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By The Washington Post 
Oct 15, 2020
San Francisco: Sometimes what Apple doesn’t say about a new iPhone is the most revealing.
The main update to this year’s iPhone 12, which will soon be released in countless commercials, is that it supports fast 5G mobile networks. They probably won’t mention that in much of the United States, these next-generation networks are still slow. Depending on where you live, an iPhone 12 can be very useful for your downloads.
The iPhone 12 launched Tuesday with some of the most notable changes we’ve seen in years from Apple’s flagship product: there’s 5G, a flat-edge design, and a “mini” model. But to find out if one is worth its money, we have to look beyond the hype.
My conclusion: Most people don’t need an iPhone 12 now, but they may want one in a year or two. . . moment when there could be an iPhone 13 or 14 with 5G. The iPhone 12 is the phone you buy because you plan to keep it for a while.
Typically, after Apple introduces a product, I get a chance to spend a little time on it. This launch offered only a first look, but no touch, because precautions against the coronavirus pandemic fueled Apple’s event online. Until professional reviewers get our hands on the new iPhone, we must judge based on what Apple claimed in its prerecorded video and stylish computer-generated renderings.
That’s all the more reason to bite into this new iPhone with a healthy dash of skepticism. Apple no longer really competes with Android phones for our business. For most iPhone owners, the choice is when to upgrade, how much money you want to hand over to Apple, and, particularly this year, how big you want it to be.
Here are your 2020 options, hitting stores in late October and mid-November:
– iPhone 12, $ 800, is the successor to the “standard” iPhone of recent years, but is priced at $ 100 more. It has a 6.1-inch screen and two cameras on the rear.
The iPhone 12 mini, $ 700, is a new smaller iPhone, with a 5.4-inch screen squashed inside a smaller body than we’ve seen from Apple in years.
– iPhone 12 Pro, $ 1,000, is the sleek 6.1-inch model with added camera tricks.
– iPhone 12 Pro Max, $ 1,100, is the giant 6.7-inch deluxe model with added camera tricks.
Either of these phones will probably feel like a significant upgrade to anyone using an iPhone 6S, 7, or 8. You can also get a cheaper upgrade by buying last year’s iPhone 11 for $ 600, or the recent $ 400 iPhone SE, which looks like an old iPhone. 8 but it’s faster.
While the iPhone 12 offers many small improvements, there are four updates that are the most tempting and need a few caveats.
– 5G across the line:
What’s promising: 5G networks, featuring faster downloads, fewer lags, and the ability to support many more devices, are certainly in our future. They are now compatible with the iPhone, the only device that can consistently make waves in technology. Unlike some competitors, Apple is also keeping 5G simple, at least in the United States, where all of its phones will support the different flavors of 5G (so you don’t have to learn terms like “millimeter wave” and “sub-6” Buying one of these phones this year will likely prepare you for the future for years to come.
A 5G iPhone could be very fast. Verizon said Tuesday that its ultra-broadband network sees peak downloads of 4 gigabits (yes, giga!) Per second to the device.
What they didn’t mention: Even Apple’s marketing masters couldn’t come up with a very compelling reason why we need 5G on our phones in 2020 (their few examples included a new video game and doctors quickly downloading patient brain scans for it. examine on tiny phone screens?) I have no doubt that one day 5G will power things we can’t even imagine today. But the reality is that today’s “national” 5G networks just aren’t very fast. When I tested Samsung 5G phones last month in the San Francisco Bay area, I got download speeds that were only slightly better than 4G phones, and worse in some places! US carriers have a lot of work to do to deliver on what Tim Cook promised in his keynote presentation: that 5G is “super fast.”
One more warning: using 5G can drain your battery. Apple claims the iPhone 12’s battery life is roughly the same as the iPhone 11. But it has built in a special battery-saving smart data mode that disconnects you from 5G networks when it thinks you don’t need it. What happens in a few years when we really need it?
– New designs and materials:
What’s promising: Like hems, phone designs come and go in style. The iPhone 12 brings back the flat edge of the old iPhone 4, which some people find less slippery.
And speaking of being easier to hold, there is a smaller option: the iPhone 12 mini. It’s smaller even than the iPhone 8, but it has an edge-to-edge display.
All iPhones this year had a little nibble on the edges. The iPhone 12 is 11% thinner, 15% smaller and 16% lighter than the iPhone 11. This is how they squeezed an even bigger screen in the Pro Max model, which measures 6.7 inches diagonally.
The iPhone 12 also uses a new type of glass that Apple says makes it four times more resistant to cracking when dropped. And, finally, there is a blue model.
What they didn’t mention: The iPhone 12 mini is still not quite as small as the beloved original iPhone SE, which Apple said goodbye to this year in favor of a new model the same size as an iPhone 8. Apple also says that the mini’s battery lasts 2 hours less than normal 12.
And Apple didn’t make a change that many of us have really been asking for: the return of TouchID. Apple’s FaceID system, introduced in the iPhone X, has never worked very well when you wear sunglasses. But the coronavirus pandemic sparked an epidemic of unlocking failures by people wearing masks. Come on Apple, you were able to put a fingerprint reader on the button of the new iPad Air, why not the iPhone?
– Night camera improvements:
What’s promising: A lot of fun happens in the dark. Now you can take better selfies at night with the addition of Apple’s night mode, introduced with the iPhone 11, to the front camera. The impressive low light mode can take pictures in situations that are normally too dark to photograph. It has also been added to the ultra wide angle camera on the back of the phone.
On the more expensive 12 Pro models that have a telephoto lens on the back, Apple added a lidar sensor – it looks less like a fourth eye and more like a beauty brand. Lidar is the same depth measurement technology used in autonomous vehicles. No, the iPhone 12 Pro can’t hit the road, but you can use this data to improve focus, especially in the dark, among other tricks. As a photography fan, this excites me.
What they didn’t mention: Apple didn’t do much to improve my main camera request: zoom. Samsung and other phone manufacturers are incorporating telescopic lenses into phones that have up to 10 times optical zoom and 100 times digital zoom. The iPhone 12 Pro Max offers only 2.5x optical zoom and 12x digital zoom.
– Environmental benefits:
What’s promising: The iPhone 12 no longer comes with headphones or a charging pad. Wait, why is that good? Apple says it’s good for the environment, because there are already more than 700 million corded white EarPods in the world and 2 billion Apple power adapters. It’s true: I could raise a family of hamsters in my big tangle of old headphones. By removing them from the pack, Apple could also make its boxes smaller, as part of a broader commitment to have a net zero climate impact across its entire business by 2040.
What they didn’t mention: If you still need headphones or a charging pad, Apple-made models will cost you a total of $ 38. (Maybe the company could interest you in some $ 160 AirPods instead?) And Apple didn’t go down. the prices of their iPhones to compensate for giving us less. The iPhone mini has a starting price of $ 700, the same price as last year’s full-size iPhone 11. This year, this year, it costs a hundred dollars more for the normal size.
And while environmental watchdogs report that Apple generally has a better track record than others in the tech industry, it could still do more to help its products last longer. A recent lawsuit in Canada revealed that more than 100,000 used devices that Apple had sent for shredding were still usable.
The first thing an iPhone owner can do to help the environment is not buy a new iPhone. Or buy a used or reconditioned one.
The Washington Post
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