Hi, Speed - iPhone event confirmed for 10/13

[Ronald Epstein]

I only ordered a standard 12 and not a 12 Pro but FedEx shows it should be delivered by 8PM today. I didn’t order the MagSafe puck or a 20W charger but those will surely be making their way to my house within the coming weeks.

Clinton, congrats! Enjoy your new phone!

 

[DaveF]

I'm waiting for advance "preparation to order" starts on (presumably) Friday where I can pick my phone and payment option then save it for quick selection on November 6th at 8am EST.

Going with the Pro Max. Probably Pacific Blue, though if I go with a leather folio case again this year the color of the phone really doesn't matter.

The big choice is 512 or 256 storage. There is a $200 difference. With my music library on my phone, I am at 188GB with all my apps and such. I could get away with 256GB this year but if I want to add a lot more music I could be playing with fire with my storage.

So, the first option is iPhone Pro Max, Pacific Blue, 512GB, Folio Case

The second Option is iPhone Pro Max, Pacific Blue, 256GB, clear case plus Apple Care (as the clear case will not offer enough protection)

=======

Magsafe: I know people are excited about this. I could kind of care less.

I have no issues with slow charging of my phones, though the Pro Max is a new animal when it comes to the bigger battery.

Initially, I am not going to buy any Magsafe chargers. I hear the magnets are not very tight to the phone and if you have a leather case they leave a mark on them.

I plan to do similar: Pacific Blue Pro Max 128GB. I'll start off case-less and see how that goes. I was going to pre-order first day. But some stuff has come up, so I might be waiting until mid December. I'd like to have the new camera for the holidays, but it can wait until 2021 if that's how the Winter unfolds.

 

[DaveF]

@Ronald Epstein and @Sam Posten Should we lock this thread and have all iPhone posts go to the owners thread? I'm starting to get confused where to post on the topic? Or do you have a division in mind of reviews go here and actual owners comments go there?

 

[Clinton McClure]

Clinton, congrats! Enjoy your new phone!

Thanks Ron. I’ll post a few first thoughts after unboxing and setup.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

@Ronald Epstein and @Sam Posten Should we lock this thread and have all iPhone posts go to the owners thread? I'm starting to get confused where to post on the topic? Or do you have a division in mind of reviews go here and actual owners comments go there?

Well, some of us are not owners yet.

So, my initial response is to let the owners post in that thread and until the rest of us get a phone in our hands, continue posting prospects here.

 

[Johnny Angell]

This is a good review. But it’s the comments on Apple's conflation of "pro" with "boring" that gets my attention. I said as much a week ago, and I'm gratified to not be alone.

iPhone 12 & iPhone 12 Pro review: Family resemblance – Six Colors

iPhone 12 & iPhone 12 Pro review: Family resemblance

For all the sound and fury about how iPhone updates are boring and incremental–and make no mistake, incremental improvement year over year is how Apple plays this game–it’s import…

sixcolors.com

Yeah, typical of Apple, boring colors. There attitude seems to be “You’ll take the colors we give you and like it!” And it appears to work for Apple. We keep buying, don’t we? Come on Apple, why can’t we have a bright red?

I’m not a yearly upgrader and we won’t be upgrading this go-around. Our 11’s are still fine.

 

[Sam Posten]

I plan to do similar: Pacific Blue Pro Max 128GB. I'll start off case-less and see how that goes. I was going to pre-order first day. But some stuff has come up, so I might be waiting until mid December. I'd like to have the new camera for the holidays, but it can wait until 2021 if that's how the Winter unfolds.

I recommend going CASED to start, especially if you aren't on the yearly plan. Protect it and see if you can live without it intermittently. Don't go reckless to start and then regret the scratching that occurs like I did last year. Or try the screen protector at least... I hate em. But if I was going to keep a phone like this long term the scratches would drive me batty.

 

[Sam Posten]

I think the confusion is actual owners are continuing to post here. They should post their experiences in the owners thread. Ron and I have to wait till the 6th to even order.... I'll post my order experiences in the owners thread and will post any unboxings that occur between now and then there as well. That thread did not exist when I posted the unboxings here. I did not start the thread because of the Max delay...

 

[DavidJ]

A Guy Walks Into an Apple Store

"Hello, I'd like to buy one of the new iPhones, please!" "Sure thing, here's the new iPhone 12. It's fast, beautiful, and is generally awesome." "Sweet, I'll take it. This box is really small." "Yup, that's because Apple is making the environmental move to reduce waste and not give you

birchtree.me

This encapsulates how I feel about Apple’s decision to not include a charger and their marketing. I will eventually end up buying a brick and that will come in it’s own packaging anyway. It seems less an environmental move and more of a financial one.

I’m planning to get the Pro Max, also in Pacific Blue like many of you are planning. I’m leaning toward the 256 GB. That’s what I’ve got in my X.

I’m still thinking I’ll go with a clear Apple silicone case to start. I’m not going to get the Mag Safe charger, but when they come out with the dual charger I might get that if I’m able to pick up an Apple Watch this fall.

 

[DaveF]

I thought I understood Apple leaving out the charging block, and was in favor of it, even knowing it was profit-positive for them. And if Apple had included the typical USB-A to Lightning cable, the story I think still would have been pretty straight forward.

But reading reviews and commentary, I realize their iPhone 12 charging options are confusing, at best, and I'm pretty tech savvy. Leaving out the power supply and including a USB C to Lightning cable makes no sense against the reality of what people own and expect.

And then the MagSafe also doesn't have a power supply further muddies the waters.

The real downside is the iPhone 12 in effect is nearly $200 more expensive than iPhone 11 accounting for $130 explicit price tag change and lacking a $30 USB-C power supply.

This will settle out in the next two or three years. But in 2020, it's a weird Apple-ism where they announced a "simple" change that's quite confusing to tech experts, let alone normal people.

 

[DaveF]

For me, as Sam would say, it's just the "cost of doing business", and I'll buy what $200 extra stuff is needed to to charge all the iPhones when we upgrade.

But most people I know hate this stuff. They see it as a trillion dollar company intentionally confusing people to save pennies or earn another $100 bucks and hide the true cost of their devices. And I think of my parents. There's a cable in the box that they will attempt to use and might break the cable and the charging trying to jam a USB-C connector into a USB-A port, or maybe even into the iPhone Lightning port. Because Apple put it in the box so it must be the right cable.

But no, Apple gave a dumb cable that no one can use because they left out the power supply that uses that cable, and tell you to use this cable that none of your power supplies can use.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Yeah, not sure that provision of USB-C only lightning cable is a good idea. I was not aware. They probably should provide both types or at least an adapter on top. Some of us (like me) would love to have a(nother) USB-C cable, but yeah, it's probably not mainstream enough for it to be the only included option.

RE: the missing power adapter/block, actually they had already left that out for the regular 11 (but not 11 Pro/Max) upon its original release. I actually bought my own 3rd party USB-C lightning cable (because they didn't include one) and fast-charging (high powered PD) block to go w/ my iPhone 11 -- the block I chose also provides enough juice to charge some small laptops and particularly our Surface Pro tablet (and I bought a specific cable for the latter too). I also opted for a fairly substantial PD powerbank to go w/ that (mainly for occasional vacation use).

_Man_

 

[DaveF]

iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max first looks are out at a bunch of major tech news sites.

Sizing up the iPhone 12 mini and 12 Pro Max

How do the 12 mini and 12 Pro Max compare to Apple’s other iPhones?

www.theverge.com