The first iPhone 13 models are due to be delivered to pre-orderers on Friday. The first test reports on the new devices have now been published. The battery life is clearly the star feature.
The iPhone 13 series contains a few interesting new features, including notable camera functions. But the battery life is also said to be significantly better compared to the previous generation. Below we have listed the most interesting excerpts from various test reports.
iPhone 13
So writes Dieter Bohn, of The Verge, that the real star of the iPhone 13 is the longer battery life:
On one of my test days, the regular iPhone 13 lasted from 7 a.m. to midnight before giving up. I tested the camera, watched a few videos, did the usual doomscrolling, wrote emails, worked, and played a few games. It was an intense workload for the five hours of screen time that day, which is impressive. On another day with lesser use, I didn't get the battery warning until the next morning.
CNET highlighted, among other things, the Cinematic Mode in the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini:
The results are impressive and I imagine that once you've used it enough you'll get a feel for what's possible. But there are a few limitations to be aware of. First, you can't use Cinematic mode when it's dark. You'll be greeted with a message telling you to turn on your flash. Editing a video in Cinematic mode is pretty easy but the controls for the keyframes you use to change the focus are small. You can long-press to expand the timeline, but as soon as you let go it shrinks back down, making it impossible to keep track of the tiny focus keyframes.
Battery life is impressive
Engadget writes Regarding Cinema Mode:
Apple's system is pretty clever in itself. The iPhone 13 did a good job of recognizing the faces (both people and dogs) in my shots, and yellow or white boxes indicated what I could focus on. As my subjects moved toward or away from the camera, they became clearer or blurrier, respectively. But when I try to exercise more control and adjust the focus point, the system struggled. Sometimes my intended subject remained blurred even when I tapped the rectangle. Another time, the iPhone didn't follow the person I selected after they walked behind an obstacle. When it worked as expected, Cinematic mode created a pleasant effect that gave the videos a professional feel. But at the default intensity, the blur looked odd or artificial. The outline of my colleague's head stood out clearly against the softened background. I had to set the aperture to the highest setting (f/16) to get a more natural image.
Regarding the battery life of the iPhone 13 mini writes Engadget:
Despite the brighter screens, Apple says the iPhone 13 and 13 mini can last up to 2.5 and 1.5 hours longer than their predecessors, respectively. While the 13 mini beat the 12 mini by lasting almost a full day of basic use, it still falls short of the average smartphone at 13 hours and 19 minutes in our video rundown test. That's a shame, because I love the size of the iPhone 13 mini—it's much easier to use one-handed. But the biggest downside to a modern phone of this size is the lack of endurance.
iPhone 13 Pro
One of the most important changes to the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max is the new ProMotion display technology. But does the technology live up to the hype? The Verge says Yes.
In practical terms, this means that scrolling and animations look much smoother. This also has benefits for battery life, because when nothing is moving on the screen, the screen has to refresh less often and therefore uses less power. None of this is new to Android users, but if you've never used a high refresh rate screen on a phone, it might be a little difficult to explain why it makes a difference. This is especially true for iPhones, because Apple has eschewed a high refresh rate screen for so long because iOS itself is a very smooth operating system with animations that don't have a lot of bells and whistles. When I scroll on the iPhone 13 Pro, the text remains legible and doesn't get blurry. Things moving on the screen are smoother. It feels more like a direct interaction with my finger because the iPhone can literally adjust its refresh rate to my movement.
Macro photography features on Pro models should be solid
Of course, The Verge also has something to say about the battery life of the iPhone 13 Pro to communicate.
I've only had the phones for a little under a week, so I used the smaller iPhone 13 Pro as a sort of worst-case test. My results are consistent with what Apple claims. On a day when we pushed the phone hard with lots of 4K video and the screen brightness at maximum, it lasted from early morning to 11 p.m. with 20 percent battery left -- with very heavy use of about four hours in the screen time tracking app. On a day with less heavy use, I got seven hours of screen time before the warning popped up.
As for the new macro photography features on the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, writes CNET:
In bright and medium light, I found macro photography on the iPhone to be solid. It's not on par with an SLR with a dedicated macro lens, but it's one of the better implementations of a macro mode I've seen on a phone. I got solid close-ups of food and coffee, and even captured a nightmarish video of ants crawling on a discarded grapefruit. In low light, the iPhone still switches to the ultra-wide camera to take a macro photo. The phone's best camera, however, is the wide camera, which handles low light well. Because the phone has to get so close to the subject, it blocks some of the light, resulting in mediocre close-ups. There's currently no way to turn off the macro feature.
iPhone 13: Storage variants, colors and prices
On the whole, the first test reports on the new iPhone generation are positive. Further, more comprehensive tests will of course follow after the official market launch. As a reminder: The iPhone 13 (mini) is available in 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB storage variants. As for the colors, it will be available in pink, blue, midnight, starlight and (PRODUCT)RED. Prices start at 799 euros for the 128 GB model. As for the iPhone 13 Pro (Max), the devices are available in graphite, gold, silver and Sierra blue. The devices are available with 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB and a whopping terabyte. The price starts at 1,149 euros and can cost up to 1,829 euros depending on the version. (Image: Apple)
