A comparison of Atal Sarovar in 2011 and 2025. It's fascinating to see how much the area has changed over the years.

This is going to be a long one so I have added a TLDR from AI at the end. The details are so that people who are considering to buy have some idea about how the phone performs in our conditions. Others may proceed to tldr.

Alright first of all the pics with the power brick were a joke, this phone has issues but the battery is not one of them. I just thought it would be funny as most people think the battery with this phone must be that bad that you’d have to carry a magsafe powerbank everywhere.

I am sure that I am one of the very few people on this sub that bought this piece of jewellery and there are not many reviews if any on the sub. Well now you got one and it is going to be a long one so go grab the goodies from the kitchen.

Easy-peesy-Lemon-squeezy no problem. Here we go.

So a little context on my previous phone. I originally came from a S22+ (Snapdragon 8gen1) and used a iphone 17 pro for 15 days while the Air was in transit.

Why did I change my Samsung?

Well because as I realised the hard way, Samsung’s hardware is crap and my ₹90k phone of only 3.5 years (that already had multiple green lines) got bricked while charging (with the expensive original charger). I took it to the SC and they said the motherboard is short-circuited and would cost over ₹30k to replace and all the 256gb of data would be lost. The SC said that they don’t do repairs and only replace the motherboard but the local shops do and I can recover my data with that.

So I took the phone to a local repair shop and they repaired the motherboard. They said its a 50-50% chance of survival. So I immediately backed the data up. The phone died again that night right in front of my eyes. It stuttered for a bit and then died completely. I thought it was time to move on.

Its a shame because I wanted to use the phone at least another 3-4 years. There is no point in upgrading phones every few years because they are not upgrades anyways.

Whats up with 75% of the iphone 17 series in my hand?

My father is just like me (well I am like him) and he was still using his iphone XR since launch! (also a iphone 12 mini as work phone). It was finally time to retire the XR because it was getting a bit slow.

So he got the iphone 17 pro 512gb that would last him another 10 years. He did not have time to change phones and for some reason the data was not transferring from the XR so the phone was sitting in the shelf for over a month. So I was using that phone after my phone died and this one was in transit.

The base 17 is my little brother’s first phone as he completed NEET (well that got cancelled so the phone was back in the shelf lol).

Why iphone?

I was originally thinking of sticking to Android and I was eying the Pixel 10 pro mainly due to the plateau design on the back. I did not want any other android. The Chinese seemed appealing with their market benchmark hardware and the insane battery tech but I was not into them.

I stumbled upon a iphone air review from Linus Tech Tips on youtube and his labs team showed how even this razor thin iphone air was 2 times better than the pixel in performance and even beat it in battery life by 2 hours with this way smaller battery! I thought Google may have improved their chipsets somewhat than the previous generations with their deal with TSMC and all but apparently not. So I gave up on the Pixel.

Everyone in my family was using iphones and they lasted so long and their integration with the ecosystem was so good. IOS also looked very good and I thought I’d give a try to Apple now.

Why the Air over the base 17?

Iphone 17 pro and pro max seemed very expensive and I think spending over 1 lac on a phone is wasteful.

As I said, I liked the plateau design on the Pixel and the air looked good too.

The base 17 is such a well made product and it is a full package. But it was just too small for me as I realised when using the 17 pro. I would still have bought it if it brought any major upgrades over the Air (it does have some upsides over the air but I will discuss this along with next topics about why they didn’t matter to me).

What are the downsides with iphone Air and how they did or did not matter to me:

1. Thermals: They have done such great work with the vapour chamber on the pro model that I never ever noticed it get warm other than when charging. The Air on the other hand suffers from its titanium frame and thin form. It gets a bit hot on the plateau area occasionally. But never as bad as my Samsung. The phone is not bad at all thermally, its just not the Pro level with that vapour chamber.

Advantages of iphone Air:

1. Obvious one, design: The phone so thin and it literally feels like a piece of glass in your hands. Everyone around me thinks its a Pixel due to the plateau lol. It disappears in your pockets and you don’t even feel it there. The pro on the other hand is a literal brick and would drag your sweat pants down.
2. Haptics: due to its thin design, the haptics feel a lot better and sharper.
3. Typing: it is a very better experience than the pro phones due to the wider screen. I love typing on it as you can see from the long review.
4. Its a freaking tank: you must have seen the jerry rig everything video on this phone. Go watch it if you haven’t. I use a minimal case with exposed sides and a screen protector nevertheless.

What am I missing from android? (Or samsung)

1. circle to search
2. ability to have notifications and control center in the same menu.
3. ability to drop down control center or notifications with one swipe
4. a freaking clipboard
5. split screen
6. Samsung dex. This one is specifically from Samsung, It is such a nice feature to have in case you have a smart tv and don’t want to buy more expensive subscriptions for tv as even screen mirroring does not work but samsung dex does.
7. Cameras. Not the multiple cameras, but cameras as a whole. Iphone definitely takes better videos but Samsung is so much better at pictures. I think Samsung cameras are the best out there. Iphone is not so far behind at well lit areas but it manages shadows too bad and over darkens images. Samsung is so much better at low lights and at taking pictures of human subjects. Everyone with a iphone in my group wanted their pictures to be taken on my samsung because of a specific reason. As Linus from Linus tech tips on YT says, Samsung cameras are racist, and well Indians are racist and they like their pictures to be taken on racist cameras if you know what I mean.
8. fingerprint reader. I mean its not that much of an issue as face Id is generally much more faster and it is growing on me. But I miss not having to pick up my phone from the table to unlock it.
9. keyboard shortcuts for punctuations and a number row. It is so annoying and I don’t like the gboard on iphone.

What do I like more on Apple?

1. smoothness. IOS in general feels a lot more smoother and snappier than Android. Apps install rapidly, camera opens instantly, siri is so fast at setting alarms….
2. customisation. I cannot believe I am saying this but iphones have come so far that I think the customisations on this thing are even more useful than on my Samsung. The lock screen customisations are awesome.
3. Airdrop. It is so well integrated into the ecosystem and works flawless. On android even tech savy people have issues with using quick share and it does not even work some times. And everyone knows how to use airdrop whether they are a geek or not.
4. location services. I love how it just turns on and off location as the app needs. I don’t have to turn it off after I am done using it.
5. liquid glass is freaking awesome and it looks even more beautiful on this phone.

There are many things about IOS but Idk how to describe them. It just feels better overall and is more polished.

Takeaway

All in all this phone in particular just feels so good to use. It is just a phone you would want to pick up and use because of the form factor. And no, the feeling of the novelty does not go away.

Even though this phone is larger than the pro model it feels easier to use because of the lightness. Like it is much more easier to reach tye top of this phone to go back and all even though this phone is larger. You can just handle it much more easier.

This phone is full of compromises and looks not that great on paper but once you get your hands on it you are spoiled with the beauty of it.

Now I know the china ke dalal will come in the comments like they did on my previous post and start saying praises of the oppos and the onepluses and the vivos and how they have much better hardware but they are just not for me. Sure they may be better, I am tech savy so I am aware on what I skipped on and I would still do the same.

I am not trying to validate or justify my purchase, people on my previous post thought I was doing that. I still have the option to have the pro model as my father is a iphone 12 mini user and he likes the air and the pro is too heavy for him too. But I don’t think I am going to switch. We are all doctors in my family and we have to carry the phones around and heavy phones are just not it. I just saw a lot of negative comments on the sub about the phone so thought I’d convey the message that this phone is not for everyone. And it is perfect for whom it is.

I don’t know if anyone is going to read this far but if you did you are a fucking legend.

*sorry the battery on the base model was dead so could not turn the screen on for comparison. But it is essentially the same as the pro model.

TL;DR (chat gpt)

The pics with powerbrick were a joke. Battery is a non issue.

Background

Switched from a dead Samsung S22+ after motherboard failure.
Considered Pixel 10 Pro but chose Apple due to performance, battery efficiency, ecosystem, and family experience.

Pro models too expensive.
Base 17 too small.
Bought Air for ₹75k from the US.

Cons

No ultrawide or telephoto camera.
Single speaker is poor and rattles.
Runs warmer than Pro models.
USB 2.0 speeds.
Not worth ₹1 lakh.

Pros

Extremely thin, light, and premium.
Great battery (6–8 hours SOT, excellent standby).
Large display with comfortable size.
Better haptics and typing experience.
Excellent network performance (Apple C1X modem).
Durable and easy to carry.

Misses from Android/Samsung

Circle to Search.
Split screen and Samsung DeX.
Better cameras for photos.
Fingerprint sensor.
Clipboard, back button, keyboard shortcuts, and unified notification/control center.

Better on IOS

Liquid glass beautiful
Smoother and faster experience.
Better lock-screen customization.
AirDrop.
Excellent standby battery.
Automatic location handling.
More polished overall.

Verdict

On paper, the iPhone 17 Air makes many compromises, but in daily use its thinness, lightness, display, and overall feel make it extremely enjoyable. Despite better-specced Android alternatives, the reviewer would buy it again.

Top 25 cars in May of 2026:
New Seltos: 10.5k units,
Sierra: 6.6k units,
Duster: didn’t even make the list.

Seltos sells due to its quirks and features. Sierra sells due to Tata’s safety (even tho the Seltos has more points). Duster doesn’t really have much to appeal the buyers with, that 4x4 was important after all. The hybrid variants are fighting with the Hyrider and GV, both of which have made a hold onto the hybrid buyers.

Renault did not share the details of Duster sales in the month of may but in April Duster sold about 2400 units and in May Renault as a whole sold about 4100 cars (all cars included).

I see so many of the Sierras and new Seltoses on the road but I am somehow yet to see my first Duster.

I was thinking of getting the Pixel 10 pro after my S22+ Snapdragon got bricked while charging.

I knew google’s previous chipsets weren’t that great and lagged way behind the market on performance. But since their G5 processor was made in collaboration with TSMC I thought it shouldn’t be that bad.

So I was watching Linus tech tips on youtube one day and out of curiosity clicked on the iphone air review. Their labs team tested both the iphone air and the 10 pro. The A19 pro chip on the air performed almost twice as fast as the Tensor chipset on the pixel in some areas!

And that was not the end of the humiliation. The iphone air, which is 3mm thinner, 50 grams lighter and has 1700 mah less battery capacity than the Pixel 10 pro and literally feels like a thin slab of glass, lasts longer in battery life by over 2 freaking hours! Google!!

I really hope Google fixes their chipsets or just moves to Qualcomm. This is freaking humiliating. I really wanted to stay with android and didn’t want anything Chinese, nor did I want samsung due to the hardware issues (I also had green lines).

So I did get the iphone air. I am a heavy user but still get away by charging the phone twice a day. Didn’t think I would love IOS this much, its really clean. I do miss the back button and circle to search tho.

Also the design is awesome. I don’t think I can go back to those chonky phones again.

I just had a thought.

So my father (with a 13 year old top model innova with 3 lakh km on odo) has been skeptical about EVs due to the high upfront costs. He says you should not think that far and try to solve your problems that you don’t even know will arise or not.

But like in case of our Innova, Diesel prices used to be around ₹50/liter when we bought our car, Today the cost is double that amount and our car has cost us over 20 lakhs on fuel.

The thing about electricity is that it is not going to get any more expensive (like fuel), if anything it is only getting cheaper due to the rise renewables and there is not going to be any shortage of it because we don’t need to import the coal we use to produce it.

If you buy a ICE car today thinking that EVs are too expensive, these cars are going to cost you way more. Even flex fuel cars are vulnerable to market fluctuations.

I don’t have Apple care and the phone feels slippery caseless. All the other cases out there (even the expensive ones) covered the side edges off and you cannot feel the thinness of the phone anymore. I tried the beats one and the JEtech ones too. Apple ones all cover the side frame.

Then found this one on Amazon India for 500 INR and gave it a try. It was everything I needed. It is cheap plastic but does not feel like it. Does not add any bulk, is sturdy enough, sides are exposed so you can still feel the phone, feels grippy, good camera plateau protection….and I needed one that didn’t cover the entire plateau, looks better this way. But the lip protection in front is not that great but still covers the edges very well. And there is no magsafe but its not that hard to remove (nor will it just fall off).

I wish there were more cases like these. The thin ones that I like all cover the plateau, which I don’t like.

I moved from a 17 pro. I am on the heavy side of usage so I had to charge even the pro twice a day.

I know it is not the same as using your phone from 100 to 0% and this is cumulative of all the charges but it is still commendable considering it was all on 5g.

Also a note on the networking difference. I am in India and we mostly use cellular here. This phone is performing noticeably better than the pro in network performance. I have never seen it go to 4g, it just latches onto 5g and does not let go (Indian ISPs provide limited 4g data usage, like 2gb per day depending on your plan but 5g is unlimited wherever available). Kudos to Apple on the C1X modem.

Icecreams are obvious. But this is Gola, a dish made of shredded ice and some flavours. You can find it on any street of India.