
pros get the next hero feature then the
normal phones are allowed to have the
odd stuff which is I think it makes
sense it means that Apple can
differentiate their more expensive
offerings but also then if you don't
want to pay Pro prices you can still get
the features you want by waiting another
year and in the same vein you now also
get the action button that last year's
Pro phones had which I personally find
pretty uncomfortably positioned I mean
for me it's less of an action button and
more of a slowly stretch as far as I can
until I realize my fingers aren't long
enough and then give up and then just
resort to using my screen to open the
app like on a peasant non-action button
phone anyway but that's not to say that
I haven't seen hundreds of fascinating
ways that other people have used theirs
there's obviously the basic stuff like
using it to take photos but then also
I've seen people use this button to
specifically turn on a dim flashlight
that they can use at night I've seen
people use it to activate their insulin
pump I've seen people use it to make
fart noises on command so it's up to you
what you make of it now the only other
somewhat camera related feature is this
the new camera control button so two
separate new buttons in one year on an
iPhone how many people had that on their
bingo card I definitely did not so it's
a new button on the right hand side
completely dedicated to camera stuff and
I'll give them some credit they are
getting a lot of functionality out of
this one button so tapping and holding
will bring up the visual intelligence
feature which is not yet live but it's
kind of like Google Lens it's a way to
analyze information using your phone's
camera so like save the details of an
event poster or find out what type of
dog is in front of view
which me I I just feel like we've seen
so many companies do things like this
but then hey I guess there is still room
for a company to do it really well time
will tell if that is this but then the
other side of this camera control is
photography stuff so one press can open
the camera app and then it can actually
detect two stages of press kind of like
the trackpads on a MacBook if you've
ever used one of those so you can light
press to start using it to be able to
zoom in and out by swiping but there's
actually a lot more because then you can
double Light press to bring up this
submenu which basically lets you select
what you want the swiping to control so
it doesn't need to be Zoom it could be
the exposure of your shot or the
different photographic styles for
example okay but honestly I am confused
why this exists it feels like a really
really good feature but for like 2% of
iPhone users I mean for starters one of
the things they showed in the
presentation was how you'll be able to
use this button to control focus by
light holding down on it you know just
like you would with a proper camera
shutter button but when was the last
time you actually wanted to manually
focus your phone there's already like
100 pieces of hardware and software
making sure that your subject is in
Focus automatically we've actually been
programmed out of needing to do that
there's the fact that phones are
becoming more and more portrait devices
I take almost all of my photos like this
now because every feed that I'd be
potentially posting those photos on is
vertical but this camera control while
it does work in portrait is very clearly
designed for landscape use it's really
fiddly and a little painful to reach for
when your phone is upright I wouldn't
wish these finger gymnastics on anyone
and like nearly dropped the thing trying
it's actually quite reminiscent of my
experience with the action button but
then also yeah isn't this what the
action button was meant to do now
obviously yes the camera control button
does the camera side of things better
but it just feels like a really weird
unapp thing to do to add yet another
button that someone overlaps in
functionality with what's also just been
added and that's it for cameras on the
normal iPhone 16s there's actually
pretty huge camera upgrades to the pros
which I'm getting to but it feels like
the main changes here are actually the
battery the power and apple intelligence
so the battery is bigger that's actually
all they said at the event they said it
will be a big boost which is a technical
term I guess so yeah that I need to test
in our upcoming battery comparison in
terms of power though it's quite cool
cuz we're actually jumping forward two
generations in in terms of the chipset
the iPhone 15s have the a16 chip the
iPhone 16s have the a18 chip which means
30% faster CPU 40% faster graphics and
100% faster machine learning AI stuff
all with more efficient construction
which means the chip will use quite a
bit less power for equivalent tasks and
you know what for today's fairly stable
smartphone market these are Big
Improvement numbers and considering that
these aren't Pro phones the gaming
experience is very impressive which is
also helped by a new noral structure on
the inside of the phone that gets rid of
heat allowing for 30% better sustained
performance but yeah there's no beating
around the bush if there's one thing
that Apple has made very clear about
this generation of iPhones is that they
want them to be known as the AI
generation I read a report recently that
said 300 million iPhones around the
world have not been upgraded in 4 years
so there's a ton of people out there who
are due an upgrade but are likely
holding off until it feels like a big
Turning Point moment and apple wants now
to feel like that Turning Point moment
with Apple intelligence so what's it
going to let you do well for starters
there's a base layer of Apple
intelligence sprinkled throughout iOS
here things like if you go into an email
app instead of the text by default just
being the first few lines of whatever
the email was it'll now summarize the
entire emails content things like
cleanup to erase distractions from your
photos which is not something we haven't
seen on other phones but it does work
very quickly and effectively in my time
with it or what I thought was really
cool is reduce interruptions mode which
uses AI to silence most notifications
but then also allows what it thinks you
need to see to still come through this
might well become the permanent mode
that I keep my phone in it's kind of
like a lower risk version of do not
disturb but is it good well based on an
early play around I will say that it all
looks very pretty it seems like the way
that Apple will signal that something is
an apple intelligence feature is by
making it glow like this and every one
of these animations is beautifully put
together that said in terms of the
actual output it doesn't feel like apple
intelligence is doing much that others
aren't already doing all these features
like being able to proofread the
messages you're writing and rewrite
those messages in another tone it's all
fine but it's all been done and I'm not
sure it's stuff that I use very often to
be honest like I am a really casual
messenger so when I type things out to
people I don't use like dear sir I would
like to inquire I'm always like yo what
do you think to this and apple
intelligence like basically every other
phone company's AI right now is not yet
able to match that texting tone but one
big thing Siri is finally getting Apple
intelligence which is going to make it a
lot smarter and thank goodness for that
because I am reaching my limit with
here's what I found on the web so the
upgraded series should be able to rely
much less on that and be much more able
to directly answer the questions you're
asking it and also completely understand
the context of the last thing you asked
it when you're asking continuous
questions I would go as far as to say
that Siri has been the weakest pillar of
iOS for quite a while now like so many
times I ask it to remember something or
open an app and it like accidentally
calls my mom however key key caveat here
Apple intelligence like all this stuff
you're seeing here isn't actually coming
till later in the year which kind of
makes this feel like a Google pixel
event where the product comes first and
then the feature later and that
obviously takes something away from the
excitement especially for an event where
half the focus is these AI features but
I assume it's the immense complexity of
getting these features right combined
with the awful consequences if they
don't get them right so that's the base
iPhone 16s I'd say decent all round
upgrade nothing revolutionary the
presentation was a lot of like telling
you about some really cool stuff that
the phone does but then you slowly
realizing halfway through that the
things they're telling you were already
features on last year's iPhone 15s it
feels like they're making it
purposefully murky what was on last
year's phone because if you actually
focused on just what is different
compared to that it's not actually a
huge amount and the screens still have
that 60 HZ refresh rate which makes them
feel a little bit laggy compared to most
similarly priced other phones but then
at the same time I also wouldn't hold
out expecting any revolutionary upgrades
to the bass iPhones from now on like I
think all the really cutting edge stuff
Apple want to save to release on the pro
phones first anyways so let's talk about
those the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone
16 Pro Max now I would say these are
actually quite a pretty set of phones
from the back there's not a whole lot
different except this new desert
titanium color which is I mean how many
times can you make a gold look different
I like it I'm just finding it hard to
love it because it's so safe but from
the front the upgrade is pretty obvious
because the displays are bigger for the
smaller Pro 6.1 in has now become 6.3
and on the bigger Pro Max 6.7 has become
6.9 and I think that's a bit of a feat
because these new phones they are a bit
bigger but quite a bit of that size
increase has actually come thanks to a
further trimming down of the borders
around the screen which mean these
things look very fitting for the year
2024 they might actually have the
slimmest even borders on any mainstream
smartphone and yeah let's be very clear
the new iPhone doesn't deage you it
doesn't make you more successful we are
talking about the millimeters of bezel
on the display but it makes the phones
look Cutting Edge while giving you some
of the largest viewing areas in both the
Compact and the jumbo form factors I'm
just remembering the days when Android
tablets had 7-in screens we are there
with phones isn't that isn't that kind
of wild there is also an upgraded
battery on the pro phones 2o which as
you know all about but again shockingly
little detail provided about what and
how all they said was it now has faster
Wireless mag safe charging and that this
is the best battery on an iPhone which
is great it just probably means I'm
going to be awake all night when it
comes to the battery test so thoughts
and prayers would be appreciated there's
another new chip so while the bass
iPhone 16s get the a18 the 16 Pros get
the a18 well Pro which is a slightly
Juiced up version also with improvements
to calling that lets the phone do a few
more things with a lot of those things
being related to the camera and this is
where it gets fru so the main camera is
still 48 megapixel like it was last year
but the sensor has been updated to be
able to capture information faster which
means two things one they're saying that
you can out capture photos with zero
shutter lag something that the iPhone
was already pretty good at but this
might further extend its lead but then
also it means the 16 Pros can shoot
video faster and what I mean by that is
that the 15 Pros could shoot 4K video at
60 frames per second these new phones
can shoot that same 4K resolution but
now at 120 frames per second which is
enough frames that you can now slow that
4K down into slow motion territory and
it feels like the way apple is selling
this is basically that you can now just
keep 4K 120 as your default recording
option and what that then allows you to
do is after you've taken any kind of
video you can then just decide whether
you want that to play back in normal
speed half speed quarter speed or even
20% speed I do like how seamless they've
made it to record this 120 FPS footage
but then at the same time if you did
actually want that to become your
default you're going to need more
storage than the 128 gbes still being
offered as the default on the smaller
Pro iPhone it's just it's just not
enough for almost 2025 the ultra wide
camera previously 12 megapixel is now
also up to 482 to match that main camera
which is a good upgrade I really like
the freedom that comes with feeling like
all the cameras on my phone are great
and that all I need to worry about is
which one do I want to use as opposed to
which one is technically the best that I
should try to use and the ultra wide is
a bit of a two inone upgrade because
upgrading your Ultra wide also upgrades
your close-up macro photography cuz it's
the same camera so that means up to 48
mapel macro photos which is pretty
delicious the phones have four studio
microphones around them now which is
well it's actually really good for a
number of reasons more and better mics
means that your phone can hear you
better so that's Obviously good for your
audio quality in videos but also just
generally like how well series can hear
you and there's even now different audio
mixing modes so after you've taken a
video you can decide whether you want
the focus on just the audio of the
people in the shot or also if you want
to get in more of that background
chatter there's actually quite a few new
very Advanced software features like
this like a new control pad to adjust
the color profile of your shots in real
time and it has got me thinking this is
all really cool stuff these are all
technically very difficult to achieve
impressive features but it also feels in
a way like a few too many tools for any
one human to be able to use it feels
like a lot of the extra features now
while impressive are tailored to actual
industry professionals as opposed to the
Casual user who just wants the best
point and shoot camera and I'm not
saying that that point and shoot
experience is getting worse it just
doesn't feel like Apple's attention is
focused on making it significantly
better anyway the final camera thing is
now the smaller Pro iPhone now also
inherits the five times optical zoom
camera that last year only the pro Max
got meaning this must be one of the
smallest phones with a five times
optical zoom lens it's usually something
that only the big phones get because you
have to create space between your camera
sensor and your lens most companies do
this by lying their cameras vertically
across their phone but Apple's created
that space by using a Tetra prism that's
bouncing the light multiple times within
a more compact space and slight segue
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what's my take on the 16 Pros well I
think so far that the new features this
year are a bit of a mix because on one
hand it feels like less Hardware
improvements than usual because apple is
relying on Apple intelligence to do the
heavy lifting for sales but then Apple
intelligence is both not ready yet and
also not really seeming at least on
first glance like anything
groundbreaking right now but then on the
other hand we are getting decent
improvements to basically all the key
pillars of a phone the screens the
battery the camera even the microphones
and so for me what a lot of it's going
to come down to is how much better are
these phones at all of that core stuff
the testing begins and remember to check
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