Tested product: Iphone 13 Mini
Award: From SEK 8,590 at Webhallen
Since the Iphone Mini made its debut last year, everyone in the rumor mill has said that 1) it does not sell, 2) no one wants it and 3) Apple will pull the plug for it. Now, a year later, we stand here with washed necks and with the shameful look of denial. There must have been an Iphone 13 Mini. Look at the fan!
Rating 4 out of 5
Opinion
With a format that makes it slip into almost any pocket and performance to put the toughest Android phone with the butt bare, the Iphone 13 Mini is an exemplary small powerhouse. The cameras are very good and the feeling in the handling is fast. It also has a couple of hours better battery life than its predecessor, which makes this coil a good entry-level model for you who want to hike in an ecosystem where everything is integrated and always works (well).
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Positively
- Good format
- Fast as a thousand
- Takes good pictures and video
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Negative
- The screen does not have an adaptive refresh rate. Why, Apple, why ?!
- Battery life is at a minimum
- Lightning connector – we want usb-c!
— Apple is not the company that is reluctant to close a product line. Do you remember Apple Hi-Fi? It sounded scary but loud, the reason was that it was tuned to Steve Jobs’ ears and taste in music (the undersigned has heard this directly from seniors at Apple). Iphone 5c? Hand on heart, it was a really fun phone, but Apple sabbed everything with their horribly ugly case that most resembled something you prefer not to put on your feet.
Also read: Test of Iphone 13 Pro
Mini is here to stay, at least another year. And luckily it is. It’s a sharp little phone that does most of what you throw at it.
Stop whining about the design
But let’s start with the design. Like its big brothers in the Iphone 13 family, this racker is also made of steel and ceramic glass. It looks like a shrunken Iphone 13. It has slightly tighter edges than the Iphone 12, but definitely the same design language. You can complain that it looks the same or you can adopt the mindset “if it is not broken, then why fix it?”. We prefer the latter. This is despite the fact that many people think that Apple should release something that looks cooler or something that is new and revolutionary, as the Iphone once was.
The problem is that phones are on a technology platform. The first Iphone was a paradigm shift that gave the entire telephone industry a much-needed boost. The challenge now is what the next paradigm shift may be. It is not entirely impossible that mobiles will look like this for the next 30 years, not unlike how our landlines had more or less the same look for 50 years until the button phone made its entrance. What we are trying to say is: stop whining and like the situation.
The screen of the Iphone 13 Mini could be better
Iphone 13 Mini is pretty and feels tiny after a session with an Iphone Pro Max. But size is not everything. Which brings us to the screen. Mini has a 5.4-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 2,340 x 1,080 pixels and a pixel density of 476 ppi.
What it does not have, which feels damn cheap, is adaptive refresh rate. Sure, it’s nice with support for Dolby Vision and up to 1,200 nits brightness, but it falls flat when Android phones for 5-6,000 kroner can boast a customizable screen update. And hand on heart, when you watch a movie on a 5.4-inch screen, can you really decide if it supports Dolby Vision or not? There will be many words, but a small workshop.
That being said, it’s still a good screen, but it could have been significantly better.
Cameras
On the back are two diagonally placed 12-megapixel cameras that take better pictures than most other mobiles that have more megapixels than the undersigned has in age. Much thanks to Apple’s Neural Engine, which pulls the strings and fixes the images using ai or black magic – we think it’s the former.
A wide and an ultra-wide-angle lens where the former has an aperture of 1.6 and the latter 2.4 gives really good images with nice colors and contrast. We have a hard time finding anything to complain about. Optical zoom is up to 2x after that it becomes digital up to 5x, but then it starts to sway.
The images that are produced will in any case be good, even very good. Dark images work perfectly well, as long as your hand is somewhat steady. If you want the images to be warmer or cooler, you can choose between different photographic styles. A matter of taste, but we like the standard mode. Better that and then fiddle with colors and contrast in the Pictures app.
The Iphone 13 Mini also has cinematic video mode, which lets you focus back and forth on different objects. It’s a fun party feature, but if you’re not planning on becoming a filmmaker, it’s mostly like a gimmick. You can at least record 4k video with 24 fps.
This test will be updated with both photo and video.
Design
Iphone Mini really feels “mini” after years of mobile model bigger. It almost feels like an Iphone 5, even though it has a larger screen (Iphone 5 had a 5-inch screen). But it is, after all, a habit. Considered as a telephone, it fits comfortably in the hand and easily slips into pockets and smaller model bags. The physical controls have the same dimensions as with the larger phones.
The design is otherwise stylish and gives the same vibes of quality as the Iphone 13 Pro models. Think Iphone 4, but with a slightly larger screen.
A15 Bionic & batteri
Although the screens differ, it is almost the same SoC (system on a chip), A15 Bionic as in the Pro models. But instead of five graphics cores, Mini has had to settle for four. The results of the benchmark test show that the Pro models are faster in some of the tests, including in 3D Mark. But when we test the phone by installing War Robots, we can state that 1) the graphics flow well, without lag and jerk and 2) the screen is far too small for a moba game (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena).
Like all phones in the Iphone 13 series, it has become thicker and has a larger battery. According to unofficial sources, there is a 2,438 mAh battery in the Mini. According to Apple and with a big pinch of salt, this should be enough for 1.5 hours longer battery life than 12 Mini. Which means 13 hours of streaming video, an improvement of about three hours compared to the Iphone 12 Mini.
Clearly better than SE
With all that said, the Iphone 13 Mini is for you. Yes it is! Assuming you are sitting on an Iphone with a couple of years on your neck, tired of lugging around big phones or have an Android and want to experience the bright side. Apple SE in all glory, but Iphone 13 Mini is preferable. It has better cameras, better screen, faster processor and will be longer than an SE. If Apple had not fooled around with the screen, it would have touched a five in rating. But stinginess deceived wisdom and thus the grade becomes four.
Also read: Test of Iphone 13 Pro
Specifications
Product name: Iphone 13 Mini
Tested: September 2021
Manufacturer: Apple
Systemkrets: A15 Bionic
Memory: 4 GB
Storage: 128/256/512 GB
Screen: 5.4 inches oled, 2,340 x 1,080 pixels.
Cameras: 12 + 12 ultra wide angle and wide angle. 12 megapixel selfie camera
Connections: Lightning
Communication: 2g, 3g, 4g, 5g, wifi 6, bluetooth 5.0, nfc.
Operating system: IOS 15
Other: Dual sim, Face ID, water resistant (ip68)
Battery: 2,438 mAh, 13 hours of continuous video playback.
Size: 13,15 x 6,42 x 0,76 cm
Weight: 141 gram
Recommended Award: From SEK 8,595. Tested model: SEK 12,596 (512 GB storage)
Award: Price: From SEK 8,590 at Webhallen (128 gigabytes of storage)
Performance
Antutu Benchmark: 811 025 points
Geekbench 5: 4,654 points
Geekbench 5, a core: 1,716 points
Geekbench Compute: 10 691
3dmark Wild Life: 9 397 points
Reading speed, storage: 883 MB / s
Write speed, storage: 1 232 MB / s
Video: All Iphones released – a nostalgia trip
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