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Are you happy with the size of your mini?

  • It's perfect!

    Votes: 231 64.5%
  • No, smaller than what i was hoping for.

    Votes: 18 5.0%
  • Could have been a little wider

    Votes: 29 8.1%
  • Bought another model (12 / Pro / Pro max)

    Votes: 79 22.1%
  • Bought a different brand

    Votes: 1 0.3%

  • Total voters
    358

ericwn

macrumors G4
Apr 24, 2016
11,926
10,564
I don’t need a video to confirm my choice. I can think for myself. I was merely posting a video that was different from the Main Street click revenue streams that many probably haven’t seen.

That would have been nice context initially instead of throwing in a link with no comment whatsoever. Thanks for sharing though!
 

ericwn

macrumors G4
Apr 24, 2016
11,926
10,564
The leather case looks great on it. I was talked into AppleCare+ instead of a case, ha.

I like them too. It’s interesting how fast the patina on some colours takes over. If this one were mine, it will be much much darker six months in. :)
 

Mojo1019

macrumors regular
Sep 9, 2013
174
172
I was still on an iPhone 6S and i was holding the brake because all the iPhone where too big for me and I dod't want to upgrade to an iPhone 7/8/SE with the same form factor. Well, today I got my Mini and could't be more happy with it! I am a kind of "basic" user, less than 3 hours of screen time average, so the battery is not a concern for me at all. I wanted a better camera and a better screen with the same dimensions so this phone is perfect! A tiny premium iPhone. I took the blu one with 128GB.
 

JakubWrobel

Cancelled
Apr 22, 2020
54
35
I was still on an iPhone 6S and i was holding the brake because all the iPhone where too big for me and I dod't want to upgrade to an iPhone 7/8/SE with the same form factor. Well, today I got my Mini and could't be more happy with it! I am a kind of "basic" user, less than 3 hours of screen time average, so the battery is not a concern for me at all. I wanted a better camera and a better screen with the same dimensions so this phone is perfect! A tiny premium iPhone. I took the blu one with 128GB.
You and I are exactly alike. Even though I bought this years SE, I was waiting for something closer to the original one. I’m also a very light user since it’s a phone for me (for everything else I use my iPad). And I also went with a 128gb blue! Can’t wait.
 

Nozuka

macrumors 68040
Jul 3, 2012
3,532
6,002
I'm very happy with the size and weight. Much more comfortable than the 12 Pro.

Obviously the screen feels a bit smaller than the X was. But i doubt i will still notice it after using it for a weekend. It's not my first time "downsizing" ;)

I'm also a very "light" user, so battery life will likely be way more than enough for me.
 
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aakshey

macrumors 68030
Jun 13, 2016
2,911
1,363
You can probably expect about 70-75%.

That should be enough for me, though. The 11 Pro was already way more battery than I needed most of the time.

From the initial reviews it seems 12/Pro get 80% of 11 Pro and the Mini is about 50% of 11 Pro. It seems 12PM is similar to 11 Pro.

Many reviewers are using year old 11 Pros to confuse matters.

For me I would ideally need 1.5-2x 11 Pro battery to be totally satisfied.
 
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klasma

macrumors 603
Jun 8, 2017
6,127
17,159
First impressions, coming from an SE1:

The mini is heavier than I expected. According to my scale it’s 133 g, consistent with the specs (European model), but that’s still a stark difference to the SE1’s 112 grams, subjectively. The mini is also slightly larger than I expected (I had made a paper mockup which now turns out wasn’t accurate). The chassis size is not as handy as the SE1, it’s a different size class IMO. The poll really needs a “bigger than what I was hoping for” option. :)

The camera bump makes the phone unstable when it lies on a flat surface; it tilts diagonally. You can't operate the screen without a lot of wobble in that position.

The white color (back side) is darker and more reddish (creamy) than on the white SE1 and on the white iPad mini that I own. I would have preferred a lighter and more neutral white. Maybe I should get a different color for the mini after all. The silver band is also a slightly warmer color than the silver on the two other devices, but still in the "neutral" ballpark.

No surprise: The display goes brighter than both the SE1 and the iPad mini. The maximum brightness is okay, but I wouldn’t mind for it to be somewhat brighter yet. (Yes, I turned auto-brightness and TT off.) It’s cloudy today so I don’t know yet how it performs in sunshine.

The display does have a slightly yellow tinge, unfortunately (with TT turned off; it’s very yellow with TT turned on). I’ll try to see what my colorimeter says, although it probably doesn’t have exactly the right profile for that OLED panel. I’ll be receiving another mini on Monday, we’ll see whether the display is the same.

Good news: I can’t reproduce the raised blacks issue. Unfortunately I am now able to reproduce the raised blacks (see this post).

Good news #2: So far I don’t seem to be sensitive to OLED PWM flicker.

On the other hand, now that I have an OLED display, I noticed that the text color in Safari reader view isn’t 100% black, but a dark gray (#1a1a1a according to a screenshot). If anyone knows how to make it #000000, please drop me a note. This has nothing to do with the mini per se, just a random realization, and the OLED display makes it a bit more noticeable.

The bottom swipe is less obnoxious than I expected, but it’s still a bit annoying to have to do it twice to (a) dismiss the lock screen and then (b) to get to the home screen from the previous app. On the SE1 you can basically double-click on the home button, which is a quicker gesture. It would be nice if at least the app tray would appear on swiping, like on the iPad.

The control center is awkward to reach when holding the mini in the left hand, which I do quite often while multitasking doing something else with my right hand (no, not what you think). I know that you can assign Reachability to Back Tap, but then you still need to somewhat adjust your grip to perform the back-tap.

EDIT: Similar for scroll-to-top. I feel compelled to use my other hand to touch the top of the screen.

After transferring the data from the SE1, free storage on the mini is ~3GB less than on the SE1, but that may be due to iOS 13 vs. 14.

So, at this point I’m not sure yet I’ll keep the mini, vs. staying with the SE1 for another year. The yellow screen is my biggest issue to be honest.
 
Last edited:

jm31828

macrumors 65816
Sep 28, 2015
1,394
895
Bothell, Washington
Yes please.

And maybe show the PWM flicker - another thread says, that the PWM flicker is even more than on 12 and 12 pro.
Yes, in another thread the flicker is far worse below 50% than the 12 or 12 Pro.... at 50%-100% it is similar. It seems those of us who are sensitive will need to keep brightness at around 50% and try to deal with that, maybe using reduce white point to further dim it to keep from frying our eyeballs. The only concern is, will that be enough?
 
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virnew

macrumors regular
Sep 13, 2019
115
87
Hello everyone,

I've just received my green 12 mini this morning in Europe.

Coming from a 11 will take some time to get used but I feel extremely comfortable and everything feels right. I wasn't happy with the 11 form factor.

I've noticed this yellow screen thing, specially putting it next to the 11. What's going on ?
 

Nozuka

macrumors 68040
Jul 3, 2012
3,532
6,002
No surprise: The display goes brighter than both the SE1 and the iPad mini. The maximum brightness is okay, but I wouldn’t mind for it to be somewhat brighter yet. (Yes, I turned auto-brightness and TT off.) It’s cloudy today so I don’t know yet how it performs in sunshine.

The max brightness on iPhones can actually only be reached with auto-brightness turned ON. At least it was like that in previous models that Displaymate reviewed and it would surprise me if that has changed.
Apple really only wants max brightness to be used, when it is needed. (In sunlight, etc.)

I think that's because some people that turn off the auto-brightness just slide it to max and constantly leave it there. Which is bad for the screen and battery life.
 

aakshey

macrumors 68030
Jun 13, 2016
2,911
1,363
The max brightness on iPhones can actually only be reached with auto-brightness turned ON. At least it was like that in previous models that Displaymate reviewed and it would surprise me if that has changed.
Apple really only wants max brightness to be used, when it is needed. (In sunlight, etc.)

I think that's because some people that turn off the auto-brightness just slide it to max and constantly leave it there. Which is bad for the screen and battery life.

With newer iPhones (especially OLED ones) that's really not the case.
 

Nozuka

macrumors 68040
Jul 3, 2012
3,532
6,002
Damn it, just looked at the 11 Pro review... looks like they did indeed stop doing that... never mind then.
 
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Jett0516

macrumors 65816
Mar 5, 2010
1,006
890
Hello everyone,

I've just received my green 12 mini this morning in Europe.

Coming from a 11 will take some time to get used but I feel extremely comfortable and everything feels right. I wasn't happy with the 11 form factor.

I've noticed this yellow screen thing, specially putting it next to the 11. What's going on ?
Turn off true tone in display setting
 

gmoney18

macrumors member
Aug 8, 2020
76
53
Just went and saw one in store. It’s wayyy smaller than I thought. I think I’m holding onto my 11 Pro. I had to squint to see the words underneath the apps.
 

Nozuka

macrumors 68040
Jul 3, 2012
3,532
6,002
I just noticed how i barely notice it is there, when i have it in my pockets. When i put the X into these pants i could always feel the phone pulling down and more pressure on the legs. I almost forgot it was in there.. ?
 
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