The colour green brings together yellow and blue or warmth and cool. It’s a marriage that’s complex but the result evokes a feeling of spring. Green evokes words like refresh, renew and revitalise, the very words that come to mind while using the green colour variant of the iPhone 13 Mini. In fact, I have been using the Mini or the phone with a 5.4-inch screen for almost six months (Midnight version before the green variant). Is it worth it?
A part of the answer can be found when you answer how much is enough when it comes to spending on hotel rooms? If I am travelling for work, the choice would probably be a hotel near my meeting zones to cut down on travel time and car expenses. If I am on holiday, I will spend a bit extra on a hotel room but also focus more on travel and visiting places. If I am on a romantic getaway, moolah will shower on the hotel. It’s about needs.
The iPhone 13 Mini is for certain people and certain use cases. Every phone brand comes up with different versions of their latest device because some people need a smaller screen, some need a bigger screen, some more camera power and some fewer camera features… whatever suits you.
I always appreciate the benefits of a big display but 5.4 inches is not exactly small. Many have been judging the iPhone Mini models simply by looking at it… and not experiencing the same. Having used it for a considerable period, I think it’s the perfect phone to have for many.
Get a MagSafe case to make wireless charging easy
Realistic screen and camera
Since use cases will always vary, let me share what I have done with the phone. A part of my life has to do with street photography, which is something I keep for the weekend, getting lost in a maze of lanes. Disclaimer: I also use the iPhone 13 Pro Max, especially for the telephoto lens.
There are two snappers on the Mini — wide (f/1.6 aperture, seven-element lens, sensor-shift optical image stabilisation) and ultra-wide (f/2.4 aperture, five-element lens) — with 2x optical zoom out while digital zoom is up to 5x. There is also portrait mode with advanced bokeh, like on the sibling devices.
Enough details are retained in photos and videos
Whatever I shoot has a high level of clarity and there has never been a missed shot, that is, capturing the precise moment. And Apple’s secret sauce — Smart HDR 4 — is very much here.
Over the months I took a series of photos of everyday life. And that’s where the Photographic Styles feature come into play. It’s a feature that can lend a photo a different feel other than the one iPhone clicks. For example, it can mimic the cooler, increased contrast look of the Pixel’s camera system. It allows me to create a unique look to my photos and the final results may not always immediately look like they were taken on the iPhone.
You can capture the most playful of moments with zero shutter lag
Here’s something interesting — correcting photographs on an iPhone. The display mirrors reality. You want a photo that has been colour corrected on your phone to look the same when seen on devices from other brands, right? And that’s what the iPhone offers. Colours are spot on, which is missing on other devices.
Then comes video. You can shoot 4K up to 60fps, which is fantastic and with a good degree of stablisation. What has interested me more is the cinematic mode. It is basically the rack-focus effect that you get on expensive video cameras. While shooting a video, you can lock the focus on a person but when the character looks away, the focus shifts to the other face in the frame, only to shift back to the primary person when he or she looks at the camera again. And the focus can be adjusted manually, even in post-editing.
The iPhone 13 series doesn’t compromise on colour accuracy
It’s not just about hardware
Sure, it’s the smallest member of the iPhone 13 series but it comes with the same A15 Bionic chipset, which remains fast, faster and fastest. Even after a few years this will remain a very nimble processor, able to take on any new feature iOS brings.
In fact, I have been enjoying some of the iOS 15 features a lot, like focus modes (mute notifications and distracting apps so that you are not disturbed while you are trying to work or drive) and Hide My Email (Apple creates a random iCloud email address to which you can send emails to and then what Apple will do is anytime an email is sent to that ID, it will forward the same to your actual email ID; this way when you are signing up for something, you are not actually giving away your email ID). Then, of course, all the Apple ecosystem benefits are there. For example, you can have your text messages on your iPad, Watch or Mac. More? Your iPhone has Spatial audio and automatic headphone switching between your other Apple devices.
What the A15 Bionic has brought is phenomenal battery management. It’s a small device and I must say that if I were to do three hours of FaceTime a day, take photos and videos for three hours and then watch films… then obviously I need a different iPhone... the Max. Most people don’t do that. Most people are happy with six hours of screen-on time, which is a very respectable amount. The iPhone 13 Mini addresses this crowd easily. If you are the kind of person who would only watch YouTube videos but for movie streaming move to the TV, then sure the Mini works.
Does it still make sense?
Frankly, more I use the phone, the more it feels like any other iPhone. I don’t care that this is a 60Hz display because the UI is so well tuned; it never feels choppy. In fact, 120Hz doesn’t make any difference on such a brilliant display.
It all comes to down to what you are going to use the phone for. A person with small hands will love it. Someone who wants one-hand typing will surely do justice to it. Someone who wants a compact but a very powerful phone, will adore it. Even after six months of usage, the iPhone 13 Mini remains a dependable, reliable device.