Elly Awesome’s pick of the ‘best’ new Apple iPhone
After getting a preview of all of the new Apple products and iPhones, tech expert Elly Awesome has chosen her best pick.
What’s it like to visit Apple’s headquarters on one of their most important days of the year? The iPhone launch is one of the most anticipated tech events, held at Apple Park, a campus located in Cupertino, California. This was my first time attending an Apple event, in Apple’s famous ‘Steve Jobs Theatre’, for the launch of the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and much more.
If you’ve never seen any photos of Apple’s headquarters before, well, its architecture and design is truly outstanding. The whole campus looks less like a business complex and more like a small town, which features the main building dubbed ‘the ring’ or ‘spaceship’, surrounded by gorgeous parklands filled with native plants, spanning across 71 hectares.
Apple launched their products at the Steve Jobs Theatre, a circular, transparent, glass building that is simply jaw dropping. And it only feels more grand as you walk down its sculpted stone staircases towards the underground theatre which seats 1000 people.
Here, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, took to the stage to welcome everyone and expressed his delight about seeing the room full of people for the first time in three years.
During the pandemic, the launches were virtual or outdoors. Since then, besides a quick introduction, Apple events have evolved into a mostly cinematic experience where you watch the announcements in prerecorded projections on the stage.
It’s still all quite impressive, even though it’s not the Apple team presenting live. And anticipation was high with the assumption that everyone would get hands-on time with the new products after the announcements.
iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus
The new iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus was announced. It now comes in two different sizes – 15.5cm or 17cm. This is basically the new iPhone 14 in two sizes, but the larger one may have a slightly better battery life.
Both phones have Apple’s new ‘Crash Detection’ safety feature which enables the Apple Watch 8 to call emergency services in your country in the event you are in a severe car crash.
The cameras have also been improved, including tech enhancements in night mode and autofocus was also added to the front camera.
In the USA, Apple is removing the SIM card slot on iPhone 14 models and moving to eSIM. But lucky for us Aussies we’ll get to keep the SIM card tray and get eSIM support, which allows you to have a digital SIM card or even multiple SIMs, ie, multiple phone numbers and plans.
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max
My iPhone of choice was the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max that was announced. These phones have been updated to have the best cameras, a new gorgeous ‘always on display’ and a feature that stands out from the rest – Dynamic Island.
It’s a funny name but Apple has taken the iPhone’s ‘notch’ (the black part at the top of the phone that houses the selfie camera) and turned it into a statement feature that blends software with hardware.
There’s now a bunch of unique features built into that camera notch, such as an ability to see voice memos being recorded, an easier way to interact with music that’s playing, and things such as your Face ID unlock icon will now appear from within this area.
You can pre-order the Pros on Friday, September 9 with availability beginning Friday, September 16. The iPhone 14 Pro starts at $A1749 and the iPhone 14 Pro Max starts at $A1899.
Apple Watch Series 8 & Apple Watch SE
First, a new Apple Watch Series 8 was announced, with a new high tech body temperature sensing feature, which is especially useful to help track ovulation and assist in tracking menstrual cycles.
Additionally, a new ‘Crash Detection Feature’, as mentioned in the iPhone 14 review.
They also included a new Low Power Mode which increases the watches’ battery life for up to 36 hours. Next, there were updates to the Apple Watch SE, which is Apple’s entry level watch that’s now been made lighter but given the latest processor featuring in Apple Watch 8.
It looks great for kids or people looking to get into smart watches. Australians can order the Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch SE today, with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 16. The Apple Watch Series 8 starts at $629 and Apple Watch SE starts at $399.
Apple Watch Ultra
Next there was a crazy surprise – an all new, seriously rugged Apple Watch dubbed Apple Watch Ultra.
This thing is made to be ultra weatherproof, durable, and insanely useful for explorers, divers and athletes sporting a new customisable button, a compass with waypoints, 36 hours of battery during normal use and up to 60 hours of battery life with its low power mode. You can order the Apple Watch Ultra today, with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 23 for $1299.
AirPods Pro
AirPods Pro finally had some major updates. The first being the ability to control the volume by swiping up on the stem of the buds. It’s a long overdue addition and really one of the only features these were missing.
Additionally, there’s now better FindMy support with a louder speaker built into the case so it can beep at you, and also flash at you, for a better chance of finding your lost AirPods Pro case.
There’s also a new lanyard loop so you can make the case easier to hold on to.
Battery life has also been greatly improved. But most impressively, the audio quality, transparency mode and active noise cancellation is now even better than before, which is mind blowing considering these buds were already top tier on all counts.
There’s also new adaptive transparency and the price remains the same as the original AirPods Pro costing $399.
Honestly, there were so many announcements that it’s almost impossible to condense the news into some quick coverage. So, you’ll have to stay tuned for my reviews on each of these new gadgets, once I recover from my jet lag, so you can get the full low down!
Apple paid for Elly Awesome’s travel and accommodation to attend this event.
Elly Awesome is an Aussie tech and lifestyle vlogger | @ellyawesometech | YouTube
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