Apple iPhone 12 review: Quite a superstar
The iPhone 12 is a brand-new effort from Apple at doing a premium smartphone and it shows. Not the perfect but easily the best option for most of you well-heeled.
Crowning a smartphone a “superstar” isn’t an easy deal. You can’t simply put the tag on a phone just because it wears the Apple logo. The market is flooded with innovative Android phones that are just as good, if not better, than all the new iPhone 12 variants (at least on paper). I am privileged enough to use and review a few of them, and they have all made choosing the iPhone, as the best one of its kind, a tough exercise.
But there’s the point, i.e. the iPhone 12 is the best one I have used this year, considering all things. It edges out the Oppo Find X2 Pro, Xiaomi Mi 10, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, and Motorola Razr 5G by a narrow margin (quite narrow). And it edges out with a distinct style. The updated camera system and the new OLED display are the standout upgrades for the iPhone 12. Starting at Rs 79,900, it is eye-watering expensive but it somehow justifies the asking price.
I have spent over two weeks with the 256GB iPhone 12 and here are my thoughts.
Design
When was the last time Apple redesigned the iPhone completely? Back in 2017 with the iPhone X! Ever since then, every successive iPhone has got minor cosmetic tweaks to make it seem newer. The iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro with the new camera designs looked fresh but stale at the same time. With the iPhone 12, that stale factor is now gone.
Believe me, the iPhone 12 looks pretty much the same as the 2017 iPhone X. It is the little things that Apple has refined to make it look fresh. The camera design at the back has remained unchanged from the iPhone 11, complete with the oversized camera lens and the square housing with the matte glass finish. I got the new blue color and I have to say that it looks classy but does not stand out as much as the green and PRODUCT RED colors. The glass loves to highlight smudges and fingerprints, especially in these dark colors.
What’s more noticeable though are the flat sides. The iPhone 12 has the same flat edges we last saw on the 2016 iPhone SE. It looks good, bold in my opinion, especially when phones are becoming all curvy and flowy. It draws attention from onlookers and I found myself hypnotized at times by those flat aluminum sides.
The flat frame looks striking but it makes the iPhone 12 slippery. I have dropped the phone umpteen times while picking it up from the desk, thanks to the matte finish making it slippery. With no curves, it is difficult to grasp it if stays flat on the table. I put on the official transparent case from Apple and that helped restore normalcy. Well, not complete normalcy. The volume and power buttons sit flush with the flat frame and with the Apple cases, it took a lot of fingernail efforts to press the keys. Hence, when you buy a case for your iPhone 12, ensure it allows for easy button operation.
The flat theme continues to the front with the display ditching any sort of curve to the edges. It is strikingly flat and makes using the phone a bit easier. The bezels are slimmer than the iPhone 11 due to the OLED display but it is still noticeable. Additionally, the notch stays the same – something I wished to be see trimmed on the 2020 iPhone model.
Apple made a big deal about the ceramic glass at the iPhone 12’s launch. I do not have the guts to test whether the iPhone 12 can survive an intentional drop. You can check out JerryRigEverything’s torture test to see how much the iPhone 12 can take. What I can confirm is that it scratches as easily as any other phone with Gorilla Glass protection. In this instance, I picked up the phone without the case and it slipped, fell hard on the tiled floor from waist height, and dragged its way across the dusty floor face down. There’s a minor scuff that’s noticeable from certain angles.
As bold as the iPhone 12 looks with those flat frames, the sharp edges are sharp enough to make the phone dig into the palms uncomfortably. I have soft palms and I had trouble after 15 minutes of consistent use. In contrast, I felt at home with the iPhone 11’s round design. One more thing to notice is the lack of weight for big 6.1-inch phone. The 164 grams weight is surprisingly light and it took me a while to get adjusted to a lightweight big phone.
Display
The OLED display is the biggest upgrade to the regular iPhone model since the edge-to-edge display on the iPhone XR. It measures 6.1-inches and has a resolution of 1170 x 2532 pixels, almost Full HD+. There’s support for Dolby Vision and a wide color gamut, and Apple’s True Tone makes another return here. The notch unfortunately returns as well and I find it as offensive as I did back in 2017.
I will give Apple credit for the superbly tuned display. All those Android phones screaming of AMOLED panels with “punchy colors” and “deep blacks” should bow to the iPhone12’s OLED display. It has higher contrasts over the LCD display of the iPhone 11 but the colors are tuned to look natural. By natural, I mean just right enough to look good but not a sharp departure from the reality. Over the iPhone 11, the increase in sharpness and brightness is noticeable.
With Dolby Vision support, the iPhone 12 becomes one of the best ways to consume premium content. I watched some Dolby Vision certified content on Amazon Prime Video on the iPhone 12 and it looked so much better than when i saw it on the OnePlus 8T, Xiaomi Mi 10T, and an iPhone 11. The iPhone 12’s own Dolby Vision camera feed looks so good on this display than on any other phone.
I still have a gripe with the notch. I know, I know you will say that you can get used to it and that’s fine. But when other companies have gone the distance to shrink the notch to a pill cutout, Apple could have done something to shrink it. While watching videos or playing games, the notch still creeps in at times.
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