Apple iPhone 12 mini (64GB) - Blue

So a bit of history about me that led me to buying this. I have had pretty much every iphone since they first appeared. The 4/4s and 5 remain my favourite. The mIni shares many design cues with those which was part of th eappeal. However the real appeal was that I wanted a small, light premium phone after lugging my iphone 11 around since it came out. So I took the plunge and decided to get the 12 mini despite it being a drastic drop in screen size and on arrival I wonder if I had done the right thing. The phone comes in the usual premium Apple packaging minus a charger which is fine. I went for the white one, and its more off white but stunning. Immediately it felt at home in my hand. Setup is mega easy, I just turned it on next to my 11 and about half hour later all my apps, photos and settings were transferred. Some additional setup was needed for banking apps and signing into Apple Pay but thats fine and expected. Its light and the design is spot on. I started to have a play and contrast against my 11 and initially i felt it was the wrong choice but now the 11 feels completely alien to me. The OLED screen is lovely and the difference by comparison to my 11 is amazing. A few videos latter and the screen has won me over. The key point for me is using it one handed is a joy again. Moving about the gym with it is a joy again, generally living with it so far has been joyful. The camera is superb and in particular low light pictures are a win. Battery life, it has a small battery. As an 'average' user I get through the day fine. At a push I could get almost 2 days out of my 11, this wont do that but gets me through my average day. When I'm int he car using carplay the phone is charging, in fact most places I have access to charge if need be. The build quality is fantastic. Every bit the premium phone and this time I went for white which I am loving. I have encountered one issue that has been reported on by the tech press, and that is if you fit a screen protector and a case, there is an intermittent issue where the screen doesnt respond to a swipe. I notice that maybe one in ten swipes to unlock requires me to reswipe. Hoping Apple resolve this with a software fix and that it is not hardware. Though Apple I know are better than most offering support programs to fix any problems. Overall, the camera, screen and build are amazing and this is the perfect phone for me against a trend of making phones bigger and bigger. There are compromises such as average battery and the aforementioned problem. Theres even 5g support when that becomes available.

I bought my last iPhone (iPhone 8) back not long after it was released so I was definitely due an upgrade. I purchased the 12 mini when it was on offer during Prime Day - and I’m so glad I did. I’d forgotten what it’s like to have a phone that actually lasts all day - the 8 required mid-day charges quite quickly after I bought it so I had chargers dotted all around my life for convenience. I think I’ve only had to use them with the 12 mini a couple of times in the months I’ve had it. Other plus points - it’s fast, 128gb storage means I no longer have to offload apps to save space, and the size is absolutely perfect - it fits in my jeans front pocket easily (the “normal” 12 is too big for your pocket to be comfortable. I’m a huge advocate that if I want a big screen I’ll use my iPad - my iPhone is for convenience, messaging and calls. The camera is brilliant - has lifted my photos to a whole new level. I must admit though, I don’t rate the wide angle lens much - it creates a bit of a fish-eye distort to pictures which I’m not a fan of. The decent front facing camera is great for selfies though. And I really love portrait mode how it blurs the background behind the subject. This is my first phone with FaceID. Mixed opinion - in many ways it’s nice and convenient - when it works. But if for some reason it’s having a moment and doesn’t recognise your face, it’s a pain. I’d say I have more difficulty opening my phone with faceid than I have ever had with TouchID. Given the choice I’d go back to touch. And when wearing a face mask it’s a pain! All in all, I’m very happy with my new phone and I’m expecting it to last many years.

Coming from a 10R to a 12 mini. The 10R was one of the best iPhones I’ve ever had, it was the first time I was introduced to the edge to edge display and the game changing Face ID and the best battery iv ever had in an iPhone, there technically wasn’t anything wrong with my 10R but my dad has an iPhone 4 and is not one to go out and buy himself a new phone but wait till one of us hands him down one of our old ones and when I saw the 12 mini it intrigued me! So I decided to go for it and get one (and I’ll give my dad my old 10R.... good son or what!) tho there was a couple of things I was worried about, one: how would I feel going from a bigger phone to a smaller one and two: going from the best battery in an iPhone to one not so grate, well iv had this phone for a week now and.... I love it! The size is not a major difference really, only by an inch or two I think, but the small iPhone 5 like body with the iPhone 10 display is brilliant and just looks and feels like an iPhone should, I thought with going with a smaller display I would need to increase the text size for my ageing eyes but i found this isn’t necessary and the small body with the iPhone 5 flat edges rather than curved ones we’ve had since iPhone 6 feels grate in the hand and I’m able to do something iv not done in a while... use my phone with the one hand! The next thing was battery, iv actually watched a battery drain test video on YouTube and was surprised to see the 12 mini died the same time as the 10R and all week iv been paranoidly checking my battery health to see how fast it’s going down and I’m finding that it’s lasting just as long as my 10R did ending the day with just over half the battery left (this is with my own general use, not a heavy user and don’t play games) so I was really chuffed about that! All in all this is a grate phone and I’d say my best iPhone yet and I’m glad I went for it.

Review UPDATED December 2020. Been using the device for almost 4 weeks now and thought the review needed an update. The device is really nice to hold in the hand. Very compact and well built. I have been after a good small phone and this has been excellent. Beautiful display clarity and brightness. Notch is still there but if you buy one of these iPhones then I am assuming you are ok with it. Overall performance is excellent and I decided to keep the device. I also had the pixel 4a which is another excellent small phone. Very comparable in a lot of ways but obviously huge price difference. If you are after a high end, compact smartphone then you should be happy with the mini. I’ve had 5G off since day one. It is not really available in most places as of right now and drains battery quicker. My brightness is set to auto. Dark mode set to auto turn on and off with dusk and dawn. With all the above in mind, the small battery has been excellent. No exaggeration at all. Battery life is fantastic. I am as surprised as anyone! There are days I get easily over 6 hours screen on time and more. I have Bluetooth on all times and connected to my galaxy watch. WiFi on pretty much all day as I work from home. Have not had any issues with battery, which was my main worry before buying the mini. Now please keep in mind that I am not a gamer on my phone. I do not play high end games. My battery life has been based on normal usage. Phone calls, emails, web browsing, some streaming services, music and using the camera. Just normal day to day stuff. Very pleasantly surprised. Comfortably making a full day and then some. Excellent small phone and I would highly recommend.

After my 5s it took some time to adjust and I miss the thumb recognition, especially as covid hit and masks became necessary. The mask face recognition is hit and miss. When using apple pay in stores this can be an inconvenience. The battery is far superior to my 5s, but is still lacking when in heavy use. I also miss the audio jack, I've had this phone 4 months now and really need to find some wireless headphones. I rarely use headphones so cheap £5 plug-in's were so much more convenient to me, than having something extra to keep charged up. But overall I love this phone, it's fast, faster than my laptop in processing speeds. It's the perfect size as I need a phone, not a small tablet in my pocket. The screen and camera are great, the photos are as good as any camera I've had. And it's a pleasure to watch movies on. It has a rating of IP68 under IEC standard 60529 (maximum depth of 6 metres up to 30 minutes) My phone did get wet once (dropped while reading in the bath) and I went to charge it later and a warning came up telling me to let it dry. I've had zero issues since, so I'm very impressed by this. ********** Edit after nearly a year of ownership. My new phone accidentally found its way in the washing machine. I thankfully realised quickly and got it out within 5 minutes and after drying out it works as well as it ever has. Amazing. I thought it was a goner. Also the mask/face recognition issue has been greatly improved with updates. I still occasionally miss the audio jack, but it’s not worth losing a star over so I’m upgrading my rating to 5*.

My iPhone 7 plus was great, but I now wanted a similar size screen but with less weight and bulk, something easier to carry in my jeans pocket. I've had my iPhone 12 mini for a month now, and am very happy with my choice. Screen size is only fractionally smaller, I don't even notice after a month. But the smaller overall dimensions and lighter weight mean I barely feel it is in my pocket, which is a benefit I chose it for. My concerns about facial recognition were completely unfounded - it is much easier than the finger print ID, and I don't miss the home button either. I don't use my phone for gaming or watching films, so I find the battery life absolutely fine. Excellent screen display quality and camera, and it's fast. In terms of iPhone pricing, the current discounts being offered represent a serious bargain! I hope Apple continue with a small version of future phones, but they could do to come up with a better name than mini, which I think may put some people off - it's an ideal size for those not wanting or needing a phablet. I have absolutely no regrets buying the 12 mini.

Great phone, I wanted a phone I could comfortably use that wasn’t as massive as the other phones on the market today. I’m a swipe to text guy so the 12 mini is perfect as it’s easy to text one handed. The screen is great, bright and crisp and is super responsive. Forget the reviews who say it’s only 60hz refresh rate. There’s nothing you will be doing on your phone that’s over 60hz, it’s a phone not a gaming pc so it handles everything perfectly. I was concerned about the potential battery life before I bought the phone but I can honestly say it’s never died on me. My average phone screen time is about 3 hours day so I end up charging it every day and a half to 2 days. I bought an apple plug so I could fast charge and it charges nice and fast ( not as fast as my previous one plus 5t ). The main reason I bought the iPhone 12 mini instead of a new Samsung or even the latest oneplus offering was, the Samsung is absolutely massive. The oneplus ( albeit cheaper and good bang for buck ) just couldn’t compare to the camera quality and overall user experience. People ask me how I can watch movies and videos on a screen that’s this size and my honest answer is: I have 4K TVs for a reason. My phone is used as a phone and camera, some email and web browsing and small amounts of media consumption here and there, Netflix or YouTube binges are reserved for the tv

So amazingly fast, so small. The screen is very bright even on 25% brightness. And the battery is last for around 10h of normal use. And stereo speakers, very loud. Face ID react on 1/10 of a second so quickly. Brilliant phone. 12.2020 Updated 11.2021 Battery dropped from 100 to 89% The sizes is very practical, perfect for people with small fingers. Keyboard letters could be a bit bigger, but it's a not big deal even for me. The phone is getting hot only, when charging and being use at the same time, bit its not getting crazy hot. In normal use the heat is almost not possible to detect or feel. Update 26.02.2024 This iPhone 12 mini I handover to my Mom, and she is very happy. The charging issue disappeared after switching from regular charger to a fast one Anker mini. I bought a new iPhone 14 pro max, but after 2 weeks switched back to the mini vers, this time 13 mini. Ability to operate the phone with just a one hand is crucial for me. Please notice if you keep your battery charging and using process between 20-80% it will last for very long time. Mine 13 mini after 8 months still (170 cycles) have 100% capacity. The mini are the best. ;)