Tag Archives: IPhone

Technology

My List of Mobile Handsets (updated)

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I’ll go back in time now and make a list of all the mobile handsets I have owned till date. You may notice that the list is quite long, with it being especially dense in the first few years.

The iPhone X still holds the record of the longest used mobile handset by me (almost 3 years).

YearPhoneComments
2003Reliance LG RD2030 (CDMA)My first phone, my father had to pull many strings to get me this.
2004Nokia 3530My first colour phone. I miss the paragliding game.
2004Samsung C100Had a hidden temperature sensor and a notification LED supporting customisable colours.
2004Samsung X100Slightly better than the above.
2004Nokia 1100My first phone with a torch.
2005Nokia 2112My last CDMA phone.
2005Nokia N-Gage QDDidn’t have stereo audio for music playback.
2005Nokia 3510iPurchased Second hand.
2005O2 Xphone IIOne of the best phones I had.
2005Motorola C350When the above got stolen. I think I got it for ~₹1000, second hand. Shitty.
2006Nokia 6100Second Hand.
2006Nokia E50One of the best phones I had. It was the sleekest Symbian ever. I still use the Text Tone “Flurry” as my wife’s message tone.
2006Sony Ericsson J100iShitty.
2007Nokia N73 MEIt was thick, but had a good (back then) camera.
2007Nokia E51Back to the thinner E Series.
2007LG KS20One of the worst phones I had. It was unrefined and shitty.
2008Nokia E51Went back to E51.
2009Nokia E52Good phone, died on the flight to Palo Alto. I spent an entire weekend in San Francisco and many days in Gurgaon trying to get it repaired, but failed.
2010iPhone 3GGot this as a temporary phone in Palo Alto, later gifted to mother. Used only a week.
2010Nokia E63Mooched this one off my father.
2011Nokia E7-00First phone I ever pre-booked, and got immediately after returning from Turkey. My first AMOLED phone.
2012Nokia Lumia 900Was obsoleted by Microsoft within a few months of launch. Got it from SGBest.
2013Nokia Lumia 720Got it from MGF Metropolitan Mall
2013Nokia Lumia 925The Lumia 720 didn’t feel premium enough, so.
2014Nokia Lumia 920The Lumia 925 didn’t have wireless charging, so.
2014Nokia Lumia 830Slightly bigger screen, but LCD.
2015Microsoft Lumia 950XLLumia Flagship. Also, a big mistake.
2017Apple iPhone 7 PlusFirst legit iPhone.
2018Apple iPhone XGift from a fiend.
2019Apple iPhone XSGot it for dual SIM during travel, gifted iPhone X to wife.
2020Apple iPhone XSwapped Xs with X with wife, as I switched jobs and didn’t need to travel anymore.
2020Apple iPhone 12 ProFirst phone I bought in a long time with money I already had
2022Apple iPhone 14 ProFirst phone I bought with a 120Hz display
2024Apple iPhone 16 ProCurrent Phone
List of Mobile Handsets

As you can see, my mobile handsets have gone through different eras:

2003-2005 : Feature Phone era. I generally bought any handset I liked.
2005-2011 : Symbian Era. I mostly had Symbian phones with some other platforms sprinkled in between.
2012-2015 : Lumia Era. I purely had Windows Phones.
2017-Present : Apple Era.

Let’s see what the future brings.

Technology

Apple iPhone 16 Pro

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I had been using the Apple iPhone 14 Pro for more than 2 years. But I started yearning to upgrade it as soon as iPhone 16 Pro was announced. I did try to convince myself to wait for another year, but last month, I gave up and bought the iPhone 16 Pro.

The iPhone 16 Pro is delightful to hold without a case
The iPhone 16 Pro is a delight to hold without a case

My views on the iPhone 16 Pro

  1. The battery life is much better than the 14 Pro. The phone, now, easily lasts a full day without a top-up. Although I do top-up during the day most days.
  2. Charging is much faster (Including wireless) and the phone emits less heat while charging.
  3. The cameras are a modest improvement. I don’t see a big difference in picture quality most of the times, but for low-light photos, I do see an improvement. Portrait photos are also faster now, with motion frozen. The 5x zoom is useful, but I, personally haven’t found a use-case for it till now. Disappointed that portrait mode photos are still 12MP.
  4. The phone feels much cooler while using. It didn’t overheat once during initial setup, which was more or less guaranteed on the 14 Pro.
  5. It is such a relief to remove the last lightning port personal device from my life and get rid of all remaining lightning cables.
  6. The display is slightly bigger (Although with similar specs) and the bezels slightly smaller, but I don’t notice any of that because I switched from using my phone with a case/screen guard, to using without it, which made a bigger difference.
  7. I can finally fulfil my desire to use my phone without a case. Overall, the phone is extremely pleasurable to hold naked.
    • The Titanium sides are not glossy like the 14 Pro, almost matte. Looks beautiful and elegant. Doesn’t slip when holding.
    • The edges are not as sharp as on the 14 Pro.
    • There’s a pronounced slope when the phone is resting on its back, because of the huge camera island. And since the island is on one side, not in the centre, it is impossible to use the phone when it is lying on a flat surface, as it flops around.
iPhone 16 Pro slope because of camera bump
iPhone 16 Pro slope because of camera bump
iPhone 16 Pro Titanium White
iPhone 16 Pro Titanium White

Lessons learnt when selling the old Phone

  1. Going to great lengths to keep the phone in pristine condition without a single scratch is not worth it. At the end of the day, it hardly earns any extra money while selling it.
  2. Things like cases, screen guards are all dead weight.
  3. Paying to replace the battery is useless because no one pays extra for battery health.
Technology

iPhone 14 Pro first impressions

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So I upgraded from my iPhone 12 Pro to an iPhone 14 Pro. Here’re my takeaways after 1 day:

The camera module is huge. There’s a perceptible slope to the phone when lying flat. The phone looks stupid without a case. Like it has sprouted a tumour.

iPhone 12 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro Camera bump without case
Camera bump without case
iPhone 12 Pro vs iPhone 14 Pro Camera bump with case
Camera bump with case

But the cameras take very nice macro images. Will get creative with this in the days to come.

Orange Macro, iPhone 14 Pro
Orange Macro, iPhone 14 Pro
Fabric Macro, iPhone 14 Pro
Fabric Macro, iPhone 14 Pro

It is and feels heavier than 12 Pro. I am glad I didn’t get the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which I almost did. My little finger is already suffering.

FaceID is noticeably faster.

The dynamic island is cool. Even the parts with the FaceID sensor and the camera are touch sensitive. Hope more apps develop cool features for it.

Dynamic Island, iPhone 14 Pro
Music, Dynamic Island
Dynamic Island, iPhone 14 Pro
Charging, Dynamic Island
Dynamic Island, iPhone 14 Pro
Lock Screen, Dynamic Island

Although, the notch on the older iPhones had become invisible to me, I still can’t un-see the dynamic island. Also, the Dynamic island sits a bit lower on the screen compared to the older notch, so app content starts even lower. This change is just barely perceptible.

Mail app, iPhone 12 ProMail app, iPhone 14 Pro

The always on display is cool. Time will tell how much battery it uses up.

The display is cooler (as in colour temperature). I think my iPhone 12 Pro Display was unnecessarily warm.

The 120Hz display difference is visible, especially during screen animations and when using the 12 Pro.

Will sell the iPhone 12 Pro once my eSIM situation is sorted out, hopefully in March 2023.