[Closed] iPhone 12 mini

Also worth waiting for the new one later this year?

The perennial problem with iPhones.

As for the battery life, my 12 Pro Max is a monster, a real-world 2 days on a single charge battery life thing. I assumed this was some great new technology, but my Wife's 12 is just like her old XR, she usually needs to charge it at some point during the day.

I had the 12 mini and now have the 12 pro. With the mini I'd usually end the day with about 30-50% battery, that's taken off charge at 5:30am and then on charge when I go to bed around 10-11pm.
Hardly play games (the odd game of freecell) but probably spend too much time scrolling IG, Twitter, messaging on Whatsapp, listening to podcasts and never had to worry about the battery lasting all day.

Thought about the mini a lot but eventually plumped for the 12. Love it and the battery life is fine.

Love my 12 mini. Perfect size for an actual phone you want to carry. Easy full day battery connected to Apple Watch. Forgot to pop it on charge last night and still 45% battery this morning. TBH don’t use it much for voice calls just messaging and internet, so that might help matters.

TBH don’t use it much for voice calls

I probably make / take less than one phone call a week! Most of work is either Teams meetings or Skype/Teams/WhatsApp chat sessions.

Quite odd how mobile phones have become everything but phones now....

I've got the 12 mini and love it too. I waited for it to come out before upgrading from an 8 and the size is perfect.

Battery lasts pretty much all day even under heavy usage

I too upgraded from an 8 to a 12 mini. It’s slightly smaller but the screen is bigger. Camera way better.
Battery easily lasts a full day; even on sites with rubbish signal where it’s always searching, or heavy use watching rubbish YouTube videos and browsing the internet I haven’t yet had it drop below about 10%, that’s off charge at 6am most mornings and back on at about 9pm.
Used it with Google maps to navigate Portsmouth to Bristol without a charge lead and it used about 30% of battery to do that (with screen on for all but about 30-40 min of the M4).

Got the 12 some time ago. Love it. Considered the mini, but then decided the larger screen of the 12 is just a bit easier to read maps, view photos, etc.

TBH don’t use it much for voice calls

I probably make / take less than one phone call a week!

Thing is; in the past, when we only had voice calls via landlines, and each call cost something, we'd not use it quite so much, and probably didn't communicate so much with friends and family etc. But people live further apart, and can now just send an IM for those quick questions/check how someone is, and it's just much simpler, quicker and easier now. I wonder how human relationships have developed because of this?

Quite odd how mobile phones have become everything but phones now….

Isn't that fantastic though? I think it is.

Also worth waiting for the new one later this year?

There's always something newer, shinier, better just around the corner. iPhone 13 rumoured to be announced around Octoberish, but given the delays in global supply systems at the moment, it could easily be November or even December before you actually can buy one. Not sure the 13 will have any significant real world improvements over the 12, and some rumours suggest no Lightning port, and wireless only charging and connection, which for me is significant; I like to use headphones with a lead, to avoid faffing with Bluetooth (even though it's pretty easy) and save on battery life, and just use a simple Lightning to 3.5mm jack adapter. Plus I use an adapter which allows a USB stick or my cameras to be connected to the iPhone. No port would make this impossible. Plus so many places have 'phone chargers, and Lightning cables, but ubiquitous wireless charging might still be a while off yet. If I get stuck somewhere, even a little local corner shop will probably have a suitable charger for a fiver or something, but probably not a MagSafe charger. Quite an important feature for me at least. Whether or not this rumour is true, remains to be seen. But I'm glad I went for the 12 anyway.

TBH don’t use it much for voice calls

Same, and mine's a work phone!

According to the log I've made 4 calls this month so far, I've received 14 and 4 of those were the Garage trying to get me to chance my car early.

It gets battered though, Teams, our CRM and PSA tools, plus a handful of apps I use for work, I take dozens of pics a day for work, Outlook which integrates into Google Maps for sat-nav, Apple Music and whatsapp.

Now I think about it, quite a lot of people call me via Whatsapp so I might get more calls than that.

Same thing that allows you to talk (radio inside phone and cell tower) is also what allows you to do all that other jazz (teams, IM, Zoom, whatever), so not so weird when you think about it.

Big fan of 12 Mini as a successor to an SE2 (work phone I had to send back) and prior to that SE. Wife and kid also want one now. The size, screen, battery and camera are great. I’m a fan of smaller phones that go in your pocket so no brainer when I fancied a better screen and camera than the SE2.

But you’ll need a USB-C plug or a lightning charger from a previous phone as they don’t come with 3-pin plugs anymore; just a USB-C to Lightning cable.

Thanks everyone. Sounds like the battery life is going to be fine.

Very happy with mine, I opted for it as I'm not a fan of large phones, had an original S and liked that. It has overheated a couple of times, but that was related to a dodgy app (yes you Wahoo) running away while the phone was charging in the car "phone box" charger thing.

I read a rumours that the "mini" format is getting dropped / not upgraded this cycle.

Mrs Dubs has one, and likes it. Not heavy user though so battery life not indicative, but it lasts all day for her.

love mine, main reason size, all the other phones are just getting way too big for your pocket or hand

I’m the only nay sayer then. I have the mini wish I’d got the standard 12 as I came from an 11 which would go 2 days.

Also find the keyboard too small. But the form factor is perfecto.

I’ve recently gone to mini from XR and noticeable drop off in battery life. Whereas could get 2 days from XR, the mini is usually down to 30% in a day. And rather than charge up say daytime next day (or forgeting an running out) it basically means charge every night. Which isn’t great but I can live with.

Despite smaller screen, I think battery capacity relatively is 2900mh down to 2300ma in mini. Which kinda equates to the reduced time between charges.

So do bear in mind. If a heavy user you may well find doesn’t last the full day.