iPhone 12 mini iPhone 12 Mini vs Original SE: my take

[darkus]

background:
I have had the original SE for a few years and a 5c before that.

To me there has not been a better form factor for a phone and the SE has remained very fast and felt almost as new.

I have pretty much held onto it with a death grip.😀

My dream: iPhone SE with edge to edge screen ala iPhone 12.

vs the iPhone 12 Mini:
So the updated iOS and edge to edge screen have been seriously tempting for a long time and I took the plunge.

Setup was easy and initial first impressions were great. Really loved it.

Feels great in the pocket. Don’t really notice it, similar to the SE.

Then over the course of the next few days some of the drawback started to set in. And really it’s just 1 drawback. While it’s smaller then the other current iPhones it’s still too big for one handed use. Because of this I started to become annoyed. I can’t laze on the couch and one handed scroll and interact. Can’t type one handed for sure. My Hands actually get more tired when typing long paragraphs because I have to stretch a lot to reach the edge keys. So I’ve had to fork 2 handed typing.

So I forced myself to live with it for 2 weeks and I have and I found myself more annoyed day by day.

in the end the SE represents the absolute most ergonomic size for an iPhone and I’m going to go back to using it. I will miss the extra real estate for photos, updated iOS features, upgraded camera for sure. It’s a massive draw.

But absolute usability is a key point for me so I’m going to try to drag out my SEs lifespan as much as possible.

I’m writing this post mainly for the 3 other people who have been holding onto their SE forever now but have been on the fence about the 12 Mini. We are a small minority but we aren’t crazy! The SE still is the form factor king and I’m looking to switching my sim back into SE after I make this post so I can get back to the one handed life. 12 Mini otherwise has been an absolute blast and a great device.

I still hold out some hope that somewhere in apple there’s someone with some sense who will make a SE form factor phone with updated internals and edge to edge screen.

 

[Six0Four]

Hopefully your SE stays alive for awhile because the 12 Mini isn't selling too well so i don't know if they'll make another especially smaller than 5.4". Maybe it's the higher price. Maybe people who want a tiny phone don't need things like an OLED screen and multi cameras. A re-release of the 4" SE at around $400 would sell pretty good i bet but maybe a big risk for Apple that they're not willing to take.

 

[darkus]

Hopefully your SE stays alive for awhile because the 12 Mini isn't selling too well so i don't know if they'll make another especially smaller than 5.4". Maybe it's the higher price. Maybe people who want a tiny phone don't need things like an OLED screen and multi cameras. A re-release of the 4" SE at around $400 would sell pretty good i bet but maybe a big risk for Apple that they're not willing to take.

I have to say I totally agree with you. At this point while I wish for a new 4” phone and truly believe it is the best form factor for a phone, I have nearly 0% belief that apple will make another phone in that size in the next 10 years.

That’s why even tho I’m going back to the SE I’m not going to return or sell this 12 mini. I’m going to keep it in the back of my closet for the day when my SE dies. It has so many cracks and dents, so I am worried that day will come sooner rather then later. No matter how much I look I can’t find any new in box units anywhere except for shady eBay sellers.

If the mini isn’t selling too well, I wonder if the other SE owners are smarter then me and didn’t take the plunge since the mini is still too big. Either that or we are an even smaller group then I thought. Maybe there are only 2 of us out there instead of 3 😂

 

[Apple_Robert]

You can easily use one-handed typing on the mini if you set the keyboard for either left or right hand. Works much better that way, in my opinion.

 

[darkus]

You can easily use one-handed typing on the mini if you set the keyboard for either left or right hand. Works much better that way, in my opinion.

Wow I feel like a moron. Never knew about this option. It’s sized exactly like a 4” iPhone!! It shows apple really does know the ideal size for a phone 😀.
Ok this changes things a lot. I’m going to have to keep the phone for another 2 week trial to be objective and see if it solves the issues. Conservatively hopeful

THANK YOU!

 

[Apple_Robert]

Wow I feel like a moron. Never knew about this option. It’s sized exactly like a 4” iPhone!! It shows apple really does know the ideal size for a phone 😀.
Ok this changes things a lot. I’m going to have this phone another 2 week trial line this just to be objective.

THANK YOU!

Don't feel that way. You just didn't know or maybe had forgotten it was an option. That happens to the best of us here. Glad I could be of help. Hopefully, this will mean you can keep your mini as your daily driver.

 

[v386]

background:
I have had the original SE for a few years and a 5c before that.

To me there has not been a better form factor for a phone and the SE has remained very fast and felt almost as new.

I have pretty much held onto it with a death grip.😀

My dream: iPhone SE with edge to edge screen ala iPhone 12.

vs the iPhone 12 Mini:
So the updated iOS and edge to edge screen have been seriously tempting for a long time and I took the plunge.

Setup was easy and initial first impressions were great. Really loved it.

Feels great in the pocket. Don’t really notice it, similar to the SE.

Then over the course of the next few days some of the drawback started to set in. And really it’s just 1 drawback. While it’s smaller then the other current iPhones it’s still too big for one handed use. Because of this I started to become annoyed. I can’t laze on the couch and one handed scroll and interact. Can’t type one handed for sure. My Hands actually get more tired when typing long paragraphs because I have to stretch a lot to reach the edge keys. So I’ve had to fork 2 handed typing.

So I forced myself to live with it for 2 weeks and I have and I found myself more annoyed day by day.

in the end the SE represents the absolute most ergonomic size for an iPhone and I’m going to go back to using it. I will miss the extra real estate for photos, updated iOS features, upgraded camera for sure. It’s a massive draw.

But absolute usability is a key point for me so I’m going to try to drag out my SEs lifespan as much as possible.

I’m writing this post mainly for the 3 other people who have been holding onto their SE forever now but have been on the fence about the 12 Mini. We are a small minority but we aren’t crazy! The SE still is the form factor king and I’m looking to switching my sim back into SE after I make this post so I can get back to the one handed life. 12 Mini otherwise has been an absolute blast and a great device.

I still hold out some hope that somewhere in apple there’s someone with some sense who will make a SE form factor phone with updated internals and edge to edge screen.

I also went from an original SE to the 12 mini. I agree that the 12 mini is still too big and too heavy, but I do appreciate the improved camera and the battery life is massively better (I only use 50% after a heavy day which for me is 5hrs SOT). I appreciate the processor power, it seems to mitigate to some extent the email slowness issues that plagued the SE for over a year (where push email doesn't really work in the sense that you have to wait 10-30 seconds after going into email to be able to pull up a push email). So this seems to be some issue with what the mail app is doing on the device that is impacted by processor, memory, or flash speed.

For me the greatest drawback, and the thing that will prompt me to switch phones when there is a better alternative, is the terrible OLED screen which looks great as long as you are holding it absolutely perpendicular to your line of sight, but if you tilt the phone even five degrees in any direction there is a notable and to me very annoying color shift to blue. All my prior LCD displays including that of the original SE are a million times better with the viewing angle. I hope if they offer a small iphone in the next generation they will improve the display quality so that you can still use the phone when held at a slight angle.

 

[Saludos]

As owner of an original iPhone SE and (now ) of an iPhone 12 mini my opinion is that the mini is too big to be a small smartphone and too small to be a great smartphone

 

[Apple_Robert]

As owner of an original iPhone SE and (now ) of an iPhone 12 mini my opinion is that the mini is too big to be a small smartphone and too small to be a great smartphone

Apple isn't going to go smaller. I believe Apple compromised as much as they are going to in this area of smart phone. I still have my OG SE. I know how the SE crowd feels. However, it is time to move forward and I think the mini is the closest we are going to get to the OG SE.

 

[jakja83]

I also went from an original SE to the 12 mini. I agree that the 12 mini is still too big and too heavy, but I do appreciate the improved camera and the battery life is massively better (I only use 50% after a heavy day which for me is 5hrs SOT). I appreciate the processor power, it seems to mitigate to some extent the email slowness issues that plagued the SE for over a year (where push email doesn't really work in the sense that you have to wait 10-30 seconds after going into email to be able to pull up a push email). So this seems to be some issue with what the mail app is doing on the device that is impacted by processor, memory, or flash speed.

For me the greatest drawback, and the thing that will prompt me to switch phones when there is a better alternative, is the terrible OLED screen which looks great as long as you are holding it absolutely perpendicular to your line of sight, but if you tilt the phone even five degrees in any direction there is a notable and to me very annoying color shift to blue. All my prior LCD displays including that of the original SE are a million times better with the viewing angle. I hope if they offer a small iphone in the next generation they will improve the display quality so that you can still use the phone when held at a slight angle.

I had that problem with my first 12 mini. Returned it and the new one has great viewing angles and not the warm colors the first had.

 

[Ray2]

I was fortunate. As I was thinking about a 12 mini, my GF went out and bought one. I now have a new battery in my Gen 1 SE.

 

[yticolev]

is the terrible OLED screen which looks great as long as you are holding it absolutely perpendicular to your line of sight, but if you tilt the phone even five degrees in any direction there is a notable and to me very annoying color shift to blue. All my prior LCD displays including that of the original SE are a million times better with the viewing angle. I hope if they offer a small iphone in the next generation they will improve the display quality so that you can still use the phone when held at a slight angle.

So yes, now that you say that, I do notice a blue shift when viewed at an angle. Basically only on white colored bits or backgrounds like a webpage, cannot see it on videos for example.

Doesn't bother me, and have to admit it is the first such complaint I've read. Perfect pitch for colors must be a curse!

But in terms of viewing angles generally, no comparison! You have visibility and legibility to greater than 85 degree angles. I do intervals using my phone stopwatch (just letting the clock run) and can easily see the time with the phone in my hand at 90 degrees to the ground with arm full extended while doing the walking portion of my intervals. Amazing! I wouldn't even be able to tell if the screen was even on with the 6S (same exercise routine) without a lot of rotation.

And increase in viewing angle benefit completely outweighs any color shift for me (for all uses of my phone, especially in bed). Speaking of which I noticed shifts far more on my 6S, beginning with instant dimming when viewed at an angle. Perhaps LCDs got a lot better since the 6S that you think they are a million times better?

 

[scrane]

I’m writing this post mainly for the 3 other people who have been holding onto their SE forever now but have been on the fence about the 12 Mini. We are a small minority but we aren’t crazy! The SE still is the form factor king and I’m looking to switching my sim back into SE after I make this post so I can get back to the one handed life. 12 Mini otherwise has been an absolute blast and a great device.

I still hold out some hope that somewhere in apple there’s someone with some sense who will make a SE form factor phone with updated internals and edge to edge screen.

Thanks for your post. I very much agree with you. I had always hoped there would be a wall to wall screen iphone SE. I had looked forward to the new 12 mini, but as things clarified I decided it's not for me. I didn't like the way they skimped on the battery. I didn't like the idea that I had to give up a quarter inch of valuable real estate to the notch. I didn't like face recognition. I didn't like the price. In fact, I got to think the Galaxy s10e was my ideal phone outside of the fact it was pretty large and wasn't an iphone. So, I've decided to keep the SE, realizing I could make do with 128 gig, the smaller (but very usable) screen, and the reduced speed and power. Over time I'm glad I decided to stay with the SE. One problem, though, is it sounds like ios 14 is its last upgrade. Oh well.
So, I will wait until ios 15 comes out and then see what the iphone 13 brings. In the mean time I'm buying an Ipods Max with the money I've saved. The SE should have no trouble driving it.

 

[bubulol]

I also switched from original SE to iPhone 12 Mini, in almost every aspect, 12 Mini beats first gen SE
But the most easily PROS: bigger display, 4 inches are just way too small for current usage and OLED! wow, no more LCD anymore!
The only minor downside: FaceID is way too bad with mask, otherwise FaceID>TouchID all day
I also doesnt approve Mini feels like SE in sightly bigger, for me, in hands, its bigger with bigger display but i actually like it, SE is way too small, its feels like having a toy or Nokia 3310 in your hands
Sorry for SE lover, i become officially a (12) Mini lover!