My new Oceanic iPhone dive housing arrived yesterday. I have done a quick and dirty video review, so you can see how it actually works.
Review Oceanic iPhone Dive Housing
- Thread starter stuartv
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OP
Bottom line for me: I believe I will be returning this thing.
It's really big, and heavy. Otherwise, it seems like it would work well and is good quality. I mean, I would NOT be worried about my iPhone getting damaged while using it in this housing. I think you could safely use it to bash attacking sharks over the head, if you needed to defend yourself. The buttons are really stiff (strong springs). I expect that means that it will work fine at any depth it's rated for, with no worries about buttons being accidentally pressed by water pressure (which can definitely happen to a GoPro when you get down deep).
But, where it really completely-fails-to-shine is in the app.
The app:
- is badly laggy
- does not let you do any color correction unless you pay for a subscription
- does not let you review videos that you shot
- only lets you review photos in the order they were taken. If you just shot your 30th photo of the dive and want to review it, you have to go into the gallery and scroll down through 29 other photos to see the one you just shot. Unless there is something I have failed to figure out about it.
- the lag is horrible when you start a video and end it. It is also pretty slow just to let you change from photo to video mode and back.
- the video shown as you are recording it is very jerky.
- you cannot delete any photos or video in the Gallery (i.e. during the dive)
- you cannot even see any videos that you recorded, in the Galley (i.e. during the dive)
This is all with my iPhone 14 Pro Max. I know it's the 3 months ago, old, last gen iPhone, but that is really no excuse for the app to be slow and laggy and video to be jerky.
Rather than buying one of these, I'd suggest to spend just a little more and get a new GoPro 12 with a dive housing. Leave your phone on the boat and also have no subscription to pay for.
If all that hasn't put you off and you still want one of these, I'll sell this one for what I paid for it (plus shipping). My shop is an authorized dealer, so I can provide you with a proper receipt for it, as well, to ensure warranty coverage. If you do want it, send me a DM.
It's really big, and heavy. Otherwise, it seems like it would work well and is good quality. I mean, I would NOT be worried about my iPhone getting damaged while using it in this housing. I think you could safely use it to bash attacking sharks over the head, if you needed to defend yourself. The buttons are really stiff (strong springs). I expect that means that it will work fine at any depth it's rated for, with no worries about buttons being accidentally pressed by water pressure (which can definitely happen to a GoPro when you get down deep).
But, where it really completely-fails-to-shine is in the app.
The app:
- is badly laggy
- does not let you do any color correction unless you pay for a subscription
- does not let you review videos that you shot
- only lets you review photos in the order they were taken. If you just shot your 30th photo of the dive and want to review it, you have to go into the gallery and scroll down through 29 other photos to see the one you just shot. Unless there is something I have failed to figure out about it.
- the lag is horrible when you start a video and end it. It is also pretty slow just to let you change from photo to video mode and back.
- the video shown as you are recording it is very jerky.
- you cannot delete any photos or video in the Gallery (i.e. during the dive)
- you cannot even see any videos that you recorded, in the Galley (i.e. during the dive)
This is all with my iPhone 14 Pro Max. I know it's the 3 months ago, old, last gen iPhone, but that is really no excuse for the app to be slow and laggy and video to be jerky.
Rather than buying one of these, I'd suggest to spend just a little more and get a new GoPro 12 with a dive housing. Leave your phone on the boat and also have no subscription to pay for.
If all that hasn't put you off and you still want one of these, I'll sell this one for what I paid for it (plus shipping). My shop is an authorized dealer, so I can provide you with a proper receipt for it, as well, to ensure warranty coverage. If you do want it, send me a DM.
Wow, I watched the review until you got to the video part, that was really painful... 
I have the SeaLife Sportdiver, which I suspect shares an OEM and is an earlier iteration of this -- much of the physical stuff is very similar. Their app doesn't have these issues, though it looks and feels more dated than the Oceanic one. I was thinking that maybe the Oceanic offering would be a worthy upgrade with the added gauge functionality, but looks like no for the time being.
The startup and finish "guides" seem mildly annoying as well...
I have the SeaLife Sportdiver, which I suspect shares an OEM and is an earlier iteration of this -- much of the physical stuff is very similar. Their app doesn't have these issues, though it looks and feels more dated than the Oceanic one. I was thinking that maybe the Oceanic offering would be a worthy upgrade with the added gauge functionality, but looks like no for the time being.The startup and finish "guides" seem mildly annoying as well...
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stiebs
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Who uses a phone to ring people these days?
It has potential I think but the subscription thing isn’t for me unless they add air integration to the computer part 
im working through the sealife housing and it to is huge but not a problem in the water, the phone can get some good pics.
it looks like your software isn’t happy with the IOS software but I bet the have a fix in the works.
with the sealife app my regular iPhone 14 is having some issue, goes into a restart loop and crashes a lot even when not using the app?? The phone had had other issues that have been fixed in updates but still working through this one.
im working through the sealife housing and it to is huge but not a problem in the water, the phone can get some good pics.
it looks like your software isn’t happy with the IOS software but I bet the have a fix in the works.
with the sealife app my regular iPhone 14 is having some issue, goes into a restart loop and crashes a lot even when not using the app?? The phone had had other issues that have been fixed in updates but still working through this one.
OP
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