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A couple of weeks later than normal, we finally have Apple’s newest smartphone. The good news is, it was worth the wait.
It seems obvious to say that the iPhone 12 Pro is Apple’s best smartphone yet. Should be; It has a new chip and some hardware updates which mean it is already starting earlier than last year’s 11 Pro. You also have 5G, which prepares you and hopes to take advantage of new technology as 5G networks roll out in Ireland.
But the iPhone 12 Pro is a notable leap in quality, from the screen and cameras to performance. It all works together well to give you a practically perfect smartphone, and 5G isn’t even the most important addition.
What grabs you immediately is the design. Depending on your point of view, the iPhone 12 Pro looks like an iPhone version of the iPad Pro or has been heavily inspired by the iPhone 5.
No one is wrong. The iPhone 12 Pro has a flat stainless steel band around the edges and is all screen; on the back it has the square camera matrix. In short, it looks like a cross between last year’s iPhone 5 and 11 Pro. And he takes it well. It’s almost a shame to put it in a case, especially if you have the blue version that Apple has added to the lineup this year. It is a phone with a beautiful design.
However, people may not be too quick to put it in a case. Apple has introduced new technology this year to make the iPhone more resistant to drops – four times more, the company says. Ceramic Shield is a new technology that makes the phone more resistant, which, as someone who has had their fair share of trips to the repair shop for broken screens, is welcome.
Did you survive the drop test? I’ll let you know when it happens. As much as I want to test Apple’s claims, I’m not very keen on deliberately dropping € 1,160 on smartphones.
Low light
Speaking of displays, the iPhone 12 Pro has squeezed in a 6.1-inch display, a custom OLED panel that makes almost everything look great, on the case, trimming the bezels (the notch, however, remains). There is a noticeable difference between the 11 Pro and the 12 Pro side by side; the 11 Pro seems a bit boring in comparison.
That will make a difference when you start shooting with the camera. However, it’s not just the screen here; Camera updates mean it performs better in low light, plus video looks better and the wide-angle camera looks impressive.
The iPhone 12 Pro has three 12-megapixel cameras: ultra-wide, wide, and telephoto. The iPhone’s main wide-angle camera now comes with an aperture of f1.6 and a larger sensor, allowing more light in your photos.
That difference is obvious when viewing side-by-side photos of older iPhone models, and new iPhone shots look better and more detailed.
Apple has added night mode to every camera on the iPhone 12 Pro, so you can take low-light selfies and get much better results. Instead of a poorly lit and near dark blurry shot, you get a bit more detail and discernible lifelike features. It’s a welcome addition and one that will likely be appreciated, particularly when we can get back to socializing with people again.
But even the normal camera works best in night mode. Shots look brighter than before and there is no loss of detail.
The addition of the Lidar sensor to the 13 Pro’s camera is something that most users probably won’t notice. The technology is particularly useful for augmented reality, but it also has its uses in photography. The Lidar scanner on the iPhone 12 can help focus in low light situations, for example where the camera may have struggled previously.
Video is noticeably better too. IPhone 12 Pro supports 10-bit HDR, so you get better colors and depth, and it supports Dolby Vision. To get the most out of this, you’ll need to view the footage on a supported display, but it’s well worth the effort. Lidar helps here too, with a particularly good focus on late night videos. It is also noticeably brighter than the iPhone 11 Pro.
Optical zoom
If there is something to criticize it is the limited optical zoom. At 2x it’s less than rivals like the Samsung Note 20 Ultra, which has a 5x zoom.
As mentioned above, a new iPhone means a new chip: the A14 Bionic. That means another jump in speed for users, which is always welcome as applications become more powerful. There is no slowdown (yet) when swapping between multiple apps.
One of the most useful features of the new iPhones is MagSafe charging. Apple’s idea was to place a ring of magnets inside the iPhone case that would fit the phone onto the MagSafe charger. There is no risk of the phone being disconnected from the charger and leaving it without power at a crucial moment.
It may not seem like a big deal, but on more than one occasion I left a device charging and an hour later I discovered that it was not at the optimum charging point.
But let’s get back to the case again. If you put a case on the phone, obviously that will affect the effect of the MagSafe charger. It will still charge, it worked on an 11 Pro through a fairly robust case, but the magnets won’t hold the phone in place well. That is solved by using a MagSafe compatible case, which means more money.
The good
The iPhone 12 Pro is a notable advance over its predecessor, with a better and bigger screen, an improved camera, and useful additions like the MagSafe charger. It’s fast too, with the A14 Bionic chip earning its spot.
The not so good
Apple has taken the charger plug and headphones out of the box. I’m not going to regret the headphones, but since the included cable is a USB C to Lightning cable, it was more difficult to find a compatible charger at home.
That will be relevant because if you are using 5G on the iPhone 12 Pro (limited in Ireland at the moment) you will find that the battery life is poorer than 4G.
The rest
The new iPhone also has 5G. That won’t mean much right now, with the next-generation network rollout still in progress, but it is future-proofing the phone for six months to a year from now.
Verdict
Apple’s best smartphone yet, challenging the best Android devices out there.
