Apple iPhone 12 Mini review: Small and fast, but doesn't last By Engadget

If you think about it. It's pretty easy to see why smartphones have gotten so big over the years for one big screens are a shorthand for technological progress, and they also just mean more money for the companies that make smartphones they wouldn't keep making these things enormous if people weren't buying them or if they weren't convinced that they could get people to buy them. What we haven't seen as much of our companies committed to making perfect small phones, there have been a few to be fair. Google's non pixels have been really nice and Sony made a beautifully small Xperia a few years ago, and now there's the iPhone 12 mini it's much smaller than the standard iPhone 12, but otherwise it has the same new design, the a14 bionic chipset, 5g support and the same camera setup all for about a hundred dollars less than the big guy. In a time when we're spending just hours upon hours at home, surrounded by big screens and people are more sensitive to price. A small, powerful iPhone like this feels like it might be able to really make a difference after living with it.

For a while, though, I am not convinced, if you've been dying to find a great small phone, I can pretty easily say you won't be able to do much better than this. But if that is not, you will look, I can't think of many other reasons to consider this thing. I know that sounds a little harsh, but we'll get to that first. I just want to note that since I've already reviewed the iPhone 12, which is really just a big version of this thing, they have a lot in common. So, let's just run through that pretty quickly, like I said before, this thing packs apple's new a14, bionic, chipset and just like in devices like the iPhone 12 and 12 pro it is incredibly powerful.

I have been putting this many through the ringer for the past few days, and it's every bit as fast as its big brothers, no matter if you're playing flashy games or just sort of bouncing around between multiple taxing apps really simply put this tiny phone offers more than enough power for just about anything. You can throw at it with plenty of headroom in terms of performance to keep it feeling fast in the years to come. This is also one of apple's first 5g phones with full support for the new sub six and millimeter wave 5g networks that are sprouting up around you, but I have to say at least for now in terms of general network performance you're, not going to see a dramatic difference between this new stuff and what you're probably already used to that won't be true for everyone, though, because a lot of this just boils down to who your carrier is and where you are T-Mobile, for example, has lit up its new 5g mid-band in certain cities, and if you have access to it, you should see some improvements over LTE and if you are a Verizon customer, and you happen to just stop on the correct street corner, you could see some insane speeds over the carriers millimeter wave 5g network. At this point, I should also note that Verizon owns and gadget, but it has no editorial control over us, which means I can sit here in this nice sunny backyard. Instead of my basement and say that millimeter wave well, very, very technologically cool is basically meaningless to most of you watching this right now.

The 12 mini also plays nice with apple's various mag safe accessories, including a new one. We haven't tried out before it's this sleek leather patch with a cutout, so you can more easily check the time, and I know it doesn't sound fascinating, but there's more to it than you'd think the phone can tell when it's been slipped into the case and when it does that it'll actually change the color of the screen to sort of match the case, which is a neat little touch, though I do think apple, missed an opportunity here, see when you're checking the time through this little cutout, the entire screen lights up. The color of the case now apple's super retina Dr display is technically an OLED, so the better move for battery life would have been to only light up the part of the screen, that's visible through the cutout look, who knows maybe they'll fix that in a software update, but I'm really hoping they do, because trust me, this phone needs all the help it can get on the battery front. As far as the cameras are concerned, we're working with the same setup that we saw on the full size 12. That means we're looking at a 12 megapixel standard, wide camera with optical image, stabilization and f 1.6 aperture and a new 7 element lenses, plus a 12 megapixel ultrawide camera that captures a 120 degree field of view. It's important to note, though, that optically, these sensors and lenses aren't all that different from the ones that we got last year.

The main camera still produces the best images, and it's slightly better in low light thanks to that wider aperture, but that doesn't matter so much when night mode just tends to kick in automatically and the ultrawide I mean look. It's still a bit of a niche tool and its images are notably softer and less satisfying than what you get from that main camera. Really, though, the bigger changes come in the ways that apple actually processes, the images captured by those sensors photos you take with the main camera are going to be at least a little more detailed than what you'd see out of last year's iPhones and improvements to apple's smart HDR means the iPhone.12 mini, can sort of look at a scene, more intelligently, figure out, what's happening in it and then tweak elements within that image for maximum punchlines. I guess you could say for the most part, that means you're gonna, see colors that are generally a bit warmer than what you're used to, except for skies which take on a really vivid, bright, blue tone. Those same improvements carry over to the ultra white camera, which is now also a little better at ironing out image distortion.

As always, though, it's really hard to proclaim which smartphone takes the best pictures. It's all subjective, especially when you consider the different vibes that smartphone makers strive for when they're tuning their camera software. If you're a fan of moody higher contrast photos, then something like the pixel 5 might be more your speed. But if hyper aggressive colors are really what you find appealing, then there are devices like Samsung's galaxy, s20 series, they're all really great at that stuff. Overall, though, I think the iPhone 12 mini takes great photos that split the difference between those two extremes, and I think because of that they tend to be just the most visually pleasing off the bat all told the iPhone 12 mini has a really strong foundation to work with and everything we just talked about.

Well, it all pretty clearly makes this the best small phone you can find right now, it's certainly the most capable still. I think whether the 12 mini makes any sense for you at all kind of boils down to two things: size and battery life. So, let's dig into those in order as far as design and build quality apple did a fantastic job here that sort of iPad Pro aesthetic that it embraced this year already felt great, and that's especially true on this really tiny model. It's a hair smaller than the iPhone SE that I reviewed earlier this year, but the fit and the finish are just first-rate, and I honestly I can't think of a small phone that I've tested that feels better than this. I know some people aren't fans of how light the iPhone 12 series is, and I get that.

But if you're thinking of buying a small phone anyway, there's a pretty decent chance that weight was one of the things you were concerned about and the iPhone 12 mini is barely there in kind of the best way. The mini also gets credit for its fantastic screen, which in this case, is one of apple's 5.4 inch. Super retina Dr displays its just as bright as the standard iPhone 12, and it packs the same support for white color, gamuts and HDR, but because it's smaller, it's actually a little more pixel dense. In terms of size, bigger phones almost always are better for just kind of overall impulsiveness, but I have to say this smaller screen never felt like it was too little. It's kind of great, that's true, even when you're using it not just looking at it.

When I reviewed the iPhone SE earlier this year, I found the 4.7-inch screen really tough to get used to because look I've spent years. Reviewing huge phones, typing in particular, was a nightmare since I had to basically relearn how to type on such a small screen. But thankfully none of that happened with the 12 mini. There was no learning curve as sort of small phone convert. I really can't overstate just how much I like this little thing.

It strikes a really great balance between size and performance, but I can't pretend it doesn't have its issues and the biggest is probably the one you already saw coming the iPhone 12 minis battery life is adequate at best and honestly, that's me being generous. It is absolutely the kind of phone you're going to have to charge every night, if not a little sooner. I said earlier that I spend nearly all my time at home, except for this pretty obvious exception, but not everyone has the luxury to do that, maybe you're an essential worker who still has to go to work every day. Maybe you live somewhere where you feel comfortable being outside for long periods of time, or maybe sometimes you just have to travel somewhere. That was me obviously pretty recently, and I spent a lot of that travel day wondering whether the iPhone 12 mini could keep up with my schedule and sure enough.

It could not on my first day of using the 12 mini as my daily driver, I pulled it off the charger at eight am, and it was on its last legs before 4 pm. Look, I wasn't doing anything crazy, like watching videos or playing games. It was all just doom scrolling in safari and twitter, with some Spotify, music and podcasts to help try and keep me in the right headspace during more typical days at home, where my attention is just kind of split between my work, computer and my phone, the 12 mini, did a little better on average. I was looking at about 12 to 13 hours of very on and off use, and that's about on par with what I saw out of the iPhone SE earlier this year, but that wasn't particularly impressive either. The only thing that made that somewhat acceptable was the fact that the iPhone SE only costs 400 right now.

I could make the mini's battery work for me, but what about when the world reopens- and I spend more of my time, relying on it away from home? Look I'm just not very confident. Another reason I can't get fully on board with the mini is that it sits in kind of weird place in Apple's iPhone lineup at 699 dollars. This is the cheapest version of the iPhone 12. But let's not forget that. Last year you got a phone with a bigger, albeit slightly worse, screen, but with better battery life for the same price.

Ultimately, the iPhone 12 mini has a lot of going for it and honestly people who want or need a small phone will be hard-pressed to find a device, that's nearly as powerful or as well-built as this one. Beyond that, though, I can't think of many others who would just benefit from a phone like this. It doesn't feel practical in a way that devices like the iPhone 12 do, and if practicality is your main concern, then you should definitely consider one of those. Instead, honestly, I really am torn. I did love having a small phone again, and it fit in my life in ways.

I just really didn't expect it to. Furthermore, I like this thing a lot, but it's become pretty clear that at least when it comes to battery life and the way I use my phones. Furthermore, I just can't trust this thing. If you have any thoughts or feedback about the iPhone 12 mini or our review of the iPhone 12 mini, please email me at v8ngadget. com or leave some down in the comments below.

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Source : Engadget