Tag: iPhone

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My Opinion

Apple AirPods Pro Gen 2 versus Jabra Elite 75t

Okay. Let’s keep it short and sweet. Jabra Elite 75t is no march to Apple Airpods Pro Gen 2, except perhaps the fitting. We shall get there in a bit. Also, do note that these two earbuds are one generation apart, with Apple’s being the latest.

What an upgrade from Jabra to Apple.

First and foremost, my earbuds should allow me to make phone calls. Jabra is terrible. My voice is always too soft. Without ANC for my mic, it is impossible to use Jabra when I’m outside.

I am an audiophile. I would say that Airpods has better clarity. But Jabra has better bass and fuller sound, albeit a bit muffled. It is down to personal preference I would say. Also, Airpods by default switch on ANC. Jabra has to do it every time you put on your earbuds.

What is good about my Jabra is the fitting. It sits very nicely in my ears. I can’t say the same with my Airpods. It fell off my ear once. I have tried out the default medium tips. They have passed the fitting test. I have also tried out the large tips. They have also passed the fitting test. For a better result, I need to clean my ear with tissue paper prior to wearing my Airpods so that they won’t come loose. That is not very environmentally friendly.

I suppose in life, you just can’t have everything.

Categories
Photography

Photo Comparison: Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max versus Nikon Z6 – Tiong Bahru

These days, I have read more and more reports on how premium smartphones could replace some DSLR or mirrorless cameras. So I have taken my brand new iPhone for a test against my Nikon mirrorless camera today in my neighborhood of Tiong Bahru.

Before we start, this is not a lens contest. But instead, I focus on the results. It is the ease of shooting with a smartphone versus the traditional photo processing of a DSLR or mirrorless camera. In this test, with my iPhone, I shoot in HEIC format and edit the photos directly on the phone. I don’t have an application that can edit Apple’s ProRAW format so I leave it to the phone to do its magic.

As for my Nikon Z6, I am using a 35mm lens. I shoot in raw format and edit the photos using DxO Photolab 2.4. It is my usual editing style using only digital filters. The Nikon’s JPG export photos are compressed (80% quality) to keep the size comparable to Apple’s HEIC photos. The results are as follows.

A few highlight comparisons:

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
Nikon Z6
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
Nikon Z6
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
Nikon Z6

After thoughts:

Because iPhone 14 Pro Max’s main camera has a wider lens than my Nikon’s – 24mm versus 35mm – photo composition is going to be different. The results from iPhone are of course heavily processed with the benefit of HDR among other Apple proprietary algorithms. This may make some of the photos ‘pop’ more compared to a traditional camera. My Nikon prime lens obviously has better sharpness, which you can only tell the difference when you zoom in. I still prefer the processed photos from my Nikon Z6. But with the convenience of a smartphone, both in photo shooting and editing, the results from my iPhone are decent.

In short, if I am going for a nice holiday, I would certainly bring my Nikon Z6. As for my day-to-day needs, my iPhone should suffice.

Categories
Diary

iPhone Diary Day 2 – Let’s Talk About Always On & Dynamic Island

When iPhone pro series first announced, I followed some of the influencers on YouTube wanting to hear their views. After all they are the Apple “experts”. To my horror, some would suggest turning off always on feature because … they can’t tell if they have locked the phone?! That’s the strangest thing I have seen, coming from Android whereby the premium phones have this feature years ago.

I like always on. I can tell the time and see the notifications without tapping onto the screen. What’s not to like? Just that Apple’s implementation is quite different from say Samsung’s. It seems less minimalistic and more elaborate. I have no idea how Apple manage to find the extra battery to power the always on display. I certainly prefer it on.

Testing the iPhone 14 pro max x3 camera.

Prior to getting my hands on with the phone, I was rather intrigued by “dynamic island”. In reality though, I don’t find dynamic island in any of the iPhone setting. I hardly interact with it and very few occasions I see it in action. Spotify and WhatsApp calls. That’s about it.

I do like iPhone speakers though. How do they make it so good?

Categories
Diary

iPhone Diary Day 1 – Setting Up My 14 Pro Max

As someone who has used Android phones for 12 years, switching to iOS is quite an experienced. iPhone as an hardware is pretty expensive compared to Android phones. But as I’ve mentioned in my previous post, Android comes with its baggage. Cost aside, how do you put a price tag on a photo like the one below?

Bailey loves attentions.

Once DHL Express dropped the new iPhone to my doorstep, I visited the nearest authorised Apple Store to install a screen protector. I have already ordered a case from Casetify a while back. I am ready for action!

The initial set up is easy. Reinstalling apps is also straightforward. The painful part is to log into all the apps with different user ids passwords. Some apps I couldn’t remember the user ids as it could be my email address or my mobile number or even Google id. Someone smart would need to think of a way to solve this ’world’ problem.

After all the hassles, when I finally got my new phone to a MVP, I discovered that WhatsApp doesn’t readily share the Android backup with Apple’s! I have to reset my new phone and use the Move to iOS app to migrate the chat. At that point, I’ve decided to just forgo what I had and start anew. WhatsApp may one day shutdown. It is better to be less reliance on these free services.

It takes me a while to get used to how iOS works. Swiping seems intuitive and I think in due course, I will get the hang of it. I can’t wait to do some camera testing and that’s the story for another day! Stay tuned.

PS. What’s up with the double spacing that I have to manually delete while writing this post on my iPhone?! It is either the Apple default keyboard or Safari browser or both.