iPhone 12 Pro: First Impressions

*From 5G, the new design, to HDR video recording, I have some first impressions about the new iPhone 12 Pro.*

I wanted to make a few notes into the early days of using an iPhone 12 Pro. I picked up the Pro on launch day, October 23, 2020, and have been using it regularly since then.

This isn’t a review; I haven’t tested all the phones capabilities, nor am I an iPhone power user who demands every Hz of performance out of their device. I’m most particular about the camera quality & battery life of any new iPhone, and I have a few early thoughts about these in this initial impressions entry.

Current Hardware: Pacific Blue 256GB iPhone 12 Pro.

Current Storage: 39.1 GB used

How I'm Currently Using the Phone: Currently, my iPhone is in a MagSafe Silicone case without a screen protector. My top uses of the device, in no particular order, are:

Social media (posting/browsing)
Making calls (connected to AirPods; typically 3-6 hrs/day for work)
Responding to family & friends through iMessage
Taking photos/videos (70/30 split)
Listening to Podcasts & Periodicals through Audm
Flipping through Calendar/Things to review upcoming events and add reminders.
Flipping through News+ to save stories I may want to read later that evening.

Typically, any gaming, writing, and reading that I do, I prefer to do on an iPad.

First Impressions

5G v. LTE

I am unimpressed with early 5G speed tests in my area. My carrier map shows 5G coverage in my neighbourhood, but I'm finding 5G speeds are not significantly faster than current LTE speeds:

LTE: 72.9 Mbps down, 2.72 Mbps up
5G: 74.6 Mbps down, 3.49 Mbps up (~2.5% faster)

I'll keep testing and update these figures as I venture to more areas, but don't hold your breath; I'm not travelling much during this pandemic.

I'm glad I purchased this phone without any romanticized ideas about how much better 5G would be. Like in much of the world, the iPhone 12 & 12 Pro don't include the mmWave antenna, nor is there any carrier support for it in Canada yet. Maybe in the future this will be a killer feature, but it's not one currently.

Additionally, Canada's data plans are quite expensive (in fact, we have the highest wireless prices in the world), often capped, and even our unlimited plans are heavily throttled after hitting your soft data cap for the month. mmWave 5G sounds nice, but its incredible speeds would destroy my data allowance long before it became a truly useful feature.

PACIFIC BLUE

In years past, I've always stuck with the silver iPhone whenever it came to upgrade, but this year I couldn't resist the Siren's song of that new Pacific Blue colour. I find the colour to be both elegant & calming, neither understated nor garish. After nearly two weeks with the device & I have no regrets. Then again, my phone lives inside a case 99% of the time, so for all intents and purposes, the colour could be Pantone 448 C, and I probably wouldn't notice or care.

*Night Mode, first introduced on the iPhone 11, continues to impress on the iPhone 12 Pro.*

PHOTOGRAPHY

Despite racking up a few hundred photos since getting the phone on October 23, I've yet to take a photo that I could confidently claim would've been impossible to shoot with the iPhone 11 Pro. Saying that, I haven't yet tested the phone in many edge cases (e.g., night mode portraits, shooting into sunlight) where the differences might become more pronounced. But all of this isn't a criticism of the 12 Pro; I'm coming from the 11 Pro, which was an incredible camera; undisputedly better than the iPhone 8, X, XR, & XS. I'm looking forward to what Apple ProRaw brings to the 12 Pro and getting to try out night mode time-lapses soon.

HDR VIDEO

Thanks to Dolby Vision HDR recording, the vibrancy that the iPhone 12 Pro can now capture video in is arresting. There are some nuances to viewing HDR video across other devices, but any iPhone 8 or newer or iPad Pro (2017 or newer), Air (3 or newer), or mini (5) supports Dolby Vision playback.

BATTERY LIFE

Coming from the 11 Pro, I am initially mildly disappointed with the battery life. The 12 Pro isn’t bad, the 11 Pro just spoiled me with its incredible battery life. On a typical day, I am ending with 10-15% less battery life on the 12 Pro than the 11 Pro (& that's keeping the iPhone on either LTE or WiFi).

ROUNDED CORNERS ARE SLIMMING

Despite being significantly thinner than the 11 Pro (7.4mm v. 8.1mm), the 12 Pro feels more substantial. I wouldn't say it feels chunky or thick (or even thicc), but in hand, the brain must register flat sides differently than something with Round corners. I'm still undecided whether I prefer the rounded design of the iPhone 11 Pro or the new flat edges of the 12 line. I will add that the slimmer bezels around the display add an even more premium feel to the device over the already very refined iPhone X/XS/11 Pro design.

MAGSAFE

Speaking specifically about the MagSafe charger, the early days of MagSafe accessories looks exciting. I never cared much for Qi charging (big bases, slow charging, coil whine, & inability to use the device while on the charger), but MagSafe has effectively addressed all my qualms with the technology.

60HZ DISPLAY

I have used a 120hz ProMotion display on my tablet for years now, and unlike the transition from Retina to non-Retina displays, I've never looked at the iPhone's 60hz display and been disappointed. The iPhones smaller size and software optimization help ensure the 60hz display keeps navigation feeling fast and fluid.

I have no doubts a 90 or 120hz display would look incredible, but I would not be happy sacrificing more battery life for it on the phone at this time. I imagine we'll see further optimizations in software that'll preserve battery life enough to help roll out a ProMotion display to the iPhone in the next iteration of the product.

SAVING FOR SECOND IMPRESSIONS

I haven't had a chance enough of a chance to test out Deep Fusion on the Front, UltraWide, or Telephoto cameras enough.
I am excited to get my hands on the new leather cases, leather wallets, and leather sleeves for the iPhone 12! I'm such a sucker for all of Apple's leather good.
I have nothing much to say about performance. It's the latest iPhone, so of course, it's blazing fast, but so is the iPhone 11 Pro, and the iPhone X is still very capable. My daily use case rarely pushes the iPhone to perform any sustained high-performance tasks, so I'll be late to noticing any performance hiccups. The difference the A14 makes is likely to be felt more in years 2, 3, or 4.