Diehard Nexus/Pixel user goes 12 Pro Max

Zorachus

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
Messages
11,278
Looking at the screen shot, what phone is this I'm using?
 

Attachments

  • 76272D35-9215-48E7-B551-7E6E905EB74D.png
    76272D35-9215-48E7-B551-7E6E905EB74D.png
    916.3 KB · Views: 0
Shockingly I picked up a 12 Pro Max this week. My junior high age kids were both ready for SIM cards for their hand me down Pixel 2XL and 3XL phones I gave them. So while at TMobile store, they had a good deal going and I haven't picked up a phone through the carrier in years, they had a promo and I gave them my old LG phone I still had which counted towards credit off on the new iPhone.

I'm still a Pixel guy #1, but not a fan of the direction Google took with the Pixel 5. And I've been itching to get back to try an iPhone just to get my own experiences and my own honest opinions on Apple's big phone. I almost did this last year with the 11 Pro Max, but was very satisfied with my Pixel 4 XL a year ago, didn't want a switch.

And definitely it's taking some major adjustment between stock Android and iOS. But the last time I owned an iPhone back I think the 7 plus I feel iOS has matured and gone towards the direction that I feel is needed. Dark theme is great, and now it's easy to customize icons, The Phone calls coming in as a banner notification now was badly needed, and the volume hud being a tiny pill like thing was a good hnage, I like these revisions Apple has done the last few years, and other things have changed in the 5 years since I've ran an iPhone. But the difference today between iOS 14 and Android 11 doesn't seem as radical and extremely different as it did between iOS 9 and Android M 6.0, back then I found the two OS's vastly different, today not as much, they both seem more similar than I would expect.

I will say I find the Pixel an easier phone to just pick up and use quickly. But I need more time with this 12 Pro Max to get comfortable. I will give it up to the 14 days before return period is up, but so far I like it, a lot more than expected.
 
Nice things about this 12 Pro Max so far;

-Screen is very bright and vibrant, miles ahead of my Pixel 4 XL's display
-Haptic vibration engine in this iPhone is amazing, very good motor in there, and just feels so nice, and the little vibrations on minor things I wasn't expecting is cool
-Speakers, WOW, loud and clear
-Battery life, I can't say for sure yet, only having this phone a few days, but it has amazing battery life so far, easily a day + with heavy use.
-OS smoothness? iOS 14 feels very fluid, can't really see any hiccups or lags yet, I did enable Reduce Motion to make it feel faster,, and it does.

Now I really haven't used iMessage, or Phone calls, or GPS yet. Best way I can test a new phone is during a workday, at work being in sales management, and help run high end construction projects, I am very busy, and use my phone a lot with calls, texts, e-mails, camera, etc... Only then will I truly know how this phone works and handles a busy workweek.
 
I'll spare you the digging up of my old "Z's greatest phone of all time..." thread. ;)

One of my biggest gripes with iOS is notifications. Seems like they've improved. I still can't go back to an iPhone unless it has Touch ID.
 
Very thin slim case from Casekoo
 

Attachments

  • PXL_20210102_161039944.PORTRAIT.jpg
    PXL_20210102_161039944.PORTRAIT.jpg
    372.7 KB · Views: 0
  • PXL_20210102_161123448.PORTRAIT.jpg
    PXL_20210102_161123448.PORTRAIT.jpg
    268 KB · Views: 0
I'll spare you the digging up of my old "Z's greatest phone of all time..." thread. ;)

One of my biggest gripes with iOS is notifications. Seems like they've improved. I still can't go back to an iPhone unless it has Touch ID.

LOL yeah, but I'm not saying this iPhone 12 Pro max is the super best phone ever, no. I still have and kept my Pixel 4 XL, which I still like a lot. I hope Google makes a high end version Pixel 6 XL, with the new SD 888 and all the bells and whistles, an give it a 6.5" screen or so. I tried the Pixel 5, but it felt too small, like a childs toy, plus it did feel lesser quality, not as high end as the 4 XL.

The main reason I got the iPhone 12 Pro Max was out of boredom and just wanting something different. And not a Samsung or OnePlus phone. The only phone I'd upgrade too is a Pixel 6 XL if Googke makes it. But first let's see how my time goes on this 12 Pro Max.
 
Wow, that looks like a skin, not a case. How's the grip?

Also, cool stuff like this, is why I'm excited to play with an iPhone again, more JB type stuff coming to stock;

https://mobile.twitter.com/iDevice_Movies/status/1344632037437825024

It is made of Aramid Fiber so grip is excellent. If you ever used one of the OnePlus Karbon cases it’s that type of material but thinner and lighter.

Evutec makes the OnePlus Karbon case which is similar in thickness to the other Pitaka case the MagEZ.

The Air is a bit tighter weave so a little bit smoother but as you use it the grip gets a little more “rubbery feel” but it also helps smooth out the feel in your hand if you are the type, like me, who typically rests the phone on your pinky.

I have both but find I just leave the Air on as I don’t use the magnetic attachments that Pitaka sells to use with the MagEZ line and with a phone already large and heavy I appreciate the lighter and thinner weight and size of the Air.


EC9F7724-6926-4447-BC6B-451B1FC08209.jpeg
36641028-0A7C-41FF-A40A-BCE0EE516750.jpeg
F464F03A-0E89-4820-A5B1-FA4D8BA69A16.jpeg
 
What browser you using? Safari or Chrome or something?

I'm liking Safari with AdGuard Pro I must have bought the Pro version on my last iPhone years ago. Seems to be a good combo and work with zero ads.

What do you recommend?
 
What browser you using? Safari or Chrome or something?

I'm liking Safari with AdGuard Pro I must have bought the Pro version on my last iPhone years ago. Seems to be a good combo and work with zero ads.

What do you recommend?

I have tried several but always come back to Safari. Ad blockers are a mixed bag and I’m not using one right now.
 
What browser you using? Safari or Chrome or something?

I'm liking Safari with AdGuard Pro I must have bought the Pro version on my last iPhone years ago. Seems to be a good combo and work with zero ads.

What do you recommend?
I'm using Safari with Firefox Focus ad blocking. Best option I've found so far.
 
If you’re looking for a cheap case with grip, smartish is my case brand of choice now.
 
I've become a big fan of Speck's Presidio line of cases. At $45, they're not cheap, but provide excellent protection for $1000+ phones. A quick internet search will reveal several Speck coupons that cut 10% to 25% off the price.

A few years ago, I dropped my 2XL in its Presidio Grip case from a 2-story window onto the driveway. Not a scratch or dent on the phone's body or screen. Speck has 2 models: Presidio2 Grip and Presidio2 Pro.
 
Need help here, how do I go back or swipe back in YouTube? So I'm watching a video in YouTube Premium on my 12 Pro Max, but I can't seem to figure out how to go back or swipe back to the main YouTube screen while in the middje of watching a video. Or if I'm reading comments on a video, how do I swioe back to check other videos on YouTube?
 
Keyboards? What do you guys use?

I installed Gboard as I like the haptic feedback when typing, which I'm surprised the Apple keyboard doesn't offer.

But I can't figure out how to get the number keys to remain at the top? Where's that setting?

Last thing, why is there this big grey gap space below the keyboard between the very bottom of the screen? Seems like the keyboard should go down to the bottom.

Another question, when I go to the mic key in the upper right of Gboard to voice speak to text, some strange screen appears while I'm speaking but seems to fade away before I'm done speaking. Is that a Google and ios issue?

Suppose I'd use the Apple keyboard if they offered a black or dark color, but they only have this weird semi transparent grey color.
 
Sort of digging this homeecreen setup, nothing fancy but functional

Have to say I'm liking this phone, but still no SIM card in until tomorrow morning start of work the big test if I like this phone
 

Attachments

  • 83082AE9-FE2A-4B9F-B46A-7446FFA734E2.png
    83082AE9-FE2A-4B9F-B46A-7446FFA734E2.png
    887.7 KB · Views: 0
Sorry for another question

What News widget is out there that can mimic the Google News feed? I do miss that the most from my Pixel the left panel having that long scrolling news widget based on your likes
 
I use Apple keyboard. Before Apple enabled swiping or “flow,” my keyboard was definitely Google. Since then I’ve uninstalled Google Gboard and just use Apple for the most part. I left SwiftKey installed. SwiftKey has also gone a long way. SwiftKey would be a better predictive keyboard. But the reason why that is is because Apple doesn’t datamine your info as much as Microsoft and no where close to as much as Google.

As for YouTube, just minimize the video down and you’ll see the old search listing.
 
Sorry for another question

What News widget is out there that can mimic the Google News feed? I do miss that the most from my Pixel the left panel having that long scrolling news widget based on your likes
How about the Apple News widget? Either that or Brief, which I hear is a good no-nonsense news app.
 
I use Apple keyboard. Before Apple enabled swiping or “flow,” my keyboard was definitely Google. Since then I’ve uninstalled Google Gboard and just use Apple for the most part. I left SwiftKey installed. SwiftKey has also gone a long way. SwiftKey would be a better predictive keyboard. But the reason why that is is because Apple doesn’t datamine your info as much as Microsoft and no where close to as much as Google.

As for YouTube, drop down with the left upper button?!?
 
I use Apple keyboard. Before Apple enabled swiping or “flow,” my keyboard was definitely Google. Since then I’ve uninstalled Google Gboard and just use Apple for the most part. I left SwiftKey installed. SwiftKey has also gone a long way. SwiftKey would be a better predictive keyboard. But the reason why that is is because Apple doesn’t datamine your info as much as Microsoft and no where close to as much as Google.

As for YouTube, drop down with the left upper button?!?

I also moved to the stock Apple keyboard once swipe became part of it. SwiftKey was my mainstay on Android and then iPhone but had some issues with entering WiFi passwords when I used it on my iPhone a while back when staying at hotels on trips so I removed idid not have the same issue with the Apple keyboard.

May have been resolved by now but I don’t anticipate any work trips in the near future to test it out.

SwiftKey is much better at remembering and predicting but the Apple keyboard seems to be better integrated throughout iOS.
 
This one has me stumped. How do I get YouTube to work in PiP ( Picture in Picture ) mode?

I have the Premium version of YT. But I never see the icon for PiP in the YouTube videos, and yes I have PiP enabled in the iPhone General settings.

Have no idea how to get this to work?
 
That is a really good looking looking case, and it has grip.
I'd check out the MagEz version. It has a pretty nice magnet embedded and you can use a bunch of accessories with it. It's slightly thicker than the Air.
 
This one has me stumped. How do I get YouTube to work in PiP ( Picture in Picture ) mode?

I have the Premium version of YT. But I never see the icon for PiP in the YouTube videos, and yes I have PiP enabled in the iPhone General settings.

Have no idea how to get this to work?
The official YouTube app can only do background audio. Instead, you could use a browser to go to YouTube
 
Strangest thing. I finally put the Sim card in my phone today and actually used it made bunch of texts everything cool except the strangest thing texts to my wife’s phone would go through OK but her replies were still coming up on my Google Pixel 4 XL. The SIM card is out of that Pixel and in my iPhone. Her number seems to be the only one doing that.
 
My guess is that your RCS or Google Messages are tied to your Google account rather than sms phone number.

Unrelated to your problem, I use the esim for my T-Mobile iPhone. It’s pretty easy to setup now completely online.
 
My guess is that your RCS or Google Messages are tied to your Google account rather than sms phone number.

Unrelated to your problem, I use the esim for my T-Mobile iPhone. It’s pretty easy to setup now completely online.

I pulled the SIM card out of the iPhone and put back in my Pixel, then turned off RCS. Then pulled the SIM card out and put back in my iPhone.

Let's see if that did the trick?
 
So for my Wife's texts she's on the Pixel 2 XL, I am not getting any replies from her in iMessage. But when I use WhatsApp ya I get everything from her.

I tried others on Android, and I do get theirs, my co-workers texts are coming through, they use Galaxy phones. It just my Wife's Pixel isn't getting through to my iPhone.
 
So for my Wife's texts she's on the Pixel 2 XL, I am not getting any replies from her in iMessage. But when I use WhatsApp ya I get everything from her.

I tried others on Android, and I do get theirs, my co-workers texts are coming through, they use Galaxy phones. It just my Wife's Pixel isn't getting through to my iPhone.
Figure out if your wife is messaging your number or your Google account.
 
Quick mini thoughts;


I like it. The hardware the build quality and screen are very high quality top notch ( pun intended )

Haptic vibration is amazing.

Display is very bright and has beautiful deep colors. Black apps like Reddit and Twitter look awesome and help hide the notch.

But iOS takes some getting used too. I’m so used to stock Android on my Pixel phones which is so smooth and fluid and has a 90hz screen, so the Pixel actually feels smoother and almost a bit faster at tasks moving around the OS.

Certain things are just less steps and easier and run faster to do on stock Android compared to iOS. Copy paste much better on Android.

Or sharing website links or something to a text and finding that person hard to explain but it's just less steps and quicker to do on Android. On iOS to share on WhatsApp it's like several steps on Android it's like one step.

FaceID why do I need to swipe up from the bottom to enter the homescreen? Pixel it opens immediately to your homescreen no swiping up

Notifications and how it's done seems far behind that of Android.

It's little things like that are annoying on the iPhone. But are they really breakers? I don't think so at least not yet

But I really like the hardware and screen and speakers on this phone it's super top quality especially compared to my Pixel

Oh yeah the notch. F the notch it's ugly and Ridiculous that it's still here. Really Apple could easily afford to focus on a way to reduce the notch to at least be smaller if they wanted too. I had the Pixel 3 XL for a year and hated th notch the whole time but liked everything else about the phone
 
Good thing is, since my last iPhone, the 7 Plus, lots of stuff that used to need a Jailbreak, is now baked into stock iOS;

- Dark mode ( Black AMOLED apps and stuff looks amazing on this phone )
- Set default apps
- Widgets
- Icon themes, not needing a JB now
- Incoming Phone calls come in as a notification banner, not hijacking the full screen
- Volume bar now a mini slider, not a big thing in middle of screen


Those are not huge things, but still nice stuff that I used to Jailbreak for, now I don't need to.
 
Are live / dynamic wallpapers still a thing? I recall I think when the iPhone X was released there were some cool looking trippy moving Tie-dye looking moving wallpapers cool colors of blue and orange moving around.

Where can I download those to try out?
 
Just deleted all my icon themes and all dark tweaks.

Turned off dark theme went full light

Then deleted a bunch of apps and running very bare bones minimal iOS and Google apps only.

The phone feels a bit smoother now and actually shockingly I like it better running minimal apps in light white mode. Something different.

Not trying to make it some iPixel mix of Android and iOS. But now that I let go I will let this be an iPhone and iOS and not Android and doing this makes the phone feel more fresh and smooth if that makes any sense.
 
Last edited:
Went total barebones and I like it
 

Attachments

  • C409CBD9-F072-49AB-8F78-ADC103BA49CF.png
    C409CBD9-F072-49AB-8F78-ADC103BA49CF.png
    1.7 MB · Views: 0
Besides the stupid notch I will say this screen is amazing. black dark apps look so good on this phone. The black AMOLED display is great. And bright colors too.

And in Twitter and Reddit with the black background it hides the notch completely and the app takes up full screen and looks really cool.
 
Back
Top