So I typed the words from Mrwhoistheboss Review. 

Here's a subtitle you probably didn't need until now.

If you zoom out to the iphone15 pro and the 15promax, I think its fair to say that these are a fairly forgettable set of phones. There is no one big defining feature that puts them on the map like the dynamic island was on the  14 pros or the 120Hz promotion displays on the Iphone13pros. The famous summary page that apple makes for each of their new products for this phone, half of it was filled with features we are already well used to. There is not even a bold new color to aesthetically differentiate itself, this is the single driest selection in recent memory for me.

But, its only now that I have started living with it that I have realized so many little things, things that are easy to miss, things that apple didn't even mention that all add up to make this a more surprising more immutably beneficial experience than I would say I have had with any Iphone I have tested before this especially when it comes to cameras.

Incase you are wondering by the way, this is what you get when you order a 15pro. 

Its fairly standard apple fair no longer a black box like we used to get with the pros, I imagine to use less ink. Inside you get the phone, the new  USB C cable, and the little insert which has your sim injector tools manuals and couple of apple stickers.

Now this cable is a bit of an upgrade with this woven fiber around it which is going to make it more durable and is very very resistant to tangling but just know that it isn't a fast cable. The iphone15 pros are capable of USB-3 speeds, aii 20 times faster than lightning used to be but with the default cable you will not get them. 

This is pretty standard for most phones though.

Okay so, the first thing about these phones which I guess I didn't realize the full potential of until switching to the Promax is the action button.

This brand new programmable button that sits in place of the ring silent switch that you can set to whatever trigger you want and my hot take when I first saw this was, well you can already program things to a tripple tap of your power button,  why bother doing the same thing to a button that is just much harder to reach, and the hard to reach part, that hasn't changed. 

It still makes no sense to me why a button designed around being  a shortcut is so far out of the radius of where your fingers can reach in a normal grid, unless you use it for the camera. 

I would say that 80% of photos that I take on my phone I do so in landscape mode and that works really well with the action button because when go like this (Landscape), your finger is naturally resting on it.



The button is designed so you have to hold for half a second or so to activate, I guess to reduce accidental presses and then that activation can take you immediately to not just the camera but exactly the camera modes that you want to be the default, and then if you do that the action button will also double as your shutter button when you get there which means this is now the fastest way to be able to quickly record a clip when the opportunity unexpectedly arises. 

Its not perfect because of lets say instead of here, the button was actually up here (The Other side), that would mean that you either properly grip the phone without worrying that you are actually covering the thing that's shooting the photos. Plus you might find that for a lot of commands its actually much easier to map them to the power button or even the back tap feature which every iphone has.


But the point is the action button, solid new feature, has its uses and also something apple didn't really mention but just kind of showed as part of one of their slides was that the Iphone 15pros are coming with a new thread radio which may well make them better at communicating with other apple smart home devices. So I have no doubt that people will find cool ways to use this action button to even control the home.

Okay, This is a phone, lets talk about call quality.

We don't talk about call quality very much mostly because it does not tend to change between generations but there is a really cool new improvement here to voice isolation. So I have got my fiancé Trisha on the line right now, she is using a 15 pro and it sounds terrible.

Trisha - Yea, I got the tap on and its super loud here, 

Mr - Okay so lets try the voice isolation. 

Trisha - Okay so this is normal mode and then this, is voice isolation mode and so now you should be hearing it without any noise? (Switches between modes)

Mr - It literally feels like you turned the tap off, 

Trisha - That's crazy, its so loud here I can barely hear myself.

We have played around this a lot and while the voice isolation wont improve the quality of your speech, it will pretty much erase all background noise without reducing it. And then Just like the new facetime video effect, what's quite cool is that these voice effects because they are happening on a hardware level, they persist  whatever the software you are using, well there's a normal call, a facetime call or a zoom call. What I would love is to be able to get this working with voice notes too because I mean, clearly it can and that is like my main form of communication nowadays.

Okay, the phone also surprised me when it comes to performance, naturally being the nerd that I am, one of the first thing I did was run the geek bench benchmark. The  CPU in this new A17 pro chip is coming at about 10% faster and the graphic score is up by 20 from last year which is solid and in a way a bit surreal because its actually approaching the graphics performance of the M2 powered MacBooks. But then at the same time if we zoom out and look at what's happening in the general market, these are not out of the ordinary generational leaps in power , but what's genuinely surprising is that after a long time it finally feels like we have something to do with that power. 

What you are seeing now is the resident evil village playing on an Iphone and we've seen plenty of pretty phone games before Genshin Impact but what is crazy about this is that this is not Resident Evil Village Mobile, this is resident evil the same resident evil that you have seen on consoles. All the assets and textures are taken straight from the PlayStation4 version of the game and then is pairing that with some of the tech from the PS5 version of the game like HDR which is a much higher brightness range than last gen's consoles could support. 

Now as someone who has played this game on current gen consoles, holding this in my hand not even on one of those bulky had held PCs with a battery life of 2hrs on a smart phone, is very impressive, it is only running on a 720p resolution as opposed to the 900p that the PlayStation4 runs the game at, but still, the fact that it is the same game that runs on a box like this or a box like this on your phone that fits in your pockets, and also includes the display the surround sound speakers and everything else built in, it has definitely felt like one of those future technology moments. Excuse the bedazzling. 

So many times when I am away somewhere, the only gadget I have with me is my phone and I just wish that I could have some proper meaty offline single player games I could sink my teeth into. So if this whole console gaming on a phone thing   actually catches on now, I'm gonna be a very happy guy and you probably wont see many tech videos, but we don't know if it will yet

There is only 4 console games like this currently announced exclusively for the pro Iphone15 one of them is the latest Assassins-Creed which is very cool and surreal because that game looks like this so one of the games I spent growing up with on my PlayStation portable was also assassins creed and that looked like this. But it does raise questions like;

How easy is it to port over a ps4 game to an Iphone?

How many will come after this initial honeymoon period?

And will they also come to the android phones later on cos powerful as this is, the graphics performance on the Iphone is not dissimilar to what you get on the latest Samsung, we have no idea.

There is also support for WIFI6E begged into that package which is basically a less congested version of the WIFI 6 but does need a router specifically with that technology in mind.

Okay, lets talk about the design

Right now where we are with the iphone15 pros is a high point. We have just come from a set of hones that were pretty, yes but very heavy and not comfy to a set of phones that are just as pretty but more comfortable, thanks to the new contoured edges, much lighter thanks to the material swap to titanium not to mention more practical thanks to having matte finish all the way around. 

With the Iphone 14pro that I used to use the finger printy stainless steel sides, the couple of marks I got near my charging port from where I've well missed and the dust on the mute slider are the only giveaways that this is a well used phone but with these (Iphone15), I mean obviously we'll need about 3months to say conclusively. But it feels like the combination of having both matte and brushed side rails should help to hide that. it is not the dream though because even when the material does hide scratches better, it does look like it can be scratched easier. 

And also fingerprints on these dark phones tend to show up as a light area, which means that around your button you tend to almost get this hallowing effects from past fingerprints that you struggle to wipe away. They are not permanent marks, they'll come off straight away if you go in there with a clothe but you cant be doing that everyday so you will notice it from time to time

Zooming out a little, I still think the most comfortable shape a phone can be is pebble like. I have asked my whole family and every person agree that the Iphone11 pro is more comfy to hold and use than the 15pro, but then I suppose that thing has its own set of issues because the curved nature of the phone introduces a new bulge around the screen and that's actually something the new phones do especially well.  The bezels are really really slim and its one of those things that of course you will get used to the same way you get used to the acceleration of a  new car or the sound quality of a great audio system but then anytime you get a hint of perspective, like seeing anyone else's older Iphone, it does make you re-appreciate what I think is a bit of a design feat.

Okay, so I mentioned  the cameras are something pretty special on these phones and lets be very clear about something.  What makes them special is no one thing in isolation. its not about the ultrawide camera that lets in a bit more light, its not about the new coating that helps  reduce the amount of lens flares on these lens cos honestly you still get enough lens flares on the main camera to account for both, its not any of these pieces on their own, its how the whole thing worked together as a system that's even better than the sum of its parts and this is the thing that I've only now realized having used the phones,

So for starters, the Iphone15 pros take  24MP photos, again, that doesn't sound very  impressive when you think that the latest Samsung can take up to 200MP shots but its the fact that the Iphone can do this 24MP  by default that's the key thing. That it takes 24MP in ultra mode with no perceptible compromise that I can see, not in terms of the time taken to capture, not in terms of dynamic range of the image, not in terms of the amount of post processing that happens afterwards, its is actually faster here to take 24MP shots than it is for most phones to take a 12MP shot. Which is the industry standard default even for phones which have a 200mp camera camera sensors. So, that's one part of it. 

Then you've got the file format, most phones when they take photos, they output photos as JPEG images. For quite a few years though the iphone instead uses the file format  called HEIF which is really similar to JPEG in image quality but with smaller file sizes. actually about half the size. Now that the resolution of the photos has gone up though, the Image size has gone up with it. But even though the resolution doubled, the image size has  only gone up 1.5X which leaves you with this bizarre situation where the 24MP shots taken here take up less space than the 12MP shots on other phones.

Oh and that smaller file now also includes the portrait photo data and live photo data at the same time.  This is kinda where it really started to click with me cos I think like motion photos in general are an amazing feature. I was making a little video for Trisha and I's anniversary recently and the only way that photo was possible was because for every photo I take of us, the phone was also storing the entire scene just before that shot was captured. And so long as you are doing that, it is super quick to then save that motion as its own video which you can  put into a longer project. 

But then I also love portrait shots too. Every single time I am trying to take a nice photo for someone else, I would take like three normal shots and then I'll take a separate set of three portrait shots to let them decide which one they prefer cos they are almost two very different propositions. The  normal shot is very practical and utilitarian, and then the portrait shot is very cinematic. 

All of that extra time, all of that faff and all that having to think is just gone now because you don't need to be in portrait mode to take portraits. You just take the photo as you always do and as soon as a person, a dog or a cat appears in the image, this little "f" will pop up, when the "f" pops up you know that you are automatically capturing depth information and you can go back in to the shot after you have taken it to tweak the level of portrait you want to apply, again in 24mp. So, double the resolution the portrait used to be. 

The F will also come up if you ever tap to focus because then the phone knows you are trying to focus on something in particular which means that even if you miss focus on that subject in the moment, you can go back afterwards and tweak it, that's it.

What I am really getting into here is that apple has managed to build with the iphone 15pros a camera system for which all you have to think about is this one thing; "is it framed the way that I want it to be"? the rest is done for you

As well as now Photonic engine, this was introduced last year as a level of processing applied to each image to add extra detail and fix the colors but when it was announced, it wasn't for all camera modes. For things like portrait and night-mode which already require a lot of processing, there was not enough head room to also have the photonic engine going on. Not anymore! it works on portrait mode, it works on night-mode, it works on the front camera and it works on every single magnification of the rear camera and you can really tell the difference. Like I went out a couple of days ago to get some shots of the night sky and while sometimes between iphone generations you do struggle to notice the difference, the improvements here are at a glance instantly  recognizable.

And the other thing they have addressed is HDR, HDR in photos is one of apples historic long  running weaknesss I think it originates form the fact that apple  does not want to overprocess images, but the truth is in a lot of cases like when you have really harsh backlighting behind you, you kinda have to. Well its better here, I wouldn't say that apple has completely solved all the the instances of parts of the image being over exposed, but at the same time I did not expect difference this noticeable versus last years phone. you can tell on the rear camera and you can also tell on the front camera. 

So do you kinda see what I am saying about these cameras this idea that no individual aspect is particularly groundbreaking or new its just the fact that it all comes together in the highest quality lowest hassle way that I have ever seen with by the the smoothest operating version of the camera app that I have seen on  a phone all within like a 3mb file.

Its not perfect I did not love how apple was trying to pitch this as  a 7-lens in your pocket there is some truth to it but you cant really take that statement to face value. see the way it works is that the Iphone15 pros they have a 48Megapixel main camera sensor, if you tap on the 1x, it will cycle between 3 diff focal length between 1x and 1.5x. Now because the camera is 48Megapixel and you are outputting images in 24Megapixel, you can between 1 and 1.5x zoom use different amounts of this 4 sensor to achieve a result that is still genuinely  a 24Megapixel shot. And so on the bright side when you take a 35mm photo, it is more detailed than if you took a 1x shot and zoomed in to make it look like a 35mm  photo, the downside is that when you do this, you are not using the full extent of your sensor and therefore the image quality isn't as high. I wouldn't say the degradation is  noticeable but it will be there and its just icky to call this a 7lens system when really if you are going to do that, you can add a stop at every single possible different magnification and then call it a thousand lens camera system. As a feature it is fine it does the job but unlike the way it is presented it is not same as actually  having 7 lenses.

Right, Now lets talk about the new zoom camera, for the iphone15 Promax only the 3x optical zoom lens camera has become a 5x optical zoom lens camera and this is a bigger upgrade than it initially seems. They've  not just taken the zoom camera that was already on the pro and stuck a bigger lens on it, the Promax has a larger sensor and better stabilization than the regular pro too. and lets be clear, even though 5x is not the highest magnification we have seen on a phone by a long shot, this is still a vey good quality 5x zoom camera  which means that in most lighting condition, the shots looks pretty good even at 10x and the lens has so much natural foreground background separation that often times you don't even need to rely on portrait mode for that DSLR like separation. And check this, this is a 1x zoom portrait on a 15promax, notice how much distortion there is on my face, taking a portrait of 3x is far more flattering cos you get to be farther away and then 5x ever so slightly even more flattering than the 3x.


So, it has a purpose and its just a fun tool to have because 5x feels like such a distinct image to what a 1x image looks like and you do not have to step back as much as I was expecting to fit the person that you are trying to shoot in the frame, but it is still very much a trade. 

See the way the main camera sensor on this phone works, you can only get so called lossless zoom in between 1 and 2x the and so entire gap between 2 and 5x zoom range now, that relies on pure digital zoom. Which is why in these shots, the 3x image while flattering is low  definitely the weakest quality and as we get to 4.9x like just before the 5x optical zoom camera kicks in, it does not look a bit rough. also worth bearing in mind, the optical zoom camera on both the pro and promax, they are not 24mp. they are that's all 12 as is the ultrawide lens which is pretty normal for a phone but it just feels like one of the only slight remaining inconsistencies but camera comparison versus the Samsung coming very shortly so if you want to see that then a sub to the channel would be Mega....Pixel.  


Now, based on some browsing on X, people are worried about battery and rightly so. The 13pro and 13promax had insane battery for their respective sizes but then the 14 were not as good and they also seem to degrade faster overtime, that could be a few different things. it could be the ios17 beta, that was pretty rough on battery, it could be the extra brightness of the screen putting more pressure on the battery and causing the heat on the inside which can permanently degrade your cell. whatever it was, Apple didn't really acknowledge or address any battery concerns. It is not clear if any of those long term effects will be present, but what I can say is the Iphone15 pros are better for sure than the 14pro with a bigger battery capacity  more mature software and better heat dissipation which should make that battery last longer overtime but as well as the camera test there will also be a very detailed battery test alongside it so there will be a lot to talk about there.


I am slightly sad the charging speed has not gone up which would have been one of the main perks of the USB3 ports but at least the phone does leverage some of the capabilities of USB C with the ability to  reverse charge your airpods. What actually is great news and what I am surprised that apple didn't talk about at the event was that its not just airpods, the fact that your iphone15 can now deliver power through USB C means almost anything you can plug this cable to, you can charge. Which mean that the first time since switching to the Iphone like 4yrs ago, I don't have to feel like the battery leach in my phone group. I guess the main perk of Iphone being USB-C now is some semblance of stability. 

This move was always on the horizon, it always felt like it could be just next year that apple switched over now that it has just happened. You can safely invest in some USB-C accessories you know wont become outdated for at least a couple years but probably more.

I know there's been rumors of a portless Iphone, but honestly I.. I just think they are a long way off, there's so many things that will suffer if apple made that move anytime soon like being able to listen to proper lossless music, being able transfer massive ProRes videos files which apple is touting as one of the new feature that you should use as well as all kinds of really niche things like using your phone as a screen to pilot you drone where you need the lowest latency possible.

In order to bring this all together though, we need to consider the prices.

For the Iphone 15's the Pro is staying at its price of $999 and the Promax is going up by a hundred to $1199. To which I would say, I think the normal pro is on a really good place right now. Its an iterative phone but one that ties together a lot of the loose ends that apple has had over the years integrating all the bitty camera features together, sanding down the rough edges of the design and bringing a little lift to the battery while at it. The Promax is a bit of a harder pill to swallow since the only additional difference for the extra 100$ gap in price is more storage and your 3x lens becoming a 5x lens which is an upgrade but not a massive one and one that in some situations can even leave you with worse shots than the 3x but that does not invalidate it. The 15promax is still the phone for people who want the best iphone, its the phone that I have already switched especially because of the battery.

And also important note! the phone isn't actually necessarily more expensive the quoted prices apple gives are always US but like here in the UK the 15promax is the same price as the 14promax and that's the 14promax with half the storage, 

Ok we'll will see you at the comparisons.