IPhone 12 test: our opinion

Of the four members of the new iPhone 12 family, the basic iPhone 12 might be easy to overlook. It's not a drastically different size, it doesn't have the most premium camera system, and it is perhaps the most iterative in terms of updates in the new portfolio. This is not, however, a simple upgrade to the iPhone 11; Launched at a much higher starting price, it sets a new level in the Apple lineup. You might see it as a step up from the iPhone 12 mini, but just as there are two sizes of Apple Watch, the differences between these models are more about personal preference than ability.

Should you spend Rs. 10000 more on the iPhone 12 than the iPhone 12 mini (Review)? Should this be your natural upgrade option if you have an older model? What exactly is this model missing compared to the much more expensive, but very similar iPhone 12 Pro (Review)? I have all of the above and more.

Price and positioning of the iPhone 12

Prices have increased throughout the industry thanks to an increase in the GST rate and fluctuations between the US dollar and Indian rupee. However, Apple also decided to increase the base price, leaving the iPhone 12 mini in the slot we expected from the iPhone 12. This means that you will have to spend a little more than you might have expected if you did. don't want the smaller model. The price of iPhone 12 in India starts at Rs. 79 for 900 GB, and goes up to Rs. 64 for 84 GB and Rs. 900 for 128 GB.

What is interesting is that the price of the iPhone 12 Pro starts at Rs. 40000 more at Rs. 1,19,000 (which is a much bigger difference in India than elsewhere in the world, for reasons Apple declined to clarify when asked). The iPhone 12 Pro has a stainless steel rather than aluminum frame, twice the storage per level, and a 2x optical telephoto lens plus a LiDAR sensor that has some applications for AR and low-light photography. It is also capable of higher maximum screen brightness, Dolby Vision HDR 60fps video recording, night mode portraits and ProRAW photo capture. If none of those features appeal to you, the much cheaper iPhone 12 with the exact same SoC, battery, and camera hardware suddenly seems like a pretty compelling alternative.

Keep in mind that none of the new iPhone 12 models come with a charger or headphones in the box. You might want to grab a MagSafe wireless charger, plus one of Apple's own chargers if you don't have a Type-C adapter lying around, and to get the fastest wireless charging possible. Those, plus a case and maybe a pair of AirPods, will all add to the price you end up paying.

iphone 12 rear1 ndtv iphone

Battery life is better with iPhone 12 than with iPhone 12 mini

IPhone 12 design

We're going back to a completely flat front and back, as well as a flat frame that wraps around the perimeter of the iPhone 12 family. It's a bit like the iPhone 5 generation, but without even any bevelled or chamfered edges meeting the screen glass. If you choose one of the more vivid color options, you will see the metal frame around the edges of your device. This means the front and back panels are more protected, but I suspected the frame would likely be scuffed or dented without a case, and that's exactly what happened within a week of using the iPhone 12.

Apple claims its new Ceramic Shield material, used on the front, is four times more resistant to damage when dropped, but that doesn't mean it's scratch resistant. You also get an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance, and this phone survived being thrown into a swimming pool and even used to record videos underwater for several minutes over the period of time. exam.

The lack of rounded edges means the iPhone 12 feels a little less comfortable in the hand and against the ear than the iPhone 11 (Reviews). However, it is considerably smaller in all dimensions, especially the thickness, and also a bit lighter. At just 7,4mm thick and 162g, the differences are immediately noticeable. Whether you're talking on the phone, playing games, recording videos, or even just scrolling through endless streams, the iPhone 12 is an ergonomic improvement overall.

One-handed operation isn't much of a problem, as luckily the glass back panel isn't slippery. Without a case, the two camera rings on the back protrude a bit, which is a concern. You get the usual power button on the right and the volume buttons and mute switch on the left. There's a Lightning connector on the bottom and an invisible MagSafe magnetic ring on the back for Apple's new line of wireless charging accessories. There is only one Nano-SIM tray but you can use an eSIM if you need a second line.

IPhone 12 Specifications and Software

We are now quite familiar with Apple's A14 Bionic SoC, which can be found in the iPhone 12 lineup and the new iPad Air (2020). It has two high-performance processor cores and four energy-efficient processor cores, a quad-core graphics processor, next-generation “Neural Engine” artificial intelligence logic, and more. Apple claims that this 5nm chip is not only the fastest current smartphone processor, but also incredibly energy efficient. The big push of this generation is machine learning, which can be used to accelerate AI on the device to make apps and the user interface itself more personal and secure.

One of the most notable improvements introduced by the iPhone 12 is its display. Apple used almost the exact same OLED panel on this device as it did on the iPhone 12 Pro, in stark contrast to previous generations in which lower-end models featured significantly lower resolution LCDs. This makes the iPhone 12 much more premium than its predecessors.

The 6,1 inch 1170 × 2532 HDR panel supports P3 wide color gamut and Apple's True Tone ambient light adjustment function. The notch at the top is pretty huge by today's standards, and it's really annoying when watching full screen videos, but that's not otherwise a problem if you're used to using an iPhone. fairly recent. A high refresh rate would have been nice, but it's still a plus for the Android camp for now.

Apple does not officially disclose information such as battery capacity and amount of RAM for its products, but we do know from third party teardowns that the iPhone 12 has a 2815mAh, 4GB battery. of RAM. You can choose between 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB of storage - considering the prices, the base model really should have had more, but cloud and streaming services these days have eased the pain a lot. lack of space.

The entire iPhone 12 family supports 5G below 6GHz, which is not a selling point at the moment, but one that will hopefully come in handy in India in the near future. There's also Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, ultra-wideband positioning, GPS, and NFC, though Apple limits the use of some of these standards.

iOS 14 runs exceptionally smoothly without any hesitation. The user interface is responsive and the animations are super smooth. Apps load quickly, even if they haven't been used for a while. You get more customization options and built-in features (including some localized) than with earlier versions, but there are still a lot of things you need to learn the Apple way. Despite the high prices of iPhones, the stability and longevity of iOS 14, along with its privacy features, keeps a lot of people in the fold.

Much of the appeal of iPhones is based on Apple's various apps and services, including iMessage, FaceTime, and iCloud. The company is pushing hard on its Apple Music, Arcade, and TV + subscriptions, and some notifications can get annoying. You can claim three free months of Apple Arcade and a full year of TV + with the purchase of any new iOS device, but iCloud storage is limited to 5GB without a paid subscription.

iphone 12 ndtv frame iphone

Aluminum frame is prone to scratches and dents

IPhone 12 performance and battery life

It's no surprise that the day-to-day performance is absolutely flawless. From Face ID authentication to loading heavy games and switching between apps, it all went effortlessly. There's not much these days that really stresses out even mid-range phones, but the A14 Bionic still completely demolishes expectations in terms of responsiveness and smoothness.

However, all is not perfect. Even with normal use, I felt the back of the iPhone 12 get slightly warm. It wasn't a problem, but it was noticeable. Pushing the A14 Bionic SoC to its limits in gaming and testing, the metal back and frame got quite hot, which could be uncomfortable for some people for long periods of time. A case can help alleviate this to some extent.

Benchmarks have shown that Apple isn't kidding when it comes to performance. AnTuTu reported a score of 5,68,462 while Geekbench 5's single-core and multi-core scores were 1 and 563 respectively. As far as graphics go, every scene in GFXBench performed at 3675 fps or better with the exception of of the highest-end Aztec Ruins (High Tier) test which handled 58 fps. The new 48,8DMark Wild Life test also went very well, with 3 points in total. In our iPhone 6660 mini review, I pointed out that the Wild Life stress test revealed a drastic drop in performance after just a few loops - the iPhone 12 did a lot better, but the stability score fell further. at 12%.

Call of Duty Mobile and Asphalt 9: Legends performed well, aside from the body getting a little hot. Casual games like Alto's Odyssey and Lara Croft Go were a lot of fun. You'll have no trouble keeping yourself entertained, but you'll need to provide your own Bluetooth headphones or recycle a headset with a Lightning connector from an older iPhone.

The screen is bright, crisp and attractive. Videos and games look great, aside from the large notch that often gets in the way. Colors really show up in HDR videos, and this is one of the key areas where the iPhone 12 is a significant upgrade over its predecessors. The stereo speakers produce surprisingly full and detailed sound, and although the bass is weak, there is no distortion even at high volumes.

iphone 12 ndtv right iphone

iOS 14 is more customizable than previous versions and has new privacy features

Battery life isn't particularly good, but you can comfortably get through a full day and maybe have some energy for the next morning. If you play games for about an hour, stream lots of music, check social feeds, and take lots of photos and videos, you'll probably want to plug in that phone (or plug in a MagSafe pad) every night. The iPhone 12 lasted 14 hours and 32 minutes in our HD video loop test, beating the iPhone 12 mini by a small margin and coming slightly behind the iPhone 12 Pro with the same capacity battery. I was not able to test the charging speed significantly as Apple no longer offers a charger and buyers will be using various adapters with different output ratings.

IPhone 12 cameras

You get the same camera arrangement as on the iPhone 11: a 12-megapixel wide-angle main camera and an additional 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera on the rear, plus another 12-megapixel sensor for the front camera. . Along with the generational improvements, the main difference in specs is the aperture of the main camera, which is now f / 1,6 for better low-light shots. On the software side, you can now use Night Mode and Deep Fusion on all three cameras, and you can record Dolby Vision HDR video up to 30 fps.

20201115 094323193 iOS close-up SHOWING EYES AND NOSE ONLY iphone

IPhone 12 Daytime Photo Sample (Cropped)

The main advantages are better performance and greater versatility in low light. Most of Apple's camera tricks work in the background - you can't choose when Deep Fusion is active, but it will combine multiple exposures using what Apple calls "computational photography" to produce a single frame. well exposed. Night mode is not a separate mode that you must select; it just comes in when needed. It's the exact same experience you'll have with the iPhone 12 mini, and unsurprisingly, the results are pretty much the same with both phones.

Daytime shots were crisp and bright, with vivid but not oversaturated colors and decent detail, even in distant objects. The ultra-wide-angle camera does a great job, and the photos have the same overall tone and minimal edge distortion, although the definition is significantly lower. Close-ups have excellent natural depth of field. The main strength of the iPhone 12's camera seems to be its ability to reproduce extremely fine detail in close-up, even when there are complex exposures to deal with.

IPhone 12 Daytime Photo Sample (Top: Wide Angle; Bottom: Ultra Wide Angle)

Portrait mode works with humans and pets, and the background is aesthetically de-emphasized. However, sometimes it is a bit difficult to lock onto a subject, and edge detection is not great with jagged objects such as flowers. You can adjust the background blur and portrait lighting effects after taking a photo. Taking ordinary close-ups, on the other hand, is effortless and much more flexible in terms of framing, but you don't get the same lush effect and setting options.

Daytime close-up photo example for iPhone 12

When it comes to low-light shots, the iPhone 12 really excelled, revealing details in landscapes totally invisible to the naked eye. With barely any ambient light around, this phone was able to reveal crisp detail in close-ups and surprising contrast in landscapes. The default is 2-3 seconds, but you can push it up to 29 seconds, which is only recommended if you are using a tripod. On a moonless night, I was able to capture stars as real points, not just spots on the dark sky.

Example photo in night mode for iPhone 12

IPhone 12 night mode photo example (using a tripod)

Video is saved in HDR by default, and you will need to visit the main iOS settings app to override this. It looks smooth and vibrant at 1080p as well as 4K, with very little jerkiness thanks to the main camera's optical stabilization. You can also get great results with the wide-angle camera, day or night.

Selfies are also crisp and detailed, and Night Mode helps you capture usable (albeit slightly grainy) photos, even in dark corners with very little light.

IPhone 12 selfie samples (top: daytime portrait; bottom: night mode)

Verdict

The iPhone 12 is a solid and capable phone, but it's also very expensive. With the iPhone 12 mini, it's clearly positioned as a premium option, with its sleek new housing, excellent high-resolution OLED display, and flexible cameras. The choice between the two siblings will depend on your personal preferences in terms of handling and screen size, but you should also consider the difference in battery life.

If you're currently using an iPhone 11 or iPhone XR, there's a good chance you won't earn much from the upgrade just yet. For users of older models who have been waiting for a good reason to upgrade and intend to stick with their purchase for at least three years, the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini will feel fresh and deliver great performance for at least that long.

You also have to consider that you are getting almost all the capabilities of the much more expensive iPhone 12 Pro at a much lower price. Unless money isn't an issue or you're serious about photography and video recording, the iPhone 12 should meet all of your needs.

Last year's iPhone 11 and even the two-year-old iPhone XR still sell for a lot less. They're actually the iPhone 12's strongest competitors, especially when you consider value for money (and that's even more evident when they go on sale). Sure, they don't have all the latest and greatest features, but they do most of what the iPhone 12 does, and they'll be getting regular software updates for at least a few more years.

Also read