Its been about 4 weeks sin the iPhone 12 Mini was released into the wild. This is the smaller
sibling to the iPhones 12, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max. Could this be my favorite iPhone ever?????
Hey, Im Jerry and The iPhone 12 Mini is now my favorite iPhone ever. Yep, right off the top I
spoiled the ending, but that’s OK because you probably want to know more about what
makes the iPhone 12 Mini great. So what does and doesn’t the Mini have over the other iPhones 12?
First, just like all the iPhones 12, there is a super fast Apple A14 Bionic processor inside
that has the same 6 CPU cores, 4-core GPU and a 16-core neural engine for all your
neural processes….and yadda yadda yadda. But who cares about all of that, right?
All you need to know is that it is a super fast mobile chip and
it is faster than last years A13. It can handle any iOS app you throw at it….period
The 12 Mini has a 5.4” Super retina XDR display with a 2million to 1 contrast ratio,
true tone for dynamic color temperature, p3 wide color gamut for amazing colors and 625 nits of
brightness…….Now, I know that isn’t amazing for brightness when the Pro gets 800n nits,
but in my use I have not had any issues seeing the display outside in the
sun….Where the 12 mini does win out over the 12 and 12 pro is in pixel density. It
actually boasts a slightly sharper screen than the others at 476 ppi compared to 460 and 458.
The 12 Mini shares the same Wide and Ultra Wide cameras as the 12 and 12 Pro.
I am not a pro photographer but in my general usage the pictures came out great outside and even
in low light. When the Ultra wide camera came to the iPhones last year with the iPhones 11, I was
skeptical about their usefulness but it actually allows you to capture a much different photo than
the standard lens and comes in useful with smaller areas where you need to capture something. I
actually ended up using the ultra wide more than the zoom with the iPhone 11 Pro so I am
OK not having a zoom lens anymore. And apparently Apple switches to the main camera when shooting
zoom in low light anyway so, I don’t think I am missing much there.
Other Camera features the 12 Mini wont get compared to the 12 Pro
is Apple Pro Raw for photos which I wouldn’t even know how to edit if I did have it,
LiDAR, and it is limited to 30FPS when shooting HDR Dolby vision…which
most people would not be able to view the results of that video anyway.
So that is the basics of what is different between the iPhone 12 Pro I had and the 12 mini. You could
also add some design differences and the smaller battery, which I will talk about in a minute. And
there is the 4GB of ram compared to 6GB of ram in the pro but in pretty much every usage situation
it is not something that can be noticed and does not affect the overall use of the iPhone at all
So, what is the first thing you notice about the iPhone 12 Mini? The size…..I LOVE the size of this
phone..This phone is so compact, and light compared to the 12 pro. It almost feels like
plastic when you pick it up after holding a larger phone. That is due obviously in part to the size,
the smaller battery, and the frame being made of aluminum vs stainless steel. And just because
it feels light doesn’t mean it feels cheap. The whole thing feels solid and perfectly weighted.
I was slightly worried that the reduced screen size would bother me.
Apple essentially kept the same scaled resolution of the phones so when you
pull up say a webpage on both the 6,.1 and 5.4” displays you will see the exact same amount of
content. Everything is there its just a tad smaller on the Mini. I found that it didn’t
really bother me that much and even though my eyes suck I can still read without issue.
And if I needed to pull it closer to my face at least the phone is lighter.
The Flat sides of the 12 Mini help with grip in my opinion allowing more surface area of my fingers
to grip it and it just feels more secure in my not so big hands. When I hold it I know I have
a good grip on it and its not going anywhere. And with this size phone I can reach 3 of the corners
with my thumbs pretty easily making one-handed typing and gestures a possibility again. I just
cant reach the comer exactly opposite my thumbs without a second hand assist.
The 12 Pro had a matte back with shiny sides where conversely the 12 mini has
a shiny back and matte sides. To me, matte surfaces are a bit more slippery so when
I pick up the phone from being flat on a table, I have to squeeze just a
little bit harder to make sure it doesn’t slip…which has happened to me a few times.
Speaking of slippery, I have also tried going caseless with my 12 Mini just because I like
how compact and small it is. I love being able to slide it in my pocket and have no phone bulge, or
put it in the phone holder in my truck. But I did have it sitting in my lap when I was sitting
outside and the phone slipped off my pants and landed on concrete and you can see the
little dinge here….It could have been worse but I decided I would toss a case on it.
If you like clear cases I have a video that talks about the Totallee clear case and It is a
good case. Its not slippery like the Apple Clear case and the buttons actually feel really good.
I also bought another Apple Silicone case. I was going to get the product red
but was convinced to buy the Kumquat which really does pair well with the blue iphone.
Besides protecting the iphone from more drops outside, The Apple Silicone case does eliminate
the slippery side issue I just talked about, making it easier to pick up off a flat surface.
The soft touch coating does not pick up a bunch of lint that I have seen and barely adds any bulk
to the phone making sure it still easily slides in and out of my pocket. And if you want to live
that MagSafe lifestyle with charging or wallets, then the Apple Silicone case is the way to go.
Now the battery…….its true that a smaller phone has a smaller battery. If you are a heavy user,
you may not get the battery life you really want but if you look at my usage from yesterday.
I got up around 6:30 Am and went to bed around 10:30 am with 10% left. I got 8 hours of screen
on time with a mixed use of teams calls, youtube, twitter, browsing, watching some news, and listeng
to a podcast. That is actually pretty dang good for a phone this size. I did that without topping
off at all and If you have a charger at your desk and top it off once or twice a day you
should be good. And I was thinking about this the other day, If I was still working at my office,
I think I would still be fine with the battery life of the mini because It would
charge on my daily commutes which are about 40 minutes each way. But even at home I toss it on my
desktop Samsung qi charger every now and then between meetings and I am good.
One other side benefit I have noticed over the last month, that may or may not be related to
having a smaller phone, is some relief of my tennis elbow in my right arm. This is totally
anecdotal, but I am wondering if a lighter phone that requires less finger gymnastics is helping to
alleviate some of the RSI issues I have developed over the last couple of years. I don’t know but
would be interested to hear if anyone else has seen relief going with a smaller device.
So, overall the biggest draw to this iPhone 12 Mini for me is the size. It is nice moving down to
a smaller device after years of slight increases. I have used every sized phone from the original
iphone to the Plus sized iphones and HTC legend to the Galaxy s9+. For people with not huge hands,
people who have smaller pockets, or people who may not need all the features that the Pro phones add,
this is a great device. If you cant spend time near a charger as needed then you may
need to look at the 12 or 12 Pro for those couple extra hours of battery.
For my use, there is no advantage to getting the Pro except for battery,
which is a strange thing to admit after so many years of using the Best phones.
The iPhone 12 Mini does everything I need in a phone and does it in a more compact,
easier to use and carry way, and after 4 weeks with the 12 Mini, it is my favorite iPhone Ever.
And I purposefully left out 5G because who really benefits from it right now,
But, what do you think? Is the size of the iPhone 12 Mini a benefit or a disadvantage?
Do you think you would prefer a smaller device for your next phone? Let us know below. If you want to
see more of my opinions on the iPhone 12 Mini you can check out my unboxing video right over here.
Hit the thumbs up button if you liked it, hit subscribe if you want and Ill see you next time.