iPhone 12 and Pro reviews are out but no Mini/Max yet, and more

Your Tech News Digest via the DGiT Daily Tech Newsletter for Wednesday, October 21, 2020.

1. iPhone 12 and Pro models tested, no Mini or Max yet

About a week after Apple’s iPhone 12 was announced, the devices have now shipped, which also indicates that the reviews have been canceled. What is missing here are the iPhone 12 mini and the iPhone 12 Pro Max, both models will only be available in November. Both of them may be more interesting, but the base iPhone 12 is likely to be the top seller among the four, regardless. I don’t know if we’re missing half the story here or not, but right now it’s the base iPhone 12 versus the iPhone 12 Pro.

And the base iPhone 12 and Pro series have been reviewed and compared in quite a bit of depth, and while the longer-term reviews tend to go below the surface, there are some early good ones and maybe a concern or two.

• Part of the rest of the reviews is to figure out whether you want the iPhone 12 ($ 829 with 64GB storage or $ 879 with 128GB storage) or the 12 Pro (starts at $ 999 with 128GB storage) should purchase at a relatively affordable price. Ins and various plans.
• Indeed, the reviews say the gap between the Standard and the Pro is smaller than ever.
• While the Pro Max has a better camera than the Pro. So buying the Pro for the camera, but not the Pro Max, is a mystery.

Some outlets have given two reviews together, possibly due to their similarity.

The CNET The iPhone 12 review spends most of its time actively comparing the two. It’s one of the top-rated phones of all time for the outlet, the iPhone 12 at 9.2 / 10 and the iPhone 12 Pro at 9.3 / 10, with the note, “It’s best to get the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro as “to be introduced. better “and” best “versions of the same phone.

Engadget follows the same path but reverses the score. The iPhone 12 received a 91/100 in praise for the huge leap that the iPhone 11 made and which is the right choice for most people. With the higher price, the iPhone 12 Pro achieved 89/100 with the explanation: “Compared to the iPhone 12, the new iPhone 12 Pro is a considerably harder sale.”

Daring fireball I’ve spent less time doing scores and thinking more about what it all means, but I offered this: “Aside from the camera system, the iPhone 12 is just as beautiful as the iPhone 12 Pro and costs $ 120 less with the same storage space.”

More specific reviews said similar things but went into key features. By the way, all of the reviews clearly love the new design: flat sides and flat screens are great. The rails are matte on the iPhone 12, glossy on the Pro models, and the mat is apparently a bit nicer. But people will put a case on their phones anyway. TechCrunch went even further: “The 12 Pro is probably the highest quality piece of consumer electronics I’ve ever touched.”

And all of the reviews say the A14 Bionic chip is incredibly fast, so there isn’t a lot of detail to go into there.

The other important topic is well covered by The Verge:

Apple iPhone 12 review: raising the bar: 9/10

• 5G: “It is not a good idea to buy an iPhone just because it has 5G. It’s a nice bonus, but not more than that. “
• Camera: “The important changes to the camera in the iPhone 12 do not affect the sensors or lenses. Except for the main line, they are completely unchanged […] The camera changes from an aperture of ƒ / 1.8 to ƒ / 1.6 to let in a little more light. Instead, the bigger differences are down to the software and the unlocking of new features thanks to the new A14 Bionic processor that runs everything on the phone. I definitely see a significant improvement over the iPhone 11, but they’re not enough to force an upgrade. “
• Battery: “Fortunately, the battery life of the iPhone 12 is not bad at all. I can get through a whole day without any major problems. On the other hand, I have to admit that it’s easier to kill this thing in a full day of heavy use than the iPhone 11. “

Apple iPhone 12 Pro review: 9/10 before its time

• MagSafe: “… a very clever idea that needs a little more baking time in the wild before it can actually replace the Lightning connector and deliver the portable iPhone that Apple seems to be heading towards in the future.”
• Camera: “Last year I said the iPhone 11 Pro had the best camera on a smartphone, and it’s not that the iPhone 12 Pro went backwards. But it’s only a small step forward – enough to always stay one step ahead of the competition. Most of the improvements are rather minor. The problem is, the iPhone 12 Pro Max camera is coming out in less than a month. If you are the type of person to buy a new phone for the camera I would definitely wait.
• Dolby Vision HDR Video: “The other big new camera feature in the iPhone 12 family is the ability to create Dolby Vision HDR video. There’s no way to talk about it without getting deeply into the weed of video formats … ”(Read the review on the weeds that explain the big difference between Photography HDR and Video HDR!)
• Battery: “I think the battery life of the iPhone 12 Pro will vary a lot for people depending on how often they use 5G – especially mmWave 5G. Hence, we need to track this over time. But I definitely wouldn’t expect the battery life we ​​saw on the regular iPhone 11. “

More about the battery: It’s clear that battery life suffers when an iPhone 12 is connected to a 5G network, but it’s not just 5G that is the stress.

• At Tom’s Guide, a test program found that the regular iPhone 12 lasted 8 hours and 25 minutes over AT & T’s 5G network.
• Last year’s iPhone 11 lasted over 4G a whopping 11 hours and 16 minutes.
• When the iPhone 12 switched to 4G only, it lasted 10 hours and 23 minutes.
• Apple deflects concerns by saying it’s still an all-day battery.
• We’ll find out the battery’s mAh numbers once the teardowns do their job.

Also: Few comparisons with Android phones in terms of cameras, battery life and so on. Expect more about it.

2. It’s official: the Department of Justice is filing an antitrust lawsuit against Google focusing on online search and search advertising (Android Authority). It’s a big step, but what does it all mean for someone? (Ars Technica).

3. One insane statistic: Half of Google search traffic in 2019 came from Apple products. Google’s payments to Apple as a standard search amount to 15-20% of Apple’s total global profits (Bloomberg).

4. Opinion: Anti-climactic. “The Justice Department case against Microsoft in the 1990s was much stronger than the case against tech giant Mountain View.” (Wired)

5. The OnePlus 9 series, like the S30 / S21 (Android Authority), could reportedly hit the market earlier than expected.

6. The October update of Windows 10 is introduced with an updated start menu (Engadget).

7. Quibi is in trouble. Latest: NBCUniversal and Facebook passed the Quibi content catalog purchase, but hey, Quibi now has apps for Apple TV, Fire TV, and Android TV (The Information, Hard Paywall).

8. Check out Amazon’s Luna streaming service first. Unsurprisingly, a solid internet connection (The Verge) is required.

9. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a Twitch stream and became the third most popular stream of all time, playing Among Us (Gizmodo).

10. Tesla’s Autopilot Full Self-Driving Beta is now being rolled out to a limited number of people (car and driver).

11. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spaceship successfully touched the asteroid Bennu yesterday and also sent a nice simulation! (asteroidmission.org)

12. ELI5: “Why doesn’t a cup of coffee seem to quench your thirst, even though it is mainly water?” (R / EXPLAIN likeimfive).

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