Apple iPhone 12 Review

Apple significantly improved its best-selling iPhone model this year with a new design, a superior display, and 5G connectivity. Unfortunately, it also raised the price, kept the base storage at a too-small 64 GB, and didn’t go far enough with its iOS 14 improvements to woo this Android fan. Still, it’s the best mainstream iPhone ever, and good enough to pull some upgraders away from the Pro models.

Design

OK, maybe “new” isn’t the right word for the design that Apple bestowed on its iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro models this year, given that it first debuted in 2010 with the iPhone 4. But the curved display edges from the past several years were, above all, bland. And the return to this iconic design, with its flat edges and classic Leica-like look, just feels right. Literally: The one improvement Apple did make was to eschew the chamfered corners that made the older iPhones cut uncomfortably into your hand. The iPhone 12, by comparison, has a subtly curved transition to its flat aluminum sides that nicely solves that problem.

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The new/old design isn’t the only difference between the iPhone 12 and its two most recent predecessors, the iPhone 11 and the iPhone XR. It’s also a bit smaller, lighter, and thinner, despite having a more impressive display that’s described below. Not small enough? Apple now sells an iPhone 12 Mini too, which should satisfy anyone looking for the perfect combination of the smaller, old-school iPhones of the past and Apple’s modern design and internals. I’m not reviewing the iPhone 12 Mini, but aside from the display and general size—and the price—the two handsets are identical.

Aside from the body, other key design elements haven’t changed. The iPhone 12 still has an almost comically large notch at the top of the display and semi-large bezels, both of which are at odds with how the rest of the market went long ago. There is still a clicky power button on the right and a volume rocker and alert slider on the left, and there is still a Lightning port, microphone, and speaker on the bottom. Likewise, the “squarcle” dual-camera array on the back continues forward unchanged. At this point, the whole thing is very familiar and not unattractive.

Unique to the iPhone 12, however, are five bright color choices, some of which are new: White, black, blue, (a very light) green, and (Product)RED. I wish there were some matte choices, but I went with black based on my previous experience with the iPhone XR: This color helps hide the bezels, which are also black, and since it’s such a basic color, it should look good with any case. (I chose a black silicon case for now.)

Overall, I really like the look and feel of this handset, and while the move back to a classic design will raise eyebrows in some circles, I think it was the right choice.

Display

The display is one of the biggest upgrades in the iPhone 12 this year. Where the two previous iPhone models featured a 6.1-inch LCD display—which was admittedly fantastic, given the dated technology—with a 1792 x 828 resolution at 326 PPI, the iPhone 12 steps up to the same display that’s now found in the iPhone 12 Pro as well: It’s a 6.1-inch OLED panel with a 2532 x 1170 resolution at 460 PPI, so it exceeds 1080p. (The iPhone 12 Mini also uses an OLED panel, but at 5.4-inches and with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 at 476 PPI.) I believe it has slightly smaller bezels as well.

This display, which Apple calls Super Retina HDR, is impressive. As an OLED display, it has deep, inky blacks, and it features HDR and True Tone capabilities, of course, with wide color support and a 2 million to one contrast ratio. It belts out 625 nits of brightness typically, with a maximum brightness of 1200 nits when viewing HDR content … And it’s also blocked by an anachronistically large notch, which is unfortunate: I don’t understand why Apple can’t move past this like the rest of the industry has.

As for the display’s size, yes, these things are subjective. But I find that the iPhone 12’s 6.1-inch panel cuts a nice compromise between the ludicrously large displays found on some phablets and the tiny displays of yesteryear. It would be even better without that notch.

The display is also protected by Gorilla Glass 6 and a new nano-ceramic crystal and glass coating that Apple calls Ceramic Shield that allegedly offers up to 4 times resistance to cracking when dropped. What other reviews have noted, however, is that this coating is less impervious to scratching, so if you plan to pull it in and out of your jeans pockets a lot, you should consider a screen cover. I’ve not noticed any scratches yet. (Note too that Ceramic Shield only protects the display, not the all-glass back of the iPhone 12.)

What’s missing, of course, is the high refresh rate that we see on flagship Android handsets. So instead of a 90 or 120 Hz display with super-smooth scrolling and animations, the iPhone 12 provides the same 60 Hz experience it’s always offered. And I have to be honest here: It doesn’t bother me. High refresh displays are one of those things you either appreciate or don’t even notice, and for whatever reason, I fall into the latter camp. And yes, I’ve used several smartphones with high refresh displays this year alone.

That said, if this is a sticking point for you, I’ll just point out that this feature will likely make its way to Apple’s iPhone Pro long before it appears on a mainstream iPhone. So it wasn’t going to happen this year regardless.

Hardware and specs

Unlike other smartphone makers, Apple doesn’t introduce new models with older or less capable processors and other internals. That means that the iPhone 12 arrives with top-of-the-line specifications that are, for the most part, equal to what we see with the Pro models. This reality, combined with Apple’s proven record of software upgrade support, means that the iPhone 12 is future proof and should provide several years of service if required.

The iPhone 12, like all late 2020 iPhones, is powered by Apple’s A14 Bionic system on a chip (SoC), 4 GB of RAM, and 64, 128, or 256 GB of internal, non-expandable storage. Performance is impressive, as you should expect, but I don’t see any real-world differences between my iPhone 11 Pro Max and the iPhone 12, despite Apple’s claims of 15-20 percent performance gains. That’s fine: Everything happens with great alacrity and there are no slowdowns, hitches, or pauses.

Connectivity

I’m not sure if you heard about this, but the iPhone 12 comes with 5G connectivity, a first for the iPhone line. (Just kidding, it’s marketed rather heavily.) Unfortunately, that doesn’t amount to much more than the pleasing presence of “5G” text in the status bar, as the connection speeds you’ll typically see don’t exceed what’s possible with previous-generation 4G/LTE connectivity.

I’ve been testing the 5G performance in my area since I got the iPhone and the best results I’ve seen were 33.4 Mbps down and 3.44 Mbps up. By comparison, a local LTE connection gave me even faster speeds of 63.2 Mbps down and 6 up. I’m sure it will get better over time. It’s not like the entire industry would hype something that didn’t work, right? Right?

Beyond cellular connectivity, the iPhone 12 ships with support for gigabit LTE with 4×4 MIMO, Wi-Fi 6 (802.ax) with 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, Ultra-Wideband (UWB) for reasons Apple hasn’t revealed yet, and NFC capabilities.

Put simply, don’t upgrade to an iPhone 12 just for 5G. Not yet.

Cameras

Apple didn’t change its camera hardware all that much between the iPhone 11 series last year and the iPhone 12s this year, but it did make some software-based computational photography improvements that help make the new crop of iPhones better than ever for photo fans.

For the iPhone 12 specifically, we get a dual-lens camera system with a 12 MP wide (main) lens with an f/1.6 aperture, optical image stabilization (OIS), and 2x optical zoom/5x digital zoom, and a 12 MP ultra-wide lens with an f/2.4 aperture and a 120-degree field of view. Both lenses support Smart HDR 3, Night Mode, and Deep Fusion technology, the latter of which works in tandem with the Apple Silicon’s neural engine provide better photos with improved contrast and lower noise. The ultra-wide lens also sports a lens-correction feature that’s supposed to help overcome the skewed effect often found at the edges of ultra-wide shots, but I’ve not noticed any improvements in that area.

This camera system is impressive, though it took me a while to come down from the over-saturated, ultra-colorful HDR pop effect that I enjoyed previously on recent Samsung and Huawei flagships. Instead, what Apple delivers is perhaps the best “what you see is what you get” experience in smartphone cameras today, where the resulting shots very closely match the scene you’re shooting. Whether you want that or not is a matter of taste, but the iPhone camera app at least lets you apply filters, like Vivid, at the time photos are taken. And with iOS 14, it will even remember the setting so you don’ have to keep applying it.

The Vivid filter in action

My only real complaint with the camera system involves Night Mode: You can’t manually enable or disable it as you shoot, as you can with other smartphones. Instead, Apple decides whether it’s needed based on the scene and then does what it wants to do. And all too often, the resulting shot is not what I wanted. I prefer to focus on a light source until I get the effect I’m looking for and then take that shot.

What’s missing, of course, is a telephoto lens, and you’ll need to move up to an iPhone 12 Pro if you want such a thing and its slightly improved 2.5x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom capabilities. But I’m not complaining: I’ll pick an ultra-wide lens over a telephoto lens any day, as this is a setting I use quite often. I suspect that’s true for most people.

And as an enthusiast of smartphone photography, I tend to stick to still shots and mostly to landscapes, food, and the like. But if you enjoy taking portrait shots or video, the iPhone is the way to go: In both cases, Apple has advanced the state of the art well beyond what I see on the many Android handsets I’ve used this year.

Security

Apple continues to rely on the fast and reliable Face ID for sign-ins, and while I’d normally celebrate this as the industry’s best facial recognition system, it’s 2020, and Face ID doesn’t work very well when you’re using a mask. Given that the firm just added Touch ID to the power button on the new iPad Air, I’m surprised it didn’t offer this option on the iPhone 12 line-up as well. But it didn’t.

To be fair, it’s not that annoying, except when I’m at the gym, since I need to check which weight to set as I move from machine to machine, and tapping and re-tapping my PIN can get a bit tedious.

Apple bills iOS as the most secure mobile platform, and while Google would beg to differ, I think it’s fair to say that iOS does a great job in this regard. That said, I was very disappointed by the number of (non-election) spam phone calls and text messages I received since I switched to the iPhone, many of which were clearly phishing attacks. I hadn’t received such a thing for so long with Android that I had forgotten it was even a problem, but I get one or more of each every day now. I’m as disturbed by how difficult it is to block the offending numbers, which is semi-useless anyway. And by the fact that there’s no way to even report spam phone calls or texts. Come on, Apple.

Audio/video

Despite the notch, the iPhone 12 provides a pleasing audio-video experience, thanks to both the excellent display and the terrific, evenly-balanced stereo speakers. I found myself listening to music and audiobooks and watching videos at home far more often than I normally do with most smartphones as a result. And under the harsh lighting at the gym, the display was easily seen, providing a great experience that distracted me from my efforts on the elliptical.

Apple’s ecosystem support also afforded me with an interesting and unexpected advantage, thanks to the fact that my Sonos smart speakers are AirPlay 2 compatible. On Android, I need to use the ponderous Sonos app to access my playlists and other music in YouTube Music. But with the iPhone, I can simply use the superior YouTube Music app and then change the sound output from the internal speakers to Sonos via the iOS Control Center. Nice!

Battery

The iPhone 12 includes a small 2815 mAh battery, but I had no issues at all making it through a day.

It supports up to 20-watt fast charging, but I’m surprised it can’t go higher than that. Apple claims that such a charger—not included with the phone—can charge it up to 50 percent in 30 minutes. But I experienced much slower charge rates using Apple’s 20-watt charger. It took me almost an hour to charge from 38 percent to 92 percent (54 percent) in one test.

The iPhone 12 also supports wireless charging at up to 15-watts. I didn’t test that.

Unique hardware features

Despite Steve Jobs’ disdain for buttons, the iPhone has always included an alert slider, and while useful, it’s always had the same problem: It’s too easy to engage by mistake. Multiple times in the past two weeks, I’ve picked up the iPhone 12 and was surprised to see a missed text or phone call. And then, sure enough, it was because I had mistakenly switched the alert slider to mute. OnePlus has a better alert slider, and it doesn’t ever engage by mistake.

Beyond that, the iPhone 12 offers IP68 water resistance, which means it should survive in up to 18 feet of water for up to 30 minutes. It should survive the accidental toilet dunking just fine.

The iPhone 12 also supports a new magnet-based feature called Mag Safe that lets you connect compatible accessories—some cases, a wallet add-on, and a wireless charger are currently supported—to the bottom of the handset. I didn’t test Mag Safe.

Software

Apple brought some important functional improvements to iOS 14—including support for widgets on the home screen and the new App Library view—plus a pretty new look and feel that I really like.

But iOS continues to trail Android when it comes to both functionality and customization, and these issues make the experience of using the iPhone 12 a lot less pleasant, given my Android experience. It’s more than kind of silly that we have to even discuss the fact that Apple won’t let its users put app icons wherever they want on-screen, but they won’t.

This is a bigger issue than you may realize. On Android, you can place the app icons you use the most on the bottom of the screen, where they can more easily be reached, especially with just one hand. But because Apple fills in each home screen from the top left, the only alternative is to fill up space with widgets. But I still have empty space at the bottom of the screen. That’s where I want the icons to be, an ergonomically speaking, that’s where they should be. Ah well, maybe that will happen in iOS 15.

Beyond these complaints, iOS gets the job done, and I find that iOS apps are generally better and better looking than their Android counterparts. Even Google’s own apps are often better on iOS. As I’ve noted in the past, Google Maps takes advantage of the system-level ability to bold text, making it easier to read locations as you’re driving in the car, a feature I really appreciated last weekend. I wish the Android version was this legible.

Lots of bundled apps

While I wouldn’t describe most of this as crapware per se, Apple does bundle literally dozens of applications on the iPhone. The good news? You can delete most of them, so if you’re not interested in Apple’s lock-in practices, you can bypass a lot of it right up front and simply install the apps you prefer.

Pricing and availability

Apple raised the price of the iPhone this year by $130, no doubt to accommodate the costs of the improved display and Qualcomm’s expensive 5G chipsets. That brings it closer to the price of the iPhone 12 Pro, but because the iPhone ships with a paltry 64 GB of storage in the base configuration, any comparison of the two gets a bit complicated.

The iPhone 12 starts at $829 unlocked (or $799 through a carrier), which would be reasonable if the base model was configured with 128 GB of storage. But the upgrade to 128 GB costs another $50, bringing the price up to $879.

The iPhone 12 Pro, meanwhile, starts at $999 (unlocked or via a carrier), and that lineup does start with a base 128 GB configuration. So, for an additional $120, you get the Pro’s superior three-lens camera system with additional capabilities, a stainless-steel surround (as opposed to aluminum in the non-Pro iPhone 12), and more RAM (6 GB vs. 4 GB). And while the displays are the same for the most part, the iPhone 12 Pro display is a bit brighter, at 800 nits (for non-HDR content). The iPhone 12 Pro can also be configured with up to 512 GB of storage, compared to 256 GB on the iPhone 12.

The iPhone 12 Mini also throws another wrench in the decision-making process: That handset is basically identical to the normal iPhone 12, but with a smaller display and form factor, and it starts at just $729 unlocked (or $699 through a carrier), again for a 64 GB base configuration. So you can save $100 if you prefer the smaller version. (Moving up to 128 GB adds another $50, as with the iPhone 12.)

I should also mention that you’re going to need to spend another $20 to purchase Apple’s 20-watt USB-C power adapter, since it’s not included in the box. The firm claims this was because of environmental reasons, but if that was true, it would include a normal Lightning cable in the box instead of a USB-C to Lightning cable that requires a special power brick. Yes, you can use your 5-watt Lightning power adapter and cable from a previous iPhone, but your charging speeds will be much slower.

The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are now available. The iPhone 12 Mini (and iPhone 12 Pro Max) will be available for purchase starting Friday, November 6.

Recommendations and conclusions

The iPhone 12 is an excellent smartphone, with a premium look and feel, superior performance, and an excellent dual-camera system. Yes, Apple raised the price this year, but I feel that the new display, form factor, and 5G connectivity justifies the price hike, and with its high-end internal components, it will provide a great experience for years to come.

As to whether one should buy the iPhone 12 vs. the iPhone 12 Mini and its smaller display, or even vs. the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, both of which offer camera improvements and slightly better specs, well that’s up to the individual. I feel that the iPhone 12 is the sweet spot of this year’s iPhone lineup, and it’s the model that provides the best value. I’m honestly surprised that Apple didn’t differentiate the Pro lineup more than it did.

The iPhone 12 is highly recommended. If you’re a fan of Apple products, you can’t go wrong with this smartphone. And if you’re on the fence about moving in that direction, the iPhone 12 makes a compelling argument for doing so.

At-a-glance

Pros

  • Gorgeous OLED display
  • Beautiful design
  • Impressive performance
  • Superior apps ecosystem
  • Great camera system

Cons

  • Huge notch covers a significant portion of the display
  • 64 GB is an unacceptably small amount of storage in 2020
  • iOS is still not as customizable as it should be
  • No charging brick is included
  • iOS has no spam phone call or text message blocking or reporting capabilities

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 31 comments

  • Chris_Kez

    Premium Member
    03 November, 2020 - 5:23 pm

    <p>small typo: third paragraph "iPhone 11 Mini"</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      04 November, 2020 - 7:01 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590597">In reply to Chris_Kez:</a></em></blockquote><p>Thanks, fixed!</p>

  • Chris_Kez

    Premium Member
    03 November, 2020 - 5:29 pm

    <p> Excellent review, Paul! Great photos as usual. I'm not a fan of non-scrambled eggs but wow that sandwich looks fantastic. </p>

  • jchampeau

    Premium Member
    03 November, 2020 - 5:49 pm

    <p>O how I wish there were a USB-C port. But alas, the fourth paragraph should say Lightning instead of USB-C.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      04 November, 2020 - 7:01 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590600">In reply to jchampeau:</a></em></blockquote><p><span style="background-color: rgb(24, 26, 27);">Thanks, fixed!</span></p>

  • bhatech

    03 November, 2020 - 5:50 pm

    <p>For $120 difference (SIM free 128 GB iPhone 12 which is $879 and $999 for sim free iPhone 12 pro 128GB), the Pro is a no brainer. And even those who go for monthly payments it’s only couple of dollars more for an overall better phone.</p><p><br></p><p>Personally I feel the iPhone 12 is in a bad spot pricing wise. For little more go for the Pro or get the iPhone 12 mini for those who want smaller phone.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      04 November, 2020 - 7:03 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590603">In reply to bhatech:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes, and the payments thing is a good point.</p>

  • Sir_Timbit

    03 November, 2020 - 6:02 pm

    <p>Great review, thanks! Just a note though: "and there is still a USB-C port". Pretty sure it's still a Lightning port.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      04 November, 2020 - 7:03 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590612">In reply to Sir_Timbit:</a></em></blockquote><p>Thanks, fixed!</p>

  • SyncMe

    03 November, 2020 - 6:21 pm

    <p>Night mode is simple to adjust or turn off. When the icon appears in the camera app just tap it and you will get a slider at the bottom of the display to adjust the time of the exposure or slide all the way to off.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      04 November, 2020 - 7:03 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590618">In reply to SyncMe:</a></em></blockquote><p>Hm. Thanks … Will look at this further.</p>

  • RobertJasiek

    03 November, 2020 - 6:30 pm

    <p>German iPhone prices are a rip-off by Apple's excessive currency conversion and very restricted 5G functionality in German iPhones. Apple's rip-off anti-repair policy now includes much use of a system driver preventing non-Apple repair of various components. As I have noticed on my iPad, iOS 14.1 is the first version installing itself over night without prior warning and without user-consent so putting personal data at risk possibly before their external backup. Each of these reasons would be enough to prevent me from buying the iPhone before even mentioning price level and notch. </p><p>In fact, the anti-repair policy is a strong reason for me to disregard iPhones forever. If I buy any product, I want to possess it – not the manufacturer possessing me instead. Apple has just again risen my objections of considering an iPad upgrade. If 1bn customers love being ripped-off, I don't.</p>

    • stassi801

      Premium Member
      03 November, 2020 - 7:51 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590620">In reply to RobertJasiek:</a></em></blockquote><p>The automatic updates are optional. Go to Settings&gt;General&gt;Software Update&gt;Automatic Updates&gt; You can turn off both, Download iOS Updates and the Install iOS Updates options.</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      04 November, 2020 - 3:42 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590620">In reply to RobertJasiek:</a></em></blockquote><p>And Apple's repair policies are very poor as well.</p><p>If an Android phone dies, I call the provider and they pick it up and the delivery person hands me over a replacement (new or refurbished, depending on how old my handset is).</p><p>If an iPhone dies, I call the provider and they pick it up and I get it back 2 weeks later… So, 2 weeks without a phone. No replacement, no loaner.</p><p>It is one of the reasons why I stopped using iPhone years ago. And the reason why my old boss always had at least 2 iPhones (I think at one point he had 4, one for general use, one at home, one in the car and one for use in Russia, when he was on business trips – Russian SIM. But that meant that 3 other employees missed out on their upgrade that time around).</p><p>I never understood, why Apple's support is so lousy in Germany.</p><p>With my first iPhone, a 3GS, it died after 2 days, back to the store, 2 weeks away for repair (no fault found), got it back it died over night, back to the store, 2 weeks away for repair (no fault found), it died while I was still in the shop this time round, loud discussion with the salesman in a full shop, wonder of wonders, another 2 weeks away for repair and they discovered that the memory was faulty and I got a new phone.</p><p>Result: the first 7 weeks of ownership, the phone was away for repair for 6 weeks! And T-Mobile lent me a candybar LG phone, not a smartphone, for 2 of the 6 weeks!</p><p>When I was responsible for the company fleet of phones (2010 through 2017), the repair cycle was always the same, 2 weeks away for repair, no loaner or replacement. The Android phones were always replaced within 24 hours, no questions asked, we only got a bill if the screen was broken or there was water damage.</p>

    • RobertJasiek

      04 November, 2020 - 7:05 am

      <p>Some sites report that only US iPhones have full 5G functionality while 5G is restricted for iPhones everywhere else in the world. I cannot verify the scope but maybe others have further information on this aspect?</p>

      • MikeCerm

        04 November, 2020 - 8:28 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#590744">In reply to RobertJasiek:</a></em></blockquote><p>As I understand it, all US iPhones have special hardware (antenna, maybe a different radio) to support "millimeter wave" 5G that Verizon is primarily pushing, which is extremely fast if you're standing on one of a few street corners in a couple cities, but will never be available in most places and doesn't work in buildings made out of walls. iPhones outside of the US will only support "sub-6" 5G, which takes existing LTE frequencies and squeezes more capacity out of them, but is not really much faster than 4G. Apple is saving some money by leaving out the millimeter wave antenna outside the US. </p>

        • wright_is

          Premium Member
          04 November, 2020 - 10:12 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#590754">In reply to MikeCerm:</a></em></blockquote><p>Ah, so 5G won't bring me more than the 0.001mbps that I currently get at work?</p>

  • jlmerrill

    03 November, 2020 - 7:29 pm

    <p>Is this enough to win you over from an Android device?</p>

    • MikeCerm

      04 November, 2020 - 3:44 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590623">In reply to jlmerrill:</a></em></blockquote><p>While I'm tempted by the size and cheaper price of the iPhone 12 Mini, I know that there are just too many limitations on the Apple ecosystem for me. I suspect that for a lot of people who have been in the Android ecosystem for a while without switching to iOS, there's probably one or two things — and they're different for everybody — that make switching to iOS impractical. Lack of USB-C. No fingerprint unlock. You love custom home screens/icons/widgets. Notifications on iOS are still bad. You STILL can't transfer music files without using iTunes. No way to send/receive text messages from a computer (unless it's a Mac). Price is still a factor — The $830 iPhone 12 is not cheap, and phones like the Galaxy S20 FE give you a lot more for hundreds less. (More storage, expandable storage, telephoto lens, bigger battery, bigger screen, 120 Hz, DEX, etc… it's up to you if you care about any of those.) </p><p><br></p><p>These are just some examples, and there are plenty more. Whether you care about all or none of those things, if you're using Android — you haven't switched to iOS yet — then what's new this year that would get you to change?. The OLED screen? iPhones have had OLED screens for since the X. The new design? It disappears when you put on a case. 5G? Nobody cares about 5G.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      04 November, 2020 - 7:02 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590623">In reply to jlmerrill:</a></em></blockquote><p>I'm probably going to write about this separately. </p><p><br></p><p>But the short version is, sure. I do prefer Android still, and would love to see a viable contender from Google in particular. But realistically speaking, it's not like I will be using any one phone for an entire year let alone for years going forward. And while the iPhone has its limitations/weirdnesses, it's good enough for sure. </p>

  • beewacker

    Premium Member
    03 November, 2020 - 8:00 pm

    <p>Paul,</p><p>NIce review, but I really want to know, what are they, and where can I get one of those killer looking, egg covered delights?</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      04 November, 2020 - 3:22 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590631">In reply to beewacker:</a></em></blockquote><p>You can get them at Coronaries 'R' Us. :-D</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      04 November, 2020 - 7:00 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590631">In reply to beewacker:</a></em></blockquote><p>That is bone marrow with quail eggs. </p>

  • djr1984

    04 November, 2020 - 6:20 am

    <p>Great review Paul, couple of minor corrections:</p><p><br></p><p>"I’m not reviewing the iPhone 11 Mini" should reference the iPhone 12 Mini</p><p><br></p><p>"and there is still a USB-C port" should reference that the iPhone still uses Lightning port</p><p><br></p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      04 November, 2020 - 7:01 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590650">In reply to djr1984:</a></em></blockquote><p>Thanks, fixed!</p>

  • solomonrex

    04 November, 2020 - 7:13 am

    <p>Whoa, look at those pictures! The only IT worker in America leaving the house.</p><p><br></p><p>I will argue one point: I also hate the notch, but they're the only company with secure face unlock on mobile. And secure face unlock on laptops hasn't gone anywhere, has it? Even Apple sticks with fingerprints on laptops.</p>

  • sammyg

    04 November, 2020 - 11:10 am

    <p>64gigs is fine IMHO. I am using 19gig of my 64gig on my iPhone 11. I use the cloud for everything, email, photos, iMessage etc.</p><p><br></p><p>If you do not use the cloud to automatically off-load these things, especially photos then you better get a 256gig phone or constantly manage that stuff. Photos and messages with photos are the killer space wasters. </p>

  • glenn8878

    04 November, 2020 - 11:20 am

    <p>I don’t like the price increases and the smaller battery. This version is not for me. The notch doesn’t bother me, but here we are 5 years later still talking about it. Apple should just design it out by adding a top bezel or hide behind the screen. I’m already dreading upgrading from my iPhone 11 in 3 years due to the cost. </p>

    • 02nz

      07 November, 2020 - 12:14 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590784">In reply to glenn8878:</a></em></blockquote><p>The notch has only been around 3 years, not 5, since the release of the iPhone X in 2017.</p>

  • SvenJ

    04 November, 2020 - 4:44 pm

    <p>Charging promises are carefully and specifically worded. "can charge it up to 50 percent in 30 minutes" not 'can add 50% in 30 minutes.' All phones taper off charging as the battery gets fuller. If you find yourself at 10% you can get it up to 50% (not 60%) very quickly, which may just solve your immediate issue. After that it takes time, as they all do, except maybe that phone that you charge directly with jumper cables.</p>

  • 02nz

    07 November, 2020 - 12:13 pm

    <p>"<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It took me almost an hour to charge from 38 percent to 92 percent (54 percent) in one test." iPhones, like most other devices with rechargeable batteries, slow down charging past about 70 to 80%. To test any phone's peak charging speed, you should only charge up to about 60 or 70%. Incidentally, that actually helps preserve long-term battery health, as high states of charge degrade batteries more quickly. I try to keep my iPhone between about 30 and 70% if possible.</span></p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC