Took delivery of these two phones yesterday and have been putting them through their paces. Let me know if you have questions, and feel free to post observations of your own if you have them.
General
They're both good phones, well made, well worth keeping. I doubt anyone who has not had phones this size before will be disappointed. Both are a tad lighter than their predecessors, the Max more so (good).
USB-C: Hmm. Pain in the butt. Have to buy all new cables or adapters. Plus even if I do, I'm left with mismatches between the USB-C connector and the lightning connector on all my AirPods. This sucks, and honestly it's a reason just to use the 14 Plus or Max if you've already got one. Even if you don't, there's a case to be made for buying a 14 Plus now just to keep your life simple. Also doesn't click in as nicely as lightning, as I suspected based upon my other experiences with this connector.
The slightly tapered edges are less of an improvement than I suspected they would be. More comfortable? Maybe, perhaps more so with the Max because the 14 Pro Max could really hurt your hands. This was mostly due to weight.
Dynamic island: Mostly useless. Mostly just distracting.
15 Plus
Nice phone. Camera has that after-the-fact ability to adjust depth of field, but don't let this sell you on the camera. With iOS 17, you can do these even with the 14. You just have to be sure you're in Portrait mode when you take the shot. No big deal.
The colors...oh, man, these really suck. I got the black because I couldn't stand any of the pastel shades offered this year. But I really hate black phones, too. So boring. The one good thing about them is that with a case on you rarely see the color unless you look for it. Plus there's no bright colored ring around the edge to distract you. Shades of Iphone 7 Plus in black, though.
Max
Feels solid. But so does a brick. If that's your thing, okay. You've got it. The cameras seem nice, so that's an upgrade. It's still too heavy to carry around in my pants full-time, though. I'd be looking for any excuse to offload it onto a table or something.
It's faster, zippier. I notice this. Probably a combination of the higher refresh rate and zippier processor. I suspect more the former than the latter.
Holding the camera with one hand positions your index finger on one of the camera lenses, which of course will cause smudging. So you'll need to adjust your grip. Not great.
Colors: Yuck! What happened to Apple this year? All the colors suck. The new "natural" tone is the one I have, and it's gray. Boring gray phone. Looks like your oven. Yuck.
The new woven cases
Not as bad as many are making them out to be. They're fine--too expensive, of course.
iOS 17
This is actually nice in many ways, but you can get this simply by upgrading your phone (except for the 8 Plus earlier, sadly). Particularly like how the lock screen shows a full-screen view of your music that's playing.
General
They're both good phones, well made, well worth keeping. I doubt anyone who has not had phones this size before will be disappointed. Both are a tad lighter than their predecessors, the Max more so (good).
USB-C: Hmm. Pain in the butt. Have to buy all new cables or adapters. Plus even if I do, I'm left with mismatches between the USB-C connector and the lightning connector on all my AirPods. This sucks, and honestly it's a reason just to use the 14 Plus or Max if you've already got one. Even if you don't, there's a case to be made for buying a 14 Plus now just to keep your life simple. Also doesn't click in as nicely as lightning, as I suspected based upon my other experiences with this connector.
The slightly tapered edges are less of an improvement than I suspected they would be. More comfortable? Maybe, perhaps more so with the Max because the 14 Pro Max could really hurt your hands. This was mostly due to weight.
Dynamic island: Mostly useless. Mostly just distracting.
15 Plus
Nice phone. Camera has that after-the-fact ability to adjust depth of field, but don't let this sell you on the camera. With iOS 17, you can do these even with the 14. You just have to be sure you're in Portrait mode when you take the shot. No big deal.
The colors...oh, man, these really suck. I got the black because I couldn't stand any of the pastel shades offered this year. But I really hate black phones, too. So boring. The one good thing about them is that with a case on you rarely see the color unless you look for it. Plus there's no bright colored ring around the edge to distract you. Shades of Iphone 7 Plus in black, though.
Max
Feels solid. But so does a brick. If that's your thing, okay. You've got it. The cameras seem nice, so that's an upgrade. It's still too heavy to carry around in my pants full-time, though. I'd be looking for any excuse to offload it onto a table or something.
It's faster, zippier. I notice this. Probably a combination of the higher refresh rate and zippier processor. I suspect more the former than the latter.
Holding the camera with one hand positions your index finger on one of the camera lenses, which of course will cause smudging. So you'll need to adjust your grip. Not great.
Colors: Yuck! What happened to Apple this year? All the colors suck. The new "natural" tone is the one I have, and it's gray. Boring gray phone. Looks like your oven. Yuck.
The new woven cases
Not as bad as many are making them out to be. They're fine--too expensive, of course.
iOS 17
This is actually nice in many ways, but you can get this simply by upgrading your phone (except for the 8 Plus earlier, sadly). Particularly like how the lock screen shows a full-screen view of your music that's playing.
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