The iPhone 12 Mini: A Small Phone Lover's Dream

The iPhone 12 family has the best overall camera system on any phone today, and the fact that the 12 mini can tap into all this camera power while being packaged in such a small device makes for a curious consequence. I use it more to take photos than I would a larger phone, which is more conspicuous like the iPhone 12 Pro Max. The cameras are easy to use, one-handed, and the phone nestsles between my pinky and index fingers allowing my thumb to maneuver the iOS camera app.

I really appreciate the quick settings drawer next to the shutter button, which allows me to easily adjust exposure, aspect ratio, even the length of time for a night mode shot. The same index and pinky finger position is comfortable for watching videos and playing games. Overall, the small physical size, swipe friendly navigation in iOS 14, and the lack of a home button like the one on the iPhone SE makes this compact phone nearly perfect for me. However, but that small screen might not be great for reading or viewing documents, and there will be many people who find the keys on the on-screen keyboard too tiny or when holding it in a horizontal position too narrow for ideal double thumb typing.

But perhaps the biggest drawback is battery life. Apple doesn't share the size of the battery they put into the iPhone, but obviously the mini is going to have a smaller battery than the iPhone 12 or 12 Pro. During the week I had the mini, it made it through a day of regular use just fine. I was able to run one formal battery test so just like we do with every phone we review at CNET, I played a loop video back while the phone was in airplane mode to see how long it would last. Apple quotes 15 hours and in my test, it lasted 14 hours and 48 minutes so yeah pretty much as advertised.

We're going to run more battery testers for the coming week, so check back at CNET for updates to our results for battery performance speaking of performance, the mini has the same A14 processor as the 12, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max. Apple doesn't share how much ram is in the phone, but in use, the iPhone 12 Mini was peppy and fast. Animations looked smooth, the cameras opened fast, editing photos was easy, and gameplay was smooth though sometimes the mini did get warm after just a few minutes.

There's also 5G, Apple managed to build the iPhone 12 Mini with the same 5G antennas that are on the 12, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max in fact I believe the 12 Mini is the smallest 5G phone you can buy in terms of 5G data speeds and coverage. I tested it in Greenville, South Carolina both on T-Mobile's 5G network and Verizon's Nationwide 5G. The consistency of 5G speeds well they weren't consistent using the app Speed Test the iPhone 12 Mini on T-Mobile recorded download speeds between 2.53 and 14.9 megabits per second while on Verizon it got between 48.7 and 104 megabits per second for downloads.

For reference average download speeds in the US on a home broadband connection is 135 megabits per second. Finally, even though it's the smallest iPhone you can buy, the 12 Mini is built for Apple's MagSafe wireless charging system which uses magnets inside the phone and charger to nestle them into a position for the most efficient charge having Magsafe on a phone this small is fantastic I could see buying a Magsafe Charger and AirPods to go with the mini for an ultimate minimalist phone setup.

I did try out Apple's MagSafe Leather Sleeve which looks really cool in fact it's a little window cut out for a quick peek at the time there's also you can put credit cards in there and they're shielded so the magnets don't interfere and it even has a wrist strap but I didn't like the bulk it added to the phone though I can definitely see people getting this case for their phone and putting a few credit cards in there and going out for the night.

In conclusion, Apple nailed the iPhone 12 Mini it's a small phone lover's dream especially if you like using your phone one-handed it's good to see apple go so big on a phone so small but I want to hear from you guys what do you think of the iPhone 12 mini are you ordering one um are you someone who likes small phones and is this phone small enough for you throw your thoughts in the comments

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the iphone 12 mini it's tiny and it's wonderful so let's get small look phones are big really big even small ones are big for a long time now many of us have wanted apple to make a truly small iphone in the vein of the iphone 5 5s or original se and earlier this year apple got our hopes up a little bit by releasing a brand new iphone se which put the brains of the iphone 11 pro into the small ish body of the iphone 8. and yeah it's a solid phone but not the tiny phone that i was pining for and then apple announced this this the iphone 12 mini it's small and it's got everything the iphone 12 has which at first i was like that can't be right it's got to be missing something but it's not it's just a small iphone 12 with the same design the same support for 5g the same oled screen with support for hdr videos and it has the same ceramic shield covering the same ip68 rating for dust and water resistance has the same a14 bionic processor they run the same software they even have the same cameras they are the same phone but this one is small and this one isn't this one has a 6.1 inch display and this one a 5.4 inch display this one costs 829 dollars and this one 729 dollars 100 less now yeah i should say that if you activate either phone when you buy it on a carrier you'll get 30 discount also carriers have tons of discounts and specials right now especially if you trade in an old phone now does it make sense though to have a phone this small in 2020 well that's what i've been trying to figure out okay let's um let's back up a moment a couple weeks ago i did an in-depth review of the iphone 12 which you can watch to get my reaction to all the nitty-gritty details but since the iphone 12 mini is the same phone all those criticisms stand instead for this review i wanted to test the iphone 12 mini's small form factor and the convenience it provides and how it deals with features like cameras that have grown to love on larger phones let's start with design pocketability and the iphone 12 mini's reach ability and i'm not exactly talking about the ios accessibility feature here the iphone 12 mini has flat aluminum sides and a glossy glass back and it looks like a premium version of the iphone 5 which is absolutely a good thing in fact it isn't much bigger than an iphone 5 but it's smaller than the 2020 iphone se and it has a much higher screen to body ratio than the sc which is good for watching videos or having a little bit more information show up on your screen like an extra message in an email app my only complaint here is that the back glass picks up fingerprint smudges and dust ridiculously easy you put in case no biggie but without one you're basically carrying around your own personal csi miami crime scene i just um threw up in my mouth a little bit thinking about that sorry also you'll either love or hate those boxy sides now i think they're pretty wonderful i feel like i have an absolute grip on this little guy i can even stand the iphone 12 mini up on its side to take a picture or watch a video now as far as the display yeah it looks tiny compared to the iphone 12 and 12 pro especially next to the 6.7 inch screen on the iphone 12 pro max and for some this small screen is the reason to get the iphone 12 mini it's amazing being able to reach every part of the screen with my thumb swinging across it like a windshield wiper on a car all this without sacrificing my grip on the phone now if i try this on even a slightly larger phone like last year's iphone 11 pro which has a 5.8 inch screen and isn't that much bigger i either strain my thumb trying to reach the top or i loosen my grip on the phone trying to tap something on the opposite top corner and inevitably drop my phone or if i remember i toggle on ios reachability mode which is nice but can be tedious the iphone 12 mini has natural reachability also i should note you can use ios reachability on the iphone 12 mini which is kind of meta then there's a one-handed typing which i found faster and more accurate than typing on a larger screen one-handed as far as pocketability the iphone 12 mini is promising now the pockets on my clothes fit most phones comfortably however i realize there are many people whose clothes don't always have pockets and when they do they can be pretty tiny pockets i found the smallest pocket in my household which was the tiny inner pocket on a pair of jeans i guess it's called a watch pocket i didn't know that and it got mixed results the phone fits into the watch pocket but the top of it sticks out so yeah there's that however the iphone 12 mini's pocket friendly size doesn't come at the expense of camera hardware in fact it has the same wide ultra wide and selfie cameras found on the iphone 12. and like those cameras they capture excellent photos and video and consistently deliver terrific images the mini can even record videos up to 4k 60 frames per second and in dolby vision up to 4k 30 frames per second now here's a quick montage of photos and videos i took with the iphone 12 mini now the iphone 12 family has the best overall camera system on any phone today and the fact that the 12 mini can tap into all this camera power while being packaged in such a small device makes for a curious consequence i use it more to take photos than i would a larger phone that's more conspicuous like the iphone 12 pro max also the cameras are easy to use one-handed the phone nestles between my pinky and index fingers allowing my thumb to maneuver the ios camera app and i really appreciate the quick settings drawer next to the shutter button i can easily adjust exposure aspect ratio even the length of time for a night mode shot now the same index and pinky finger position is comfortable for watching videos and playing games overall the small physical size the swipe friendly navigation in ios 14 and the lack of a home button like the one on the iphone se makes this compact phone nearly perfect for me but it might not be for you that small screen is great for one-handed use but it's small and might not be great for reading or viewing documents there will be many people who find the keys on the on-screen keyboard too tiny or when holding it in a horizontal position too narrow for ideal double thumb typing but perhaps the biggest drawback is battery life now apple doesn't share the size of the battery it puts into the iphone but obviously the mini is going to have a smaller battery than the iphone 12 or 12 pro during the week i had the mini it made it through a day of regular use just fine i was able to run one formal battery test so just like we do with every phone we review at cnet i played a loop video back while the phone was in airplane mode to see how long it would last apple quotes 15 hours and in my test it lasted 14 hours and 48 minutes so yeah pretty much as advertised now i should say we're going to run more battery tester for the coming week so check back at cnet for updates to our results for battery performance speaking of performance the mini has the same a14 processor as the 12 12 pro and 12 pro max apple doesn't share how much ram is in the phone but in use the iphone 12 mini was peppy and fast animations looked smooth the cameras opened fast editing photos was easy gameplay was smooth though sometimes the mini did get warm after just a few minutes and then there's 5g apple managed to build the iphone 12 mini with the same 5g antennas that are on the 12 12 pro and 12 pro max in fact i believe the 12 mini is the smallest 5g phone you can buy in terms of 5g data speeds and coverage i tested it in greenville south carolina both on t-mobile's 5g network and verizon's nationwide 5g the consistency of 5g speeds well they weren't consistent using the app speed test the iphone 12 mini on t-mobile recorded download speeds between 2.53 and 14.9 megabits per second while on verizon it got between 48.7 and 104 megabits per second for downloads for reference average download speeds in the us on a home broadband connection is 135 megabits per second finally even though it's the smallest iphone you can buy the 12 mini is built for apple's magsafe wireless charging system which uses magnets inside the phone and charger to nestle them into a position for the most efficient charge having magsafe on a phone this small is fantastic i could see buying a magsafe charger and airpods to go with the mini for an ultimate minimalist phone setup now i did try out apple's magsafe leather sleeve which looks really cool in fact it's a little window cut out for a quick peek at the time there's also you can put credit cards in there and they're shielded so the magnets don't interfere and it even has a wrist strap but i didn't like the bulk it added to the phone though i can definitely see people getting this case for their phone and putting a few credit cards in there and going out for the night yeah whenever we get to do that again at the end of the day apple nailed the iphone 12 mini it's a small phone lover's dream especially if you like using your phone one-handed it's good to see apple go so big on a phone so small but i want to hear from you guys what do you think of the iphone 12 mini are you ordering one um are you someone who likes small phones and is this phone small enough for you throw your thoughts in the commentsthis is the iphone 12 mini it's tiny and it's wonderful so let's get small look phones are big really big even small ones are big for a long time now many of us have wanted apple to make a truly small iphone in the vein of the iphone 5 5s or original se and earlier this year apple got our hopes up a little bit by releasing a brand new iphone se which put the brains of the iphone 11 pro into the small ish body of the iphone 8. and yeah it's a solid phone but not the tiny phone that i was pining for and then apple announced this this the iphone 12 mini it's small and it's got everything the iphone 12 has which at first i was like that can't be right it's got to be missing something but it's not it's just a small iphone 12 with the same design the same support for 5g the same oled screen with support for hdr videos and it has the same ceramic shield covering the same ip68 rating for dust and water resistance has the same a14 bionic processor they run the same software they even have the same cameras they are the same phone but this one is small and this one isn't this one has a 6.1 inch display and this one a 5.4 inch display this one costs 829 dollars and this one 729 dollars 100 less now yeah i should say that if you activate either phone when you buy it on a carrier you'll get 30 discount also carriers have tons of discounts and specials right now especially if you trade in an old phone now does it make sense though to have a phone this small in 2020 well that's what i've been trying to figure out okay let's um let's back up a moment a couple weeks ago i did an in-depth review of the iphone 12 which you can watch to get my reaction to all the nitty-gritty details but since the iphone 12 mini is the same phone all those criticisms stand instead for this review i wanted to test the iphone 12 mini's small form factor and the convenience it provides and how it deals with features like cameras that have grown to love on larger phones let's start with design pocketability and the iphone 12 mini's reach ability and i'm not exactly talking about the ios accessibility feature here the iphone 12 mini has flat aluminum sides and a glossy glass back and it looks like a premium version of the iphone 5 which is absolutely a good thing in fact it isn't much bigger than an iphone 5 but it's smaller than the 2020 iphone se and it has a much higher screen to body ratio than the sc which is good for watching videos or having a little bit more information show up on your screen like an extra message in an email app my only complaint here is that the back glass picks up fingerprint smudges and dust ridiculously easy you put in case no biggie but without one you're basically carrying around your own personal csi miami crime scene i just um threw up in my mouth a little bit thinking about that sorry also you'll either love or hate those boxy sides now i think they're pretty wonderful i feel like i have an absolute grip on this little guy i can even stand the iphone 12 mini up on its side to take a picture or watch a video now as far as the display yeah it looks tiny compared to the iphone 12 and 12 pro especially next to the 6.7 inch screen on the iphone 12 pro max and for some this small screen is the reason to get the iphone 12 mini it's amazing being able to reach every part of the screen with my thumb swinging across it like a windshield wiper on a car all this without sacrificing my grip on the phone now if i try this on even a slightly larger phone like last year's iphone 11 pro which has a 5.8 inch screen and isn't that much bigger i either strain my thumb trying to reach the top or i loosen my grip on the phone trying to tap something on the opposite top corner and inevitably drop my phone or if i remember i toggle on ios reachability mode which is nice but can be tedious the iphone 12 mini has natural reachability also i should note you can use ios reachability on the iphone 12 mini which is kind of meta then there's a one-handed typing which i found faster and more accurate than typing on a larger screen one-handed as far as pocketability the iphone 12 mini is promising now the pockets on my clothes fit most phones comfortably however i realize there are many people whose clothes don't always have pockets and when they do they can be pretty tiny pockets i found the smallest pocket in my household which was the tiny inner pocket on a pair of jeans i guess it's called a watch pocket i didn't know that and it got mixed results the phone fits into the watch pocket but the top of it sticks out so yeah there's that however the iphone 12 mini's pocket friendly size doesn't come at the expense of camera hardware in fact it has the same wide ultra wide and selfie cameras found on the iphone 12. and like those cameras they capture excellent photos and video and consistently deliver terrific images the mini can even record videos up to 4k 60 frames per second and in dolby vision up to 4k 30 frames per second now here's a quick montage of photos and videos i took with the iphone 12 mini now the iphone 12 family has the best overall camera system on any phone today and the fact that the 12 mini can tap into all this camera power while being packaged in such a small device makes for a curious consequence i use it more to take photos than i would a larger phone that's more conspicuous like the iphone 12 pro max also the cameras are easy to use one-handed the phone nestles between my pinky and index fingers allowing my thumb to maneuver the ios camera app and i really appreciate the quick settings drawer next to the shutter button i can easily adjust exposure aspect ratio even the length of time for a night mode shot now the same index and pinky finger position is comfortable for watching videos and playing games overall the small physical size the swipe friendly navigation in ios 14 and the lack of a home button like the one on the iphone se makes this compact phone nearly perfect for me but it might not be for you that small screen is great for one-handed use but it's small and might not be great for reading or viewing documents there will be many people who find the keys on the on-screen keyboard too tiny or when holding it in a horizontal position too narrow for ideal double thumb typing but perhaps the biggest drawback is battery life now apple doesn't share the size of the battery it puts into the iphone but obviously the mini is going to have a smaller battery than the iphone 12 or 12 pro during the week i had the mini it made it through a day of regular use just fine i was able to run one formal battery test so just like we do with every phone we review at cnet i played a loop video back while the phone was in airplane mode to see how long it would last apple quotes 15 hours and in my test it lasted 14 hours and 48 minutes so yeah pretty much as advertised now i should say we're going to run more battery tester for the coming week so check back at cnet for updates to our results for battery performance speaking of performance the mini has the same a14 processor as the 12 12 pro and 12 pro max apple doesn't share how much ram is in the phone but in use the iphone 12 mini was peppy and fast animations looked smooth the cameras opened fast editing photos was easy gameplay was smooth though sometimes the mini did get warm after just a few minutes and then there's 5g apple managed to build the iphone 12 mini with the same 5g antennas that are on the 12 12 pro and 12 pro max in fact i believe the 12 mini is the smallest 5g phone you can buy in terms of 5g data speeds and coverage i tested it in greenville south carolina both on t-mobile's 5g network and verizon's nationwide 5g the consistency of 5g speeds well they weren't consistent using the app speed test the iphone 12 mini on t-mobile recorded download speeds between 2.53 and 14.9 megabits per second while on verizon it got between 48.7 and 104 megabits per second for downloads for reference average download speeds in the us on a home broadband connection is 135 megabits per second finally even though it's the smallest iphone you can buy the 12 mini is built for apple's magsafe wireless charging system which uses magnets inside the phone and charger to nestle them into a position for the most efficient charge having magsafe on a phone this small is fantastic i could see buying a magsafe charger and airpods to go with the mini for an ultimate minimalist phone setup now i did try out apple's magsafe leather sleeve which looks really cool in fact it's a little window cut out for a quick peek at the time there's also you can put credit cards in there and they're shielded so the magnets don't interfere and it even has a wrist strap but i didn't like the bulk it added to the phone though i can definitely see people getting this case for their phone and putting a few credit cards in there and going out for the night yeah whenever we get to do that again at the end of the day apple nailed the iphone 12 mini it's a small phone lover's dream especially if you like using your phone one-handed it's good to see apple go so big on a phone so small but i want to hear from you guys what do you think of the iphone 12 mini are you ordering one um are you someone who likes small phones and is this phone small enough for you throw your thoughts in the comments\n"