WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.120 Every fall, I find myself hoping that this is going to be the new iPhone or 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:11.000 the new iOS that's going to inspire me to switch back to Apple. And yet, every 00:00:08.520 --> 00:00:16.440 fall, they seem to autumn short. But, while it used to be by a lot, this 00:00:13.520 --> 00:00:20.360 last round of updates has me this close to jumping into their walled garden with 00:00:18.080 --> 00:00:24.440 both feet. So, I did it. I spent most of the last 00:00:22.560 --> 00:00:29.640 couple of months daily driving this iPhone Air. The sex appeal of this 00:00:26.840 --> 00:00:33.880 device is undeniable, and it's different enough from their past models that I 00:00:31.520 --> 00:00:39.440 really wanted to give it a fair shake. Then, I spent the last couple of weeks 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:41.280 with the iPhone 17 and the 17 Pro Max to 00:00:39.440 --> 00:00:44.600 see what I was missing out on by going with the skinny one. 00:00:43.040 --> 00:00:49.040 There ended up being a lot for me to like about all of them, actually. But, 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:52.800 as you would expect, I also managed to run into my fair share of 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:57.840 "Only Linus could break an iPhone this horribly" issues, as well. 00:00:54.920 --> 00:01:01.080 And, as you would expect, this segues to our sponsor, 00:00:59.080 --> 00:01:05.000 dbrand. I bet you didn't know that robots could be charitable, too. Well, 00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:09.440 they can, and dbrand is giving away a Samsung Galaxy Tri-Fold right now. So, 00:01:07.960 --> 00:01:13.120 stick around to the end of the video to learn how you can win it. 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:27.840 Just like last time, my switch from Android got off to a pretty rocky start. 00:01:25.600 --> 00:01:32.480 Apple's Move to iOS app is, to put it bluntly, utterly useless. Almost as 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:36.640 useless as Apple Support, whose only advice to fix the issue was, 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:40.200 "I don't know, just try it again." So, after several failed attempts, I 00:01:38.360 --> 00:01:43.360 settled for what little it managed to copy over for me, and then I manually 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:47.240 set up the rest. These issues might become a thing of the past, by the way. 00:01:44.880 --> 00:01:51.080 9to5Mac recently reported that Apple and Google are apparently working together 00:01:49.360 --> 00:01:54.920 on making platform migrations more streamlined. But, I'll believe it when I 00:01:52.800 --> 00:01:59.600 see it at this point. Overall, my opinion of iOS hasn't changed much since 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:03.960 my iPhone 16 review last year. The liquid glass interface looks pretty, but 00:02:02.760 --> 00:02:07.880 it's not what I would have liked Apple to be working on, with my main gripe 00:02:05.800 --> 00:02:13.440 still being iOS's meme-worthy autocorrect and complete ducking lack of 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:17.360 meaningful keyboard customization, even with third-party keyboards that work 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:22.040 great for me on Android. I type on my phone a lot. Texts, emails, Teams chats, 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:25.440 editing video titles, and updating our tracker sheet, and much of what I do 00:02:23.920 --> 00:02:30.400 requires frequent use of special characters and non-normie vocab. And if 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:34.360 I can't text efficiently, then I can't operate efficiently. But, you've heard 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:38.520 all that before. Let's talk about new stuff. My first impression of the iPhone 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:44.600 Air was absolutely outstanding. I mean, it's just it's so sleek. It's so light, 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:48.760 which I really appreciate now that Apple's flagship phones have gotten so 00:02:46.640 --> 00:02:54.840 brick-like. But, here's the rub. No, like, right here is 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:59.080 the rub. Once you actually hold the Air and use it day-to-day, the narrow frame 00:02:57.200 --> 00:03:03.360 creates kind of a pressure point on the pinky right here. And also, because of 00:03:01.440 --> 00:03:07.440 the camera bump and the compute being up here, the weight balance is not great. 00:03:06.160 --> 00:03:12.480 Of course, you can fix all of that with a case, but I mean, what is the point of the Air at 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:16.560 that point? It's like ordering a diet Coke with your baconator. Another 00:03:14.040 --> 00:03:21.000 ergonomic challenge is picking up or holding the phone without mashing the 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:24.480 camera control button here. Now, to be fair, this can be tuned in 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:28.200 Apple's favorite hiding place for useful features that should be obvious, the 00:03:26.160 --> 00:03:32.360 accessibility settings menu, but the default experience is noticeably worse 00:03:30.880 --> 00:03:36.000 than other members of the iPhone 17 family, where there's a little bit of 00:03:33.880 --> 00:03:40.640 solid ground on either side. The same goes for battery life. It's mostly fine, 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:46.200 simply because Apple's idle battery management is so good. But, I did have a 00:03:44.640 --> 00:03:49.680 couple of days where I was traveling for factory tours, and I needed to hotspot 00:03:48.280 --> 00:03:55.920 off of my phone. I ended up running out of battery as early as 6:00 p.m., which simply 00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:59.520 wouldn't happen on my Pixel 9A or on one of the chunkier iPhones. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:04.280 Once again, Apple does offer a solution for that, a MagSafe power bank, but 00:04:02.600 --> 00:04:08.640 baconator. You get the point. And the Air also 00:04:06.040 --> 00:04:11.080 charges slower than the other 17 models, which 00:04:09.720 --> 00:04:15.360 actually, look, I I don't want to spend the rest of our time together dunking on this thing. So, let's get through the 00:04:13.600 --> 00:04:19.720 rest of this quickly so I can talk about the iPhone that I actually liked. The 00:04:17.799 --> 00:04:23.000 mono speaker is atrocious for watching landscape content. The single 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:26.600 48-megapixel camera feels extremely limiting, even for someone who only uses 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:30.880 it casually to snap pictures of his kids and cats. I had on-again, off-again 00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:35.880 reception issues both with Wi-Fi and cellular. And while I initially 00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:39.880 appreciated its heroin chic figure, the novelty of the form factor wore off 00:04:37.760 --> 00:04:43.400 pretty quickly. Now, there has been some speculation that the main reason that 00:04:41.840 --> 00:04:46.320 Apple put the iPhone on a diet was to aid the development of a future foldable 00:04:45.320 --> 00:04:52.160 phone. I can't speak to that, but what I can say is that, like so many of Apple's 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:57.120 first-generation products, the Air feels like an expensive niche device for early 00:04:55.080 --> 00:05:00.760 adopters. And if the reports of slow sales of the Air are anything to go by, 00:04:58.960 --> 00:05:05.760 I'm not the only one who feels this way. And I didn't miss it even a little after 00:05:03.320 --> 00:05:10.480 switching to the iPhone 17, which resolved pretty much every issue that I 00:05:07.840 --> 00:05:14.120 had with the Air. To be clear, there are things that are great about the Air. 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:19.120 It's just that they also happen to be great about the whole iPhone 17 lineup. 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:23.440 Like the displays. Good lord, are these things ever 00:05:21.160 --> 00:05:30.160 freaking awesome? Like, seriously, Corning's durable Ceramic Shield 2 glass 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:31.800 is tough. Like, even in my clumsy hands, 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:37.280 I managed to make it through months with these things with no scratches. I mean, 00:05:34.840 --> 00:05:41.280 look. Look at this ding in the titanium frame of the Air. That's titanium. I 00:05:39.760 --> 00:05:45.360 dropped this thing on the concrete when I missed my pocket. And like, 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:49.520 "Where are the scratches on the glass, Jerry?" The Ceramic Shield 2 is 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:54.880 definitely a massive improvement this year. And that's not even the best part. 00:05:51.880 --> 00:05:57.600 Apple has finally put 120 Hz adaptive 00:05:54.880 --> 00:06:03.160 ProMotion displays on the entire lineup, rather than paywalling smooth scrolling 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:06.800 behind the Pro tax. Across the lineup, these displays get incredibly bright, 00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:12.000 almost hitting their claimed peak of 1,600 nits in a 1% HDR window during 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:16.200 Labs testing, not to mention a whopping 3,000 nits when auto brightness kicks 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:22.680 in. And that's not even the best feature of them. I love being able to drop down 00:06:19.080 --> 00:06:24.960 to just 1 nit when it is time to relax 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:28.880 before bed. Seriously, it gets so dim that if you forget to turn that feature 00:06:26.280 --> 00:06:32.440 off, it can be hard to turn it back off when you're actually in 00:06:30.440 --> 00:06:35.320 reasonable light. Anyway, so super cool feature. Of course, it's hidden in the 00:06:33.880 --> 00:06:39.280 accessibility menu, so do yourself a favor and add a shortcut to Control 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:44.800 Center. Now, let's talk a bit more specifically about my favorite iPhone 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:48.840 right now, the iPhone 17. There's 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:53.200 not really much to set it apart. But, that's a good thing. It works great 00:06:51.400 --> 00:06:56.800 as a phone with only marginally lower performance than its bigger, more 00:06:54.560 --> 00:07:01.120 professional brother. It's got a solid camera, two, in fact, plus the 00:06:59.280 --> 00:07:05.200 outstanding new square sensor selfie camera that looks great in both portrait 00:07:02.920 --> 00:07:09.360 and landscape. It's got solid video capabilities, not on par with the Pro, 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:14.400 but better than pretty much anything you'll see on the Android side of the garden wall, and it's got stereo 00:07:12.400 --> 00:07:20.480 speakers with decent options for storage, 256 gigs base and a 512 gig 00:07:17.760 --> 00:07:25.440 option. All told, I think the iPhone 17 is the best-rounded iPhone in years. 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:30.400 It's a hair shy of the Pro version in every way that matters, but hundreds of 00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:34.640 dollars cheaper. It's so good that I think it's the reason that Apple dropped 00:07:32.280 --> 00:07:38.960 their Plus model. Like, if I could get a bigger screen without springing for the 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:44.240 Pro Max, that is 100% the route that I would have taken. It isn't perfect. It's 00:07:41.640 --> 00:07:49.280 got USB 2. It wobbles when it's placed screen up. And like any modern iPhone, 00:07:46.640 --> 00:07:53.480 it uses iOS 26, which has felt uncharacteristically unpolished during 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:57.760 my time with it. Wi-Fi tethering had this weird habit of just kind of 00:07:55.480 --> 00:08:02.320 turning off. And across all the phones I used, I experienced a wide array of just 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:07.280 buggy behaviors. Finally, let's talk about the Pro Max. I 00:08:04.960 --> 00:08:11.920 didn't really use the 17 Pro since it didn't offer anything over the 17 for 00:08:08.840 --> 00:08:14.400 me, but if you are big into vlogging or 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:19.240 doing pocket photography, it's probably worth the extra. The extra 48-megapixel 00:08:17.200 --> 00:08:23.640 telephoto lens is a welcome addition. The Pro gets a nice speed bump with the 00:08:21.280 --> 00:08:28.160 USB 3 at up to 10 gigabit per second, which you will need if you want to 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:32.680 record ProRes 4K at 120 FPS to an external drive. And our Labs team found 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:37.640 that the Pro Max had the best iPhone battery discharge that we have ever 00:08:34.520 --> 00:08:39.520 tested. Also, the Pro and the Pro Max 00:08:37.640 --> 00:08:43.680 can be equipped with up to a terabyte and 2 terabytes of storage, 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:48.960 respectively. If you can stomach the $2,000 price tag. 00:08:47.400 --> 00:08:53.840 I don't really need any of that, though. So, if I was going to stick with iPhone this generation, I'd be going for the 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:56.760 regular 17. But, 00:08:55.240 --> 00:09:00.680 I don't think I can do it. No side-loading, no keyboard 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:04.840 customizations, crappy default screenshot management, including locking 00:09:02.880 --> 00:09:09.320 scrolling screenshots to only particular apps. Like, why? 00:09:07.800 --> 00:09:12.560 And also, that I can have a software experience that is every bit as buggy as 00:09:11.080 --> 00:09:18.800 Android. I don't know, Apple. Maybe next year. 00:09:15.320 --> 00:09:20.720 Maybe with Apple Hold. Until then, I 00:09:18.800 --> 00:09:24.920 think it's back to Android for me, and back to segwaying 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:29.040 to our sponsor, dbrand. You probably want to know how to score the Samsung 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:33.240 Galaxy Tri-Fold that dbrand is giving away, right? All right. 00:09:31.560 --> 00:09:36.440 I'll tell you. You just have to buy something from dbrand. 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So, go 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:15.760 buy some dbrand stuff and enter their trifle giveaway at i am very short.com. 00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:22.040 Not that short. If you guys like this video, why not 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:25.200 check out the video when the iPhone 17 launched in September? It's a good 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:28.440 little round up of all the new features and the new hardware.