Disclaimer: I am not a tech person. And while I understand the basics of processors etc. I actually don’t know enough about it! But I use my iPhone as my everything! For instagram photos (though not blog photos), to record reels, to text and call (obvs), to answer work emails out of hours, to watch YouTube, to scroll through Instagram! Like not too unusual things in my opinion.
I had the iPhone 8 for just over three years and that phone has treated me very well! The battery still works in it perfectly (it says in the back end that it’s working to 88% of it’s capacity), there’s barely a scratch in the screen (which still looks crisp and sharp), and the camera has aged slightly, but is still really lovely! The front facing camera is a little pixilated (unless the lighting is PERFECT).
And I upgraded to the iPhone 12 Mini 64GB in Black. Mainly because I prefer the slightly smaller phone (which I know I’m alone in, but whatever) and it’s also the cheapest model at only £699. I’ve now had my new phone for about 3 weeks now, so I’m able to share my thoughts and feelings! And within this post I’ll share some comparisons on the cameras between the models (because I know this is what you care about most!)
Overall Look And Feel
I don’t know about you, but whenever I hold an iPhone out of its case I’m always struck by how light and small they are (as I’m that person who never has their phone out a case as I’m a clutz)! So when I first pulled it out the box, I thought it was smaller and lighter, but it’s actually a relatively similar size! Although, as the screen goes to the edge of the phone, the screen is slightly bigger (albiet a different dimension as it’s slightly slimmer). It’s also a smart phone, as in it looks smart and sleek, and I quite like that you don’t have this weird square around the outside of your phone!
The buttons on the side and bottom of the phone are all pretty similar (sound, lock screen, silent/loud notications toggle and the lightning plug at the bottom (for both the charger and earphones). As a note, the new iPhones comes with a USB C to lightening cable, and no earphones, and no lightening to aux adapter. But as I had all the cables and things already from my old phone, it didn’t bother me.
The BIGGEST change is there is no home button / thumb print scanner! It takes a little getting used to, but I adapted very fast. It unlocks via Face recognition (which is pretty quick unless you’re wearing a mask!) and you’ve basically replaced the home button with a swipe up function.
Battery Life & Speed
So I could tell you what processor each phone has, but if you’re reading this on my blog and not a techy website, I would guess you don’t really care about that stuff! In my own experience the phone is not noticeably quicker than the iPhone 8. Things are a little smoother in terms of apps opening and stuff, but nothing that I would say you NEED to jump to a higher phone model for. And the battery is a small upgrade, I use my phone a lot throughout the day, and I find my iPhone 8 needs a little top up while I’m watching TV in the evening, while my iPhone 12 can survive until I’m in bed, but other than that it’s not a massive difference.
The only thing that really goes grate my biscuit (is that a phrase? I don’t know), is that you can’t get the battery percentage on the top with the battery symbol. And while that might not bother you (as I know some people don’t like that number there) it really annoys me that I can’t get it there. However, you can swipe left from the home page, and the percentage is there. But that’s just something for me.
Camera
As you can see from the photos above (which are all taken on the standard camera settings), the front facing camera is so much sharper, and I’m really enjoying portrait mode (which for those of you who don’t know, massively blurs the background). The rear camera is so much better in low lighting, but in bright daylight (as most of my photos are taken) you can only really see the difference when they literally are side by side. One thing I do like about the new camera settings is you have a lot more flexibility in the exposure (as you don’t have to focus, and then shift the lighting, you can just shift the lighting full stop). However, the biggest difference is when you see photos in the dark or in artificial lighting, as it colour corrects so much better than my iPhone 8.
The video is so much crisper though and it focuses so much quicker- but I have to say I don’t use it for anything more than Reels (when instagram drops the quality anyway), so it’s not a massive thing for me.
Worth The Upgrade?
If you have any further questions, do feel free to ask me in the comments because I do reply to all of them anyway! But for me, it was definitely worth it! I’d had my iPhone 8 for a long old time, and apple had made a lot of improvements to things since I bought it. However, if you had an iPhone 10 (or X or whatever they called it), it might not feel like such a change as a lot of the upgrades for me came in between the 8 and 10. And if you’re weighing it up, I always think of is this way; I usually have my phones around 3 years. And they’re often around the £700 mark when I get them (as I don’t need much space), so spread that out it’s around £20 a month. Which for something I use EVERY SINGLE DAY, is like so beyond worth it for me! I haven’t been able to make the most of 5G yet, because I need to upgrade my sim card to a 5G simcard and also I don’t leave my house at the moment! But I do love that it’s future proof by being 5G ready.
Have you upgraded? Would you say it’s worth it?
Katie x