items 2: articleHeading: iPhone 16/16 Pro Review: Times Have Changed!
articleLink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRtg6A1f2Ko
articleSummary: Describes the Camera Control button as finicky and hidden, with a sensitivity that takes time to get used to.
articleTitle: YouTube
articleType: youtube
favicon: https://www.youtube.com/favicon.ico
snippets: The next generation of iPhone has been designed for Apple Intelligence from the ground up., Yet this phone does not have Apple Intelligence at all., It's all coming soon and coming later this year and into next year eventually with software updates., But if I've said it once, I've said it a million times, never buy a product based on the promise of future software updates., Buy it for what it is right now when you buy it., That's been the golden rule for forever., But yet here we are, times have changed., This has been a common trend alongside AI., And you think Apple might be immune to it, but they're not., They're a public company., And just like lots of other public companies, they've sort of caved to this pressure that they have to appear like an AI-first, AI-forward company, like a leader in AI., So they have presented a ton of AI stuff that they're working on, and they've done the song and dance of like, "Hey, we're AI-first and the phone's built from the ground up for AI., It's our whole theme this year.", But the fact of the matter is it's not good yet., It's not., It's actually not even finished., If it was, they'd be shipping it., But it's in beta and they're still working on it and they'd rather keep working on it than ship it to you now., So how do we square this?, Do we even square this?, You remember the Rabbit R1., The Rabbit was a little AI in a box, pretty classic 2024 product., When I reviewed that Rabbit, it was basically useless, like literally almost none of the functionality was working as it shipped., And so I said so in the review., Same with the Humane AI Pin, really, really, really bad product missing almost all of its functionality., Worst product I've ever reviewed for now., Both of those products have started to get some updates since I reviewed them., But again, I can only review what's in front of me, like I got that thing in the mail just like real customers are gonna get that thing in the mail, and now it feels like the new iPhone is suddenly in the same boat., So I guess the difference between the Rabbit and the Humane Pin and the iPhone is, well, one, the iPhone is a fine standalone product even without the promised stuff., And it's viable and usable, where the other two, not so much., But two is that Apple at least now has some element of a track record of developing and shipping things that they promised, where Humane and Rabbit didn't., So you could argue there's some dimension of trust to this and that Apple is really leaning heavily on how much you trust them., Because to be honest, to me it's really bold to be shipping the product like this without any of these big things that you're promising., Like, they must really believe in themselves to eventually ship this stuff so that people aren't mad., But yeah, that's the AI world we live in, I guess, is that everyone has this pressure to feel like a leader in AI and be shipping all these new features and stuff., But a lot of it, not that good yet, not that done yet., So I'm planning an entire separate review of Apple Intelligence as a whole when it comes out., I've been using some of the features in 18.1 Beta on my 15 Pro, but even this is really limited., Like, it's basically just writing tools and the new Siri animation., But they have a long way to go., I'll say get subscribed to see the Apple Intelligence review when it drops, when it's done, because clearly it's a big part of this phone., So you made it this far into the video, or you skipped ahead to this chapter 'cause you just really wanted an answer on if you should buy these phones or not., Fine either way., So okay, you should buy the iPhone 16 if you're on an iPhone 13 or older and you know, that phone is on its last legs and you're really looking for an upgrade to a new iPhone., Fine., Anything newer and it probably won't feel like it's worth an upgrade., And you should buy the iPhone 16 Pro if you really want a better phone in cameras or displays., That's really the two places where the Pro shines over the regular phone., The cheap iPhone really has never looked better, honestly., It has the Camera Control, it matches the RAM of the more expensive Pros, it has the more interesting colors if you're into that., It has the action button now too., And it has the same brightness of the display and it also goes all the way down to one nit, just like the Pro screen., Now, I personally cannot use a 60 hertz, $800 phone in 2024., I just can't do it., And there are lots of people just like me who will immediately have to upgrade to the Pro just for that., But there are also tons of people who don't even notice or care about ProMotion., Which, I know, it's kinda hard to wrap my head around too., But for those people, yeah, the base phone is gonna be great., But then as someone who shoots a lot of photos and videos and you know, social media stuff, the Auto Focus channel, between all that, the cameras are better enough on the Pros for that to be worth the upgrade for me., But yeah, I still say buy it for what it is today, not for what it could be tomorrow., And even without any of the AI stuff maybe ever coming to these phones, they're still rock solid, very, very incremental upgrades.
type: ARTICLE
items 3: articleHeading: iPhone 16 / 16 Pro Unboxing - Testing every new feature!
articleLink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRPBp2tRxFY
articleSummary: Describes the camera control button as finicky, noting accidental presses and scrolling issues.
articleTitle: YouTube
articleType: youtube
favicon: https://www.youtube.com/favicon.ico
snippets: But you have to know how to use it., Like, you have to know that it's a double half press with just the right weight to bring up the sliding menu of camera controls for things like exposure compensation and zoom and photographic styles and tone., And then play with it enough to realize that tone is actually maybe the most important one, where turning up tone actually removes shadows even more but turning down tone brings real shadows back., But it doesn't seem to have a memory, so you have to remember to set it every time you open the camera app., But you also have this D-pad that lets you change even more elements of a photo, including undertones and mood and color and really mess around and dial in the look of the photos you want., And this one does have memory, so every subsequent time you open the camera it'll remember your color hue and tone., So I found that tone at around -0.5 is a nice balance for most photos that I've been taking., Feels less flat, more contrasty., This is all really useful to me., And combined with the actual new cameras on the phones, this has risen the iPhone back to the top of my personal favorite rankings of smartphones to shoot with., I just like having more control over the camera., Camera control., But it is really finicky., Like, the placement on the side of the phone for the button is mostly ideal for landscape, but would definitely be easier to reach if it was closer to the corner., But if we're being honest, most people take photos and videos in portrait these days and the corner would be horrible for portrait, so they split the difference and moved it up a bit so you could reach it., But it's still not great., And the half press sensitivity takes some time to really get used to., I'm on week three now, and I'm still accidentally taking pictures by tapping too hard., And the scrolling, it has momentum physics and you can accidentally scroll too far and go past the thing you were targeting in this more continuous scrolling interface., It is just finicky enough and just hidden enough that I honestly think like, 99% of people will never use this for anything other than just a camera shutter button., And I guess that's fine too., I personally did quickly get used to opening the camera quickly with the Camera Control button., And so I remapped my action button to something else, my Tasks app., And I've also remapped my lock screen shortcut so it's now flashlight and my Tasks app again., And you can always just swipe over sideways from the lock screen and get to the stock camera app., So if you really want, you can map the Camera Control button to open any other camera app on your phone, or just keep waiting for Apple Intelligence features that this will probably make more sense for., So yeah, long story short, one, it's a button., Two, it's also a customization slider., Three, it's just gonna be a button for most people., But also four, there are new cameras on the back.
type: ARTICLE