Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

iPhone 12 Mini has dogshit battery. If you're a heavy user - DO NOT BUY

not my experience at all, ive had mine since release and battery was barely worse than my 11 pro

Me too. Maybe my battery is duff..?

If you can get to an Apple Store Genius Bar (not telephone support) there's every chance they'll replace it on the spot without fuss.

The small size if ok?

2nd question is Three useless? They're much cheaper than o2 who im with rn

@rogan ^ Same Q for you about size of handset

Currently rocking an 8 plus

Thanks grams and JonD for the encouraging words. I'm pessimistic but will try.

i prefer the size to the 1 1pro, dont miss a bigger screen at all, but i have small hands.

HomePod got the sack. Anyone got two as a stereo pair? Worth picking up a second one?

Not super impressed with the sound from a single one tbh, but from what I read a second one will make a huge difference

I've found it fine. Had an 11 Pro before and upgraded downgraded swapped to this.
Battery life is definitely worse in my experience. In that it gets to the end of the day and it has ~20% battery left instead of 50%. So agree with ^^^^ if you're a really heavy user then maybe it'll be annoying.

I wanted a smaller phone, mainly so it'd fit pockets easier when running. It felt like a small phone again for a few days, now it just feels normal. Girlfriend's iPhone XS feels large now.

If you're going from an 8 plus to a 12 mini then you're moving from a 5.5 inch screen to a 5.4 inch screen, since all you're losing is the bezels.

(separately - @rickster, I agree with the above you should be fine. Genius bar. Be polite. You'd reasonably expect that the product should function properly for well over 16 months. A warranty is always above and beyond your statutory rights, it never replaces them. Apply have been good with that sort of stuff in my experience, even if it is annoying when it happens)

Just reluctantly bought a 12 Mini to replace a series of 2016 SE’s I’ve clung onto for 5 years.

It’s a revelation.

Also been on Three for over 15 years, on a ‘grandfathered’ completely unlimited contract.

Used to be loads of dead spots, not so much anymore. Regularly get ~700Mb/s download speeds on 5G.

2nd question is Three useless? They're much cheaper than o2 who im with rn

It varies. On average I'd say that they are worse than most of the other networks for coverage. Not that noticeable most of the time but if one of those dead spots is somewhere you want to use it regularly then it can be annoying.

I am in the same boat – looking at eBay sold listings if you get lucky they go for as low as £150, so that's my plan for now.

I have 2 HomePods and Home pod Mini.

I think the sound is really good for a single pos speaker (I formerly had a SONOS) but yeah, much better with 2 of them in stereo mode.

I agree - HomePod sound better than Sonos.

I’ve stuck with Sonos though as they’re ecosystem (amp, TV surround etc) is so much better and integration with things outside apple is easier.

Would be delighted if apple entered the hifi market in the way Sonos have.

The successor to the 2016 SE

iPhone 12 mini

Worth getting a look at both. I have both (2020 SE from work and iPhone 12 mini for personal) and I *hate* the 2020 SE, so glad I'm sending it back soon. It just doesn't feel right to me in my hand, the metal back is so smooth it slides off anything that isn't perfectly level.

The iPhone 12 mini is much more like the squarer edged 2016 SE.

They’ve just killed the Homepod, which by all accounts was an unmitigated flop, as was the ‘iPod HiFi’ of yore.

I know. That’s literally what the conversation was about 😅

Whoops! Never mind.

I get the feeling the whole smart speaker market is weird. Getting a small, smart speaker with good sound for £279 is great value when it comes to audio stuff. Compare to 10 years ago you had to spend much more and get something much bigger for the same SQ.

It feels like the HomePod gets shot down from two sides. It's either too expensive or not good enough. Personally I think it hits a sweet spot.

Wonder if Apple killed it by not letting Siri control Spotify? Maybe you can accept that in the £99 mini, but not in a £279 one?

I should have punctuated mine better to ensure the slight snark came across

The successor to the 2016 SE: iPhone 12 mini

the vast majority a google home, or an alexa is 'good enough' sound quality that they'd never even think about it (despite being pretty garbage) and less than £100, its a tough market

Yeah. But wireless communication between phone and smart speakers means no degradation of sound because of poor speaker cable.

Anyway. What's my gateway drug to apple mini homepod / home control? iPod touch? iPad?
I have a really old ipad mini (2 i think) that does not have the capacity for it.

If you’re looking at an apple home control hub then Apple TV box will do it (also good for zwift). Get the 4K version even if you don’t have a 4K tv yet.
If you want to upgrade the iPad then the new iPad Air Wi-fi only version is hard to beat right now.