iPhone 12 Pro Max. Is it worth it?

November 30, 2020
6 min read

It is one of those cases that proves Betteridge’s law. When you personally don’t like something it is so easy to make generalizations about everyone else. So here is an article about how everyone is better off without the new iPhone 12 Pro Max.

When Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone, it made a lot of sense. He put a camera into everyones’ pocket at the time when it was not possible. Back then when you were looking at a $500 iPhone, you were comparing it to either a $200 flip phone or a $2000 DSLR. While it was clearly more expensive than a regular phone, iPhone could make calls, took instantly sharable pictures, had games, basic apps, and of course it also stored all your music and thus replaced an iPod. iPhone was not just magic, it was also a good financial decision.

The first iPhone was heavily subsidised by the carriers and although you did pay $499 to buy one, it wasn’t the whole price of the phone, as you had 2 year contract with the network.
Also, this was not a first camera phone and not even the best camera in the phone. At that time Samsung had camera phones and Nokia had its N95 with a 5-megapixel camera.

Fast forward to today, iPhone 12 Pro Max with 500GB of memory costs $1800, has a camera, and can do about the same things that an equivalently priced iPad or even a Laptop can do. Does it make sense to buy one?

In the first paragraph $499 price was for a 4 GB model, the 8 GB model was more expensive, so why compare it to the top of the line iPhone 12 Pro Max? I would compare it to the 128 GB phone for $1099.

At the time of publication, I thought the new iphone cost me $1300, but as I was filing my return, I realized that after Apple Care, trade in value of my original phone ($250), and taxes, the actual full price of this phone (with Apple Care) is $1,757.80. This is 2/3 of how much I paid for top of the line MBP that I use for all my work. This is insane. What is more insane is that you hide this behind $55/months for 24 months payments. It seems affortable, but in practice is just a ridiculous amount for what is otherwise just a phone.

I don’t think it is fair to add Apple Care to the price of the phone. And the price is much more clear now, not hidden under $499, like it was before.

After ten days of testing it, for me it was a resounding No.

Bingo. “For me”. That should have been in the title.

The new camera is a bit faster, and it is definitely a lot brighter, but at the end of the day, that is it. It is still a tiny lens, and anything that isn’t close and steady gets pixelated, and blurry.

iPhone X camera is much worse, there is less detail. It doesn’t have ultra-wide lens and LiDAR for portraits. It doesn’t have Deep Fusion and Night Mode.

Apple’s promoted photography is mostly portraits, people sitting still, posing. I have two kids though, and they love to run. There is no way I can take their pictures on this phone without having them to pause, just like I do with my 3 year old iPhone X. I can always turn on the video, but the quality is no different from my 5-year old Sony RX 100 iv, in fact, I think the old Sony actually does better video.

I know it’s not only about the specs, but Sony RX100 IV can record 4K video only in 30p, while iPhone supports 24p and 60p. Also, it doesn’t have HDR for video and its battery will die after 280 shots.

iPhone Pro Max feels great in my hands, and I love the quality of the big screen, but that is it.

Back a few years ago when everyone went massive in phone sizes, the logic was that big phones were great for those who had it as their primary and only device. That’s reasonable logic, but in today’s world, I think it makes so much more sense to buy a tiny small phone, for rare calls and text messages, and then to splurge on a proper laptop, or a large iPad, for everything else.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t want to open my iPad or god forbid a laptop every time I want to open Instagram or TikTok. The phone is so much more than rare calls and text messages for many people. I like watching videos on a bigger screen while on the go. And the battery is massive without cases or portable chargers.

For between $1100 and $1500 one can buy an iPad Pro with 12.9 inch display, and a cellular connection. That’s a whole computer that you can touch, and a screen big enough to serve as a home TV. Now that’s a good deal!

iPhone 12 Pro Max is an even faster computer with a better display, faster cellular and a better camera. I would argue it is much better deal.

There are probably decent use cases for the new iPhone, although I can currently only think of one. If you are a narcissistic Instagram celebrity who loves to post selfies from a nightclub, this phone is for you. For everyone else, iPhone 12 Pro Max is not a smart financial decision.

Personally, I am going to save up the money and put them towards a really nice camera, with a real photo sensor, and a real lens. I am hoping for a Leica Q (Matte Black Special Edition), but that is rather expensive. Perhaps a Nikon or a Sony would do. Either way, for anything photo related, I would rather get a great camera with outrageously better photo quality. For everything phone, an old iPhone would do.

Oh, so Leica Q is a very smart financial decision? It costs more than $4500. Last time I checked there are a bit cheaper cameras out there.
I’m not saying that this take is wrong (although in some cases it is). I’m just saying that this whole article is about one man’s decision, considering his needs and use cases.
For some it could be the main or even only computer. So, they won’t have money for an iPad and a phone.
For many people iPhone is better camera than a Nikon, Sony or even Leica, because of the SoC. They take photos outside in front of the sun and iPhone processes it, so you can put it online. Sure after transferring it to the real computer, editing it, correcting, the photo from a real camera would look better, but most people don’t know how to do it or simply don’t have time or desire.
So please, let people enjoy things, even if you think that they are not for you.

Choose Wisely – iPhone 12 Pro Max Review

November 27, 2020
6 min read

It is big. Every new iPhone this year is some sort of compromise, so to make a choice is to rate your priorities. Camera, battery, size, price. And after that there are still color and storage. I’ve been struggling with the choice, but at the end of the day iPhone 12 Pro Max was my go-to. Camera was the single most important thing, so I felt like I could sacrifice something else.

Size

There is no going around it, this phone is massive. My last iPhone review was that of an iPhone XS Max and I called it Coming Home because after spending a year with an iPhone X I was craving for a bigger screen and still, even for me, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is huge. Probably because of the flat edges it just doesn’t sit so tight in the hand. And it is also actually taller than the last years model and noticeably so.

iPhone 12 Pro Max looks noticeably larger than iPhone XS Max

What this means is that even with larger hands this phone becomes almost unusable with one hand. Good thing Apple announced widgets for iOS, so the first two rows on the screen could be filled with those.

It is the most noticeable while typing — reaching for the letters on the opposite side is physically hard now.

Design

After deciding on the model, the next big consideration was the color. Black and Silver were immediately removed from competition because they are a bit boring.

That left me with Gold and Pacific Blue. I went to the store when iPhone 12 Pro came out to see and hold both in my hands. I couldn’t decide until the very last minute of orders starting. But in the end the Gold won and I think I made a good choice.

Yes, this year’s color is Pacific Blue, but after Apple introduced “something different” with Midnight Green last year, this fourth color becomes a default. Everyone who wants a new phone buys it and actually, I think the bigger phone looks boring in blue because it is matte and there is just too much of the color because of the size. Also, the edges in most cases look almost black, and again, this year I didn’t want a black phone.

Gold, on the other hand, adds premium feeling to the already good-looking phone. It looks more like something made by a 3rd party, like Caviar, but with taste. It is absolutely gorgeous to look at. And you always have a glimpse of it, even if you look straight at the screen the edges are visible.

Regarding the fingerprints — this is the issue in the well lit environments of the reviewers, in the day-to-day life I don’t think about it and never notice. If you look at the edges of course you will see fingerprints, but they don’t bother me at all.

It is also heavy. Very much so. Although because of this it feels very premium, but again using it in one hand for a long time — it adds up. 

Battery

It is absolutely massive. Especially after 2-year-old iPhone XS Max. I don’t ever plug it in during the day, even when using Waze in my car, which was unthinkable previously.

I was surprised when on the second and third day after buying it, when I was still setting it up, opening literally every app, synchronising everything, it would have 50% battery left with 3-4.5 hours of screen on time.

But then there was a day with 7h 14m of screen on time and still almost 50% battery left by the end of the day. And another one, with more than 6 hours of screen on time when the phone still had around 5% of battery left working from 7:05 in the morning until 00:42 at night, on my birthday — so there were many calls, constant checking and replying to the congratulations in the messaging apps.

Battery is just massive

As I’m writing this at the end of the day, I still have 52% of battery left with 4.5 hours of screen on time. This is a full-day phone, at the very least.

Camera

As every previous part, I will start the same — it is big. In fact, it is so big, you can fit 44 mm Apple Watch into the camera cutout of the iPhone case.

I don’t know why you would do it, but you can

I would recommend reading the review made by one of the creators of the best iPhone photography app Halide Sebastiaan de With. This is the most comprehensive review you will find right now, showing the real differences between the Pro Max and regular Pro cameras.

As was expected it really shines at night and in the evening, where there is not a lot of light and a bigger sensor can gather more of it.

Oh, and the main thing — it finally doesn’t cut out glasses in the portrait mode.

With my daughter. Notice my glasses

Miscellaneous

  • This was a good year for Apple to ditch the charger from the box. When you first receive the box, it looks deceptively small. This feeling stays with you until you hold the device in your hand and turn it on.
  • Keyboard is a tiny bit bigger, but enough to be noticeable and more comfortable.
  • Physical buttons are in a different place and it is unusual at first, but as with everything you get used to it pretty fast.
  • The camera bump is so much bigger that I had to change the grip because I was touching it. Had to teach myself taking the phone a bit lower than usual.
  • Leather case is thinner, which makes a phone in it more usable. Although I don’t like that it has a chin now. With constant swiping up from the bottom of the screen it is in the way. But I do love the colored animation which is the same color as the case.
  • I miss 3D Touch. I used it all the time and long press even with the haptic feedback is not the same. And also cursor mode on keyboard was so much better when you could do it anywhere and not just on the space bar.
  • While watching recorded HDR video, the screen gets really bright. I mean REALLY.
  • Not on the iPhone itself, but on the migration process. Used wireless migration from one phone to another. The process is good, although for a long time (about an hour), you can’t use both phones. Some apps (especially banking) get confused about their state and I had to reinstall a couple.

Apple Event – November 2020

November 16, 2020
4 min read

It was another instalment of the beautiful commercial made by Apple, filled with amazing transitions and views of the Apple Park.

The presentation was short with a couple of minutes of recap by Tim Cook of all the products announced in the last 8 weeks.

This time there was a lot of background music when presenters were talking and I didn’t enjoy it, as it portrayed the ad vibe even more.

In the end they showed a bit with a PC guy from the old Mac vs PC commercials, it was OK. Judging by Twitter old-time Mac fans enjoyed it.

One More Thing — The Mac

Right at the beginning Tim Cook emphasised that One More Thing this time was relating to THE Mac. So, no AirTags, AirPods Studio or other devices.

I was surprised to learn that over 50% of Mac buyers are new to the system. On the other hand, with such a strong quarter for Mac, it is not a surprise that those weren’t only those who updated their computers.

They’ve made a commercial (yes, a commercial inside the commercial) showing many celebrities with Macs and a lot of those were with glowing logo. In black and white it was noticeable that they made focus on that, as it looked cool, but Apple doesn’t make such laptops anymore…

MacOS Big Sur

What they couldn’t show before is how macOS is better with Apple Silicon. It is more similar to the iOS and iPadOS in some regards. I know the internet is all about scores for CPU, but everyday little things are more important for the experience, especially on the types of machines Apple introduced. It launches apps instantly and more importantly it instantly wakes from sleep, just like iOS.

M1

This is the start of the next generation of Mac. First System on a chip for low-power Mac computers. It has 8-core CPU (4 High and 4 Low performance cores) and Apple says the High-performance core is the fastest core in the world right now.

All the new Macs

Apple introduced 3 new Macs, and they are similar to each other — MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini. For the first one it is a complete transition — you can’t buy Air with an Intel processor anymore. For the latter two it is the mainstream, low performance models, with Intel laptop and Mac mini still being sold as an option.

What they have in common is that all three have the same M1. You can choose up to 2 TB of SSD and 16 GB of RAM.

What is different is battery life in case of MacBook Pro and continuous performance. What that means is although the processor is the same because MacBook Air doesn’t have a fan and other two models do, they can not only reach the same speed as Air, but sustain it for longer periods of times.

It’s a shame that they didn’t update the camera in laptops. It is still the same 720p, very mediocre camera. Although the picture will be improved by the SoC thanks to Machine Learning.

Because Apple doesn’t sell any other display, it was funny how in every picture or video of people using Mac mini it was standing right on the stand of Apple XDR monitor, the stand for which costs $300 more than the computer itself.

I was blown away by the numbers provided regarding the battery life and am very optimistic about Mac lineup and will probably end up buying one of the laptops introduced (most probably MacBook Air). But of course the more exciting things will come out, when Apple will show iMac and Mac Pro with Apple Silicon inside. I can’t even imagine what will be possible with M1X (or whatever it will be called) where because of no thermal limitations there could be 16 cores and most of them would be High-performance.

Why I Was Wrong About Apple One

November 9, 2020
2 min read

When Apple first announced Apple One bundle during the September event, I was very skeptical to say the least. With Premier being available in a very limited set of countries and only 200 GB of iCloud storage in the Family plan it seemed like a non-starter for me. Together with my wife we use more than 300 GB right now, so I thought I would need to subscribe to the bundle and still pay for the 2 TB of iCloud storage.

What I didn’t realise at that moment is that iCloud storage expansion is in addition to the bundle, so I could downgrade my 2 TB plan and have 400 GB of iCloud storage in total. That completely changes the calculation.

Before I would have been paying:

  • Spotify — €8.99 (for Duo plan)
  • 2 TB of iCloud storage — €9.99
  • Apple TV+ — €4.17 (€49.99 a year divided by 12 months)

Total €23.15 a month.

With Apple One, I will be paying:

  • Bundle — €16.95
  • 200 GB of iCloud storage — €2.99

Total — €19.94

So, I will be paying €3.21 a month less and will have access to the Apple Arcade in addition, which I was considering renewing just last week.

Sure it is much less storage, but right now it is enough for our family without managing it at all, I could definitely delete about 50 GB from the cloud without any sacrifice.

There is only one question left and it is moving to Apple Music from Spotify. I was thinking about it before because of where Spotify is heading and I love having almost all the lyrics right there in the app. I was just hesitant to mention it to my wife because we would be changing our music streaming service for about a third time in a year, but turns out she hates Spotify and didn’t use it much. So win-win in our household.

If you were on the fence about using the Apple One subscription — reconsider, with the additional storage in mind, maybe it will be a good deal for you too.