Technology
- iPhone 6, released September 19, 2014, 8MP f/2.2
- iPhone SE, released March 31, 2016, 12.2 MP f/2.2
- iPhone XS, released September 21, 2018, 12MP ƒ/1.8 lens
- iPhone 11 (for one Night Mode photo), released September 20, 2019, 12MP ƒ/1.8 lens
- iPhone 12 Pro, released October 16, 2020, 12MP ƒ/1.6 lens
US news today via #thesizzle & I thought it was interesting to read that the use of a risk algorithim to determine bail was rejected. This issue was covered in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Talking To Strangers, and overwhelmingly the algorithim made better decisions than people.
The next Apple Event webpage has an AR Easter egg, tap on the Apple logo in the hero image
Nerding out on putting a MagSafe case on an iPhone 12. It’s a peach case and obviously that’s communicated to the phone so it does this cool animation.
Going through old files and I found a 2009 iPhone 3GS rumour mock-up and I thought it would be interesting to see it next to an iPhone 12 rumour infographic
I wanted to see how much the iPhone camera had changed between the iPhone 6 and iPhone 12, so I took the same nine photos with four different iPhones, and blogged the results
Comparing the cameras on iPhones 6, SE, XS, 11, and 12 Pro
I upgraded my daily carry computer, or what us old people call a phone, to an iPhone 12 Pro this week. Upon clicking the shutter a few times I could see there was a big difference in the new camera, but I wanted to compare photos to former iPhone cameras. So I pulled out all the old iPhones in the house and took the same photo on each one. It worked out pretty good as the four cameras were each mostly two years apart in release dates.
Control notes
All photos were taken on the iPhone with a fresh install, no apps, or settings changed, no iCloud logged in. I simply tapped to focus and expose inside the default camera app, and turned off flash for consistency. All phones were held in a Peak Design Travel Tripod with the phone attachement. I tried to keep the framing consistent, but if it’s not, either the iPhone lens placement changed, or this free blog post doesn’t live up to even my standards. The iPhone SE is the first generation SE, the 12 is a 12 Pro. Taken with default settings including HDR/Smart HDR/HDR 3, on the 1x lens. The only edits made are to the HEIC files taken on cameras which save HEIC, those files have been converted to JPG using MacOS Automator.
You may want to right click on images and open in a new window to see full resolution, and honestly, I’m unsure if micro.blog actually compresses and/or resizes files so if you can still read this line I haven’t edited with original uploads to somewhere else.
Cameras used
Here’s a comparison of the four cameras as Apple sees fit.
Let’s look at the photos…
Landscape photo
iPhone 6 Landscape photo
iPhone SE Landscape photo
iPhone XS Landscape photo
iPhone 12 Pro Landscape photo
Sunset photo
iPhone 6 Sunset photo
iPhone SE Sunset photo
iPhone XS Sunset photo
iPhone 12 Pro Sunset photo
Self-portrait
iPhone 6 Self-portrait
iPhone SE Self-portrait
iPhone XS Self-portrait
iPhone 12 Pro Self-portrait
Selfie camera
iPhone 6 Selfie camera photo
iPhone SE Selfie camera photo
iPhone XS Selfie camera photo
iPhone 12 Pro Selfie camera photo
A detail photo
iPhone 6 detail photo
iPhone SE detail photo
iPhone XS detail photo
iPhone 12 Pro detail photo
Portrait mode
iPhone 6 Portrait
iPhone SE Portrait
iPhone XS Portrait mode
iPhone 12 Pro Portrait mode
Blue light
iPhone 6 Blue light photo
iPhone SE Blue light photo
iPhone XS Blue light photo
iPhone 12 Pro Blue light photo
Maximum digital zoom in blue light
iPhone 6 zoomed to maximum digital zoom
iPhone SE zoomed to maximum digital zoom
iPhone XS zoomed to maximum digital zoom
iPhone 12 Pro zoomed to maximum digital zoom
Night Mode, or a night photo for cameras without Night Mode
iPhone 6 Night photo
iPhone SE Night photo
iPhone XS Night photo
iPhone 11 (not Pro) Night Mode photo
iPhone 12 Pro Night Mode photo
Video
The official Josh Withers iPhone 12 Pro review after using one for eight hours.
The iPhone 12 Pro in-hand feel is remarkably different to the past six generations of iPhone with the rounded edges. The 90 degree edge of the iPhone 12 makes it feel better in-hand and I could imagine using it case-less.
12 Pro camera quality increase is so noticeable from an iPhone XS, the HDR is borderline “too much” as far as regular photos go, but it’s also representative of what we actually see with our eyes.
MagSafe is but another entry to the lineup of Apple things that “just works” and you’d hope it would.
MagSafe cases and accessories are in low supply this early, but I’m excited to see how vendors innovate, like Peak Design is on Kickstarter.
Considering the rounded bump is no longer pushing out the width, the screen feels more edge to edge, the entire phone just looks beautiful. I’m rocking the new deep blue colour.
Moving from an iPhone XS, the only thing I’m mourning is 3D Touch/Force Touch. I apparently used it a lot more than I could remember. Long touch isn’t quite the same.
If you’re on an iPhone 11, the 12 is a splurge. If you’re moving from an iPhone XS/XR, it’s real nice. From a X or 8, or earlier, you’ll be grateful for the numerous improvements. If you’re on Android, congrats on reading so far into the review!
Nothing says “you’re a weak little nancy boy" like an Instagram ad for some flippin cool gadget that is algorithmically designed to get me to purchase it. Tonight I might have won the battle, but cool-ass gadgets showed to me through social media ads, you may yet win the war.
Why have I listened to 400 episodes of ATP?
One of my earliest memories is listening to Play School on the ABC because I’d been given a TV that didn’t show a picture.
The medium of audio storytelling has been a passion of mine for so long, I found a career in it first in community radio, then in commercial radio as a techie and then as a breakfast announcer.
As podcasting became a thing, thanks Cameron, I have held a steady interest the entire time.
As the market for podcasts developed, the market split in half can be roughly described like this:
The first kind of podcasts are well-produced news, entertainment, and information podcasts. They’re sharp sounding, and well made.
The second kind is my favourite kind. They’re simple, people in conversation, drawing me into that conversation without ever knowing me. I’m unashamedly standing in an audience, yet I feel connected to those people. It’s a nice connection.
Accidental Tech Podcast is one of those second kind of podcasts, and in their 400th episode, at the end of the episode, in the post-show, they talk about this kind of podcasting and why people like me have been listening for 400 episodes.
Running a Fan Page
A few years ago I thought it would be great fun to start an Apple Fan Page on Facebook. I’d been a MacBook owner for about 3 years and thought that my Mac was the best thing since my high school let us wear short socks instead of long socks on sports day.
The iPhone was out in the wild, we didn’t have it in Australia yet, but a few friends had imported iPhones and were hacking them, the world was slowly becoming more and more awesome everyday. The iPod Touch was released and I bought one straight away. Honestly, me and Apple could of had babies and I would’ve brought them up without child support payments if Apple left. I was in love.
Slowly things evolved, over time I spent a considerable amount of money on products and it seemed like the rest of the world was because the Facebook page I had started was growing ever so slowly.
I named it Alt+Shift+K, if you’re on a Mac that will show the Apple Logo. I never promoted this page, but like a wildfire it grew and today it’s 150,000 members strong. The Australian Liberal Party couldn’t even get that many people to vote for Tony Abbott today but somehow that many people clicked and became fans.
Facebook got worried and made me change the name of the page to “Fans of Apple” and although it was not as cool as a name, the love of Apple products continued to grow.
Here’s the thing though, my rose coloured glasses expected that everyone who clicked “Become a Fan” was a “glass-half-full”, Apple loving, forward thinking, early adopting person like me.
I’m completely and extraordinarily wrong on that note.
Although only 50-60 people will comment on an iPad related post at a time it seems like they represent the majority with their immaturity and stupidity.
I call them stupid because they are dedicated to offensively calling out the iPad as a device they’d never buy, or use etc.
The reason this bothers me is this: I don’t care if they buy an iPad or not. My distaste is with their general attitude and character. I’m curious if they represent the greater population. Is the general population of the world that small minded that they can’t see the forest through the trees? Does the general population write-off a product, person or idea without having actually experienced it for themselves? Do people honestly have that much emotion and insecurity built-up that they will unleash it on Facebook toward a product they have not used yet? Are hypocrites really gaining this much ground? Will hypocrites be the next superpower in the world?
What I’m trying to say is, Facebook “Fans of Apple” hate commenters, piss off.
To the Apple Fans, love you guys. I love hanging out with people of similar passions and you’re it.
Edit: Someone alerted me to this Youtube video which could help us understand internet trolls.
The iPad, think about it like this ...
It’s been 8 hours since the existence of the iPad was confirmed. All the readings are stable, Planet Earth is still functioning as per normal and there have been no reported iPad related deaths or trauma.
Phew!
There has, however, been a loud roar of love, discontent, hate, whinge, love again and a little bit more hate. The iPad keynote was one of the most expected and most hyped keynotes of recent times. Whilst talking to Renai LeMaythis morning here’s a link to our podcast I mentioned I would’ve rather had saved my iPad virginity for this morning than to have had it taken all those weeks earlier by rumour after rumour.
Steve Jobs always delivers a passionate plea for people to continue to love and support his offspring in these keynotes, a plea which I’ve answered each ad every time for the last 5 years, I am an Apple fanboy. Unfortunately for me, other fanboys and my comrades at the Fans of Apple Facebook Page the iPad wasn’t designed, nor will it be marketed, to us.
My Prediction
I predict that the iPad will be marketed to the members of our community that don’t know where the ‘any’ key is, those that don’t know how to ’log on to 10.0.0.1 and reconfigure the router’, the mothers and fathers that need to call their son if they want to send an email, the friends who want to be on Facebook but aren’t sure why they need to keep their recovery discs.
The iPad has been billed as a giant iPod Touch or iPhone. It technically is, with some features that are made to fit the larger than iPod screen real estate. This isn’t such a bad thing, the iPod Touch is something anyone in my family could pick up and start using once they figure out that you just use your fingers.
This is the end of driving to your grandpa’s house to show him how to defrag his computer!
Why I’ll Still Buy One
The iPad will become a member of my technological family soon enough because I’ve always liked using a desktop, preferably a Mac Pro but my main computer now is a MacBook. It’s great but lacking in speed and configurability, it’s ultraportable, especially when it’s paired with a Telstra NextG USB stick and that’s a feature I love.
Some day in the future I’d like to go back to a Mac Pro in the home office and carry an iPad 3G on me at most times.
Some of the Negatives
It would’ve been great to have a USB plug so a 3G USB stick could be used, we’re also unsure what a micro-SIM is and if any carrier in Australia use it.
As usual Australian carriers will not be generous with their data packages, especially our friends at Tel$tra. In this blogger’s home town Tel$tra is the only option for a mobile carrier unless you can rent a house at the base of the Vodafone or Optus tower.
60 Days
As announced today we could expect to have on in our hands within 2 months, between now and then it will be refined and hopefully iron out some of the bugs and this blogger will be a happy man when the postman arrives on that fateful March morning!
If you’re not really sure what I’m talking about or what an iPad is then follow this link to the Apple Website to find out all the details, watch the videos, find out the price and sign up for an email notification on how to buy one.