Diehard Nexus/Pixel user goes 12 Pro Max

[Zaft]

Yeah. I think I like this 12 Pro Max is because the hardware is AMAZING. Screen. Battery life. Haptics. Speakers. Dark mode with the inky blacks. The flat display with no stupid curved edges.

This hardware package is just the best of any smartphone I've owned.

But iOS. I like it, don't love it.

But the funny thing is. At the end of the day I used my smartphone to make phone calls, text people, surf the internet, emails, use GPS Navigation, check weather, get sports scores, etc...

And both iPhone and Android do it so similar today and very good on both platforms, there's really not as much difference as there was years ago, besides customization on Android being light years ahead. Other than that for your typical daily smartphone use both OS's do it great.


And if the iPhone 13 Pro rumors are true, it'll be really good. With the 120hz Pro Motion Display and supposedly smaller notch by 1/3rd, and potentially thumbprint scanner in power button.

And iOS 15 rumored to add a Always on Display type feature and revised better Widgets and new Control Center and updated better Notifications.

All of this might keep me with the iPhone awhile.

It’s funny you mention the inky blacks in darkmode. I thought It could not get better from my XS max, but once I upgraded to the 12PM the blacks are even darker. Really nice screen on the 12PM.

it’s not overly saturated like the Samsung’s but more vibrant than the previous OLED iPhones.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Liking this split screen wallpaper;

 

[Tig Bitties]

So I've had my iPhone 12 Pro Max, since New Year's, going on 7 months now. And I have to say I am still very satisfied with this smartphone, is it the best thing ever? No. Is iOS 14 the best? No. Does the notch still suck? Yep, it's outdated and ugly and not needed in 2021 and I hate it.

But...the hardware in this 12 Pro Max, is just great. Amazing battery life. Superb screen technology. Speakers loud and clear. Haptic vibration the best. Overall the phone runs very fluid and extremely smooth, after you turn off the animations, it runs so fast.

I still have my Pixel 4 XL, and installed the latest Android 12 beta 3, and to be honest, not really digging the new style of Android 12, and it's funny switching back and forth between my 12 pro Max and the 4 XL, I'm shocked to say this, but for some reason the apps do indeed look and seem nicer and better on iOS than Android. Twitter just scrolls smoother and looks clearer on iOS than Android. Or even Google apps, for some strange reason seem better polished on the iPhone than Pixel, which is crazy.

I'll play with my Pixel at night, and think, yeah I love Android, it's my fav, then I go back to the iPhone, and immediately everything just seems nicer and higher quality, and more fluid and smooth on the iPhone. Which is not what I want to happen LOL But it just is. I know the Pixel 4 XL is old so it's not the fastest phone around today, but there is some slight lag here and there just doing basic tasks sometimes, but other times the Pixel feels super fast and very smooth, but not consistent. Where the 12 Pro Max, just always feels smooth all the time, it's not as lightning fast as the Pixel, no, but it's just always fluid.

So now, if I were to upgrade this Fall, I would have normally said the Pixel 6 Pro hands down, absolutely. But now the iPhone 13 Pro Max, with the smaller notch, 120hz refresh display, and 20% larger battery, I actually find more tempting.

 

[Zaft]

So I've had my iPhone 12 Pro Max, since New Year's, going on 7 months now. And I have to say I am still very satisfied with this smartphone, is it the best thing ever? No. Is iOS 14 the best? No. Does the notch still suck? Yep, it's outdated and ugly and not needed in 2021 and I hate it.

But...the hardware in this 12 Pro Max, is just great. Amazing battery life. Superb screen technology. Speakers loud and clear. Haptic vibration the best. Overall the phone runs very fluid and extremely smooth, after you turn off the animations, it runs so fast.

I still have my Pixel 4 XL, and installed the latest Android 12 beta 3, and to be honest, not really digging the new style of Android 12, and it's funny switching back and forth between my 12 pro Max and the 4 XL, I'm shocked to say this, but for some reason the apps do indeed look and seem nicer and better on iOS than Android. Twitter just scrolls smoother and looks clearer on iOS than Android. Or even Google apps, for some strange reason seem better polished on the iPhone than Pixel, which is crazy.

I'll play with my Pixel at night, and think, yeah I love Android, it's my fav, then I go back to the iPhone, and immediately everything just seems nicer and higher quality, and more fluid and smooth on the iPhone. Which is not what I want to happen LOL But it just is. I know the Pixel 4 XL is old so it's not the fastest phone around today, but there is some slight lag here and there just doing basic tasks sometimes, but other times the Pixel feels super fast and very smooth, but not consistent. Where the 12 Pro Max, just always feels smooth all the time, it's not as lightning fast as the Pixel, no, but it's just always fluid.

So now, if I were to upgrade this Fall, I would have normally said the Pixel 6 Pro hands down, absolutely. But now the iPhone 13 Pro Max, with the smaller notch, 120hz refresh display, and 20% larger battery, I actually find more tempting.

Twitter is smoother on iOS even compared to the 90hz pixel?

 

[Tig Bitties]

Really can't tell a difference between the 90hz on the Pixel and 60hz on the iPhone in Twitter or most apps. Both feel smooth and fluid no stutters.

 

[Zaft]

Really can't tell a difference between the 90hz on the Pixel and 60hz on the iPhone in Twitter or most apps. Both feel smooth and fluid no stutters.

Understood: 120hz on iPhone will feel blazing fast.

 

[Tig Bitties]

With these settings the iPhone feels extremely smooth and never slow. 120hz on the 13 will be silly fast.

 

[Zaft]

With these settings the iPhone feels extremely smooth and never slow. 120hz on the 13 will be silly fast.

It does seem a tad faster but I have an eye candy for animations lol. I like how it looks.

 

[cuzo]

Liking this split screen wallpaper;

Where did ypj get the wallpaper from?

 

[Tig Bitties]

Where did ypj get the wallpaper from?

 

[Tig Bitties]

iPhone 13 May Feature Apple Watch-Inspired Always-On Display

Following a successful supercycle launch of the iPhone 12 last year, Apple aims to make another "big splash" with its upcoming 2021 iPhones,...

www.macrumors.com

 

[cuzo]

iPhone 13 May Feature Apple Watch-Inspired Always-On Display

Following a successful supercycle launch of the iPhone 12 last year, Apple aims to make another "big splash" with its upcoming 2021 iPhones,...

www.macrumors.com

if they don't include the weather it's worthless...

 

[5105973]

if they don't include the weather it's worthless...

That will be reserved for iPhone 14.

 

[jonhcox]

I've bounced back and forth over the years and currently have the 12 Pro Max and my beloved 4XL. Like Tig Bitties there are certain aspects to the Google experience that just feel neat. The 4XL is a good phone that I love for lots of reasons- super fast Face unlock, quick, 90hz display, among others. I went to that phone from an iPhone X, which I hated because the cameras sucked. Then the pandemic hit and I used my wife's older Apple Watch to unlock the 12 Pro Max that I picked up basically for nothing from AT&T. Wow. When you are at the grocery store and use Google Keep to store your grocery lists unlocking with the Pixel was a chore. Once I had that functionality I put the Pixel in the drawer. I still use Google services on the Pro Max but even they run very well, if not better, compared to the Pixel. Credit to Apple where it is due- scroll Twitter on the iPhone and then do it on a 90hz display and you'll see they are much closer in smoothness than you would think. Wanted to give credit to Tig Bitties for some good, fair comparisons and point out that I share many of them. I've yet to try and of the Home Screen customization routes but might do that at some point. I've traveled a bit even during the pandemic and I will say that while the camera on the Pro Max is very impressive, I'm still so sold on the Astro more on my Pixel. It still blows me away and I wish that Apple, like Google does, would push those improvements to the previous gen. The camera on the Pro Max could likely handle it with some longer exposure times and the computational abilities of the chip.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Good post John, thanks

I put my SIM into my new Pixel 5a, but still have the iPhone 12 Pro Max, played around with customizing it a bit, as much as stock iOS allows, looks pretty cool like this actually, wish it could be done easier and just a simple thing like on Android, but it's not.

Again I LOVE the hardware, the build quality, the FLAT screen, the speakers and haptic vibration, etc...all of that is GREAT on this 12 Pro Max, but now that I have the Pixel 5a, I'm reminded just how much better stock vanilla Android is, especially in regards to just navigating around the UI and the gesture system, is just implemented far better on the Pixel than iOS, just using the phone and getting around it is just easier and better designed or thought out better. But that's my opinion, obviously zillions of people love iOS just the way it is.

 

[tmmacops]

Have the 12 Pro Max, S20 Ultra, Note 20 Ultra, and Pixel 4XL. They all have their pros/cons. The Samsung phones have awesome screens and OneUI is slick. As are the Samsung and Google apps. Pixel and stock Android is slick. Love the UI and all of it.

However, in the end it’s how everything integrates. I tried the Android/Windows stuff. Then Android/Mac. In the end the 12 Pro/Max and Mac is still the best. Add the Apple Watch there’s no comparison IMO. I love best of breed, but in the end I want it to work, and not have to work at it.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Ultra minimalistic homescreen;

 

[Ludatyk]

Ultra minimalistic homescreen;

Nice set up! I’m a huge fan of Widgy!

 

[kamikazeeMC]

but for some reason the apps do indeed look and seem nicer and better on iOS than Android. Twitter just scrolls smoother and looks clearer on iOS than Android.

then I go back to the iPhone, and immediately everything just seems nicer and higher quality, and more fluid and smooth on the iPhone.

How is the change back to the 5a after feeling this way about the iPhone?

I've had roughly an even amount of different iPhone and Android phones, but stuck with iPhones the longest. I get bored of iOS and also want to see where Android is at, but soon find myself crawling back. The Nexus 5 and Pixel 2 XL have been my longest kept Androids, which for the most part has me forgetting about those quoted points, though at times make me want to go back to iOS. On the other side while on iOS, I don't long for the stuff I'm missing nearly as much.

I'm once again tempted by the Pixel 6 Pro (want the tele lens).

 

[Tig Bitties]

That's a good question.

Being back on Android and using stock vanilla on the Pixel 5a really is a breath of fresh air. The UI and gesture navigation is just so much better on the Pixel compared to the iPhone. Really night and day better on the Pixel. Swipe on the right side of screen swiping left to go back is soooooo nice to have again.

Google News feed panel on the left is my favorite.

Swiping down anywhere on the homescreen to bring down notifications and controls is great. I hate the iPhone swipe down bringing up some odd and weird search bar thing, so strange why that's even a thing on the iPhone?

Voice to text. Holy cow wow. Android does voice input TEN MILLION times better than iOS. No comparison. Shockingly near perfect on Andtoid and shockingly terrible on iOS.

I voice to text a lot of my messages. On the iPhone it was bad getting so many words wrong seemed like only 60%-70% accurate and the Pixel is like 95% near perfect accurate. Plus the Pixel transcribes in real time super fast immediately, whereas the iPhone if you let sit several seconds will then autocorrect itself taking like 5+ seconds to fix the spelling, and even then only kind of corrects itself not fully. The Pixel does it all right then and there in a blink of an eye. And copy paste and moving the cursor around sentences is also far better on Android.

So OS. Stock Android wins by a billion.

Now the phone and hardware itself? LOL no comparison the iPhone 12 Pro Max is a beast of super high quality smartphone. Fantastic build, excellent hardware, a gorgeous FLAT screen, nice haptic vibration, loud clear speakers. No question this is a super phone.

But the Pixel 5a for being a mid range is actually nice. The display is bright outdoors and has deep blacks and vibrant colors. Plus the candy bar shape of being narrow but tall is far easier to hold and use.

The rounded shape of the 5a is very comfortable in the hand. The squared sharp corners of the 12 Pro Max is not.

Customization. iOS has gotten a little better, but still is frustratingly bad compared to Android. And widgets on the iPhone aren't even that interactive or usable much compared to Android widgets.

And needing stupid apps like Clear Spaces to fill in blank areas of the screen is beyond ridiculous in 2021. Come on Apple let us place an app icon anywhere we feel like on the homescreen.

So to wrap up. I do love the hardware and build quality of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, but even iOS 15 sucks still. It's gotten better for sure, iOS 13 + 14 brought some nice updates, but for me there's still more I want. Like the cool Jailbreak stuff I see on Reddit I wish was baked into stock.

Camera. Still shots and Portrait are far better on my Pixel 5a I just like the still photos the Pixel takes a lot more then the iPhone. But video no comparison, the iPhone totally owns that.

So yeah to wrap up. A high end well built Pixel like the upcoming 6 Pro or even regular 6 should hopefully be the killer awesome Pixel that Google's been needing.

This year if I was recommended a new phone for sure I'd say Pixel 6 and if on a budget then the 5a. But the iPhone 13 Pro Max with it's new features sure sounds tempting too, but only if it could be Jailbreaked.

 

[Tig Bitties]

The recent homescreen screenshots I posted here. I already ditched and went back to stock iOS stuff, because customizing the iPhone makes it wonky with the silly Shortcuts app coming up on certain system apps like Camera, Phone, etc...

And creating blank spaces for Widgy widgets is a hassle when changing wallpapers and stuff.

Yes you can customize the iPhone today, but it's some time consuming work to do so, and then it has issues, and any changes you wanna make you almost have to redo it again. Just not worth it at the end if the day.

But I will admit a Jailbreaked fully tweaked iPhone can look super cool with nice useful changes, better then a custom Android phone, but it's a mountain of work to do it, and just not worth it with the issues.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Homescreen + Lockscreen but have most my apps on other second screen not shown here.

 

[cuzo]

Have you ever used the 11 pro max?

 

[Tig Bitties]

Have you ever used the 11 pro max?

No, but probably like it more with the rounded edges

 

[grover5]

Have you ever used the 11 pro max?

I have. It’s a fantastic device. I’m typing on it now.