Instead of the latest and greatest, I’m getting the cutest - why I switched to the last iPhone mini
📲iPhone
When the original iPhone 12 Mini was announced, I got to it and loved it! I called it the “ultimate cuteness” and with it I embraced the MagSafe lifestyle. When iPhone 13 Pro was announced, I wanted a better camera and pro-motion and went with the Pro instead. I spent a year with it and it was a great phone… but it was too heavy and bulky for me. Long story short, two months ago I got a discounted iPhone 13 Mini for iOS16 testing and it was so much joy to use, that this week I made it my main iPhone. Here’s why this year I’m forgoing the “Pro” phone and going with the last Mini:
After a year with a Pro iPhone, I missed the cuteness!
Over the summer I needed an iOS16 testing device and since my old trusty iPhone SE doesn’t support it, I needed to buy something newer. When I visited one of the Apple Stores and took the 13 Mini into my hands, I was in love again. I ordered a blue 256GB model “for testing” and installed iOS16 on it.
Over the summer as I was traveling with my family I was carrying both phones in my backpack - my main iPhone 13 Pro and my secondary iPhone 13 Mini. And whenever there was a choice of putting one in my pocket, I went with the Mini. Every time.
After all, I’m a short person with small hands, so the Mini just fits me perfectly. This year, at the Apple Event, the iPhone maker didn’t announce a new Mini. That’s why with a heavy heart I decided NOT to get any of the new iPhones and I switched to the last Mini. Trust me, it wasn’t an easy decision.
With iPhone 13 Mini I’m losing some of the iPhone 13 Pro features, like pro-motion and 3x tele-photo camera!
In practice as I was using both devices over the summer, I didn’t notice much improvement on the pro-motion 120Hz screen. Yes, the Pro screen is a little smoother but not enough that the Mini screen would bother me. As to the 3x camera, I do miss it at times, but it wasn’t really good to begin with!
OK, I do miss the macro mode - I wish the Mini had it. Luckily you can just get Halide app which basically makes it happen and costs only $12 per year.
With iPhone 13 Mini I’m missing out on cool new iPhone 14 Pro features like Always-on Display, Dynamic Island and 48p camera sensor!
Yes, the 14 Pro lineup is pretty strong and there are some compelling features. I keep my iPhone in my pocket and I use the Apple Watch a lot so the Always-On screen on my watch is much more important to me than the one on the iPhone. I’m very curious about the “Dynamic Island” and as a software maker it’s something that I’d like to take advantage of in the future. However, only time will tell how much of a gimmick or a practical feature it actually is (as it’s located physically far away from the thumb). I don’t think I’m missing out much on the new “Satellite connectivity”.
With iPhone 13 Mini I’m getting a much smaller and lighter phone that brings me a lot of joy 🤩 every day!
What it comes down to is just one word: joy.
The iPhone Mini brings me joy, because it’s small, cute and still powerful at the same time! The Pro iPhones weigh 204/206 grams when the Mini is only 141 grams. Compared the Pro phones are almost 50% heavier!
The dimensions are also much smaller: it’s 64 vs 71 cm in width, and also 131 vs 147 cm in height!
It just feels light and small - I can hardly feel it in my pocket.
That’s why I made the decision to sell my iPhone 13 Pro, not get the 14 Pro and just stick for one more year with the iPhone Mini.
The last Mini.
How I transfer my data to the new iPhone?
Here’s a bonus checklist for transferring data between two iPhones in 2022:
- Put both iPhones next to each other, tell them to transfer directly iPhone to iPhone
- Set up the necessary Wallet cards, set them for “verification later”.
- Let the transfer follow through. It takes around 2 hours.
- Let the Apple Watch transfer itself to the new iPhone. It will ask you if you want to do that and then it’ll do it automatically.
- Put the SIM from the old iPhone to the new one (if you’re not using eSIM).
- Once it’s all downloaded, go through each app to see if it launches and loads. Start with 1Password to make sure you can log in when necessary. Some banking apps might not work out of the gate.
- Verify all the Wallet cards now.
- Don’t delete the old iPhone just yet, you need to migrate apps like Signal, which are end-to-end encrypted and don’t migrate the data using the standard migration.
- Rename the new iPhone otherwise it will have (2) in the name.
- Use the new iPhone for a few days to make sure all works. Then completely wipe the old iPhone and sell it. Enjoy the new iPhone!
Joy is where it’s at!
I know. Getting a new iPhone a year was my thing and I’ve had all the generations of the iPhones over the years. I will not be getting the generation 14 this year as I want to keep a small iPhone in my pocket for a year more. Next year? I don’t know what will happen.
Let me enjoy the cute Mini for now!
P.S. In case you were wondering, I’m using the iPhone Mini with my Moft iWallet, either case-less or with the 3MK MagCase.