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iPhone 12 Anyone with the iPhone 12 mini having regrets?

Decided to return my Mini today (a decision that makes me more than a little sad). Size, weight and one-handed use are all great. Battery life is a noticeable step down from my 11 Pro. I was expecting that though and could probably work around it. What really got me was the size of text. I know you can adjust that in system settings, but that doesn’t help with web pages. Maybe it’s a sign that I am getting older, but I just found my 5.8” 11 Pro easier and more comfortable to read. And I can use the 11 Pro one handed. It’s just not as natural as using a Mini. But, it seems like the best compromise for me. Bigger text, better battery life, better camera system, still mostly useable one-handed.

Will be swapping out my Mini for a 12 Pro when my local Apple store gets stock tomorrow (reserved one through he Apple Store app). Hoping the boxy design will let me use the 12 Pro without a case most of the time. That would actually be a weight reduction over my 11 Pro, which has to be used in a case because the curved sides make it so dang hard to hang onto.
 
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I tried the 12 Pro, the 12 mini, and the 12. I decided to go with the 12.

12 pro was too heavy, but I loved the pacific blue. Tried the 12 mini over the weekend but found it was too small. I'm going to try out the 12 for the next couple months. I'm coming from an X so I'm getting used to the new height. It is lighter, which is nice, except when you put on the Apple silicone MagSafe case, which is heavier than silicone cases in years prior, so it makes the 12 heavier than my old X with a silicone case.

I'm trying out some different cases from Casetify and Peel. The name of the game for me with the 12 is keeping it light.
 
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I'm returning my mini as soon as the 1st gen SE I ordered gets here. The screen is destroying my eyes.

Other than that, I love the phone. I have just about every high-profile bug, but I'm confident that had I kept the phone, Apple would have gotten it straightened out eventually. But I just can't deal with my eyes hurting all day long after using it for a short period of time.
 
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MacDevil7334 said:
Decided to return my Mini today (a decision that makes me more than a little sad). Size, weight and one-handed use are all great. Battery life is a noticeable step down from my 11 Pro. I was expecting that though and could probably work around it. What really got me was the size of text. I know you can adjust that in system settings, but that doesn’t help with web pages.
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But webpages are one of the only things besides system text size that you can change. I actually never have noticed that option after 13 years of using iPhones, OMG. I know it was for one time bigger size loading, never knew Safari would memorize it and always show webpages bigger or smaller, the way you set it before, left to the web address. I love that. Otherwise I don't know if I would have kept the Mini either. Now I can read webpages in a bigger text size, way more enjoyable. And most webpages have very good mobile sites so the difference in reading became dramatically improved in comparison to the bigger sized iPhones. Now I can actually read mobile sites without a problem on a lightweight, small device, holding it for a longer time is ok.

Maybe I can even start reading small parts of my ebooks on my Mini. Before that the devices were too heavy and uncomfortable to hold for longer reading.
Now only a few apps with no text size setting seems very small to read comfortably. I have adjusted most of the apps and settings now to my needs and liking. Great device.
 
I was regretting it a little bit the first couple of days because of the battery. I know it’s always the worst then, but I didn’t see how it could improve enough for my needs.

Well, it did. Coming from the iPhone 11 Pro, I was a little spoiled on battery life, and obviously the mini can’t touch the 11 Pro’s battery life, but now I’m getting around 8 hours SOT with my mini and that’s good enough for me.

This phone is almost perfect. I would prefer a camera design that looked more like the X/XS since it doesn’t have the third camera. The square with two lenses up against one side just looks odd. But that’s nitpicky.

The main thing I would change with this phone is adding the ceramic shield to the back of the phone as well. I cracked the back of my 11 Pro after it fell out of my pocket. I’d rather have ceramic shield on the back than the front since that’s more expensive to replace.
 
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Hammerd said:
Imagine that we used to have iphone 4/4S.. The mini is BIG in comparison
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Yeah “mini” is relative. The biggest iPhone before 2014 was 4”, and the mini’s screen size is only .1” less than what used to be the “plus” size. It’s not really that small, it’s just that the size of the average phone has gone up so much in the last few years.
 
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Channan said:
I was regretting it a little bit the first couple of days because of the battery. I know it’s always the worst then, but I didn’t see how it could improve enough for my needs.

Well, it did. Coming from the iPhone 11 Pro, I was a little spoiled on battery life, and obviously the mini can’t touch the 11 Pro’s battery life, but now I’m getting around 8 hours SOT with my mini and that’s good enough for me.

This phone is almost perfect. I would prefer a camera design that looked more like the X/XS since it doesn’t have the third camera. The square with two lenses up against one side just looks odd. But that’s nitpicky.

The main thing I would change with this phone is adding the ceramic shield to the back of the phone as well. I cracked the back of my 11 Pro after it fell out of my pocket. I’d rather have ceramic shield on the back than the front since that’s more expensive to replace.
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That's why most people use a case..especially when you see what Apple charges for a cracked back. Please note that indie repair shops have the laser machine that can unglue the back glass panel and they can swap it with a new for quite cheap. I think I read somewhere on MR that Apple store are getting that machine too
 
Hammerd said:
That's why most people use a case..especially when you see what Apple charges for a cracked back. Please note that indie repair shops have the laser machine that can unglue the back glass panel and they can swap it with a new for quite cheap. I think I read somewhere on MR that Apple store are getting that machine too
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I’d rather not use a case. It’s a risk I take, but it’s the first iPhone I’ve ever cracked, and I’ve been owning iPhones since the 3G in 2008.

And since it was the back, it’s in a case now and you can’t even tell it was cracked, but the case adds so much bulk to an already big phone.
 
Channan said:
I’d rather not use a case. It’s a risk I take, but it’s the first iPhone I’ve ever cracked, and I’ve been owning iPhones since the 3G in 2008.

And since it was the back, it’s in a case now and you can’t even tell it was cracked, but the case adds so much bulk to an already big phone.
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Yea... everyone would gladly get ride of the case if the phone wasn't that fragile or expensive to repair.
Nowadays the screen is way more resistant than it used to (I remember cracking my 4S and 5S with a single drop from pocket height..) but the back being glass again, combine with the fact it's not repairable since the iphone 7 (up to the 11 I guess) made me put a case. I have found a slim one that is still very protective, it's a spigen ultra hybrid gen2 (has air cushion on the corners)
 
Channan said:
I would prefer a camera design that looked more like the X/XS since it doesn’t have the third camera. The square with two lenses up against one side just looks odd.
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Yeah this is one of my gripes with the current non-Pro iPhones; the cheap looking camera array layout. I also wish Apple retained the X/XS camera layout for the non-Pro iPhones but I bet it was cheaper to use the same housing/shells across the whole line instead of manufacture separate ones.

Honestly I'm very glad the Mini exists but there are a couple things that turn me off:

1. No TouchID - Major dealbreaker
2. First-Gen product - Yes Apple makes great hardware and they usually knock it out of the park when they introduce new hardware, but call me old-fashioned and skeptical, I avoid first year products
3. Price - Canadian pricing for the Mini is insane as is the case with any other Apple hardware but if Apple had TouchID on the Mini I would buy it regardless

Until then my OG SE will keep trekking on or I'll just get a cheap iPhone 8 because the SE screen size is really bothering my eyes.
 
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I bought the 12 and the Mini. No regrets on the Mini however I sent it back. The size was perfect except I think it could have been a tad wider (like the 8 or 12). I did find the fonts a little small as well.

However I sent it back because of the unresponsive screen and not being able to answer calls. Hopefully it ends up being a software fix for everyone that kept theirs.

The 12 is the biggest phone I’ve ever used so it will take some time for me to adjust from the 8. Next year I may revisit the Mini.
 
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thejadedmonkey said:
I'm returning my mini as soon as the 1st gen SE I ordered gets here. The screen is destroying my eyes.

Other than that, I love the phone. I have just about every high-profile bug, but I'm confident that had I kept the phone, Apple would have gotten it straightened out eventually. But I just can't deal with my eyes hurting all day long after using it for a short period of time.
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Have you tried turning on Display Zoom (Settings, Display & Brightness — at the bottom)?
 
I'm leaving work with my mini between 88-91% each day. Of course, I have no 5G available in north Phoenix yet on AT&T.
 
TurboJobo said:
As the title says has anyone bought the iPhone 12 Mini and feel it too small?
Im coming from an iPhone 8, and before that the 6 and 7. But for some reason I feel like typing or things are just way smaller than what I am used to on the 4.7 inch display. I just got my phone yesterday but I got until January to return it to apple.
My Friend's normal iPhone 12 size is really tempting me. I just wish the iPhone 12 mini would have been an 5.8 like the X but with the iPhone 12 form factor.
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I never knew that the iPhone was part of the extended holiday return policy. That’s good to know!
 
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Coming from an iPhone 6, there are a lot of things to experiment: It's fast as hell, first time OLED so pretty amazed by the blacks, nice camera, nice gaming, new features ... so I'm really happy with the phone.

So not regrets here ... BUT

After using the mini for a couple of days, I came back to my iPhone 6 which I'm still using for work and damn... that phone is really easy to hold and feels really nice on hand! So thin, so lightweight! I've also noticed that the 4.7" screen feels bigger than the 5.4" because of the aspect ratio. My main complain on the mini is that everything is too narrow, reading text blocks in some webs looks really strange, with big margins and sentences with just a couple of words in the middle. So I think that there is no benefit on the bigger screen size nor aspect ratio. And this also has the problem of making the device more difficult to operate one-handed.

It's difficult to explain but at least I did not had that typical feeling of coming back to an old and obsolete device, in fact, I had the feeling to go to a more refined device. I think that missing all the intermediate iPhones since 6 makes me think that I'm coming back to the iPhone 5 with the mini. :D
 
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robertosh said:
I've also noticed that the 4.7" screen feels bigger than the 5.4" because of the aspect ratio. My main complain on the mini is that everything is too narrow, reading text blocks in some webs looks really strange, with big margins and sentences with just a couple of words in the middle.
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I have the same problem with this, its great to use in one hand but the screen is to narrow. Apple should of just use the iphone width and made the screen even better. Maybe an 5.6-5.8 inch screen with the same width of the iphone 8
 
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robertosh said:
Coming from an iPhone 6, there are a lot of things to experiment: It's fast as hell, first time OLED so pretty amazed by the blacks, nice camera, nice gaming, new features ... so I'm really happy with the phone.

So not regrets here ... BUT

After using the mini for a couple of days, I came back to my iPhone 6 which I'm still using for work and damn... that phone is really easy to hold and feels really nice on hand! So thin, so lightweight! I've also noticed that the 4.7" screen feels bigger than the 5.4" because of the aspect ratio. My main complain on the mini is that everything is too narrow, reading text blocks in some webs looks really strange, with big margins and sentences with just a couple of words in the middle. So I think that there is no benefit on the bigger screen size nor aspect ratio. And this also has the problem of making the device more difficult to operate one-handed.

It's difficult to explain but at least I did not had that typical feeling of coming back to an old and obsolete device, in fact, I had the feeling to go to a more refined device. I think that missing all the intermediate iPhones since 6 makes me think that I'm coming back to the iPhone 5 with the mini. :D
Click to expand...

I agree, my iphone SE 2020 feels better than the Mini, and is heavier, so is something with the size and weight balance. The screen also looks better (the aspect ratio) and Touch ID these days is way better than Face ID.
 
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TurboJobo said:
I have the same problem with this, its great to use in one hand but the screen is to narrow. Apple should of just use the iphone width and made the screen even better. Maybe an 5.6-5.8 inch screen with the same width of the iphone 8
Click to expand...
I would love another 16:9 screen phone, same design as 12 but not so tall and narrow. Not bothered about overall size of screen, anything 5.5”-6.5” would be great, it just that I find typing on the narrow screens a horrible experience.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
What difference does that make?

I just did though, I'll see if it makes a difference.

Edit: it doesn't make a difference. If anything it's worse?
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You might be dealing with PWM, related to OLED panels. there was a huge thread on this started when the X came out: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/eye-strain-while-using-iphone-x.2085427/page-112#post-27798203

I am not sure how much they have improved PWM since the X, but it would not surprise me at all if they still do. It's like if you got sick looking at certain CRT displays, the flicker is making you sick. If this is the case, then all of the 12 phones will probably exhibit this issue.

Personally I am affected as well, and I probably will return mine and get a different phone altogether. Maybe an SE, I liked my 6S just fine.
 
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