Eric Chan / Engadget
The size of smartphones continues to run upwards, which is to cater to the trend (or conspiracy) arising from the increasing screen time of modern people. But there is another voice saying that the phone is too big and it is difficult to use it without one-handed operation, hoping to return to the small size of the past. Just another problem with the mini model is that the specifications will seem to be castrated, no matter the battery or the function, it feels like a weakened version. The iPhone’s mini model can meet the requirements of the “mini flagship”. It has all the features of Apple at the time in a compact body.
When it comes to the iPhone 13 series, the upgrade of the iPhone 13 mini is particularly obvious, because the power and performance of the mini phones are just enhanced. As an editor who also doesn’t like the increasing number of mobile phones, I will directly challenge the mini iPhone model this time to see if mini phones are really so attractive, or just talk about it.
shape
Eric Chan / Engadget
The iPhone 13 mini is the old look that everyone is very familiar with. However, the various fine-tunings on the details make this new phone that looks almost the same as the previous generation, and the old accessories can no longer be used (Cook: Plan Pass) . In the measurements, the height and width of the iPhone 13 mini are the same as the previous generation (131.5 x 64.2), but the thickness has increased by a subtle 0.25mm to 7.65mm. I don’t think this is a big gap, but when I put the iPhone 13 mini in the protective case of the iPhone 12 mini, it will be stuck. Because the camera module of the iPhone 13 mini has also been changed, although it feels that it is only a little bit larger than the previous generation, it is enough to make the camera opening of the protective case not aligning, which will cause a bigger problem. The gap causes old accessories to be unusable, so please buy new ones obediently.
Eric Chan / Engadget
There are also slightly different parts and weight. The iPhone 13 mini is slightly heavier by 7g than the previous generation. What is the concept? In general, the weight of each side of a true wireless headset is about 7g (such as the recently reviewed B&W PI7). If it is the same AirPods, it is 4g per side, which is almost the total weight of a pair. But in fact, regardless of the size or weight changes, most people probably won’t feel the difference even if they hold them in their hands.
Eric Chan / Engadget
No matter there are so many changes in the details, the iPhone 13 mini is still a fairly mini mobile phone. It is still light in the hand, and the thumb can easily walk on the entire virtual keyboard when operating with one hand. It can even go to the lip of the screen to pull down the notification center and control center for operations. This effortless operating experience is the unique attraction of mini phones.
Screen
Eric Chan / Engadget
Since the screen mentioned in the previous paragraph, it is natural to enter a new paragraph. This time, the screen fringe of the entire iPhone 13 series is equipped with the TrueDepth original depth sensing lens system, which is the component that provides Face ID biometric identification, and the screen space occupied by it will be reduced by 28% compared with the previous generation. If you put the foreheads of iPhone 13 mini and iPhone 12 mini on your forehead (huh? So sweet?), you will see that the bangs are obviously shorter. It’s a pity that even though this forehead has more space than before, Apple doesn’t seem to make good use of it. The icon displayed is still the same as the previous generation. If you can, at least put the battery percentage in it.
Eric Chan / Engadget
So why on earth can this piece of bangs become “smaller”? The reason is not due to hair loss due to poor health, but Apple changed the position of the earpiece from the center of the bangs to a design close to the top frame of the screen. Yes, even if the screen size of the iPhone 13 mini is maintained at 5.4 inches, the screen protector cannot be used because of the different openings on the earpiece.
Eric Chan / Engadget
The screen of the iPhone 13 mini looks similar, but it has actually been upgraded in terms of hardware specifications. Apple said that the maximum brightness of the Super Retina XDR display used in the iPhone 13 mini is increased by 28% (lucky number?), from 625 nits of the previous generation to 800 nits (1,200 nits for HDR). The improvement is to allow the iPhone 13 mini to be in the sun and still give the user a clear picture. Huh? Wouldn’t it consume more power? On the contrary, Apple emphasizes that the power consumption of the screen itself is lower than that of the previous generation, so it is no problem to increase the brightness of the screen after it is pulled up and down.
In the actual viewing experience, the higher brightness of the iPhone 13 mini is a more sensible upgrade, because the evaluation time is in the summer, and it is easy to see the difference under the big sun. However, the change of the bangs is really hard to feel, because the screen space that is poor will not make up too much video or game screens, and the displayed system content is also the same. On the contrary, some readers said that this little bang has a sense of copycat like when Android tried to imitate iPhone bangs in the past, but I think it’s okay, and I’ll get used to it more.
camera
Eric Chan / Engadget
In the iPhone 13 generation, the upgrade range of the camera is obvious, even directly reflected in the lens size. In addition to the slightly larger camera module mentioned above, the front lens of the iPhone 13 mini is significantly larger and the module height is also higher. In fact, if you take a look at the iPhone 13 of the same level, you will know that the mini camera module uses the same design, so the overall camera is changed to a larger one, even if the lens is placed diagonally, you can guess the body The camera components inside can be imagined to be huge.
Eric Chan / Engadget
In terms of specifications, the iPhone 13 mini and the iPhone 13 are equipped with the same 12MP dual camera combination, consisting of a wide-angle camera of f/1.6 and an ultra-wide-angle camera of f/2.4. Especially the wide-angle camera, although the aperture is the same, but because the CMOS is larger and the light input is increased by 47%, the photos taken can be sharper and better-looking, with the introduction of the sensor movement that was unique to the iPhone 12 Pro Max The anti-shock function of the optical image makes it more stable when shooting in low-light environments.
In other words, this new wide-angle camera is really amazing, because when you go to shoot downtown streets at night, the shutter speed can actually be comparable to daytime, press-and-shoot, and there is no need to enter night mode for long exposure. More importantly, of course, the imaging is very clear, able to capture wonderful moments, and even has the feeling of holding a Pro iPhone.
The ultra-wide-angle camera is also very good. When shooting in a high-light difference environment, the images that come out are clear and usable, and the speed is fast enough, there is no feeling that the ultra-wide-angle camera in the past would be slightly inferior.
Eric Chan / Engadget
The entire iPhone 13 series support photography style, which is a photo style derived from professional single-lens cameras, allowing photographers to choose the color temperature and tone of the photo. However, the style can only be set before shooting, and cannot be adjusted in post-editing tools like filters. The editor thinks that this feature allows iPhone users to take more “tasteful” photos, because the color orientation of the iPhone used to be neutral, and there is very little “MSG” rendering, but it is switched to take care of other brands. For users, adding the option of “MSG” is really a wise move to enhance the fun of iPhone.
Then there is the amazing film effect mode at the press conference. Yes, this is a shooting mode that can freely change the focus of the video while providing a shallow depth of field like professional equipment. It can be enjoyed even with the mini iPhone 13 mini. According to Apple’s explanation, this magical function is born through the cooperation of dual cameras, so it explains why the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini without LIDAR can also be used, and it also shows that the front camera can also activate the movie effect mode. , The following demo clip was taken with the front camera.
A further explanation is that the system changes the focus by recognizing the object, so if you want to shoot the transition from the object to the face, it may be more difficult, because the focus point will be easier to run because of the recognition of the portrait. At the same time, the identification object also needs to have a certain size to be easier to catch. To put it simply, we usually want to shoot macro-object videos that are not very useful, but shooting character stories can come in handy. As for the shooting specifications, the movie effect mode is shot with 1080p Dolby Vision HDR, so the picture is absolutely beautiful.
Is this movie effect mode really suitable for everyone to use? The editor has reservations, because ordinary consumers don’t actually spend time imagining a story that requires mirroring, and they also post-production, and more often watch, shoot, and share. So compared to the “change focus function” that takes time to get, the “shallow depth of field effect” of the movie effect mode is the most important part of everyone, but will this make the focus of the entire function go wrong? Or has it achieved the professionalism that Apple hopes to create? In any case, the playfulness of the iPhone 13 series in the video recording part has indeed been improved.
iOS 15
Eric Chan / Engadget
Earlier, in the evaluation of iPad mini (6th generation), the editor chose a few new features in iPadOS 15 to introduce. It will naturally be there when you come to iPhone 13 mini. In iOS 15, the editor only loves the Live Text function, because it is a magical tool that can convert real-world text content into digital, and relatively neat handwritten text can be accurately recognized. Moreover, the original text of the iPhone version can be selected directly in the camera’s viewfinder window, which is more intuitive and convenient to use.
Then there are improvements for video conferencing. After all, the iPhone is still a communication tool. When the video conferencing apps such as FaceTime, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. are opened, the control center (the page pulled down in the upper right corner) will add two more There are two options: portrait mode and microphone mode. The former function is to directly make the background blur effect for the user; the latter is to change the iPhone’s radio mode, bringing the effect of human voice enhancement and global radio.
The editor tested this microphone mode. First of all, ordinary voice calls and recorders will not support it, and Apple currently does not have a list of apps that support microphone mode. However, it feels that the app will only be activated when the camera and microphone are turned on at the same time, because the related settings are also turned on when IG records a Stories, so it should not be limited to the video call software to use the microphone mode. At the same time, the method of use is not limited to hands-free or earphones, and third-party brand earphones can be used.
After a short test with FaceTime, the “off” of the microphone mode is the normal call quality. The human voice is clear, but the background noise is still heard from time to time; “Voice Isolation” means that the human voice can be left alone, and the background noise is all It can be reduced, and the effect is quite obvious; “Wide spectrum” is to collect all sounds from all directions, the purpose is to let the other party on the call can hear the complete feeling of this side, for example, there are several relatives and friends together. Share an iPhone to talk (the most common screen during group worship), but this “wide spectrum” mode cannot be used when the iPhone is connected to headphones.
Endurance + performance
Eric Chan / Engadget
Although the iPhone 13 mini uses the same A15 bionic processor and the same 6-core CPU architecture, it uses the “low-end” version with only 4 core GPUs just like the iPhone 13, instead of the iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone 13 Pro Max. The 5-core GPU “high-end” version of the iPad mini (6th generation). However, if this GPU core is missing, does it mean that the performance is much worse? Let’s take a look at the score in the evaluation tool.
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Geekbench 5 CPU: 1,772 (single-core); 4,538 (multi-core)
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Geekbench 5 Compute：10,523
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3D Mark Wild Life Extreme：2,496
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3D Mark Wild Life：9,154
Compared with the scores of iPhone 13 Pro and iPad mini (6th generation), there is actually not much difference. So you don’t need to be so obsessed with the two versions of the A15 Bionic. In addition, we can see through Geekbench 5 that the iPhone 13 mini has 3.62GB RAM. To paraphrase Apple’s words, they are in control of the development of software and hardware at the same time, so they can complement each other, not just chasing specifications.
The last test item is battery life, which is also the link where I and many readers have the greatest curiosity about this mini iPhone 13 mini. According to iFixit’s disassembly, Apple gave a larger 2,406mAh battery. Although it is only a hundred different from the previous generation’s 2,227mAh, it is also an increase of about 5%.
As for daily use, the editor did not use the previous generation iPhone 12 mini seriously, but based on the experience of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, it can be used for a whole day with a 5G connection. The battery life is actually just right, so it can Imagine how miserable the users of the iPhone 12 mini last year. When I came to the iPhone 13 mini, I used it as a 5G Wi-Fi hotspot for an hour (about an hour), watched YouTube, took photos, etc., and turned on Find My in the background. Half of the battery was lost after half a day. It feels like it is enough for a day’s normal use. However, if it is a heavy user who can play games and often use social platforms, the battery may not be able to sustain it.
Summarize
Eric Chan / Engadget
After a round of testing, let alone the mini body and smaller screen of the iPhone 13 mini, just look at the camera, computing performance and endurance. This compact model can satisfy everyone’s needs for smartphones today. expect.
However, the small 5.4-inch screen is more difficult to use in practice, especially now that the information is focused on the screen content, such as the content on the Internet is mostly presented in the form of videos. Therefore, for the editor, the iPhone 13 mini is really difficult to use for a long time. However, as a tool for the social platform to “break away”, treat the iPhone 13 mini as a simple communication machine, which is basically a flagship model. Is it a selling point to think about it from another angle?
Therefore, the editor has spent some brainpower on whether the iPhone 13 mini is a good mobile phone, thinking about what situation and what requirements, this mini phone will be competent. As a result, I thought that the existence of the iPhone 13 mini as a backup phone would be very suitable, because its performance is sufficient, and the user will not feel a gap in the experience when the main phone is switched to the backup phone. Next, the Hong Kong version of iPhone 13 mini supports nano SIM + dual e-SIM, which means it can be a terminal with three different phone numbers/mobile network services at most. Modern people need multiple identities, and iPhone 13 mini is just right. Satisfy such a use.
In any case, after carefully evaluating the iPhone 13 mini this time, the editor dispelled the obsession of small phones, because in today’s environment, how do you still need a certain amount of screen space to comfortably receive external information? . So is the final answer hidden in the 6.1-inch iPhone 13 / iPhone 13 Pro? Please look forward to it, everyone.
