This video is brought to you by iMazing - the Swiss Army Knife of iOS device management
This is the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the S21 Ultra of iPhones, the biggest phone Apple has ever
made and my choice of phone for 2021...or at least until something more interesting comes along. Now,
I don’t consider this phone a Pro, because a real Pro phone would have features similar to what Sony
Xperia Pro has to offer but I do recognize the Pro Max as a valuable tool that serves a purpose in my
life. Of course, as with every piece of tech, not everything is perfect and this time, the 12
Pro Max surprised me as to where the annoyances came to be. In the meantime, things that normally
drive me crazy seemed to have been fixed which caught me off guard. Let me show you what I mean.
Hey Iskren here, but feel free to call me E! Let's see what has changed
since my last 12 Pro Max video, what has annoyed me during ownership,
what I've done to fix or overcome those annoyances, and what has surprised me.
Alongside this video, I will be posting another episode about my setup and favorite accessories.
Switching back and forth between the Max and the Mini, which by the way is another favorite
of mine has led me to some real judgments with this improved camera combo of the Max.
Although computational photography is well established throughout the entire line,
with the Max I can get better photos at night...faster. Where it may not make much
of a difference during the day between the line of phones, the camera improvements of the Max
shine at night, where light is scarce. Especially during the winter when the day is shorter,
I get to be a better family photographer 80% of the time. In many cases, the Max doesn't need to
stay in night mode like the other iPhones or when it does, it requires less time to take the photo
which also has a lot more information in it. Also, the lens compression at 65mm for portrait mode is
fantastic. It makes many of the portraits more lifelike and even more professional looking. Let
me show you what I mean in this quick controlled environment shoot where we will take a portrait
mode with the iPhone 12 Pro Max at 65mm and the same with a Sony A7III at the same focal length.
Let me know in the comments below which one do you prefer and of course, what your first guess was.
Since my last video, ProRaw is now out, and it kind of puts the all-time favorite
regular RAW format on its tows. If you are not sure, ProRaw combines RAW photography
with Computational photography to give you results that sometimes even expensive Pro
cameras have difficulties capturing. With ProRaw, we have a lot of room to wiggle with in post
and be creatives creating results that are just fantastic.
When it comes to video, if you want to know what the iPhone 12 Pro Max is capable of,
watch my initial impressions video which was shot entirely on the 12 Pro Max with a little
help out of the iPhone 12 mini. We all know that the iPhone is the gold standard when it comes to
video and the Max is the benchmark, especially with the stabilized sensor and larger pixels.
Something that was missing when we did the talking head of the
12 Pro Max video at the time was something called Portrait video
with an app named Protake. With it in combination with the Lidar sensor, you can now do some very,
very decent portrait video, although it works in Full HD only. Nevertheless, the option is here,
and on more than one occasion, I would be using this feature when possible. Keep in mind that this
will soon become a standard and it will be working in 4k as well guaranteed.
If I was, to sum up, the camera combo, I would easily call it the best smartphone camera system
for me - photos and videos combined and that's exactly why I stuck with the Max this year.
Unlike before, the Max is sitting proudly in my camera arsenal and wears the shoes
of the quickest way to capture high-quality 4k video at 60fps at any location and occasion,
delivering fantastic close-up shots and even helping to put together thumbnails.
There is another topic that I wanted to pay special attention to as time goes by and that is
the front glass of the phone with the new ceramic shield coding. Aside from durability, this coating
apparently should be able to preserve the phone from major scratches, but the fine ones were the
ones that were driving me crazy and always made me slap a screen protector on any of my previous
iPhones. The 12 Pro Max is the first iPhone that I carry absolutely as-is, no glass protection
whatsoever and I am stunned at how good it is when it comes to fine scratches. Over the last months,
the phone has been used constantly, not only as a phone and a camera but as the favorite toy for
my children as well. Still, under the bright light one can barely notice any imperfections.
BTW, if you are interested in the custom icons and wallpapers that I use,
be sure to check out my website and also sign up for my behind-the-scenes newsletter
where I sometimes send out freebies and coupons to my subscribers. Also,
if you end up enjoying this video, subscribe, it's free and you can always change your mind.
So, one concern I had with the Max was the sheer size but thanks to the sharp edges,
this has been a surprisingly manageable device. In fact, this is the first phone in years, aside
from the iPhone mini that I am perfectly confident in carrying without a case and feel it comfortably
and confidently in my hand. Of course my jeans and pants are not so happy about it and I might have
problems if I wanted to assume the Captain Morgan position but hey...what can you do?
The battery of the Max is king in the world of Apple and yet another reason to put my favorite
mini on the side. It is easily almost a 2-day battery for me and so far I can't
remember a day when I had to prematurely charge it before midnight. Of course with the big size,
there's another significant advantage and that is the display. I absolutely love the completely
flat appearance. Consuming content on it is phenomenal especially with the ridiculous speakers
but I'll use this opportunity to gradually switch to my annoyances.
See, 6.7" is almost tablet category, where the iPad mini is 7.9" and yet
we still have no use to properly utilize all this image real estate.
When I am in the car, for example, I always keep my phone horizontally positioned and I
keep wondering how difficult would have been for Apple to have a horizontal orientation of the UI
like they used to but in 2021. Not only that but we still have no dual app support
or real multitasking, which I think could've been implemented nicely...similar to what the
iPads have to offer. Sure, we have picture and picture but it only works on supported apps
and I rarely multitask while I watch a TV show or a movie for example. Unfortunately, the Pro
Max is just a blown-up version of any other iPhone which is sad if you ask me and very not Pro like.
Another annoyance is the individual lens protrusion on the camera module leaving big gaps
for dust, debris, and gunk to gather in between and this is something very difficult to get rid
of. It might not be an issue for most, and by the way, it is most prominent on the Max since the
lens housings are larger but to me such nastiness makes this expensive premium device look awful
after a while. Of course, as always, there's a solution to this and it comes in many forms
and by many companies. The one I choose is from a well know brand Spigen.
It is basically a camera protector, something that I never thought I would
use and normally I don't care about, but in the case of my annoyances
and nasty dirt, it fixes and unfortunately hides all this beautifully designed empty space.
So aside from the usual reasons for choosing an iPhone like security and the whole ecosystem,
the main reason I chose to use the Pro Max is the display first because of content consumption and
second because of typing. On many occasions when I have thoughts for videos the phone is the quickest
way to put everything down and with the 6.7" display this year it is easier than ever. The
battery life as mentioned earlier is yet another reason to go for the biggest iPhone, not because
the other phones are that much worse, but because it gives me that much more freedom to not have to
look at the battery percentage. But most of all, the reason for going for the Max is the camera
combo and the fact that it's an integral part of my video workflow. At this point, it is clear that
the iPhone is an essential tool for me. But you know what's even better? The appropriate tool
for the tool and in the case of the iPhone the best instrument you can have is called iMazing.
It’s a desktop app for macOS and Windows which lets you take control of your iOS data:
make Time Machine style wireless backups, easily transfer documents, media, and content, but also
dig into system files, access devices, and battery diagnostics, and more. All data stays local, on
your computer or on the drive of your choice, and backups can be encrypted for maximum privacy which
means that if you want to live off the cloud, yet enjoy automation like a wireless backup you can do
that. With iMazing you can also dig into your old backups and extract information like photos. I can
also browse my photo library on the fly without having to synchronize it which if you are using
a small hard drive computer is extremely useful. iMazing supports the latest iOS and macOS features
and it’s already fully compatible with iOS 14, iPadOS 14, macOS Big Sur, and M1 Apple Silicon,
so you can go ahead and download iMazing's trail by following the link in the description below.
So, at this point, it is clear that the Pro verbosity that companies are throwing around
these days is mostly marketing and in the case of the iPhone, Apple is clearly presenting only
the cameras of the iPhone because unfortunately, almost nothing else on the 12 Pro Max is that much
of a Pro. However, if we remove the word Pro and just leave Max and we combine the cameras,
with the outstanding battery life, the industry-leading display,
the iOS and Mac integration, and the app support, it is clear that this phone is as Max as it can
get. Is this Maxness worth 10% more than the smaller Pro? I guess it is up to you.
Until next time,
This is E
Over & Out