iPhone 12 Pro: Built for the Future
The iPhone 12 Pro: what’s new, what’s good, and should you upgrade?
Design and color
The first thing you notice is the new flat design: the rounded glass and frame that have been on iPhones since the iPhone 6 are replaced by a flat stainless steel frame and a flat display, with the display and back glass flush with the frame. It’s the best-feeling iPhone since the iPhone 5S: the flat edges give more surface area to grip, and it feels more secure and less slippery than my iPhone 11 Pro. I’ve been using it more without a case than with. With previous phones I’d have worried about dropping it, but the new Ceramic Shield on the front is 4x more resistant to breaking. That doesn’t protect from micro scratches, so I installed the matte iCarez screen protector, which I love.
The new color, Pacific Blue, like the Midnight Green 11 Pro, is a beautiful muted color between the bright colors of the regular iPhone 12 and the pastels of the 11. I’m glad Apple is adding color to the Pro after years of gray, silver and white.
5G
The buzzword of the announcement. I even get a little 5G at home, where 4G is frequently terrible: instead of the 2 to 20 Mbps I usually get on LTE at home, I got 80 Mbps on AT&T 5G, and 180 Mbps a little closer to Austin. The dream of 5G is faster-than-gigabit speeds and super low latency, but that’s more promise than reality now. There are a couple of versions of 5G, depending on where you live and your provider, and right now 5G won’t load a webpage faster or show more tweets. It needs to show more use cases, and I don’t think we’re there yet.
Cameras
Apple updated the hardware and software: LiDAR (faster low-light autofocus), bigger sensors and HDR Dolby Vision video. In test shots with the 12 Pro and 11 Pro, both produced good photos. At first nothing jumped out, but then I realized the 12 Pro captured more area in focus (look at the leaf on the left). The 12 Pro photo was much cooler, making greens more teal and less true to life. In a lawnmower shot, both look pretty good: the 12 Pro has more detail, but the 11 Pro exposed the sky at the top right properly. On a playground photo, the sky is blown out on the 12 Pro. The 12 Pro produced much brighter HDR video, with more detail in bright and dark areas, and the colors popped on a Frankenstein lawn decoration. A very low-light photo had more detail than I could get with the 11 Pro. Overall the photos are nice and the video looks great.
Performance and battery
Zero issues. The A14 is faster than last year’s chips and still best in class: I can export a 4-minute video in LumaFusion in 50 seconds and play FPS games. Geekbench: 1592 single-core and 3990 multi-core, about 20% faster than my 11 Pro. Apple’s chips have more power than we can use in the iPhone right now: it feels like it’s for 2 to 3 years down the road.
The battery is smaller than the 11 Pro’s, and some tests show the 11 Pro beating the 12 Pro, but I get through a full day better than on my 11 Pro (whose battery health is down to 93%). I’ve gotten more than 6 hours of screen-on time with browsing, Twitter, games, photos and video, without needing low power mode.
MagSafe
A group of magnets around the charging coil in the back for magnetic chargers and accessories. Apple has released cases, a MagSafe charger and a wallet, and licensed the design to third parties. The MagSafe Charger is strange: it does what Apple says (attaches and charges at up to 15 W), but Apple didn’t include a charger in the $40 price, the cord is too short and the base too light. On a desk or nightstand, the cord may not reach an outlet, and it limits using the phone while charging unless you pull a chair next to an outlet. When connected, it stays connected and charges correctly (unlike a Qi charger placed improperly), but a regular wireless charger lets you set it down and remove it quickly, while this needs two hands to disconnect, so I don’t see how it’s better than wired charging. The benefit will be third-party options: stands and car mounts like Belkin’s. A MagSafe wallet exists, and I’m sure more accessories are coming.
Cases (all MagSafe compatible)
Three, like the three bears:
- Apple Clear: slippery, with mushy buttons.
- Apple Silicone: feels nice but picks up lint, and the buttons could be better.
- OtterBox Figura: a tad bigger, with a nice feel that doesn’t pick up lint, and good clicky buttons.
Should you upgrade?
The iPhones 12 have an updated design, improved cameras, better performance, 5G and a new accessory ecosystem. The A14 and 5G provide future-proofing for a device supported for 4 to 5 years or more; the cameras steadily bring new features like LiDAR and HDR Dolby Vision video; and MagSafe is a glimpse of where Apple’s headed: portless iPhones and a new world of accessories. But should you upgrade? Probably not. I don’t think any one feature is worth it: 5G, MagSafe and HDR video will be better in the future, but if your phone runs your apps and the battery gets you through a day, I don’t see a reason. If you need a slightly better camera, a slightly faster phone, or want the latest and greatest, go for it. I upgraded because “I have a disease that makes me want all shiny new objects, no matter what little benefit they provide.” I love the look and feel so much that I’ve used this more without a case than with, and I’m thinking I may need to try going caseless again. If you struggle with wanting to go caseless but have anxiety about dropping it, see my video on that.
Links
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