The 3 things you should think about before buying the iPhone 12
Every year I look forward to Apple’s ‘surprise’ September / October iPhone announcement and launch. This year in particular I was even more excited, as earlier in the summer my iPhone 10 died an untimely death after it failed an impromptu water resistance test in my bathroom sink. Given Apple’s typical circa September new product launch, it seemed sensible to wait for the latest iPhone device before making any permanent decisions about my next smartphone. I therefore decided to temporarily switch to a Samsung Galaxy.
Let’s just say that the past months have been an exercise in confirming what I need in a smartphone device. Fast-forward to this much anticipated iPhone 12 launch and the latest iPhone provides some lessons in what I want smartphone providers to enable.
Here are my top three picks:
1. Device usability for those with accessibility challenges. Multiple options for screen and font size, voice to text capability and vice versa, hands-free face recognition, wireless headsets and emergency ID tags — these have all become somewhat of a norm in a list of accessibility features that are nice-to-have for some and a life changer for others. The iPhone 12 is said to have marked improvements on these features. And with the reintroduction of MagSafe, charging the device and changing its case are much safer and easier — a small win for some and a marked improvement in daily life tasks for others.
2. Diversity at the core of the camera’s automation and engineering design. The new cameras are said to offer 27% improvement in low light photography. It improves autofocus and corrects distortions, particularly when using the ultra-wide angle option. The cameras also include Smart HDR 3 which is said to optimise a range of scenes, such as skies, and optimise for people’s skin colour and hair. For all the travelling I do, the one thing that can and should be improved is the quality of photos of my travelogues. I am therefore excited to hear that making pictures, videos and memories look professional and polished with ease will be an improved feature. Moreover, I expect that this type of diversity has now been more firmly included at the heart of Apple’s research and development compared to previous years.
3. Collaboration across the ecosystem. The best designed smart device in the world is only as good as the weakest part of the ecosystem in which it is intended to function. Apple might believe it has done its part to design a set of 5G enabled phones. At the same time telecoms providers have and continue to invest heavily in 5G infrastructure. However, ‘unrivalled speed’ and ‘seamless connectivity on the go’ may no longer be top use cases due to COVID 19. It begs the question: what other use cases should be prioritised to warrant a smartphone upgrade in 2020? This isn’t Apple’s problem. At least not theirs alone. It is an ecosystem dilemma — across technology, telecoms, other industries and subject matter advisers — that still needs to be addressed.
That said, it’s wonderful to read about the technological advancements which look ready to delight a diverse set of customers. What I look forward to even more is testing out the iPhone 12 and determining if the hype meets reality. In the meanwhile, truth be told, for a fraction of the cost, I’ve been managing just fine — and I don’t think that I am alone!
