Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone 12 iPhone Mini First Impressions

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
klasma said:
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 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.

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.

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.
Click to expand...
Consider using the back tap feature and use the Reachabiity feature for the double tap option. That way you can invoke Control center while holding the phone with one hand. Problem solved. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: sn0man1, palemonkey, pinchies and 1 other person
klasma said:
Good news #2: So far I don’t seem to be sensitive to OLED PWM flicker.
Click to expand...
Since you are running at full brightness, you are not experiencing PWM. Try running a bit lower, then you will know.

Edit: reading about how the auto brightness works, perhaps PWM is active most of the time as it will only be fully bright in sunshine. Crossing fingers personally that I'm not sensitive.
 
Last edited:
klasma said:
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).
Click to expand...
Same here. Often brushing teeth with right hand (electric toothbrush so my left hand can still do stuff on the phone), adjusting Nest for the night, and opening/closing windows. My Mini is still on the delivery truck, but coming from a 6S, sound like getting the control screen down is a small hassle.
 
  • Like
Reactions: klasma
Apple_Robert said:
Consider using the back tap feature and use the Reachabiity feature for the double tap option. That way you can invoke Control center while holding the phone with one hand. Problem solved. :)
Click to expand...
Thanks, but I mentioned that already in my post. It's not really much better and still a usability regression.
 
yticolev said:
Since you are running at full brightness, you are not experiencing PWM. Try running a bit lower, then you will know.

Edit: reading about how the auto brightness works, perhaps PWM is active most of the time as it will only be fully bright in sunshine. Crossing fingers personally that I'm not sensitive.
Click to expand...
I hadn't mentioned it, but yes I tried with different brightness levels. There could still be an effect when using the phone for a longer time period, but I'm optimistic, as I never had problems in the CRT era nor with plasma TVs.
 
I have to say, the box for the black color is very confusing. It has a blue wallpaper with a blue frame iPhone, so I thought the Apple Store accidentally gave me the wrong color. Such an odd choice by Apple.

Still setting up my Mini, but the size is just amazing. I really wish other companies copied Apple and did small-ish flagship phones too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: timeconsumer and Jetcat3
klasma said:
So, at this point I’m not sure yet I’ll keep the mini, vs. staying with the SE1 for another year.
Click to expand...

Great review - Honestly, you made me feel a TON better about having replaced my SE1 screen and kept on going. Heavier and bigger, even if by a little, can quickly be a death by a few cuts for me (plus all the other things you mentioned!)
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: rcj28, sn0man1 and klasma
Just arrived! Some interesting stuff even before I've restored it. Just about fits in my 6S case. The bezels are basically identical to the 6S (I'm including the rounded 6S aluminum edge). Was expecting less after all the hype. Also, the active screen width is about a 1.5 mm narrower than the 6S. That was a huge surprise as not one review that I've seen has measured the screen size. Of course the entire width of the Mini is almost 3 mm narrower than the 6S 64.2 versus 67.0 per spec and as confirmed with a caliper.

So what we have is a slightly narrower longer screen than the 6/7/8/2020 SE to come up with that 5.4 specification. On my calipers, the diagonal measurement is only 5.2 inches. Apparently Apple pretends the screen is square, and comes up with 5.4 virtual inches. And of course, the notch also removes screen area.

Still keeping it, but dimensionally, not quite up to hype.

Edit, just to add, without measuring camera bump, the Mini is also 0.4 mm thicker.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: iApple_man, sn0man1, MrAperture and 2 others
klasma said:
as I never had problems in the CRT era nor with plasma TVs.
Click to expand...
Interesting you mention CRTs. I do remember some flickering with those, but didn't seem to cause eye or brain issues. Never thought about it, but of course there were lots of warnings about staring at them from close range for hours.
 
  • Like
Reactions: primarycolors
I think small iPhone folks are going to LOVE the 12 mini. There are no complaints to have. Camera, screen, size all seem to point to a perfect device. With current battery tech I highly doubt Apple could've done anything better, but maybe in future years the battery tech will get better and allow for even more juice in this small device.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DumbPhone
yticolev said:
Interesting you mention CRTs. I do remember some flickering with those, but didn't seem to cause eye or brain issues. Never thought about it, but of course there were lots of warnings about staring at them from close range for hours.
Click to expand...
I was just thinking about that last night- I am PWM sensitive, but never had trouble staring all day at a CRT TV or computer monitor back in the day. Strange!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5105973 and turbineseaplane
yticolev said:
Just arrived! Some interesting stuff even before I've restored it. Just about fits in my 6S case. The bezels are basically identical to the 6S (I'm including the rounded 6S aluminum edge). Was expecting less after all the hype. Also, the active screen width is about a 1.5 mm narrower than the 6S. That was a huge surprise as not one review that I've seen has measured the screen size. Of course the entire width of the Mini is almost 3 mm narrower than the 6S 64.2 versus 67.0 per spec and as confirmed with a caliper.

So what we have is a slightly narrower longer screen than the 6/7/8/2020 SE to come up with that 5.4 specification. On my calipers, the diagonal measurement is only 5.2 inches. Apparently Apple pretends the screen is square, and comes up with 5.4 virtual inches. And of course, the notch also removes screen area.

Still keeping it, but dimensionally, not quite up to hype.

Edit, just to add, without measuring camera bump, the Mini is also 0.4 mm thicker.
Click to expand...

2340 x 1080 5.42” diagonal display with the mini. At a 16:9 aspect ratio it measures 4.63” diagonal so a bit smaller than the 7, 8, SE etc.
 
  • Like
Reactions: taneff
jm31828 said:
I was just thinking about that last night- I am PWM sensitive, but never had trouble staring all day at a CRT TV or computer monitor back in the day. Strange!
Click to expand...

I wish CRT development had continued - who knows where that might have gone with innovations.
 
  • Love
Reactions: sn0man1
So I got the mini and the pro max (just to try). Initial impression is that I love the mini a lot! But Weirdly, even though I hate big phones, I’m not finding this 12 pro max unwieldy or cumbersome to use. It’s only been a few hours though.
 
Phone Junky said:
Can't it be toggled off?
Click to expand...
Yes, 5G can be toggled off. However, you still have the added mass and cost of the modem most are estimating at adding about $75 in cost to Apple to make the 12s.

Next year's modems will be smaller, far more power efficient, and able to merge LTE and 5G data streams. Unlike this year's phones, next year's modems will not require turning off one line to enable 5G if you have both the eSIM and a regular nano SIM with two different services - which I would think be useful to a traveler or a European.

I'm not an annual upgrader, but I probably will just for the better modem. If it also has a touch ID power button, so much the better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: catean, pinchies, Supermallet and 1 other person
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back