Apple iPhone 15 Plus - You Don't Lose Much

This year I decided to take a slightly different approach to my iPhone reviews. Previously I've started with the base models and worked my way up to the Pros - seemed logical enough.

But for the 2023 offerings, I wanted to try things the other way around; start with all the bells and whistles on offer with the iPhone 15 Pro, then "downgrade" to the iPhone 15 Plus and see just how hard-done-by I felt without whatever it is you get for the extra money.

The results of this experiment really surprised me.

The base-model iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are identical in every way - other than screen and battery size. They both come in Black, Blue, Green, Yellow and now Pink - and this year the aluminium frame (coloured to match) has been slightly rounded at the edges to feel more comfortable in your hand. 

A bigger battery means a longer time between charges and that's definitely true when using the iPhone 15 Plus - with what I consider to be "typical usage" I could easily make it through two full days on a single charge. I don't think I've ever encountered battery life as good as that on an iPhone before.

By now it's been widely publicised all four models in the iPhone 15 range have ditched their lightning ports for USB-C charging instead. This is clearly far more convenient when it comes to how many charging cables you need to keep on hand and it also means a potential boost in charging times and data transfer speeds. Admittedly, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max phones offer even faster transfer speeds but unless you're regularly uploading large video files it won't matter much to you.

You can even use the iPhone 15 Plus to charge accessories like your Apple Watch or AirPods by plugging them directly into the new USB-C port - and with all that extra battery life on board, why wouldn't you?

The 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR display is obviously much larger than the 6.1-inch screen on the standard iPhone 15 - and it really depends on the user as to whether this is something you need. Sure it's great to be able to use bigger text and enjoy larger icons and widgets - especially for those of us who've reached a certain age where reading causes squinting. However, this is also no longer a handset that slides easily into the pocket. I don't find it overly heavy but its width and length mean I can still jam it into my jeans... but only just.

If you love gaming - or even just streaming - I'd suggest a display of this size is pretty much essential. It's crisp and clear, ramps up to an impressive 2,000 nits brightness in outdoor conditions and is protected by iPhone's unique Ceramic Shield - claimed to be tougher than any other smartphone glass and in my experience that seems to be spot on.

The only real display drawback with the iPhone 15 Plus versus the Pro is the refresh rate - 60Hz against 120Hz. Funnily enough, I've still found the screen on the 15 Plus to be fluid and responsive and even when racing through the events calendars on Asphalt 9 (my current obsession) I didn't feel like anything was underwhelming, display-wise.

This is probably due in no small part to the A16 Bionic chip running the whole show. Although this is not the chip inside this year's Pro models, it is what the 2022 iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max were built on which means that yes, it's a very powerful and efficient chip indeed. 

That also means the iPhone 15 Plus can do things only the Pro's could do last year, like Dynamic Island - the unique, interactive shortcut accessed by touching the front-facing camera cutout at the top of the screen. We've also seen an upgrade to second-generation Ultra-Wideband. That means better connectivity and greater precision when using Find My.

A great chip usually indicates great photo processing too - and the iPhone 15 Plus stacks up here as well. Although the primary shooter is still only a dual-lens array, you do now get a 48MP primary sensor and a 2x telephoto lens - and it doesn't end there. Just like the Pro models, this year the 15 Plus also lets you take portrait (bokeh) shots even when not in Portrait mode, simply by tapping the little "f" symbol in the bottom of the screen. 

While you don't have the new Macro option, or the ability to shoot and save "raw" images and video like you can with the Pros, you still get excellent low-light performance, Cinematic Mode from both front and rear cameras, a new smoother zoom wheel and Action Mode for pretty good digital stabilisation.

In short, other than not having the different lens and zoom options of the Pro models, I've found the photographic performance of the iPhone 15 Plus to be otherwise great.

In my iPhone 15 Pro review, I already touched on the major improvements Apple has made to the latest version of iOS - things like more interactive home screen widgets, better fitness and well-being apps and features like StandBy mode are of course, all on the iPhone 15 Plus too. However, there are certain limitations. 

For example, StandBy Mode - which automatically turns your phone screen into a bedside clock or media player when attached to a MagSafe charger horizontally - only shows for a few seconds before disappearing. This has something to do with iPhone 15 and 15 Plus not having Always On Display. Why don't they have Always On Display? No idea.

I feel like I asked a similar question this time last year when Apple introduced Dynamic Island - but only on the Pro models. Now we're seeing Dynamic Island on all four iPhone 15s it makes me wonder if AOD will follow suit next year. Who knows?

A cynical person might suggest Apple has kept features like this exclusively for the Pro models so they can justify the extra expense and entice customers to make the jump in price. Or it could just be the base model handsets are physically incapable of performing such tasks with their current hardware and if things change next year that means the nuts and bolts have upgraded too.

Whatever the case, I can honestly say I've thoroughly enjoyed using the iPhone 15 Plus, more or less directly after spending time with the Pro. This means it's difficult for me to mount a convincing argument to choose Pro or Pro Max unless you're super serious about photo and video content - and I do mean super serious because the camera performance of the iPhone 15 Plus definitely compares well in many departments.

Starting at NZ$1,849.00, this is hardly an entry-level device, obviously. But its powerful chip, large and stunning display and durable build definitely make it worth the investment.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Apple iPhone 15 Plus.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE and Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE - It's All About the Chip

The Fan Edition has always been a bit of a weird concept to me.

What's the idea here? We have these devices everyone seems to like but they'd like them even better if they were cheaper?

This prompts the further question; how do we make them cheaper yet still keep the stuff people like most?

A couple of years ago, despite my scepticism, Samsung nailed this tricky balancing act with the Galaxy S21 FE.

At the time I really felt like I was using a genuine flagship device, despite the cheaper price tag.

However, there wasn't S22 FE in 2022 (sorry fans) perhaps due in part to how late the S21 FE was to hit the market. So late in fact, it ended up competing with the following year's S22 flagships. Whoops.

This year, Samsung has managed to drop a new Fan Edition with plenty of time to spare. What's more, there's not just a phone but a tablet and earbuds too.

Now the question is, will they be just as well received?

So first up, what are we dealing with? Well, basically it's a whole new ecosystem, just for fans; the Galaxy S23 FE, Galaxy Tab S9 FE, Tab S9 FE+ and Galaxy Buds FE.

I can't tell you much about the Galaxy Buds FE as I haven't seen or tried them yet but I do know they look quite different to other Samsung earbuds, they have Active Noise Cancelling and they're supposed be easier to hold and control.

This last feature looks promising because one criticism I have of the older Galaxy Buds2 Pro I've been using for this review is although they're very low profile, it's virtually impossible to put them in or out or adjust them without accidentally playing or pausing your media. The new FE design should sort this.

The new buds also claim "Seamless Pairing" - the ability to be paired with multiple Samsung devices simultaneously yet magically know which of them you're using at any given time. More on this feature shortly.

The Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ is fabulous. I'm not really a tablet guy but everyone has been raving about the 2023 line of Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 devices and now I have one I can see why. Samsung has pretty much owned the Android tablet space for several years now - combining superior stylus (S-Pen) technology with its desktop-like DeX Mode interface. 

Because Galaxy Tabs are Samsung, you're pretty much guaranteed incredible display quality and impressive audio performance too.

As far as I can tell, the main difference between the FE and FE+ versions of this tablet is screen size - 10.9-inches on the base model and a whopping 12.9-inches of bright, crisp, clear display on the Plus I've been playing with - and I do mean playing.

Not only have I enjoyed streaming video content on the Tab S9 FE+ but I've been giving Ashpalt 9 a pretty good bash too. The game flies along with no issues at all, looking and sounding fantastic. Although the screen only supports an adaptive refresh rate of up to 90Hz, I hardly noticed as I nitro-ed my way through the pack to win race after race.

The other thing many people have appreciated about the Tab S9 series is the IP68 dust and water rating - not many tablets boast that kind of durability and I was pleasantly surprised to discover the FE version is equally safe to use poolside.

To be honest, the more I use the Tab S9 FE+, the more I wonder what it doesn't do that its more full-featured and more expensive siblings can. Starting at NZ$849.00 for the base model, it's a great device.

Then we come to the star of the show, the Galaxy S23 FE.

Available in Mint, Cream, Purple and Graphite, it certainly looks the part with its modern, sharp edges and glass-covered back panel. Unfortunately, that makes it potentially less durable than the plastic-backed S21 FE from 2021 - and it's certainly bloody slippery to hold. It's Corning Gorilla Glass 5, both front and back but if it was my phone I'd be slapping a decent case on there before I even lifted it out of the box.

The triple camera array on the back also has a premium look to it - a combination of 12MP Ultra Wide, 50MP Wide and 8MP Telephoto lenses. That means you get 3x optical zoom on a midrange phone - not bad. Of course, you can zoom in even closer but there'll be a noticeable drop in quality - as demonstrated by these pics of the neighbour's cat.

Overall, I've been very impressed by what the camera setup is capable of. Many, if not most of the S23 flagship photo features are to be found on this phone too. Great digital stabilisation, Director's View - which lets you shoot from both forward and rear cameras simultaneously, Auto-Framing - to keep you in shot when streaming or video-chatting and Portrait Mode works just as well when using the 10MP selfie camera as it does with the primary shooter, blurring the background to your personal preference.

While I couldn't ask for more photographic performance - especially at this price, there is an issue. And it's one that holds this phone back across the board.

Many times when I've tried to open the camera app it's crashed or frozen - either from the quick launch icon on the lock screen or by double-clicking the power button (this is a customisable shortcut - a kind of "action button" if you will). This is pretty annoying, given the one thing I like to do with my phone is quickly snap off a few spontaneous pics when the muse takes me.

And it's not just when trying to get the camera going when I've run into trouble. Over the last few days I've encountered several lockups which require closing the app I'm using or turning off the screen and unlocking it again to get the phone to respond. 

It gets mysteriouser.

Yesterday while out walking, I had the S23 FE in my pocket, playing podcasts to my bluetooth-connected Galaxy Buds2 Pro. Suddenly the connection cut out and when I looked at the phone to see what was going on I was alarmed to see it had put itself into recovery mode and I had to reboot it to get it going again.

I can only put all these issues down to the chip; the Exynos 2200.

Not only is this last year's chip, it's not even the chip found in New Zealand's S22 handsets - they were lucky enough to sport the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 - generally agreed to be superior in most departments.

2023's S23 flagships were fitted with the updated Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 worldwide - more power, better graphics performance and significantly more efficient. So in effect, the Exynos 2200 running the S23 FE is at least two generations out of date... and I'm afraid to say it feels like it.

This is an otherwise cracking device - the screen looks amazing and with its variable 120Hz refresh rate should feel much more fluid than it does. 

I cranked up Asphalt 9 on this device too and again, it sounded very nice through the stereo speaker setup but it did stutter during gameplay from time to time.

The S23 FE has great features like face unlock and an under-display fingerprint sensor - except neither works very well - especially the face unlock. I wouldn't be surprised if this is also due to the same lacklustre chip performance.

As for the "Seamless Pairing" feature when using the phone, tablet and buds together, I've found this works well sometimes and not at all other times. Whether this is due to the chip in the phone or the fact I only have older Buds2 Pro and not the new Buds FE, I can't be sure.

Quick Share is another promising tool, letting you transfer files wirelessly from device to device. It worked every time from tablet to phone but much more erratically the other way.

And that's ultimately how I feel about the S23 FE - so promising but it keeps not delivering at the exact moment I need it to. Yes, starting from NZ$1099.00 it's dramatically cheaper than even the base-model S23 but there might just be too many compromises here for the savings to make sense.

    

Click here for more information on the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE.

Click here for more information on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+.

Click here for more information on the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE.

Apple iPhone 15 Pro - The Defence Rests

I never thought I'd end up publicly defending the iPhone.

In fact, for a long time, I never thought I'd even use an iPhone.

But eventually, I had to concede I wouldn't be much of a tech reviewer if I was ignoring over 40% of the market out of hand.

What's more, once I actually tried a few iPhones out, I had to concede some of them were pretty damn good.

I'm not denying there are still things about the Apple ecosystem that frustrate the hell out of me but I'm no longer one of those people who hate on Apple as a matter of principle. When I write these reviews and trial these products my opinions are based on honest experience with each device.

That's why I've found the latest furore around the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max so confounding.

First things first; you know those frustrations about Apple products I just mentioned I still have? This year's Pro-model iPhones are significant upgrades if for no other reason than they address some of my personal pet peeves head-on.

Perhaps most well-publicised is the move to a USB-C charging port for the first time. While Apple's MacBooks and iPads have been using the same USB-C standard as everyone else for some time, the iPhone range has been mysteriously holding out, their old-school lightning ports stubbornly incompatible with any convenient USB-C cables lying around the place and also depriving users of the opportunity of shorter charging times and much faster data transfer speeds.

Who knows if the EU regulations to standardise charging formats were the catalyst or if Apple would have made the change of its own accord? I don't care. I'm just happy one cable now charges anything. Although... While all four iPhone 15 models now sport USB-C ports, only the Pro and Pro Max are capable of USB 3.0 speeds. And yet the very nice braided cable included in the box is only USB 2.0. A faster cable will cost you extra. Oh well.

Another feature I've been missing on iPhone over the years is a proper telephoto lens. Again, this year Apple has well and truly stepped up with a 5 X zoom on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and 3 X on the Pro I'm reviewing. This seems to be a matter of simple physics; the Pro Max is just plain bigger, so it can accommodate a larger telephoto sensor. Either way, it now means an extra quick setting in the camera app; .5 for Ultra Wide shots, 1 X, 2 X and now 3 X (or presumably 5 X on the Max? Not sure). This is fantastic news and makes a massive difference for both video and stills - crisp clear shots from distance and also, a new macro setting for extreme close-ups. 

Technically, for you pro shooters out there, the rear camera array has had quite the overhaul, now boasting the equivalent of seven pro lenses depending on which focal length, zoom setting and resolution you opt for. While you can manually choose to capture large 48MP HEIF or ProRAW images (perhaps better for post-production editing) when you let the camera do its thing automatically, it will combine a the best of several different shots to bring you the ultimate pic. I've certainly been impressed by how "real" the photos are and I particularly appreciate the uniform colour and quality across all lens options.

You don't even need to be in Portrait mode to shoot portraits either - you can manually select your focus point and blur the background, even after you've taken the shot. Yes, you read that right; it's now possible you've taken the perfect portrait without even meaning to. This works with the selfie camera too - you can change the depth-of-field effect after you've taken the photo.

Another fun trick is the ability to copy your edits from one photo to a selection of others in your library simultaneously. For example, if you want to change every photo you took today to black-and-white, you don't have to filter each one separately, you can do a bulk edit within the Photos app.

This kind of wizardry works seamlessly thanks to the almighty power of the A17 Pro chip and the significantly revamped iOS 17.

We'll get back to that chip shortly but first, a few fun things about the new operating system - starting with knocking off yet another of my historical peeves; proper widgets. At long last iOS 17 means instead of a handful of lame, static tiles on your home screen, app developers can now make their widgets much more interactive; like being able to play and pause podcasts directly from the widget without having to open the app. Hey Apple users, just so you know, this is not new - not by a long shot - but it's certainly welcome.

Another nifty iOS 17 trick you may have seen publicised is the new StandBy mode. This kicks in automatically when you're charging your iPhone positioned on its side, typically on a MagSafe charging stand. Not only will this convert your screen into an always-on bedside clock and calendar, it can also show other apps and notifications in landscape mode. When I'm driving, I keep my phone on a MagSafe charging cradle and now it shows me the podcast I'm listening to complete with episode art and a progress bar.

In further major upgrade news, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro have replaced the traditional mute switch on the side with the new Action Button. This is a customisable way to fire off actions like Focus Mode or Torch, open the Camera app or access an action you've already set up in the Shortcuts app. And yes, you can mute the phone with it if you like. Unfortunately, not all apps are compatible with Apple Shortcuts but happily for me, I can resume playing my preferred podcast app with a long press.

Now... about this overheating thing. If indeed it is a thing. From the day the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max started shipping to consumers (and reviewers) it was widely reported the new handsets were prone to running hot when put under stress. Apparently playing games with demanding graphics settings or other high-resource tasks like video editing or continuous HD streaming were causing some devices to become uncomfortably hot in the hand.

I read several articles about this phenomenon, from sources I trust and yet, try as I might, I've been unable to replicate the problem or anything close to it. I've tried to push the iPhone 15 Pro to its limits in a number of ways and not once have I detected even a mild rise in temperature.

As I publish this, there has been another iOS 17 update overnight, which is partly supposed to address these issues. All I can tell you is I haven't experienced any overheating whatsoever - either before or after the update. Unfortunately, I believe Apple has fallen victim to an out-of-proportion social media response to a few isolated cases.

The negative Nancies out there have also been quick to criticise Apple's new "FineWoven" cases and MagSave wallets, replacing leather in a more carbon-neutral fashion. Again, I don't get what their problem is. I think FineWoven looks great and feels very luxurious.

All I know for sure is the handset I've been trying out for the last week or so is easily the best iPhone I've used to date. Physical upgrades like the telephoto lens and USB-C charging port combine with software tweaks like StandBy mode and interactive widgets to alleviate the few final frustrations I still harboured when switching between Android and iOS.

For once, don't believe the hype - well, not the negative hype anyway. As far as I'm concerned, this is a very cool phone.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Apple iPhone 15 Pro.