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ruiting90

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 16, 2020
4
1
Initially pre-oredered iPhone 12 128GB with a great $100 discount to replace my iPhone 8 64GB.

However, my hands are bit smaller and I was scared of getting a great but huge smartphone. Therefore I cancelled my pre-order and now thinking about getting either iPhone 12 mini or iPhone 11 Pro. I use my phone usually for taking pictures, checking mail, messagning, navigation, little bit of browsing and youtube. I rarely play games.

There are several reasons for upgrade: I want higher ppi display, better battery (been using iPhone 8 for almost 3 years, a half year ago I changed the batteru, the new one has right now 96% and I am getting only about 1.5h soc!). Phone is sometimes slower (looks like it is underclocking cpu?) and also any upgrade in camera is welcome.

  • iPhone 12 looks too big, although, it's a bit smaller then iPhone 11, which I found big).
  • iPhone 12 mini looks promising, however I am more than concerned about the battery life (especially after 1*2 years, when the capacity will noticeably decrease!)
  • iPhone 11 Pro is closer to 12 than to 12 mini in terms of size, a bit heavy, no sweet 128gb, good battery life, older A13, no 5G
5g might be nice to heave, but with tiny 12 mini battery I don't see it as a great advantage.

Maybe, is there anybody who upgraded from 6/7/8 to iPhone 12 with medium or smaller hands and didn't regret his/her decision?
 
Last edited:

Prince Akeem

macrumors regular
Feb 22, 2012
135
261
You should realize that the Mini's battery life is actually considerably better than your current 8 (even when it was new). It's also even better than the X and the XS. The mini's battery only performs less when compared the bigger phones, from iPhone XR/11 upwards.

True practical 5G mmwave coverage is years away, so that shouldn't be a concern at all. Besides, you can set it to switch automatically when really needed or just use 4G/LTE. If you live outside if the US you don't even get the iPhone 12 with a mmwave antenna, so there it's even less of a battery concern.

I was also slightly worried about battery live, but just went for the Mini as I prefer the smaller (or let's say what used to be "normal") form factor. Anyway, so far, battery life is MUCH better than the iPhone 8...
 

AzureRabbit

macrumors newbie
Nov 24, 2020
1
2
I upgraded from an iPhone 8 to an iPhone 12 mini. I think it's the perfect size, weight, and the amount of extra space you get for readable content has made a much bigger difference that I expected. I've held iPhones since the 8 in the Apple Store and always found them just a little too big.

Battery life for me has been fine. I'm not a heavy user though. It's better than the 8, so I don't think you'll see it as an issue (as maybe someone coming from one of the bigger, newer iPhones might).

I've also surprised myself by how much I enjoy Face ID (except when wearing a mask). I never liked the idea of moving away from Touch ID, but in the majority of use cases, it just works better.
 

ruiting90

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 16, 2020
4
1
I went to the Apple Store to check out the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12. It's really strange to me, because it looks like iPhone 8 has a wider screen than the iPhone 12 mini. Please correct me if I am wrong. In terms of real estate, it not much more compared to the iPhone SE 2020. My overall feeling was; this one is quite small.

Size of the iPhone 12 is considerably larger and I would call it; this is too big. Real estate compared to the 12 mini e.g. is the same on home screen, but everything is larger and it makes better overall experience. Of course, it's much better for reading text on websites because of font-size and more space.

In comparison iPhone 12 pro feels much more bulkier to me because of extra weight.

I wanted to compare iPhone 12 with iPhone 11 Pro, according to the dimensions, 11 Pro is smaller, but yet thicker with extra weight. Can anybody say which one feels lighter in hand?

I tried iPhone 11 and rounded edges were much less comfortable compared to iPhone 12.

If I would like to get better battery life with sacrificing small size, does it make sense to go with 11 Pro insted of regular 12? Currently, the price of the Phone 12 128GB is on par with the iPhone 11 Pro 256GB (I don't need 256GB, but 64GB would be too small) for me telephoto makes more sense than ultra-wide, but I read a lot of complains about the tele photo quality.

I feel baffled at the moment as I am torn between 11 Pro, 12 mini, 12 and 12 Pro (as it not that more expensive compared to 11 Pro in 128GB).
 

snipr125

macrumors 68020
Oct 17, 2015
2,006
3,121
UK
If your considering the 11 Pro, you should also consider the iPhone SE as it has the same SoC as the 11 pro (A13) and has camera improvements over the iPhone 8, and only costs £399. Its a solid phone. Sorry im not making your decision any easier lol.
 
  • Like
Reactions: prazakj

Prince Akeem

macrumors regular
Feb 22, 2012
135
261
I went to the Apple Store to check out the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12. It's really strange to me, because it looks like iPhone 8 has a wider screen than the iPhone 12 mini. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Actually, the screen width on the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 8 are nearly the same:

 

shady16

macrumors 6502a
Oct 3, 2019
846
725
i would personally go for one of the 12's due to the qualcomm modem. The 11's have an intel modem which is far from the best and the qualcomm modem in the 12 will be far superior to the intel in the 11 Pro. the iPhone 12/Pro isn't actually much bigger then the 11 Pro just feels that way due to the squared off edges. the 12's are actually thinner then the 11's
 

prazakj

macrumors 6502
Nov 18, 2020
408
305
Initially pre-oredered iPhone 12 128GB with a great $100 discount to replace my iPhone 8 64GB.

However, my hands are bit smaller and I was scared of getting a great but huge smartphone. Therefore I cancelled my pre-order and now thinking about getting either iPhone 12 mini or iPhone 11 Pro. I use my phone usually for taking pictures, checking mail, messagning, navigation, little bit of browsing and youtube. I rarely play games.

There are several reasons for upgrade: I want higher ppi display, better battery (been using iPhone 8 for almost 3 years, a half year ago I changed the batteru, the new one has right now 96% and I am getting only about 1.5h soc!). Phone is sometimes slower (looks like it is underclocking cpu?) and also any upgrade in camera is welcome.

  • iPhone 12 looks too big, although, it's a bit smaller then iPhone 11, which I found big).
  • iPhone 12 mini looks promising, however I am more than concerned about the battery life (especially after 1*2 years, when the capacity will noticeably decrease!)
  • iPhone 11 Pro is closer to 12 than to 12 mini in terms of size, a bit heavy, no sweet 128gb, good battery life, older A13, no 5G
5g might be nice to heave, but with tiny 12 mini battery I don't see it as a great advantage.

Maybe, is there anybody who upgraded from 6/7/8 to iPhone 12 with medium or smaller hands and didn't regret his/her decision?
I came to 12 mini from bigger XS. No regrets at all although my initial selling point wasn’t 5G at all.
 

prazakj

macrumors 6502
Nov 18, 2020
408
305
I went to the Apple Store to check out the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12. It's really strange to me, because it looks like iPhone 8 has a wider screen than the iPhone 12 mini. Please correct me if I am wrong. In terms of real estate, it not much more compared to the iPhone SE 2020. My overall feeling was; this one is quite small.

Size of the iPhone 12 is considerably larger and I would call it; this is too big. Real estate compared to the 12 mini e.g. is the same on home screen, but everything is larger and it makes better overall experience. Of course, it's much better for reading text on websites because of font-size and more space.

In comparison iPhone 12 pro feels much more bulkier to me because of extra weight.

I wanted to compare iPhone 12 with iPhone 11 Pro, according to the dimensions, 11 Pro is smaller, but yet thicker with extra weight. Can anybody say which one feels lighter in hand?

I tried iPhone 11 and rounded edges were much less comfortable compared to iPhone 12.

If I would like to get better battery life with sacrificing small size, does it make sense to go with 11 Pro insted of regular 12? Currently, the price of the Phone 12 128GB is on par with the iPhone 11 Pro 256GB (I don't need 256GB, but 64GB would be too small) for me telephoto makes more sense than ultra-wide, but I read a lot of complains about the tele photo quality.

I feel baffled at the moment as I am torn between 11 Pro, 12 mini, 12 and 12 Pro (as it not that more expensive compared to 11 Pro in 128GB).
Quite tough decision between these models. I was surprised when I first held 12 mini but after a few days I’m so happy with smaller form factor.
 
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