iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max owners thread (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Didn’t you guys sign up for the $150, 3-year D+ plan last year? What’s the benefit of freeD+ if you’ve already got two more years locked in for super cheap?

There is no benefit, Dave.

However, it just happens to be included with everything else so there's no choice.

I suppose in a way, it's no big deal. We are going to end up having Disney+ paid-in-full for a lifetime (half joking).

BTW, after I changed my plan with Verizon they overbilled me by $10 charging me a second time for Apple Music which is supposed to be included in the package. Verizon was helpful and they took it off the bill.

 

[DaveF]

That’s really surprising. I don’t think I’ve heard of plans stacking like that. Will keep that in mind.

 

[DavidJ]

Any thoughts and opinions on the iPhone Upgrade Program versus buying with the Apple Card? I've read some articles and discussions online, but I want to make sure I'm not overlooking something. I used the upgrade program to buy my X and never upgraded it. I don't particularly need another credit card, but I'm not in a position where having another account would be a bad thing either.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Any thoughts and opinions on the iPhone Upgrade Program versus buying with the Apple Card? I've read some articles and discussions online, but I want to make sure I'm not overlooking something. I used the upgrade program to buy my X and never upgraded it. I don't particularly need another credit card, but I'm not in a position where having another account would be a bad thing either.

David,

The struggle is real.

I have debated that issue over and over again.

The plusses of going with the upgrade program are that it's pretty much hassle-free when doing the actual upgrade. You don't have to inquire about selling your phone with multiple sellers. Apple will always offer you 50% of your value towards the next phone. From what I understand, around the time you preorder your new phone, they send you a box to return the old one in the mail.

The minus? A hard credit to your score as you open a new account with Citizens One. Also, you are actually paying more for the phone because Apple Care is included -- something many people might not need if they protect their phone.

For the first time, I went with the program. The reason is that I didn't go for the 512GB phone so I saved money there which gave me a little more willingness to go with the upgrade program with Apple Care.

One last reason for going with the program: Preordering will be much simpler. Right now you can pick your phone, enroll in the program, and get approved. This essentially allows for a simple single-click checkout at 5am PST on Friday.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Since there's no dedicated iPhone 12 or 12 Mini thread, I'm going to go ahead and post my initial iPhone 12 thoughts here.

I’ll preface this mini-review by saying that I love the iPhone. To me, it’s the best and most influential smartphone series to ever hit the market. But I didn’t always think that way. A brief history…

My first smartphone was a burgundy (wine) colored Samsung Blackjack II running a very broken version of Windows Mobile 6, itself a very broken version of Windows, sometime in late 2007. It was a lackluster experience to say the least but I carried the Blackjack II for two years until my 24-month contract with AT&T was up and the phone was paid off. During that time, I also carried a Blackberry 8700 for work so I thought every smartphone should have a tiny screen and a large physical keyboard. I thought every smartphone was slow. I thought all mobile software, even though still in its infancy, was supposed to be compromised and convoluted. I was a luddite. I also already had a 5th generation iPod (later rebranded as iPod Classic) with a click wheel and couldn’t for the life of me, understand why I needed to buy another iPod with a phone built into it, but without the physical keyboard that all smartphones just had to have. It had to be all marketing fluff. It had to be a gimmick. It would never work. In fact, I didn’t know of anyone who bought an iPhone when they came out in 2007. I saw one in the AT&T store but there was a line of people looking at it and I didn’t have time to wait around to play with what was bound to fail spectacularly. My Motorola RAZR v3 had just died and needed to be replaced so I walked out of the AT&T store with my Samsung BlackJack II in hand, the proud owner of the best new smartphone money could buy, according to the very attractive girl who worked there. Oh, how stupid I was.

I bought my first iPhone, the 3GS, in 2009 after seeing one at an acquaintance’s home. I immediately fell in love with the iPhone’s design. It wasn’t a gimmick. It wasn’t all just marketing fluff. This phone was the real deal. It was actually functional and the OS was intelligently designed and not nearly as convoluted as the Blackjack II that I had grown increasingly frustrated with. Music synching was fairly straightforward and Apple pushed out OS updates with regular frequency. In the two years that I had the BlackJack II, the OS was only updated once. After 10 minutes or so of playing around the with iPhone, I was hooked. I became an iPhone lover. Over the years, I have upgraded from the 3GS to the 4S, the 5S, the 6S, and finally the 7 Plus. I stopped with the 7 Plus because iPhones had gotten so good that I didn’t see a pressing need to upgrade. I had all I ever needed. My iPhone 7 Plus was still fast and could still run the latest version of iOS. So I waited. I was issued an iPhone 8 for work. It was smaller than my 7 Plus but I couldn’t really tell if it was faster. No need to upgrade yet. My wife grew tired of her 7 Plus two years ago and came down with a case of upgradeitis so we traded hers in for an iPhone XS Max. FaceID was a new thing, as was the loss of the chin at the bottom of the screen. It was a bold redesign, but I wasn’t immediately onboard. I thought I would play around with her phone for a bit and see if I wanted to upgrade. The bug just didn’t bite me. The phone was new, but it was also heavy. It still didn’t seem faster than my 7 Plus and I just couldn’t justify an upgrade for me. So I waited still…

Finally, after four years, I was beginning to see where my iPhone 7 Plus was beginning to age. Max battery life was only 88% and it drained fast and required frequent charges to make it throughout the day. App switching wasn’t as snappy as it once was. Certain apps showed visible stuttering during certain animations. The phone also got hot after using it for a while. I tried reinstalling iOS 14 fresh but the problems persisted. I had also grown tired of lugging such a big phone around with me all day. Having a large screen is nice, but I began to miss the simpler times of having a smaller phone. One easier to hold and work single-handedly, one that fit better in my trouser pocket. Then along came the iPhone 12 and it seems to do everything right.

The first thing I noticed upon opening the shipping box from Verizon is the size of the iPhone box itself. The box is about half the height of previous iPhone boxes. I presume this is because of the absence of a charger and earbuds.

The first huge physical difference you’ll see is a return of the flat edges. This is a call back to the iPhones 4 and 5 and, in my opinion, a very wise design choice. I find the flat edges easier to hold than the rounded edges introduced with the iPhone 6 series and carried through to the 11 series. The phone feels more secure and less likely to slip from my grasp. It also makes the iPhone appear slightly smaller and very attractive.

I opted for the standard iPhone 12, instead of the Pro, in white with 128GB memory. I don’t take many pictures with my iPhone so having the best camera and most memory available are not paramount to me. The aluminum bands around the edges contrast well against the thin black bezel and glossy white glass back of the phone. They are also not a fingerprint magnet like the stainless steel bands of the Pro models.









The 12 is smaller than my 7 Plus, even though the screen is larger, thanks to the almost edge to edge display and thin bezels. The 12 is also 0.85 ounces lighter, which doesn’t seem like much but becomes apparent after extended use. I always carry my iPhone in my front left trouser pocket and the 12 fits a bit better and is less obtrusive than the 7 Plus. Even though the 12 is smaller than the 7 Plus, I still find it a bit too large for comfortable single-handed use.





After plugging in and powering on, I began initial setup. I have never set up a phone as easily as I did this time around. The complete setup, activation, and data transfer took about 20 minutes. Unpairing my Series 4 Apple Watch from the 7 Plus and pairing it with the 12, however, was a frustrating exercise that took four tries to get the pairing process started and ate up over three hours of my morning. It was easily the slowest and most painful part of setup. Also, although Apple Pay moved my wallet and cards over from one phone to the other, I still had to go into the wallet app and re-authorize all of my cards by entering in the CVV number from each card. One of the cards would not authorize and I had to call the card issuer to have them manually authorize it for Apple Pay. As it turns out, this was by design on the part of the card issuer for added security so I can say iOS 14 and the wallet app did exactly what they were supposed to do by denying my first attempts to authorize the card. I also had to repeat this process with the same card issuer after pairing my apple watch to the 12.

I have been living with TouchID since its inception so FaceID is new to me. Lately, I have railed loudly about how FaceID is an unusable feature of the iPhone since we are in a full-blown pandemic and we can’t all go removing our face coverings to unlock our phones while out in public, especially while at a POS terminal trying to use Apple Pay. I have been arguing for the inclusion of TouchID in modern iPhones specifically for that purpose, as well as not being inconvenienced by having to type in a passcode to unlock the iPhone. It had never occurred to me to use Apple Pay on my watch. I had been so used to using TouchID for Apple Pay that I had completely overlooked the easier solution sitting on my wrist. I began using Apple Pay on my watch last week in preparation for getting my iPhone 12. As it turns out, using Apple Pay with my watch is easier and much faster than it was using my iPhone. Luddite-extraordinaire. Anyway, back to FaceID.

FaceID on the iPhone 12 is fast. It is faster than TouchID was on my 7 Plus for unlocking the phone as well as opening my banking and credit card apps and password manager. It works great in low light, for example, sitting on the sofa in the living room at night with just a dim lamp and the tv on. I have also not been able to fool FaceID.

I was afraid it would take me a long time to get used to not having a home button and using the swipe-up gesture. My fears were put to rest within about 5 minutes.

Launching and switching apps on the iPhone 12 is fast and buttery smooth. My 7 Plus would sometimes freeze for several seconds after switching to a new app or opening a new tab in Safari. The 12 just blazes through.

As I said earlier, I don’t take pictures. I am not a picture person and never have been. The camera on the 12 is fine. It takes pictures and they look as good as or maybe better than my iPhone 7 Plus so I’m moving on.



Wifi is consistently faster on the 12 than on the 7 Plus. Browsing HTF, new pages open immediately where they would sometimes take two or three seconds to open on the 7 Plus.

The on-screen keyboard seems to be more accurate than on the 7 Plus. I experience far fewer typos and missed touches resulting in missed letters while typing. The screen also feels softer and more flexible than that of the 7 Plus. That may have to do with the new ceramic shield screen composition used on the 12 as well as the 12’s display not supporting 3D Touch. And speaking of display, the OLED display is beautiful. There have been some concerns about the display being prone to scratching. We’ll see how my display holds up over time since I don’t keep my iPhone in a case, but I don’t think it’s going to be an issue.

I’ve used the iPhone 12 on wifi for several days now (from 3:00AM until 8:30 – 9:00PM) and still had 70-80% of a charge left when I go to bed every night so I think I’m going to be ok with the smaller battery of the 12 compared to the one offered in the 12 Pro.

In summary, the 12 makes the iPhone feel new and fresh again. I’m as amazed at my 12 today as I was at my 3GS back in 2009. If you’re looking to upgrade iPhones this year and don’t want to spend extra money on the Pro model with a telephoto lens, the 12 is what you want. It’s a fantastic phone.

 

[DavidJ]

David,

The struggle is real.

I have debated that issue over and over again.

The plusses of going with the upgrade program are that it's pretty much hassle-free when doing the actual upgrade. You don't have to inquire about selling your phone with multiple sellers. Apple will always offer you 50% of your value towards the next phone. From what I understand, around the time you preorder your new phone, they send you a box to return the old one in the mail.

The minus? A hard credit to your score as you open a new account with Citizens One. Also, you are actually paying more for the phone because Apple Care is included -- something many people might not need if they protect their phone.

For the first time, I went with the program. The reason is that I didn't go for the 512GB phone so I saved money there which gave me a little more willingness to go with the upgrade program with Apple Care.

One last reason for going with the program: Preordering will be much simpler. Right now you can pick your phone, enroll in the program, and get approved. This essentially allows for a simple single-click checkout at 5am PST on Friday.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I am going to want Apple Care whichever way I go so that part isn't going to matter to me.

 

[DaveF]

Wifi is consistently faster on the 12 than on the 7 Plus. Browsing HTF, new pages open immediately where they would sometimes take two or three seconds to open on the 7 Plus.

It isn’t faster WiFi, as your Speedtest results how. It’s the faster processor rendering complex websites faster. I see it on my iPad Air (A14) vs a two year old iPad (A10).

 

[Clinton McClure]

My Ookla Speedtest results were consistently 30-40Mbps faster on the 12 than on the 7 Plus. That tells me the 12 is using a faster WiFi radio than the 7 Plus, which is now 4 years old.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I understand the new processor is rendering complex websites faster but Speedtest results still show faster data transfer rates.

 

[DaveF]

Thats only a 10% improvement on an ideal Speedtest scenario. Thats likely not seen on normal web browsing. If it is, it’s 0.2 sec shaved off a 2 second page load. The big improvement you’re seeing is more likely the A14. Many web pages are complex and demanding on the cpu.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Clinton,

Great review. Going from a 7 to a 12 was quite a step up so I am not surprised by your elation over the improvements.

Best of luck with your new device. I am waiting to order my Pro Max on Friday.

 

[DavidJ]

David,

The struggle is real.

I have debated that issue over and over again.

The plusses of going with the upgrade program are that it's pretty much hassle-free when doing the actual upgrade. You don't have to inquire about selling your phone with multiple sellers. Apple will always offer you 50% of your value towards the next phone. From what I understand, around the time you preorder your new phone, they send you a box to return the old one in the mail.

The minus? A hard credit to your score as you open a new account with Citizens One. Also, you are actually paying more for the phone because Apple Care is included -- something many people might not need if they protect their phone.

For the first time, I went with the program. The reason is that I didn't go for the 512GB phone so I saved money there which gave me a little more willingness to go with the upgrade program with Apple Care.

One last reason for going with the program: Preordering will be much simpler. Right now you can pick your phone, enroll in the program, and get approved. This essentially allows for a simple single-click checkout at 5am PST on Friday.

Well, I decided to go with the upgrade program because of the leaks regarding next year’s phones. But I should’ve done it sooner. I forgot I have an extended fraud alert with the credit agencies. So I now have to wait for a call from Citizens One to confirm things which means I’m going to miss the pre-order. It’s all been minor, but it’s been one of those days and weeks.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Well, I decided to go with the upgrade program because of the leaks regarding next year’s phones. But I should’ve done it sooner. I forgot I have an extended fraud alert with the credit agencies. So I now have to wait for a call from Citizens One to confirm things which means I’m going to miss the pre-order. It’s all been minor, but it’s been one of those days and weeks.

Why do you have to wait for a call? My approval was pretty immediate, though I didn't get a letter or anything. I was just told my phone is ready for preorder day.

 

[DavidJ]

Why do you have to wait for a call? My approval was pretty immediate, though I didn't get a letter or anything. I was just told my phone is ready for preorder day.

I had a bit of an identity theft issue when things first shut down due to the pandemic. In dealing with that added a credit monitoring alert with the credit agencies. That’s why they have to call me to confirm. Fortunately and surprisingly, they called a little bit ago and I’m now good to go.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I had a bit of an identity theft issue when things first shut down due to the pandemic. In dealing with that added a credit monitoring alert with the credit agencies. That’s why they have to call me to confirm. Fortunately and surprisingly, they called a little bit ago and I’m now good to go.

Aaah, David, that is great news! A little over 6 hours to go!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

 

[Sam Posten]

 

[DavidJ]

Order placed! I’ve got the 256 GB iPhone Pro Max in Pacific Blue coming next Friday. I also ordered Apple’s clear case and the 20W power adapter.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Those Mother F-ers at Verizon charged me a $20 one-time upgrade fee. All these carriers pull that shit when you buy a new phone.

 

[Dave Upton]

As an android user for many years now, I have decided to get a 12 Pro to give iOS a try once again. I just feel like Google's pixel series has totally dropped the ball on innovation. Apple's processor lead is so substantial that it's clear they are the leader by a huge margin at the moment. So, while I'll still have a Pixel 4 XL as my fallback, I'm excited to receive a 12 Pro next week and use an iPhone again for the first time since the 6S.