The iPhone from an Android Perspective

[Tig Bitties]

Very detailed review of battery life comparison, the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max are still far and above the battery champs, by almost 25% better than the new 12 Pro. Sucks to see a brand new phone get significantly worse battery life than the phones from last year. Seems like the iPhone battery king on top of the hill is the iPhone11 Pro Max, and will remain that way for at least another year.

 

[TopherMan12]

Very detailed review of battery life comparison, the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max are still far and above the battery champs, by almost 25% better than the new 12 Pro. Sucks to see a brand new phone get significantly worse battery life than the phones from last year. Seems like the iPhone battery king on top of the hill is the iPhone11 Pro Max, and will remain that way for at least another year.

Why didn't he include the 12 Pro Max? It has a larger battery than the 12 Pro.

 

[jdlindsey7]

Lots of my family and friends are iPhone users, I told them to download and install WhatsApp, which takes all of 30 seconds, and everyone did, and that works like a charm. Videos and high res photos, it just works great between iPhone and Android phones.

I do realize I am a unique case being in the US where iMessage is dominant and about 95% of the people I message regularly use iOS. I've tried the whole thing of getting people to try other apps but when they do 99% of their messaging in the iOS Messages app they will just naturally, and understandably, default back to that when sending messages to me as well. When it's text it doesn't matter, but when my mom sends a video of my kids playing or my brother sends a video of my nephew playing football I feel guilty for it coming through grainy.
I am one that would gladly pay a monthly subscription fee to have iMessage and FaceTime on my Pixel phone, but I don't think there is enough incentive for Apple to ever do that.

 

[tbayrgs]

Why didn't he include the 12 Pro Max? It has a larger battery than the 12 Pro.

Maybe because the 12 Pro Max isn’t available for a few more weeks...likely doesn’t have access to one.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Why didn't he include the 12 Pro Max? It has a larger battery than the 12 Pro.

It's not for sale yet. Yes the 12 Pro Max will for sure do better, but not 11 Pro Max good. Will probaly be same % difference as the 12 Pro vs 11 Pro battery.

 

[Abazigal]

This is just another propagated myth by Apple users to promote distinguishing factors on an almost trivial level along with the relentless claims on symmetry and border sizes we had to listen to for years

My country uses an app to assist with contact tracing efforts. Within days of iOS 14 dropping, the app is updated with a widget to make the process more convenient. And this is shortly after the app was updated to support Siri Shortcuts in iOS 13.

How to get the SingPass SafeEntry widget on your iPhone home screen to check in and out faster

While Android users have had the ability to customise every single element of their phone’s display for years, Apple fans are now just discovering the fun of creatively modifying their iPhone home screens thanks to the new iOS 14 update. Widgets on the iPhone home screen are the big highlight...

www.asiaone.com

On the android side, still nothing (though I imagine something could be put together using widget apps like Tasker or Nova). Still, it strikes me as funny that despite having been available for android for many months now, we have not seen the android version of said app updated to support this.

I don't think it's trivial to observe that app developers do seem to devote more care and attention towards their iOS apps than the android equivalent. This is a free app, iOS adoption is more or less on par with that of android, yet my observation is that iOS apps do seem more polished overall.

And when both iPhones and high-end android phones retail for more than $1000, it's nice to have developers actually care (more) about the user experience on my end.

 

[jdlindsey7]

Very detailed review of battery life comparison, the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max are still far and above the battery champs, by almost 25% better than the new 12 Pro. Sucks to see a brand new phone get significantly worse battery life than the phones from last year. Seems like the iPhone battery king on top of the hill is the iPhone11 Pro Max, and will remain that way for at least another year.

According to Apple's battery claims the 11 Pro has 5% better battery life than the 12 Pro and the 11 Pro Max has the same battery life as the 12 Pro Max. Those are all video playback claims so mileage may very. That video you posted would have me super concerned though if I was buying a new 12.

 

[TopherMan12]

It's not for sale yet. Yes the 12 Pro Max will for sure do better, but not 11 Pro Max good. Will probaly be same % difference as the 12 Pro vs 11 Pro battery.

Gotcha. Haven't been following the release schedule, obviously. So 11 Pro had 14% more battery left when 12 Pro died. Sheesh.

 

[michael9891]

I think it's pretty obvious if you reduce battery capacity and include 5G, you're going to take a hit. Probably be a bigger difference on the Max with it having a bigger screen than last year.

An hour less isn't too bad though, should still easily last the day. But people love making mountains out of molehills and finding something to complain about.

 

[bandrews]

This is just another propagated myth by Apple users to promote distinguishing factors on an almost trivial level along with the relentless claims on symmetry and border sizes we had to listen to for years

In truth for many Android users it's not denial it's just they do not care or differentiate and prefer options, functionality and choices along with the familiar as this takes far more precedence

Same too for many Samsung UI users they see far more options way ahead of stock android or Apple so again inconsequential to them

The simple fact that many like the less is more appeal of stock android phones with amazing cameras that even Apple or Samsung struggle to compete which is testament to users want alternatives

Tarnishing all Android phones with the same brush is simply contradictory to the appeal of what diversity can bring to a more open OS for those that want more freedom of choice in many aspects

This does not detract that iPhone are equally a high end product but if you want to stay within your own brief for this thread I think you need to pose your point differently. Especially given the number of recent MR front page stories of apps falling over after IOS updates etc, there are even whole threads dedicated to not upgrading or the lack there of to roll back etc

This is just throwing stones in glass houses which you said you wanted to avoid 🙄 and not propagate stereotypic views we have all read 100's of times before

Even though my own personal preference/bent is towards current Samsung products that does not hinder my appreciation of others. Only last weekend I recommended the CFO of a major carrier here to stick with his IPhone for personal use even though it was noted by himself to be lacking when communicating with his subordinates. Will see this weekend if he wants to loan my spare Note 20 Ultra to see if its a better fit for business use 🙂

To be fair, I'm currently switching between iOS and Android and there are plenty of apps I use on both platforms that are much worse on Android. Instagram probably being the worst. Now I know you may not use it but it is one of the most popular apps in the world and on a Pixel 5 the experience is far worse than on an iPhone.

 

[jdlindsey7]

I think it's pretty obvious if you reduce battery capacity and include 5G, you're going to take a hit. Probably be a bigger difference on the Max with it having a bigger screen than last year.

An hour less isn't too bad though, should still easily last the day. But people love making mountains out of molehills and finding something to complain about.

Looking through teardowns it appears that Apple reduced battery capacity by 7-10% from the 11 line to the 12 line. Factor in the 5G radios and you probably can knock down the battery performance a little more. Strange decision to decrease battery performance so drastically when iPhones are known for being battery champs.

 

[The Game 161]

Very detailed review of battery life comparison, the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max are still far and above the battery champs, by almost 25% better than the new 12 Pro. Sucks to see a brand new phone get significantly worse battery life than the phones from last year. Seems like the iPhone battery king on top of the hill is the iPhone11 Pro Max, and will remain that way for at least another year.

Good job they didn't add 120hz without ltpo after all

I'm sure 12 pro max will be better how much better will see. Guessing will still last a full day like my fold 2

 

[Tig Bitties]

So Apple ads 5G but then reduces battery size and makes the new phones much thinner . Uh...

 

[Awesomesince86]

Reduced battery size and the addition of 5G was always going to cause a hit on battery life. The red flag should have been the feature where Apple decides whether to use 5G or LTE automatically behind the scenes and still showing the 5G signal. The only benefit of that is to save battery and not show your hand that you're actually turning off the 5G radio.

 

[jamezr]

This is where Android phone makers have it over Apple right now is in 5G optimization and battery life.
My Note 20 Ultra 5G gets almost as good battery life as my 11 Pro max. I wonder what it will like comparing the Note 20U to the 12 Pro Max next month?


Imho...this is where only releasing one phone model a year hurts Apple.
They had to include 5G in the iPhone 12 models or be seen as falling behind the competition.
But if they had another release say in March or April they could have waited for better tech that is around the corner with the Snapdragon 875 chipset. The SD 875 is supposed to be more energy efficient for 5G

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 will likely be the fastest, most powerful, and most energy-efficient 5G chipset from the company.

Qualcomm confirms next launch event, likely for Snapdragon 875

The probable launch event of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 was just confirmed by Qualcomm. It won't happen in Hawaii, though.

www.androidauthority.com

 

[michael9891]

Apple aren't going to use a Snapdragon in their phones though.

 

[Awesomesince86]

This is where Android phone makers have it over Apple right now is in 5G optimization and battery life.
My Note 20 Ultra 5G gets almost as good battery life as my 11 Pro max. I wonder what it will like comparing the Note 20U to the 12 Pro Max next month?


Imho...this is where only releasing one phone model a year hurts Apple.
They had to include 5G in the iPhone 12 models or be seen as falling behind the competition.
But if they had another release say in March or April they could have waited for better tech that is around the corner with the Snapdragon 875 chipset. The SD 875 is supposed to be more energy efficient for 5G

Qualcomm confirms next launch event, likely for Snapdragon 875

The probable launch event of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 was just confirmed by Qualcomm. It won't happen in Hawaii, though.

www.androidauthority.com

Every new Snapdragon has more speed, effeciency, battery life etc than the previous version. So that's nothing new.

I imagine the battery life issues with the iphone are overblown, but we'll see. Honestly, most people should just turn off 5G radios on their phones right now anyway. The negatives outweigh the benefits.

 

[Tig Bitties]

I know I'm kind of ripping on Apple and the mediocre battery life of the new iPhone 12 line compared to last year's line which was a good 15 or 20% better battery life.

But... My favorite Google Pixel line holy cow they've also got a terrible history in ********* battery life. for the pixel line I think it's mainly just been too small of a battery they've been putting in their phones up until the Pixel 5 which I think is the first time they've ever crossed the 4, 000mAh mark.

back to the iPhone 12 why did they make them so much thinner than last year's phone? Keep the same thickness just stick a thickerbigger battery in there.

Same with the Pixel 4 XL last year instead of the 3700 mAh battery should have had a 4,500mAh battery, yeah that would make the phone thicker and heavier but that's okay with me.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Here's a simple statement The iPhone 11 Pro Max had the biggest battery ever inside of an iPhone, and you know what? It had the best battery life ever for any iPhone.

I'm no rocket scientist but it seems like if you stick bigger batteries in phones they'll have better battery life.

 

[jamezr]

Every new Snapdragon has more speed, effeciency, battery life etc than the previous version. So that's nothing new.

I imagine the battery life issues with the iphone are overblown, but we'll see. Honestly, most people should just turn off 5G radios on their phones right now anyway. The negatives outweigh the benefits.

I disagree.....some improvements are more significant than others...
Then Android phone makers have the option to include new technology in a phone or wait a few months and include it in another model. This option cannot be overstated enough. It keeps companies agile and robust and up to date with the latest tech. Being agile enough to pivot to new tech is a great to be for a company.

The battery life issues with 5G are not overblown....wait and see as more people get the 12 and and reviews come out.

 

[Awesomesince86]

I disagree.....some improvements are more significant than others...
Then Android phone makers have the option to include new technology in a phone or wait a few months and include it in another model. This option cannot be overstated enough. It keeps companies agile and robust and up to date with the latest tech. Being agile enough to pivot to new tech is a great to be for a company.

The battery life issues with 5G are not overblown....wait and see as more people get the 12 and and reviews come out.

If you look at battery tests, they are basically the same as the iPhone 11 models when on LTe rather than 5G. And most people dont even have access to 5G networks. So...battery life will likely be about where the iPhone 11 was (slightly worse due to the battery downsizing).

As for the first paragraph, I dont understand where that came from. What does that have to do with my comment?

 

[jamezr]

If you look at battery tests, they are basically the same as the iPhone 11 models when on LTe rather than 5G. And most people dont even have access to 5G networks. So...battery life will likely be about where the iPhone 11 was (slightly worse due to the battery downsizing).

As for the first paragraph, I dont understand where that came from. What does that have to do with my comment?

^^^^^^
I'll let you go back and re-read things again to comprehend.


As for 5G.....that is why I said Apple is in a bad position by releasing only one phone a year......Maybe not include 5G on the 12 if they had another release say in March or April.

Sorry but this is just plain logic and common sense...if you add new tech that is more power hungry (5G) while reducing battery size......the phone will not get great battery life. Especially over previous models that had bigger batteries and did not have the new tech.

 

[The Game 161]

There were rumours that with 120hz the batteries were massive when they were testing it. So they might have more options next year for bigger batteries when they do add 120hz with ltpo. Guess will see

I imagine in real world usage may be different to these YouTube tests but time will tell

 

[Awesomesince86]

^^^^^^
I'll let you go back and re-read things again to comprehend.


As for 5G.....that is why I said Apple is in a bad position by releasing only one phone a year......Maybe not include 5G on the 12 if they had another release say in March or April.

Sorry but this is just plain logic and common sense...if you add new tech that is more power hungry (5G) while reducing battery size......the phone will not get great battery life. Especially over previous models that had bigger batteries and did not have the new tech.

Theres nothing Im missing regarding the comprehension, its that theres no substance to it.

With regards to the addition of 5G and subtraction of battery size, I dont think anyone is disagreeing that those two things would result in worse battery life. I know Im certainly not saying that. But theres a difference in reduced battery life and bad battery life. For example, the iPhone 11 Pro Max imo is the battery king amount flagship phones. So if the battery life decreases by say 5-10%, does that now make it have bad battery? No, it has worse battery relative to its previous standard but its not bad. So what Im saying is that if the addition of 5G and smaller battery results in slightly worse battery life then its probably not a big deal. Especially when most people wont be using the 5G antennas very often that cause most of the battery drain the tests are showing.

Now, if it comes out that just by having the 5G bands enabled and not in use that the battery drain increase is significant, then yes, that would be a problem because the average Joe is not going to know how to go in a turn of the 5G radio.

 

[tbayrgs]

I’m curious why Apple reduced the battery sizes after the pretty dramatic increases in the 11 Pro models but looking at how the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max have nearly identical weights to the 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, respectively, I‘d wager that was a leading factor.

No doubt battery performance will take a hit vs. last year but let‘s put it in some context. The 11 Pro models had remarkably improved battery performance over the XS models, which I found pretty good in their own right. The problem Apple will face is perspective. Battery performance may be as good or even better than models prior to the 11 Pros but everyone is and will be comparing to last years models, and they’re not going to match up.

I love great battery performance as much as anyone but my 11 Pro Max never came near not making it through an entire day—and my day is generally 6 am to midnight. It was overkill for my daily usage. If the 12 Pro Max doesn’t live up to those lofty standards but still lets me go all day without worry, that’ll be fine for me.