5G is positioned as the next-generation cellular network technology, and
its proposed final form promises dramatically faster downloads,
competitive gaming-worthy latency, and (perhaps most practically) much
better performance in crowded areas like football stadiums—that last bit
is not a concern now, obviously, but we're all hoping it will be again
someday. (I can't tell you how sad I was to not be able to attend my
beloved Dodgers' long-deserved World Series win in person, but I digress.)
The real promise of 5G lies in the high-frequency mmWave spectrum, but
carrier networks have a long, long—seriously, very long—way to go before
the majority of iPhone owners have access to that. The iPhone 12 supports
this, but whether it's useful to you will be super hit-and-miss. It might
even come down to individual city blocks and street corners at this stage.
We'll use Verizon as an example here, both because it was the carrier
Apple highlighted when it announced the phones, and because it's my
carrier, for better or worse. Here's a map of Verizon's 5G coverage in two
US cities that are fairly close to each other:
Verizon's "5G Ultra-Wideband" network—the one represented by the deepest
crimson on the map—is essentially the mmWave option. As you can see, an
alpha world city has spotty but respectable service in its deepest urban
core, but a respectably-sized nearby city can make no such claim. Like I
said: we've got a ways to go.
On the bright side, the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro support a ton of 5G bands,
including:
-
5G NR (Bands n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n20, n25, n28, n38, n40,
n41, n66, n71, n77, n78, n79)
- 5G NR mmWave (Bands n260, n261)
So you're probably set, whatever ends up in your area, though, if you're
on certain carriers (like Verizon), you'll need a special new SIM card
to take advantage of this. But there's another problem, too: 5G seems to
have a big impact on battery life, especially when you're riding that
ultra-fast mmWave.
I don't recommend buying the iPhone 12 or 12 Pro just for the 5G
features yet. I'm hoping 5G support will be expanded to more users, and
future hardware iterations will surely make 5G data usage more
efficient, lowering the negative impact on battery life.
If you aren't in a 5G-rich area, the phone will just use LTE like
always. And there's also a feature called smart data mode (which you can
disable, though it's on by default) that often uses LTE anyway when your
current task doesn't clearly demand the maximum bandwidth possible. This
is key for keeping battery life in check.
Baca Juga
5G has the potential to really impress in its fastest form. But I think
we're still at least a year or two away from starting to really reap
those benefits—longer for a whole lot of people who aren't in major
urban centers in developed nations.
So what else is there in terms of wireless tech besides 5G? There's
Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5, obviously; those were both present last year.
But I think it's also worth mentioning that Wi-Fi tethering is much
faster than it used to be, thanks to the phone's ability to act as a
5GHz hotspot. It can even be faster than tethering with a USB/Lightning
cable. And that could be a boon for those who later have access to 5G
(which is not the same thing as 5GHz Wi-Fi, for the unfamiliar; ain't
high-tech alphabet soup grand?).
Now, with specs mostly out of the way, let's move on to the iPhone 12's
design.
Design
I’ve written multiple times before that my personal favorite iPhone
design was the iPhone 4 or the iPhone 5. Internet polls and articles
often surface the same preference.
It will please many besides myself, then, to know that the iPhone 12
borrows heavily from the design aesthetic of the iPhone 4 and 5—the 5 in
particular. This new phone is just a lot bigger, and it obviously has
smaller bezels and uses Face ID instead of Touch ID. (It also doesn’t
have a headphone jack, natch—but hey, it still has that Lightning port,
which was actually introduced in the iPhone 5 back in 2012.)
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| By Apple.com |
Like the iPhone 5, the 12 has flat edges (also similar to those in
recent iPad Pro and Air designs) made of aluminum. Unlike the iPhone 5,
it has a glass back to facilitate wireless charging. The front is glass
and what Apple calls a “Ceramic Shield.” Cupertino claims this solution
is four times better at dealing with a drop. Initial drop tests around
the Web today show that Apple’s not kidding around: the front of the
phone is much more durable than what we got in previous phones.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the flat edges design lessens the likelihood
of serious damage in a drop, too. Keep in mind, though, that we’re
talking about the phone surviving a drop here—scratches may still be
easy to acquire, and the phone is of course a fingerprint magnet.
(On another plus side for durability, though, IP68 water resistance
returns.)
The iPhone 12 Pro has stainless steel edges that use the same PVD
process that made those shiny edges for other recent high-end iPhones.
It looks really nice. Also, it has a slightly different texture on the
back that’s similar to what you might have felt on the iPhone 11 Pro
last year.
The iPhone 12 just doesn’t feel quite as nice as the Pro does, and
that’s because of the materials. Apple does a good job of making its
higher-end phones feel appealing for the sort of people who like
products that feel expensive to hold. Obviously, there’s no advantage to
the Pro’s materials beyond aesthetic impressions, though.
Most people understandably won’t want to (or be able to) spend an extra
few hundred dollars to have something that works the same but “feels
premium.” Some people will eat it up, though; you probably already know
which group you belong to.
So for those who care: yes, the iPhone 12 Pro feels much more premium in
your hand than the iPhone 12. And to be clear, the iPhone 12 doesn’t
feel cheap.
The iPhone 12 Pro’s camera bump is machined from the same slab of glass
as the rest of its back, whereas the camera array in the iPhone 12 is
nested in a separate piece of material. Most people won’t notice this,
but as I said when reviewing the iPhone 11 Pro last year, the
single-glass-piece design of the back is attractive.
Questions about which iPhone is the best-looking or best-feeling are
always going to be subjective, but I have a feeling Apple has a winner
here because the iPhone 4 and 5 come up so often when people are asked
about their favorite designs. The iPhone 12 is essentially the iPhone 5
with a modern size and features. For many, that’s going to be quite
welcome.
What's in the box?
If you’ve read one thing about the new iPhones on social media over the
past two weeks, it might be this: the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro do not
include either wired headphones or charging bricks in the box. All you
get is a Lighting-to-USB-C cable.
Apple’s 20-watt USB-C power adapter costs $19, and its mediocre EarPods
wired earbuds also cost $19—though it’s clear that Apple sees AirPods
($159) or AirPods Pro ($249) as the truly ideal solutions.
I'm about to do something unthinkable for many: I'm going to take a
moment to defend Apple's removal of the headphones and charging brick.
Bear with me. I promise to talk about the pain points and other motives,
too.
While tech enthusiasts and consumers used Twitter to express their rage
or Schadenfreude over the move, many environmentalists and
sustainability experts have praised Apple’s choice. In fact, they’re
calling on Apple to go further—but mostly in ways that consumers won’t
find as irritating or costly.
Apple backed up its decision to exclude these two accessories from the
box with arguments for the environment. A few of the key arguments
include:
Removing these allows Apple to put the iPhones in smaller boxes, meaning
they can ship 70-percent more iPhones on the same shipping pallet,
reducing their global operation’s carbon footprint.
Many or maybe even most people buying new iPhones already have
headphones or charging bricks from prior purchases, so this simply
avoids introducing superfluous waste. To this point, Apple believes
there are already two billion of its own iPhone-compatible power
adapters in circulation and 700 million pairs of EarPods.
Some users will opt to use wireless AirPods anyway, leading them to
simply discard the EarPods even if they didn’t already have some.
