iPhone 12 Mini Review: No Place I'd Rather Be! By Sam Sheffer

My name is Sam Shaffer, and I've been using some sort of iPhone every day for over 12 years, which is crazy to think about. But here we are, for the first time ever apple released a new iPhone with a downsized display, which is exactly the reason I love my iPhone 12 mini. It might be hard to remember, but for a while, this was the biggest iPhone available, an iPhone with a 4 inch and then before we knew it phones. This small became a thing of the past and big phones were here to stay. I'm sure I wasn't the only one asking what happened to normal-sized phone screens and yes, we got the iPhone SE in 2016, a reimagined iPhone 5 with outdated specs, as well as the sequel to the SC earlier this year, which now feels like five years ago. At this point, however, unlike both iterations of the iPhone SE, the iPhone 12 mini feels closer to a flagship iPhone rather than a sort of afterthought device.

I think the iPhone 12 mini is the sweet spot for me in terms of what I'd want from an iPhone going into 2021, and there are some obvious drawbacks here, but I'm learning to live with them sacrifices like battery life. In no way is this thing going to compete with the battery, that's in the iPhone 12 Pro max or the 12 pro or even regular 12. The physical size of the iPhone 12 mini just doesn't allow for a battery as big as what you'd find in those bigger iPhones and that's just something. I've accepted. It feels like what the iPhone battery used to feel like, which is to say it's not great, and you'll, definitely have to charge it throughout the day if you're constantly using it, but with the iPhone 12 lineup comes MagSafe a pretty nifty magnetic charging system that can do up to 15 watts of wireless charging.

With this puck, I don't always use MagSafe to charge, but I think it's well implemented. There are subtle, yet beneficial design, perks with MagSafe you get the freedom of positioning, the cable, how you'd like while charging and using the phone and these iPhone 12s, don't actually touch my desk when they're resting and charging those are things you may not have thought of. If you haven't used this yet like with every other iPhone ever when it's plugged in the cable is just sticking out from the underside of the phone and it kind of gets in the way. And then, when you rest your phone on the desk to charge, it makes contact with the desk and that's how you get scratches and then there's the build quality of the iPhone 12 mini, while I think I'd still prefer an aluminum or metal housing for the iPhone. This is glass.

I think the iPhone 12 mini and the rest of the 12 lineup are the proper sequel to what would have made sense directly after the iPhone.5S apple has been making these rounded edge phones for over half a decade now, and I think we've forgotten just how nice, the industrial design, aesthetic of flat edged phones are at least I did hold the mini in particular in my hands, doesn't feel like a burden. Instead, it brings with it some magic of what made iPhone special in the early 2010s. Picking this thing up off my desk or putting it in my pocket just feels better in comparison to the iPhones we've had for the last half decade, namely the 6 through the 11. I've handed my 12 mini to a few friends, and their immediate reaction is usually related to wow. This thing feels great to hold.

This is what an iPhone should be, or at least what they used to be. There's something really nice about pulling a phone. This size out of my pocket, checking a text responding to it and then putting it away rather than get endlessly consumed by a phone with a bigger display. The iPhone 12 mini has an edge to edge display, that's 5.4, inches diagonally across, whereas the screen of the iPhone plus models was a hair bigger at 5.5 inches. Yet the actual footprint of the device was way larger.

With the iPhone 12 mini you get a big screen with a small phone. I think this combination is the best of both worlds. Incidentally, the iPhone 12 mini has the highest pixel density of any iPhone ever 476 pixels per inch. To be specific, it's a great display, no doubt, but I hope that apple brings promotion from the iPad to the iPhones. Eventually, I really want a 120 hertz display on my phone and I think we'll see it next year.

Now, let's talk about these cameras like the regular iPhone 11, the 12 mini and the regular 12 forego the telephoto, the zoom camera in favor of an ultra-wide meaning that second lens can see a wider field of view rather than zoom in so on, the iPhone 12 mini you can't optically zoom, and do I miss having that 2x optical zoom? Absolutely I've preferred a telephoto lens instead of the ultra-wide. No, but then I would retort and ask why not all three, I thought the triple camera system in the iPhone 11 Pro was the best most versatile camera system ever in an iPhone, and I'm definitely missing that zoom on the iPhone 12 mini, but I'm adjusting and make no mistake. These cameras are damn good. They constantly produce bright and sharp pictures and video, albeit with some weirdness, like the aggressive HDR on some building edges or the haloing when filming at night, but I'd say you'll, be happy with what you capture like 95 of the time after using iPhones and iOS for more than a decade. I am fully entrenched in the ecosystem, at least here in the United States.

Most of my friends use iMessage. I FaceTime my parents all the time and airdrop is a great solution for sending and receiving files between Apple devices. I've taken it upon myself to sort of digitally cleanse my iPhone. Furthermore, I only have one page of apps now and the rest are tucked away in the app library. If you want to do this too, you can just press and hold on an app and then choose remove from home screen.

I like this system a lot better. It's just clean, I think the iPhone 12 mini is the best bang for your buck. If you're not looking to break the bank yet still get a great new iPhone, I'm not sure that the addition of a third camera LIDAR and a stainless steel frame really mean these iPhone.12 pros are professional. I think apple just needed a reason to call them pro, maybe if they had USB and a 120hz display they'd warrant, the pro title with the iPhone 12 mini you get apple's latest processor in a form factor that just feels right to me. I wish this thing had touched ID in the power button.

Furthermore, I wish it had the third camera. Furthermore, I wish it had a better battery but daily driving a phone like this is right where I want to be these days, and I'm not the only one that feels this way. Furthermore, I like it a lot. Furthermore, I think the form factor is just right. They could have gone.

Maybe a little smaller, like the 5s, is still my favorite form factor ever, but the form factor is correct. I miss the telephoto like zoom lens, but not enough to like care. The battery sucks- and I understand, like they've, got a super powerful chip in there in a small form factor, so they had to cut back on the battery, but it sucks like 60 at 10, am kind of sucks. Overall, the iPhone 12 mini is like my favorite, iPhone in a really long time. It's second place for favorite iPhone ever just behind the 5s.

Now, of course, this isn't the phone for everyone. People want bigger screens, and I've had plenty of people. Tell me they're really happy with their iPhone 12 Pro max and that's great, I'm glad you're enjoying using a tablet as your phone and even more, so I'm just happy. That apple seems to be listening to consumers and giving us more options. And now I hold my breath for the iPhone 13 pro mini until then, thanks for watching.

Source : Sam Sheffer