iPhone 12 Pro review: more shine By The Verge

This is the iPhone 12 Pro it is beautiful. I just like holding this thing. This is also apple's big 5g is here update to the iPhone, and it's been redesigned to match the hype, new design, new video capabilities, new MagSafe charging system, new processor and, of course, one extra g making it 5gs in total. That's not how it works. There are actually four new iPhone 12s, the iPhone 12, the iPhone 12 mini this iPhone 12 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro max the little one and the big one are coming later, but we've got the 12 and the 12 pro right now, and they're. Pretty similar they've got the same basic design very similar OLED displays and the same processors and 5g capabilities.

The pro adds an extra telephoto camera lens, a LIDAR sensor, a little more ram twice the base, storage and a shiny, stainless steel frame. All that will cost you 9.99 around 200, more than a regular iPhone 12. Now there are some of you who are going to spend the extra money, because this is the shiny one, and I commend you're my people, but it's worth diving in to see if the extra money is worth it, especially since both phones have OLED displays this year. The differences are just much smaller this time and because the iPhone, 12 and 12 pro are so similar dieter and I spent more time on different things in our reviews. I'm going to spend a lot of time focused on the cameras and dieter is going to go deep on 5g in his review of the iPhone 12.

, so watch this video and then check out that video for more on 5g, the iPhone 12 and 12 pro share the same fundamental new design, which is very squared off and very flat, like shockingly flat. Almost every other phone has a curved edge and an obvious border between the display and the frame, but the iPhone 12 all just feels like a single piece. It reminds me a little of the iPhone 5 but, more importantly, it looks and feels very different from any other modern phone. The squared off design also makes the phone feel more substantial than it is. It doesn't really look it, but it's thinner than an iPhone 11 Pro I'll.

Just warn you, the glossy stainless steel frame instantly picked up fingerprints even still. This is the first iPhone in a long time that I've been sad about putting into a case it's just nice to look at the front of the phone is covered in what apple calls ceramic shield. It's a hybrid of glass and ceramic and apple says all in all. The phone has four times better drop performance than the iPhone 11s. I dropped my phone a lot, so I'm excited to see how this goes on the back.

It's the same glass as last year, but the new design also improves drop performance according to apple. We'll have to see. One thing apple would not tell me, is how resistant the stainless steel frame is to nicks and scratches. So I guess we'll find out. The OLED display is slightly larger than the iPhone 11 Pro it's 6.1 inches and the phone is slightly taller. As a result, the display is otherwise basically the same.

As last year in terms of brightness and pixel density, which means it looks excellent, although it is still a 60 hertz, refresh rate, which means it's falling behind almost every high-end android phone and apple's own iPad Pro the bezels in notch at the top are still the same size, which means eventually, you just won't notice them. If you're an early adopter, you will notice that some apps need to be updated for this new screen. Size Instagram is a little broken as usual, but, as usual I'd expect those sorts of updates to come around pretty quickly. There are the familiar antenna gaps around the side of the phone and, of course, this little window, which is a millimeter wave antenna for ultra-wideband 5g on Verizon. A lot of you asked if covering this antenna would affect performance.

Apple told us that it shouldn't, and there are other antennas on the phone that might be active at any given time as well, and that the company doesn't have any formal guidance on how to hold the phone seriously. We asked that was the answer. You wouldn't know it by looking at it, but there's a new hardware feature on the back of the phone called MagSafe: that's apple's new magnetic wireless charging and mount system which, let's be honest, feels like step one towards getting rid of the lightning port entirely. Here's what MagSafe can do if the cord was longer it would let you use a wireless charger while your phone battery's dying, and you're lying on the couch or in bed, because the puck sticks to the phone. You see what I'm saying here.

This was a thing: wireless charging couldn't do and apple solved it with magnets. It is very clever, and we can all see where this is obviously going in the future. In addition to the magnets around the charging, coil there's also an additional alignment magnet at the bottom that holds things in place. Like apple's wallet accessory, it's neat and there are already third-party chargers and car mounts and things being announced. If you use apple's 39 mag save charger, you can get fast, 15 watt charging, which is nice, but you'll need to bring your own 20 watt, USB c power adapter.

So it's a pretty expensive proposition. If you don't want to pay that much, you can just use any regular QI. Wireless charger for up to 7.5, watt charging and apple says third parties will be able to build approved MagSafe chargers in the future. So I hope there are some cheaper options soon. The actual MagSafe charger is pretty big.

It's way bigger than an Apple Watch charger, and it's definitely bigger than a lightning plug. So it's not all terrific, but at least for now the whole deal is optional for now. One thing, I'll note is that apple claims taking cases on and off the phone is easier because of these magnets, and I have no idea what they're talking about it seems just the same as ever with apple's cases, and I'm hoping we see some cooler third party cases in the future. I thought the iPhone 11 Pro cameras were terrific for a smartphone and the iPhone 12 Pro is a solid step forward, but most of the improvements are fairly minor. The main camera has a very slightly faster lens than last year, which helps it in low light and apple's new smart hdr3 processing seems to be a little smarter.

The noise reduction looks better than the iPhone 11 photos, look less grainy and there's a little more detail. The photos are also slightly more contrast every year. Apple seems to be more willing to. Let highlights be highlights and shadows be shadows, which is a look. I'm personally fond of all the cameras on the phone can do night mode now, which is very nice to have especially on the front camera, but don't expect any magic here that main wide camera is by far the best camera on the phone, and it still takes by far the best night mode photos.

So it's the one you should use. Most often there are some other small but noticeable improvements over the 11 pro. The ultra-wide lens distorts a little less of the edges and photos from the ultrawide and telephoto are a tad bit sharper and more detailed. The 12 pro also has a new LIDAR sensor on the back something we first saw on the iPad Pro. If you were deep into AR gimmicks you're going to love the LIDAR sensor.

It makes AR gimmicks better than ever, but where I think most people will take advantage of the LIDAR sensor is in the camera, where it allows for way faster, focusing on low light and allows for night mode portrait shots, which is something the pixel 5 added this year as well and in low light. The iPhone 12 Pro outperforms, the 11 pro in both regular and portrait modes. Images are in better focus with better details, but that is the extent of the LIDAR sensor's value right no war gimmicks and slightly better low light photos. When you take photos in regular light, the camera focuses just like always the LIDAR sensor isn't active. So if you don't find yourself taking a lot of portraits in the dark, and you're, not constantly placing virtual chairs around your room or whatever, I think the LIDAR sensor is mostly there so apple and other people can figure out what to do with it.

Compared to the pixel 5 and my note, 20 ultra the iPhone 12 Pro delivers exactly what we've come to expect from apple great photos. In almost every case, with balanced, colors and great details, I still prefer the pixel look ever so slightly, and I know there are people who love Samsung's, crazy colors, but the iPhone 12 Pro slightly improves from the 11 pro in most situations adds the ability to get usable shots and even harder edge cases, and when it comes to video, the iPhone is way ahead of the curve. So, overall, it's still by far the most versatile and powerful camera you can get on a phone. We still have to test the iPhone 12 Pro max, which has a much larger main camera sensor, but we're just going to have to wait for that. Speaking of video, the other big new camera feature across the iPhone 12 line is the ability to create Dolby Vision, HDR, video and yep.

We're just going to have to get super nerdy to talk about that. So HDR stands for high dynamic range if you're familiar with HDR and photos just set. All of that aside in your brain, it means something very different in video, HDR and video basically means the brightest part of the image can get way brighter. You can see more detail on the bright parts of the image compared to SDR or standard dynamic range, and there are more colors. This is actually really easy to show on the iPhone.

When you shoot video, it captures a HDR and then, when you swipe through your camera, roll to play it back, you can see the display change modes and get brighter that's HDR. Now, over the past few years, it's gotten pretty easy to watch HDR video, almost every new TV and phone supports HDR and most of the major streaming services offer movies and TV shows in HDR, but it's still been pretty hard to make and share HDR video yourself. You can do it Samsung phone, since the Galaxy S10 can shoot in a format called HDR, 10 plus, but it's buried in the settings, and I don't really think Samsung wants you to use it. If you're really motivated. There are workflows to get HDR video out of everything from a Sony rx100 on up, but none of its easy.

So the iPhone shooting HDR video by default out of the box is a big deal now. You'll notice that I've been saying HDR this whole time and not Dolby Vision, and that's because Dolby Vision is one kind of HDR a format and there are lots of HDR formats and usually when there's lots of formats, there are compatibility problems and Dolby Vision on the iPhone.12 has some compatibility problems, but this is where apple and Dolby have done something very smart and a little complicated up until now, adobe vision, video was only compatible with Dolby Vision displays. If you wanted to play that video on a regular display, you need to completely re-encode it and make a second file, but the iPhone 12 shoots, video in a newer version of Dolby Vision, built on a standard called hog that is backwards compatible with SDR displays and iOS.14 is smart enough to know when the apps and devices you're sharing video to don't support the new format. It'll make sure you send something that works. This is all very clever.

This is a new version of Dolby Vision, though, and that means a bunch of Dolby Vision gear out. There needs to be updated to support it and that's hit or miss my older lg b6 OLED simply won't directly play an iPhone Dolby Vision, video file and probably never will and the way it works with the Apple TV is a little wonky. Video won't play in Dolby Vision unless you run the Apple TV in adobe vision, all the time which is really not ideal. I hope apple fixes that all those other TVs out there with airplay 2 from Samsung and Sony and Vizio we're just gonna, have to see how it goes and if you have a mac, Dolby Vision won't be supported until Big Sur comes out, and we don't really know when that's going to be all that said. Most people watch their smartphone videos on their smartphones and iPhone 12, Dolby Vision, video looks super bright and colorful on the iPhone 12 display and when I shared it to other, newer, iPhones and iPads that support HDR, but to really test video on the iPhone 12 Pro I brought in a pro that is high praise I'll, take it okay.

So there are three things I noticed when shooting video with the iPhone 12 Pro it has that same great level of detail. We've come to expect from iPhone video. It has brighter footage at night, but it's also got light reflections for days, so the iPhone 12 Pro it can shoot up to 4k at 60 frames per second and 1080p at 240 frames per second, just like the 11pro, and I was really impressed with the video capabilities on the 11 pro last year with the 12 pro well, it's no different, like it's actually kind of hard to tell the difference between footage from the 11 and 12. I mean sure if you are putting them side by side and really looking for a difference, you'll find one, but otherwise I mean in perfect lighting conditions. The video is beautiful, colors are still punchy, the details are crisp, and it can handle skin tones really well now.

The 12s footage is the slightest bit warmer during the day, but where you'll actually start to see a real difference is at night, and that's because the 12 pro has a wider aperture, and therefore it's just a bit brighter at night, and it does a nice job of smoothing blacks to combat noise. The main sensor is certainly the brightest, and once you switch over to the ultra-wide things, get a bit darker but more concerning is when shooting at night and using that main sensor, there are dots for days. Look at all these dots any light coming directly into the lens, such as headlights from cars, casts a lot of light reflections onto the image, and it is quite distracting and certainly not ideal. Now this was a problem with footage from the iPhone 11 Pro and that problem it just hasn't gone away, but overall, this camera system continues to be great and when you're playing it back on a device that supports Dolby Vision, video files, it looks incredibly colorful and punchy. I'm more excited to put the iPhone 12 Pro max to the test, though I mean apple's really boasting this camera system.

It's got a wider aperture, it's got a larger sensor, and it's going to be using optical image stabilization. Those are things I am hello excited for, plus. I really want to test it against the note 20 ultra, because, honestly, that video system with AK was insane okay back to Neil all right. They let me do an entire HDR metadata explainer before I talked about 5g. So now I have to talk about.5G.5G is fine. It's there.

If you live in a 5g service area, it works. One thing 5g does. Let you do is make FaceTime calls in HD on cellular for the first time. So let's give dieter a call and see what the rest of his 5g testing review- hey, buddy, hey man, how's it going pretty good. You look very, very sharp.

Are you calling me on 5g, that's horrible? I refuse to make this ad with you. We have come, though, to the point of our video. Where we're talking about 5g. I only talked about a little. I know you're going deep on it yeah.

So when I can find 5g, it's actually pretty good better than I expected, but I have to find it, especially with Verizon's ultra-wide band. You literally have to be standing on the right street corner, and you got to go. Look for it on a map, so it's really fast, but it's not really everywhere. Yeah! That's the same! For me too, there's a spot across the street from the office. Where I get it, it's really fast.

I literally cross the street, and it goes away which yeah I don't know man. It feels like it's not worth buying the phone for, but it's very nice if you can get it yeah, it's like a bonus. If you have it, there's also a lot of really fiddly details. So, for example, if you are uh on 5g, but the phone doesn't think you need 5g, you just get LTE, but it still shows you 5g in the status bar. You know what there's actually a bunch of other stuff.

You should just watch my review of the iPhone 12. Well, don't do that yet finish watching this review and then go watch theater's review. Alright man thanks so much say goodbye, everybody! I miss! You see you guys. The iPhone 12 Pro has apple's new a14 bionic processor, which is the first five nanometer chips in a smartphone, and it seems lightning fast. Of course, I said the same thing last year about the a13 bionic and the year before that about the a12, bionic and phones of those chips, don't necessarily feel slow.

Now apple still sells the iPhone 11 and iPhone 10r with those chips in them. I continue to think that apple's commanding performance lead is more valuable to people at the end of a phone's life cycle than at the beginning. This phone is so fast that it'll stay fast for a long time. That's pretty great. There's an u1 chip in the iPhone 12 Pro, just like the 11 pro and just like the 11 pro.

It's still pretty much good for airdrop apple does say that some neat e1 features are coming to the new HomePod mini, so we'll have to see how those pan out and if this whole system is ever really used for all the things it seems like it can do. Testing battery life on the iPhone 12 Pro was probably the hardest thing to do. Since I don't live anywhere close to a 5g service area- and I was only back in New York city for a single day to shoot this video, but in that single day it felt like the battery on the iPhone 12 Pro died a little faster than I expected after around 2.5 hours of screen time, I was at about 18 or 20 percent. Of course, we were using 5g a lot for testing and using the millimeter wave radio in particular drains the battery faster. So it's hard to say how representative this is.

I asked apple, and I was told the company expects people to get a full day of usage out of the iPhone 12 Pro, just like always in my normal quarantine, routine, where I'm on Wi-Fi nearly all the time that certainly seemed reasonable and tracked with what I was experiencing in the end. I think iPhone.12 pro battery life is going to vary widely for people, depending on how much you use 5g, especially millimeter, wave 5g. So this is something we'll have to track over time, but I would definitely not expect the endless battery life we saw on the regular iPhone 11. So that's the iPhone 12 Pro. Is it worth 200 dollars more than the iPhone 12? Yes, because it's shiny, you have to say more and because it has a LIDAR sensor honestly, I have no idea if it's worth 200 more than the iPhone 12.

And until we test the bigger better camera sensor on the pro max, I think it's worth holding off the pro max has a much bigger display and what could be a huge jump in camera performance for another hundred dollars, which feels like it could be a lot more value for the extra money, so we'll see. I also have to be honest and say that I feel crazy, suggesting that anyone upgrade their phone in the middle of a pandemic if it's time to upgrade- and you want a new phone, the iPhone 12 Pro is a great choice. Anyone with an iPhone, 10s or older will love the new cameras and enjoy the new design. I have a kid we upgrade every year because I always want to have the best cameras on our phones, but I'm not sure if that's enough when times are tight for so many people- and I don't think 5g is all that big of a deal, yet the networks aren't really built out and there aren't exactly killer apps for it, and we're all spending most of our time at home. Anyway, I'm not trying to end this.

On a down note. The iPhone 12 is a beautiful, powerful, incredibly capable device. If you buy one you'll be happy, but I can't shake the feelings at things like LIDAR, 5g, Dolby, vision, u1 they're, all here on a schedule, that's just a little faster than reality. Hey everybody, like I said, I focused on the cameras and Dolby Vision in this review. If you want to know more about 5g and the new iPhones go check out, dieter's review of the iPhone 12.

Source : The Verge