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Iphone 13 Pro Max is best iphone ever

BY JIM ROSSMAN

You might think I always carry the latest and greatest phone, but I don’t. I get to test a lot of phones, but only for a week or two, and then they go back.

I bought a new iphone XS Max in 2018 and carried it for three years, and I decided to trade it in for an iphone 13 Pro Max.

So this review is of a product I purchased.

Apple introduced the new iphone 13 models earlier this month, and they went on sale last Friday.

Apple introduced four iphone 13 models — the iphone 13 mini (from $699), iphone 13 (from $799), the iphone 13 Pro (from $999) and the iphone 13 Pro Max (from $1,099). As you might guess, the lineup starts small and gets bigger, faster

and more expensive

I opted for the 128-gigabyte sierra blue iphone 13 Pro Max, so this review will focus on the Pro Max.

The design of the phones hasn’t changed, but the cameras are now oriented diagonally to allow for larger lenses and sensors.

The 13 Pro Max was improved in several areas over the 12 Pro Max and is a huge step up from my XS Max.

Apple seemed to focus on the three areas people really care about: the screen, the cameras and the battery life.

The 13 Pro Max has a stunning 6.7-inch OLED Promotion display with a dynamic refresh rate from 10 Hertz up to 120 Hz.

The 120 Hz top end refresh has appeared on Samsung phones, but this is the first iphone to have it.

Higher refresh rates bring very smooth scrolling and better animations when launching apps. The screen is also brighter than previous models, maxing out at 1,200 nits (units of brightness). The display has a resolution of 1,284 x 2,778 pixels.

There is still a notch on the top of the screen for the selfie camera and Faceid sensors, but Apple reconfigured its placement to make the notch 20% smaller.

The 13 Pro is 0.3 millimeters thicker and 0.4 ounces heavier than the 12 Pro Max, and the extra room allows a bigger battery.

Apple doesn’t list a capacity on its website, but Gsmarena.com says the 13 Pro Max’s battery has a capacity of 4,373 milliamp-hours, up from the 12 Pro Max’s 3,687 mah.

The 13 Pro has fast charging if you use a 20-watt power supply (not included). With the high-capacity charger, the battery can charge from zero to 50% in 30 minutes.

Apple doesn’t include a USB charger in the box — only a USB-C to Lightning charging cable.

The 13 Pro also has Magsafe wireless charging (15 watts) and regular Qi wireless charging (7.5W).

The cameras on the iphone 13 Pro Max are the most significant upgrade for me.

My XS Max had two main cameras with a 2x optical zoom. It took very good pictures, but the three-camera array on the 13 Pro Max is on a different level.

The main cameras all have a 12-megapixel sensor.

The wide-angle camera has an f/1.5 aperture and a 1.9 micrometer sensor (that’s big in camera sensor speak). Last year’s 12 Max Pro has a 1.7 micrometer sensor and a f/1.6 aperture. The change in sensor size and aperture allow the new camera to capture 49% more light.

The ultrawide camera has a f/1.8 aperture and a 120-degree field of view.

The telephoto lens has an f/2.8 aperture with a 3x optical zoom and optical image stabilization.

The cameras are top notch, but the improvements in hardware, including all that processing power, make for the best photographic experience I’ve seen on a phone.

The camera bump is also large. The selfie camera is also 12 MP with an f/2.2 aperture and portrait mode.

Prores is a video format that offers higher color fidelity and less compression. The 13 and 13 Pro will be able to shoot Prores video in a future IOS 15 update.

You’ll need a lot of storage to use Prores. One minute of 4K Prores video takes up 6 gigabytes of storage. Apple is limiting 4K Prores capture to phones with at least 256 gb of storage. If you opt for the 128 gb model (like me), your Prores capture is limited to 1080p.

All four iphone 13 models are running the A15 Bionic processor with a six-core CPU and five-core graphics processor.

The A15 has 15 billion transistors (no, I didn’t count them). According to Apple, the iphone 13 Pro Max offers up to 50% faster graphics performance than any other smartphone.

The processor has a superfast neural engine that performs up to 15.8 trillion operations per second.

The iphone 13 Pro Max is IP68 dust- and water-resistant. It can take a dunk of up to 30 minutes in 6 feet of water. Applepay and phone unlocking are done via Faceid or passcode.

The Pros have 5G (mmwave and sub-6) and 4G LTE as well as Wi-fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.

The iphone 13 Pro Max is available in graphite, gold, silver and sierra blue.

Storage capacities are 128 gb ($1,099), 256 gb ($1,199), 512 gb ($1.399) and 1 terabyte ($1,599).

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

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2021-10-11T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-11T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.gazette.com/article/281968905866090

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