iPhone 16

By Justin Harris, 25 October, 2024

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hello,
I am looking at the iPhone 16. I got an SE3 not long ago, literally a few months, and while I've been able to get along with it, I do prefer a bigger phone. I was thinking about the Plus, but think I will just go with the regular 16 to save money, unless the battery life is way way better. It is still a bigger phone than the SE3. Plus gesture navigation is nice, face id, magsafe, all those things the SE3 doesn't have, but my main reason for grabbing the 16 is battery life, as I have to recharge multiple times a day and it's a bit much. The SE3 is a good phone, and if all you do is make an occasional phone call, send a few messages here and there, it's more than enough, but if you are always doing something on the phone, facebook, youtube, music, etc, the SE3 just isn't cutting it. But, I have a few questions.
With the new camera control button, is it possible to set it to always use the selfie cam by default when you press it? It would be nice not to have to switch to it every time I open the camera app. Is it possible to disable some of the more advanced controls with it, so I don't end up activating things by accident? It would be good for one press to open the app, and the second to take a pic, but disable the other menu you get when doing swipes and half presses. What kind of feedback does Voiceover give when using it?
How has battery life been for you?
How are you all using the action button? I know there are some creative uses out there.
I look forward to reading your responses.

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Comments

By Brian on Friday, October 25, 2024 - 14:15

Hey Justin,

I can answer some of these as I have a friend who has shown me all kinds of nifty things with her lovely pink iPhone 16.

> Camera: Go to Settings, Camera, Preserve settings and enable Camera Mode. This will make it so whenever your camera opens, it will be using the camera you used last time. Also, if you were recording video last time, it will be setup automagically for video recording. 👍
> Camera Button: An interesting feature that Apple included is the ability to take a picture with a 3rd party app. Just open something like Be My Eyes, press the Camera Button, and BME will be giving you an image description in no time. 👍
> Rich Contrast: iPhone has something called Photographic Styles. This is a type of filter designed to give different visual enhancements to your photos. I have been told that, "Rich Contrast", gives really great pics, with sharp clarity and detail. I can only imagine they would look even better on the iPhone 16. 🙂

HTH.

By Justin Harris on Friday, October 25, 2024 - 14:15

Hey man, thanks for the info. That helps a lot. Much appreciated. Hope you are doing well.

By Brian on Friday, October 25, 2024 - 14:15

Does that count? 😆
Actually I am finished with my networking courses, and now am studying for theCert. So as you can imagine, I am utterly exhausted. 😫

Good luck with your new iPhone. I think you will enjoy it for the most part. I myself am looking forward to the new SE4 when it's released, but that is probably for another thread. . . 😅

By Troy on Friday, October 25, 2024 - 14:15

I'm getting an IPhone16 tomorrow. Coming from the SE3, this will be my first phone without a home button so I'm a bit nervous but was told it doesn't take long to learn. I've had the SE3 almost 3 years and the battery is at 82 percent and drains faster than when it was new so I know it's not for long in this world. I forget who it was but they mentioned that the AI descriptions are better do to the bigger camera.

By Brian on Friday, October 25, 2024 - 14:15

The short time I owned a 15 Pro, I did notice descriptions processed a lot faster. My misfortune with that particular device has given me a phobia for the Pro models. As I mentioned above, its the SE4 for me.

I currently also use a SE3.

What can I say, I always cheer for the underdog. 😏

By Justin Harris on Friday, October 25, 2024 - 14:15

Before the SE3, I had a 13 pro, which was a really good phone, and I should have never gotten rid of it, but I wanted to try Android. Switched and for a bit really liked it... until I just didn't. lol I'm not going to bash, because Android has indeed come a long way, but I am much faster on iOS. My issues with Android and the things I liked about it have all been discussed in other posts here on this site. I got the SE3 because it was the only thing I could afford at the time, to get me on an iPhone that was still getting updates. I had a feeling the small battery was going to be an issue, but I thought, well, it's an iPhone, and it's better than nothing. I've had it only a few months. Battery health is still at 100%. But, while I can't say much about the AI descriptions, as the SE3 and the 13 pro have the same chip inside, I can indeed say that the lack of a home button is not a problem. In fact, while going back to a home button was fine, I actually prefer the way of doing things on the newer phones. You'll be amazed how fast you adapt. In fact, having had no home button, and then going back to one, I had issues at first, because I couldn't understand for the life of me why voiceover wasn't toggling with a triple press of the side button, or why when I went to use Siri I almost shut my phone off. Duh, use the home button, not the side button. Oops!
Let me know how you like it and how that camera control button works for you.

By Michael Hansen on Friday, October 25, 2024 - 14:15

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Hi Justin,

While writing my iPhone 16 Pro Max review, I researched the battery life stats for all 4 iPhone 16 models. In case this might be helpful, below is the relevant paragraph:

When comparing battery life of the iPhone 16 Pro Max to other iPhone 16 models, estimates are proportional to device size; with the iPhone 16 Pro Max offering the highest estimated battery life, followed by the iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16, respectively. Apple says that the iPhone 16 Pro Max offers up to 33 hours of video playback, up to 29 hours of streamed video playback, and up to 105 hours of audio playback. The iPhone 16 Plus and 16 Pro both offer up to 27 hours of video playback, but the iPhone 16 Plus offers up to 24 hours of streamed video playback and up to 100 hours of audio playback; whereas the iPhone 16 Pro offers up to 22 hours of streamed video playback and up to 85 hours of audio playback. The iPhone 16 offers up to 22 hours of video playback, up to 18 hours of streamed video playback, and up to 80 hours of audio playback.

By Justin Harris on Saturday, October 26, 2024 - 14:15

Hello,
Thanks for this info. I have been planning on the iPhone 16, because I will be doing this on a payment plan, and I know the base 16 falls under what I was actually approved for, and the Plus is slightly more than what I was approved for. I think they would probably just let me pay the difference, which is not much, and I can be convinced to go for the Plus, but that's why I was thinking of just the base model, which will still be dramatically better than this SE3, right?