iPhone 15 & iPhone 15 Plus: Pro In Disguise? 😎 | In-depth Review After 1-Month
I’ve spent 30 days with the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus and we were all wrong because the “regular” iPhones are not so regular they are a Pro in disguise since there are numerous Pro features from last year’s high-end variants but there is just one drawback, so let’s talk I was quite surprised by its curved edges even though it seems like just a minor change, and it looks boxy They make the phone feel secure in the hand since the corners are really soft Then the satin frosted glass back feels soft and really lovely to
touch It’s like the phone is giving me a little hug And because of this, I’m more comfortable using the phone without a case on Speaking of cases, I find that while a silicone cover protects the phone it’s a bit tricky to pull out from my pocket so I’ve gone caseless after 2 days of use The color options are really interesting too and I’ve grown to really love the pastel shades especially this pink color, which stands out beautifully as it looks like I’m carrying a little cotton candy minus the stickiness Now, the yellow, though, looks almost
white in a certain light That rhymed As much as I love white, I would love to see a slightly more prominent yellow I
I would love to know what is your take on phone colors Do you not mind it because you always put a case anyway or do you choose a clear phone case to show off the colors? Let me know in the comments or let’s discuss this in our community Discord Channel Links to that will be in the description below Believe it or not, switching from the iPhone 15 Pro Max to this iPhone 15 Plus has been a joy mainly because of the weight difference Even though it’s only 20g lighter, it is easier to handle So if
you like the size of the iPhone 15 Pro Max then you probably appreciate the iPhone 15 Plus But of course, if you like a smaller size phone like the Pro then the 15 would be an excellent choice since it comes with a smaller size Then, USB-C is also on this variant but the USB-C version is version 2.0 instead of 3.2 on the Pro But I don’t see this as an issue because I’ve tested many USB-C accessories on the iPhone 15 which I did a dedicated review on that, so do check it out in case you
guys haven’t And of course, in this non-Pro variant, you won’t be getting the Action Button as that has been only reserved for the Pro Models So did I miss the Action Button? Well, not really because as much as I did use the Action Button to open the Todoist app as shown in my review of the iPhone 15 Pro Models not having this was not a big deal for me Now, battery life on both the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus is impressive especially considering their bright screens and the Dynamic Island feature The 60Hz screen,
of course, played a significant difference in having better battery life which I’ll dive into the display on these phones later in this video With the iPhone 15, I average close to 7 hours of screen on time each day and that was with dark mode turned on, with the battery hitting at 10% Then the iPhone 15 Plus did way much better because it’s like a marathon runner of the iPhone 15 family giving me almost 9 hours of screen on time which really supports Apple’s claims that the Plus has the best battery life on the iPhone 15
series Now also worth noting is that these phones manage their battery excellently when idle much like a well-behaved student in class So if battery performance is your top priority, then these phones especially this Plus variant, is definitely a very great choice Among all, I feel like the battery life on the iPhone 15 Plus is something that I’m going to miss the most when I switch back to my iPhone 15 Pro Max As for cameras, let’s play a little game of “Pro or No Pro?” And the questions are: do you need ProRAW photos? Do you need
Apple ProRes? Do you need Log profile when video shooting? And finally, can you live without Macro Mode photography? Because if you answered no or maybe to all of that then this phone is a massive yes! The image processing on this iPhone 15 variant still makes this the best point-and-shoot experience compared to any other smartphone in the market today Starting from the ultrawide lenses, as predicted it looked great with perfect focal length and a high level of consistency from shot to shot even when switching to the main lens right after using this ultrawide lens Now, speaking
of the main lens, it also outputs 24MP photos on this 48MP lens like the Pro Models even with a slightly higher aperture value and a different focal length compared to the Pro whereas you can see that the image processing is amazing with excellent dynamic range and extremely great details during the day The phone has a telephoto 2x mode in the app which does crop from the 48MP natively so you will still be getting very sharp details and overall great results on the 2x mode and the maximum zoom is up to 10x where the quality was
just decent, especially with a lot of light Then the rear portrait mode was great on objects but there was a bit of a blur on the edges but it does very well on human subjects with better edge detection and background blur As mentioned earlier, if you’re obsessed with macro photography you won’t get that on these models compared to the Pro, so keep that in mind As for the selfie camera, it looked flawless with great skin tones and overall dynamic range And the selfie portrait and the edge deduction for the background blur were also really great
in dealing with my uncombed hair The ultrawide lenses perform great in low light indoors at night but when you start going outside, you’ll see that the lens only doing well if there are some great amount of light to really balance out the darker areas of the image and you’ll see darker shades in the sky area but without any noise Like the Pro iPhones, if the photos have some street lamps there will be a significant amount of glare or glow around that light area Of course, the main lens will perform better at night thanks to its
bigger sensor So you’ll find this particular lens very handy to use even if you cropped in the 2x zoom as the illumination of this DJI main headquarters in Shenzhen was captured very well to the eye But of course, don’t expect the 10x zoom images to do very well during at night Speaking of doing well, a common trait that the iPhone 15 has this year is that if you were to take photos of light rays you will get a significant lens reflection as seen in this image, so keep that in mind Then portrait mode at night
works very well but make sure that your hands are really steady to get an unblurred shot If you’re taking selfies at night, be sure to use flash to get a sharper image of you instead of turning it off especially if you’re in the portrait selfie mode as I feel that the nighttime selfies may not be the biggest strength of this non-Pro iPhone 15 camera Switching over to video, the 4K video quality during the day performed exceptionally well with high-quality details from the ultrawide the main lens, and even the 2x zoom video as well And the
dynamic range did very well even when shooting directly against the sun towards the sunset which was the best compared to other baseline phones that I have tested this year The lens switching while video recording was very seamless indeed 4K stabilization was also flawless at 4K 30 FPS so I didn’t switch to the Action Mode since it reduces the video resolution So it’s nice that it’s performing exceptionally well over here and obviously, the main lens also performed flawlessly in terms of video stabilization The same could be said for the 4K front video camera’s performance Then switching
over to the ultrawide video at night the quality matches the photos as mentioned earlier with a great balance of highlights and shadows However, the stabilization is not as good as the daytime shots The main lens did better than the ultrawide lens in terms of quality and overall stabilization as you can see But speaking of seeing, you can also probably see the lens reflection based on the environment I was glad to see that the front video quality was good probably better than the images, in my humble opinion, during my extensive test And here’s a vlogging test
to hear how the audio recording is on these two phones All right, so this is an audio recording test for a vlogging situation The iPhone 15 Plus is over here, and the iPhone 15 is over here So let me know if you find any difference if I turn it off for both of the sides So this is an audio test – test one, two Test one, two Test one, two So if you guys are enjoying this video so far a nice big thumbs up would be very much appreciated and a subscription would be lovely too
as this kind of video takes a very long time and effort to do So thank you very much in advance So I’ve saved the discussion for the display towards the end because it’s a mix of great and not-so-great aspects in terms of this iPhone 15 variant Now, for the good, the display’s high peak brightness is at 2000 nits which is a standout feature which makes using the phone in bright daylight awesome and easy to use This is the exact peak brightness of the Pro Models Another positive is the inclusion of the Dynamic Island Apple’s decision
to bring this feature, which started with the iPhone 14 Pro to this iPhone 15 so soon was a pleasant surprise making the transition from last year’s Pro to this non-Pro like there was no switch at all As for the not-so-good thing is the 60Hz screen because if you’re switching from the Pro model or any phone which has a 120Hz display, you’ll definitely notice the difference But if you talk to someone who has always been using the baseline iPhones they just don’t care But if you’re coming from a 90Hz display Android phone here’s where you’ll feel
that the difference is not so drastic because it’s like stepping down half a stair instead of a whole flight of stairs And this is partly due to the phone’s chip and the software’s overall smooth performance whether you’re doing daily tasks or gaming Speaking of gaming, let’s dive into the performance of these phones Now, you might have heard some issues with the Pro iPhone 15 models when it comes to overheating but there’s no such problem on this iPhone 15 or even the iPhone 15 Plus as I never experienced any overheating or warmth everything from watching a
marathon of cat videos to intense gaming sessions As part of my usual gaming test routine, I played Genshin Impact on both phones and they performed exceptionally well at high graphics at 60 FPS with motion blur at low compared to the higher motion blur on the Pros Now, this is also the same on the iPhone 15 Plus just that it had a bigger screen, so the experience was just a little better But the good news is that both phones felt very nice in their hands when gaming for long periods of time Now, despite using last year’s
A16 Bionic chipset these phones outperform many flagship Android smartphones as this 4nm chipset really holds its own Regarding software, iOS 17 runs perfectly on these devices offering the same experience as the Pro variants, except for the Standby feature because while it works, it will turn off the screen automatically after a while since this non-Pro iPhone doesn’t have an LTPO display So it cannot bring the refresh rate down to 1Hz so Apple decided to just turn it off after a while Now, if you’re curious about my favorite features of iOS 17 check out my in-depth review
of the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max which are linked at the card above or in the description below And here’s a fun fact: every A-roll and B-roll in that video were shot on the iPhone 15 Pro or the iPhone 15 Pro Max! Other than that, using the iPhone 15s as just a phone the experience has been great, like the 5G signals with no call dropout and I also really appreciate the new microphone mode that allows you to switch from Standard to Voice Isolation Mode to give background noise cancellation Now, if you
want a written recap of this video do head on to our website at www.adamlobo.tv as everything mentioned in this video will be included in the website including screenshot photos of both of these phones So this begs the question on whether or not you should upgrade Well, after spending a whole month with the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus my verdict is very clear that these phones are far from being “regular” as they pack numerous features that were once exclusive to last year’s Pro Models making them unexpectedly premium choices From the slick design to its
comfortable curved edges the standout battery life, especially in the Plus variant which, as mentioned earlier, is something that I will definitely miss when I switch back to my iPhone 15 Pro Max And if you’re wondering: “I have the iPhone 12 or 13 should I just get last year’s iPhone because it’s cheaper?” I would say no! Just get this new iPhone 15 series because USB-C alone is a compelling update for me and it will be for you And of course, the addition of the way brighter display and Dynamic Island is something that I’ve gotten used to
and love really more And speaking of the display, despite the 60Hz refresh rate it still delivers on the high peak brightness and Dynamic Island integration although you might notice the difference if you’re used to the 120Hz screen on the Pro Models And speaking of which, check out my review of the Pro iPhone 15 over here
