IPhone 13 vs IPhone 13 Mini

[paulyron]

Been using an old first generation iphone SE for many years and looking to switch to a new iphone.


I was going to order the 13 mini based on what I read online as I'm used to a small phone. And I see new phones throughout the years where they are just big... which I did not like.


I went to apple store not long ago to take a look at the iphones and to my shock, the iphone 13 isn't that big as I thought it would be. I could hold it and use it with one hand but it was a bit uncomfortable. However, I didn't play around it that much to see if its that comfortable. I then took a look at the iphone 13 mini and to my shock, it was a lot smaller than I thought it was. I had thought it was the size of like an iphone 7... so I thought probably best for the mini. But it seem smaller than the 7? I had seen how a 7 looked and felt so I thought okay if its same size, I would just go with that mini. Now, I know there is no home button in the new iphones.


Now I bought both of these phones online and got them and planning to return one of them.


I only opened the mini as that is the one i want to use since i read size is good but battery isn't as good as the full size one. Now if you going to have a powerbank and charging cable with you, wouldn't this not be an issue? The mini does look like a decent size where I could hold it with one hand. I also am used to type with one hand as that is how i used the old SE.  Also seems much more comfortable putting it in your pocket?  


Thoughts on this? I see people talk about big screen but why you need a big screen for? Isn't that what laptops and tablets are for?

[Bombastinator]

Do you live near an apple store?  It is often possible to return things in person there that might be complex to return elsewhere. This would mean you could easily return either one as fit your preference.

[Donut417]

2 hours ago, paulyron said:

Thoughts on this? I see people talk about big screen but why you need a big screen for? Isn't that what laptops and tablets are for?

The regular 13 is the same size as the iPhone XR, which is not too big but not too small. As for tablets, they are not as convienet as phones. My phone has 4G LTE, many tablets either dont, or your paying extra for that type of service on the device. Laptops are portable but not as portable as a phone. Some people like bigger screens because their phone might be the only device they have for internet use, and they watch Youtube and such on it. 

[rikitikitavi]

I would go with mini, however I don’t consume that much content on my phone. Rare youtube and gaming.

Also if for whatever reason you will need a second cellphone (work) - much handier to have tiny one.

[Bombastinator]

Generally the more screen real estate the better, but What it comes down to I think is can you use it and does it fit in your pockets. If the answer to these is no for one and yes for the other you want the other one. 

[paulyron]

I want to know if this is normal. I charged the iphone 13 mini to 100% last night. Then now maybe around 13 hours later, I click on the right button on the side to turn it on ... it wasn't powered off... I see the battery is now 89%. I did not power off the phone but just left it on with the screen not turned on etc.


Is this normal? How can it lose that much percentage when it's not doing anything?

[Bombastinator]

2 hours ago, paulyron said:

I want to know if this is normal. I charged the iphone 13 mini to 100% last night. Then now maybe around 13 hours later, I click on the right button on the side to turn it on ... it wasn't powered off... I see the battery is now 89%. I did not power off the phone but just left it on with the screen not turned on etc.


Is this normal? How can it lose that much percentage when it's not doing anything?

Was wifi and Bluetooth on?   If they were it’s plausible.  Would depend on the wifi and Bluetooth radio environment over that time.

[RAS_3885]

6 hours ago, paulyron said:

I want to know if this is normal. I charged the iphone 13 mini to 100% last night. Then now maybe around 13 hours later, I click on the right button on the side to turn it on ... it wasn't powered off... I see the battery is now 89%. I did not power off the phone but just left it on with the screen not turned on etc.


Is this normal? How can it lose that much percentage when it's not doing anything?

Check the battery settings page to see what's used battery over the last 24 hours. 11 percent overnight does seem a little high, but totally depends on what apps you have running that might be making background data/location/whatever requests.

[57chevy]

10 hours ago, paulyron said:

I want to know if this is normal. I charged the iphone 13 mini to 100% last night. Then now maybe around 13 hours later, I click on the right button on the side to turn it on ... it wasn't powered off... I see the battery is now 89%. I did not power off the phone but just left it on with the screen not turned on etc.


Is this normal? How can it lose that much percentage when it's not doing anything?

Like mentioned before, check your battery usage in the settings.  Push emails and apps in the background could take a bit of battery life out.  I'm running a 13 Mini and always turn off data usage and background app refresh on the apps that don't need to be running unless I need it. As far as size of the phone goes, though the 13 Mini is smaller than the 7 dimension wise, it actually has a larger screen since there's no home button and has a notch instead of that big forehead. If you keep a case on your phone, take that into consideration as far as one handed usability goes. You mentioned the 13 was right on that limit of comfort for you so if there's a case on it, you might go past your comfort level. A case on the 13 Mini on the other hand could bulk it up enough to feel a bit more substantial in your hand. 

[paulyron]

Okay so turning off background refresh is good idea then overnight?  Also with wifi?  However, I don't want certain programs to not alert me at night... example skype, whatsapp, wechat etc.  So if i put no for background refresh it does it too all apps right?  But what about just having it turned on few a few apps?  Would that help?

 

 

Do people here turn off wifi overnight though when their iphone is on standby?  Doesn't seem like good idea if you might get call or text or message with those apps?

[Bombastinator]

37 minutes ago, paulyron said:

Okay so turning off background refresh is good idea then overnight?  Also with wifi?  However, I don't want certain programs to not alert me at night... example skype, whatsapp, wechat etc.  So if i put no for background refresh it does it too all apps right?  But what about just having it turned on few a few apps?  Would that help?

 

 

Do people here turn off wifi overnight though when their iphone is on standby?  Doesn't seem like good idea if you might get call or text or message with those apps?

You may have to set that specifically.  There’s some sort of “do not disturb”feature in something I think.  There’s also “airplane mode” which I probably use more than I should considering I haven’t flown in Years and probably never will again.

[rikitikitavi]

4 hours ago, paulyron said:

Okay so turning off background refresh is good idea then overnight?  Also with wifi?  However, I don't want certain programs to not alert me at night... example skype, whatsapp, wechat etc.  So if i put no for background refresh it does it too all apps right?  But what about just having it turned on few a few apps?  Would that help?

 

 

Do people here turn off wifi overnight though when their iphone is on standby?  Doesn't seem like good idea if you might get call or text or message with those apps?

As mentioned before, you should check the by-app battery consumption - it should tell you everything like if an was app used in the background and what time of the day etc.

 

General suggestions:

- disable all notifications that can't be urgent (includes muting chitchat group conversations)

- disable BT/wifi if you rarely use any of them (or make sure that random accessories don't connect without you knowing, like shared headphones)

- manual update on emails/apps that don't need your attention

- use scheduled Do Not Disturb/Sleep (don't forget to set up whitelist of VIP/contacts/apps)

- don't crank up volume/brightness if you don't need it (auto)

- disable background updates for non-urgent apps (or disable all, I believe messengers push msgs regardless).

- dark/black theme might also preserve battery, since you have OLED

[57chevy]

15 hours ago, paulyron said:

So if i put no for background refresh it does it too all apps right?  But what about just having it turned on few a few apps?  Would that help?

Background app refresh and cellular data settings can be changed for each app individually.  So for example, I make sure my photos app is not using cell data to upload new pics.  They will all upload once connected to a wifi. And Angry Birds doesn't need to be sending notifications, using cell data, and running in the background if I forgot to fully close it.  Just curious, when your phone lost that chunk of battery life, was your phone still updating itself through iCloud? That first iCloud sync on a new phone can drain a battery if it's downloading all your photos and messages. Especially if it was using cell data and not a wifi connection. 

[Bombastinator]

9 hours ago, 57chevy said:

Background app refresh and cellular data settings can be changed for each app individually.  So for example, I make sure my photos app is not using cell data to upload new pics.  They will all upload once connected to a wifi. And Angry Birds doesn't need to be sending notifications, using cell data, and running in the background if I forgot to fully close it.  Just curious, when your phone lost that chunk of battery life, was your phone still updating itself through iCloud? That first iCloud sync on a new phone can drain a battery if it's downloading all your photos and messages. Especially if it was using cell data and not a wifi connection. 

I’m kind of wondering if maybe there was even a system update set.  15.2 came out recently.  Such things frequently won’t run unless they’re connected to power, but if the battery was at 100% it may have done it anyway.

[57chevy]

7 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

I’m kind of wondering if maybe there was even a system update set.  15.2 came out recently.  Such things frequently won’t run unless they’re connected to power, but if the battery was at 100% it may have done it anyway.

A system update is possible as well. When the phone is set to auto update, I believe it will just do the update as long as the battery is above a certain percentage.  If the battery is too low, it will tell you to connect to a charger before it starts the update process.