Today I’ve got the iPhone 12 Pro in the new Pacific Blue. I wanted to do quick unboxing along with my first impressions of this new release.
Box
First up, the box itself. So while the normal 12 comes in a white box, the Pro comes in this black one, it looks pretty nice. And the first thing you’ll notice is it’s really thin, it’s a lot smaller than what we’re used to seeing.Comparing it to the 11 Pro Max, you can see the thickness difference.
But there’s a reason for this, if you didn’t know already, the new iPhones don’t come with a charging brick or any earphones at all. You do still get a USB cable, so you can charge it, just not
Inside the Box
Inside the box we’ve got the phone, the sim card needle and a USB to Lightning cable. Again no power supply. I guess Apple are just assuming that either you’ve already got a charger or they are hoping you’ll buy one of their new magsafe chargers, in turn spending more money.
Colour
So I’ve got the new Pacific Blue colour here, which is pretty nice. It’s got a frosted matte finish to it, similar to the iPhone Pros from last year, so it’ll be pretty good at hiding those fingerprints. It’s also available in white, gold and graphite, do you have a favourite out of the 4 choices this year?
Luckily this one is not quite as blue as I was expecting, it’s very flat and almost grey blue, rather than bright. It’s really nice and I can see this being the popular colour this year.
Also, depending on the light, the colour does change slightly. So here against the natural light in my kitchen, it looks awesome, and you can really see the blue popping.
Style
When comparing this to the 11 Pro it’s actually bigger, so it’s not as small as last years 11 Pro, and it’s now the same size as the iPhone 12 too.
The style definitely has an old iPhone 5 look and feel to it. It’s got these sharper edges rather than being rounded again. We’ve got a stainless steel band that goes around the edge, which definitely feels different in the hand, although surprisingly comfortable considering what we’ve been used to recently. One thing to note, it’s a finger print magnet as it’s steel rather than a matte finish, this will constantly need wiping clean.
I really like it, maybe that’s just because I like change though.
The front of the phone now has a ceramic shield which is supposedly 4 times less likely to break over last years iPhone 11. Hopefully I won’t need to find this out, although every year is their toughest phone. One thing to note is this only applies to the front, not the back, so we’re still going to need a case to protect the phone from scratches or damage if it is dropped.
Down the bottom we’ve got the lightning port, speaker and microphone ports. And the usual volume and mute buttons on the side.
Comparing the look of this to last years iPhone 11, you can really see the difference. The edges are a lot cleaner and sharper, and although it is an old design technically, it looks more modern too.
Screen
The iPhone 12 Pro once again has an OLED screen which measures 6.1”, this means it’s viewable from practically any angle and it’s really clear and really bright. It’s slightly brighter than the normal 12 and the iPhone 11 and any content you view on this will look great, whether that’s movies, games or YouTube.
I like the thinner bezels around the screen, it’s not much thinner but it’s noticeable side by side with last years iPhone.
A side note though, the normal 12 this year comes with the same OLED screen as the Pro models. Whereas last years 11 was just LCD. So that’s a huge upgrade if you’re looking at the non Pro models, where really only the camera is the biggest difference.
Cameras
Well once again the Pro model comes with 3 cameras.
You’ve got the Ultra wide, the Wide and the Telephoto lens and they all look great. But one of the big differences this year is all 3 lenses have night mode, whereas last year only the wide lens had it. This means we can shoot in low light with any lens, although the ultra wide still isn’t anywhere near as good at taking photos compared to the other two lenses.
The three lenses are all 12 megapixel, the ultra wide is now an f2.4, the wide is an f1.6 while the telephoto is an f2.0. A slight improvement which should make taking photos that little bit better in low light now it’s faster.
It also comes with the new Lidar sensor, which should make a huge difference to night mode, although it’ll be more beneficial for AR in the future.
Another new feature is the ability to now record videos in Dolby Vision HDR. I’ve not had a chance to play around with this yet, but I will be giving that a go.
And as I film all of my videos on this channel using an iPhone 11 Pro Max, I’m always keen to see how I can improve my quality each year.
Battery
The battery is going to be roughly the same as the previous iPhone, but be aware that using 5G will definitely use more battery than being on 4G or lower. Apple have said the phone will automatically switch between the different bands, in turn saving you battery, so it’ll be interesting to see how that works.
Magsafe
An awesome feature this year is the addition of MagSafe, the magnets built into the back of the phone. I didn’t pick up any MagSafe accessories unfortunately, but essentially you can connect this phone using any MagSafe compatible accessory and the phone will just clip into place. This includes the wireless charger, cases and wallets.
I think we’ll see more accessories over time, but for now that’s what we’ve got. I might pick up the MagSafe charger for myself, but to be honest with the docks and wireless chargers I already have I’m not sure I need any more, yet.
5G
Another new feature that’s in this year’s range is the addition of 5G. So if you’re on a data plan that supports 5G this will be a huge benefit provided you’re in an area you can use it.
Price
The iPhone 12 Pro starts at £999 or $999 with 128GB memory, and goes up to £1,299 or $1,299 if you go for the 512 gb memory.
This is more than the iPhone 12, which starts at £799 for 64GB and goes up to £949 256GB. But when you factor in the differences of the cameras and the double memory, it’s only about £150 more for the Pro over the normal 12.
Likes
Overall I think the iPhone 12 Pro is a nice upgrade. You’ve got a slightly bigger OLED screen, 5G, night mode on all lenses, HDR video and the Lidar sensor.
The new colour and design is perfect. I like the look of this years and although I’ve gone for the Pacific Blue for my wife, I’m not sure yet which colour I’ll get the Pro Max in, I’m thinking either blue or graphite.
Dislikes
But I do have a few dislikes too, the fact it’s still a lightning port, I’d love to see a USB Type C. It’s still only 60 hz and not the much requested 120 hz, and we’ve still got the notch at the top. I assumed we might lose that or at least have a smaller one this year.
If you’re on the iPhone 11, it’s probably worth upgrading for the OLED alone, but if you’re coming from the 11 Pro models, I’m not really sure if it’s worth it for these features. Although it’s not stopped me.
But what do you think? Who’s getting or already got one of the new iPhones 12s? Do you have a favourite colour?
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