Apple iPhone 12 Pro Review & Comments

Am Apple through and through (Mac,iPad,iPhone,Watch etc) but they are most definitely followers now and not the innovators of a few years ago. Certainly in comparison to Samsung etc and nowhere near as techy & advanced as the big Chinese tech firms (Huawei or Xaomi etc which are difficult to buy anyway or being outlawed by the West) I tend to upgrade every 2-3 years which works out well but these latest 12/12 Pro are a bit meh.
Due to the pandemic, was really hoping for finger print sensor (ultrasonic under screen like those other brands) in addition to Face ID as with wearing a mask for the foreseeable future, it is a hassle. Smaller batteries now as they have put in this odd MagSafe thing which takes up a lot of room internally and YT reviews all show a big drop in battery life between 12 v 11 Pro models. Almost 2 hours less. That is not progress. And that is without 120Hz screen refresh rate (not available this year) or 5G use which would of made things even worse.A lot worse. Was wanting USB-C which works well for the iPad Pro already and is the agreed universal standard. No power brick, fair enough but don’t harp on about it being greener and then see most new owners going to buy the MagSafe compatible stuff and usb-C compatible plug required! Going on holiday now with Apple products is a bit of a joke with 3 different cables needed for 3 different Apple products! Will wait for the 12 Max as the (Sony made) camera sensors are important to me. Just hope the battery is big enough as with a sensor based image stabiliser will use more battery power. Will see if I give the upgrade a miss this year. I think the improvements I am looking for (camera excepted) will come next year.
 
Anyone think the magsafe is a bit dissapointing? I don't really get what's keeping it safe like the old implementations. It's not hard to position a phone in the middle of a charging pad.
 
Anyone think the magsafe is a bit dissapointing? I don't really get what's keeping it safe like the old implementations. It's not hard to position a phone in the middle of a charging pad.

Most current Qi phone/chargers will do 5w (a select few 10w). I believe precise positioning becomes more important as you go beyond that. So magnet guided positioning to achieve 15w, tripple the speed of most current implementations, seems a smart idea to me. Personally I love wireless charging, so I am quite excited by this.

That said, the fact the strength seems too weak for many serious accessory use cases (eg car mount) is a bit disappointing. I also hadn’t thought about the fact it may cost a smaller battery, as pointed out above.
 
I was under the impression the idea behind “Magsafe” is there is no cable connector or socket to break if you should happen to trip over or yank the cable, the magsafe end will simply part company from the rear of the iPhone.
 
I was under the impression the idea behind “Magsafe” is there is no cable connector or socket to break if you should happen to trip over or yank the cable, the magsafe end will simply part company from the rear of the iPhone.

Yeah it’s a bit of a brand extension. As someone who does put his phone down the wrong way on the charging pad in the dark occasionally, it would be handy.

Also I can pick the phone up without stopping the charge.
 
I have my Apple stuff on a 3 product stand bought cheaply from Amazon. Using it for a year and works beautifully. iPhone on a wireless plate that is adjustable and sits the phone up,Apple Watch uses a magnetic mount and also a socket for my AirPod Pros.
Looking at this poorly thought out MagSafe: it will definitely scratch the back of the phone over time if phone not in a case. Picking up the phone is also now a 2 handed affair: pick phone up with one hand and use the other to detach the MagSafe at the same time. If not you will end up yanking the MagSafe cable/mount each time as it falls back on to the table! As it is a short 1m cable at present I think. Will probably damage the connection/cable over time! First world problems maybe. But is this progress? No. In my opinion. And all this palaver instead of USB-C which is what just about every one wanted. Nothing charges as quick as a cable and is securely mounted in comparison to this. iPad Pro already uses this cable.
 
I was under the impression the idea behind “Magsafe” is there is no cable connector or socket to break if you should happen to trip over or yank the cable, the magsafe end will simply part company from the rear of the iPhone.

I have been using the magnetic tipped cables like these for years:

Amazon product ASIN B07CH9RGZ8
I suppose they are more similar to the original Magsafe used on Macbooks.

They are available with tips for lightning, microusb and usb-c so you can use the same cable for many devices - phone, ipad, kindle, headphones etc. The little adapter protects the port and you only need to move the phone close to it and the connector jumps and snaps on and breaks away if you pull too hard, and it even supports data transfer if you still use iTunes. The new Apple Magsafe seems much less useful than this.
 
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Most current Qi phone/chargers will do 5w (a select few 10w). I believe precise positioning becomes more important as you go beyond that. So magnet guided positioning to achieve 15w, tripple the speed of most current implementations, seems a smart idea to me. Personally I love wireless charging, so I am quite excited by this.

That said, the fact the strength seems too weak for many serious accessory use cases (eg car mount) is a bit disappointing. I also hadn’t thought about the fact it may cost a smaller battery, as pointed out above.
Most flagships phones do 15w wireless fast charging, 10w at minimum. OnePlus do 40w wireless fast charging and huawei have just released a 60w wireless charger. If apple remove wired charging completely they need to do better than 15w. At least 25w wired charging is pretty standard now.
 
Most flagships phones do 15w wireless fast charging, 10w at minimum. OnePlus do 40w wireless fast charging and huawei have just released a 60w wireless charger. If apple remove wired charging completely they need to do better than 15w. At least 25w wired charging is pretty standard now.

Thanks. Had no idea things have come along that far with non-Apple phones.
 
I think that's why the ones who are disappointed are disappointed. Other brands are already doing more advanced and creative things and apple used to be an innovator. To me personally there is nothing that new or exciting in these new models. Especially if you own an iPhone from the last couple of years.
 
Any first hand experience on battery life? There are some early reports that are disappointing.
 
Any first hand experience on battery life? There are some early reports that are disappointing.

Had mine since Friday, given the usual "new phone so lots of fiddling around" Im pretty impressed, certainly better than my old X, but I charge every night so not gone below 50% charge so far
 
I think I am going to hold onto my iPhone XR for another year.
I really wanted a iPhone 12 Pro for its camera capabilities but short on funds at the moment. :(

To be honest, I don't think you are missing that much, The photos are better, without doubt, Videos are considerably better than the X, not £1000 better though!

It doesn't feel like a great leap forward. If it hadn't been for my wifes 6 starting to creak a bit, I wouldn't have upgraded, but as she gets my castoffs (and the fact I had filled my 64gb storage on my X completely) it made sense
 
Same big notch,
No 90 or 120 Hz display,
Same overall design
but a great verdict?!o_O
 
I don't want to be rude, but this didn't really feel like a review. More just an article talking about the specs.
Repeating Apple's marketing spiel and highlighting whatever "magical" feature they are pushing this generation is par for the course with reviewers who receive devices early from Cupertino. You may as well watch Apple's own presentation & take them at their word as they reassure you that your new £1000 phone arriving without a charger is clearly in your own best interest. The complete lack of any objective, measurable testing to back up their claims about the cameras, displays, battery etc on these devices is pretty underwhelming for an AV centric website. As an Apple stockholder, I am of course delighted at such fawning coverage.
Anyone think the magsafe is a bit disappointing? I don't really get what's keeping it safe like the old implementations. It's not hard to position a phone in the middle of a charging pad.
On the bright side, it will ruin your expensive new leather case:
Apple Warns MagSafe Charger Can Leave Circular Imprints on Leather Cases
 
Quite frustrating on my part. I’ve been Apple for years but have got frustrated with them due to things like lack of optical zoom, lower refresh rate and since iOS 13, the worst spellcheck keyboard in the world.

I tried a Galaxy Note 20 ultra and actually loved it apart from battery life and no CarPlay (I use CarPlay a lot and it is so much better than android auto]. Those two things showed me what was important so I had to swap back.

i genuinely thought this would be the year they upped their camera and refresh rate and while they upped the camera, the refresh rate didn’t move and from all accounts, the battery may be a bit meh.

I should know better by now, these features get slowly, so slowly addedl
 
Good review. Personally I agree with the 10 for design, I think it’s best looking iPhone to date.

As they say ‘genuine question’, why does having 120hz screen matter?

Buttery smooth scrolling. It’s not one of those things you want until you have tried it. When implemented well, it makes a big difference and not just in games. It’s hard to explain, but it feels like you are almost moving a real object, rather than just instructing a screen to scroll, it that makes sense!
 
Yeah buttery smooth scrolling on android 😂
 
Even 90hz on my Oneplus or pixel are fantastic, scrolling sites and apps feel so good. You forget how good it is til you use a 60hz phone for a bit.
 
Yeah buttery smooth scrolling on android 😂
Clearly haven't used a recent Android phone, you don't even need a high refresh rate to enjoy a smooth experience these days.
 

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