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Comment by loeg | Hacker News Reader

Oh, I want this. I "upgraded" from an iPhone 8 to an iPhone 12 two years ago and dislike almost everything new about the 12 -- the size (too large), FaceID (never as reliable as pressing the fingerprint button was). iPhone 8, but faster and with better battery life? Lovely.

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I have the 2016 SE, and I love it. Hate FaceID, hate the idea of FaceID. I don't use the fingerprint ID either. I don't even lock the phone.

I really like the home button, and I was scared they were going to drop it. Glad it made the cut at least one more time.

If I can't have my Blackberry Bold back, I'll take this. I tried the bigger iPhone 7 Plus to see if the larger screen helped with the crappy screen keyboard, but it didn't, so I'd rather have the smaller device.

I recommend the 13mini. I reckon the choice between the 13 mini and SE comes down to whether you'd prefer much better photos and videos.

TouchID vs FaceID is a bigger criteria than photo quality for me.

I was a huge touchID fan until my finger skin started cracking. Then I had to use tricks like resetting touchID quarterly and taking touchID scans of soaked (but dry) hands so I could use actually unlock my phone consistently. FaceID is more consistent even with masks (using watch unlock).

It's too bad they don't sell a larger version - I'd consider going back.

Was it too difficult to revert to using a normal passcode? Genuine question; I too am a fan of touch ID. I’d get annoyed to have to update it constantly.

I tried an iPhone 12 for two weeks and then went back to my old Pixel 2 - it was a nice phone with a great camera, but nothing wowed me. And I missed my fingerprint sensor.

I then bought a secondhand iPhone SE (2020) and could not be happier. It does everything I need. Love Touch ID. The only thing that’d make it better is a headphone jack to plug my Shures into.

What about the 13 mini?

My wife has it.... chonky as hell. It looks and feels (not operates obviously) like a step back from her sleek and thin 6S.

> My wife has it.... chonky as hell.

That's a feature, not a bug. I can't stand thin phones.

True to a certain extent, but she also has a pop socket etc. and it's quite thicc

Obviously "chonky" is about as subjective a descriptor as they come but as someone who held onto the original SE until the minis came out, I really don't feel like my 12 mini is significantly larger than the original SE. I really like the sharp edges better than the rounded ones on the 6S/7/8/SE2

The 12 mini is in between the original SE and the iPhone 8/existing mainline iphones/new SEs.

Talking about a pretty small size difference, but hey everyone has their preferences (I loved my xperia with a 3.5 inch screen)

It also uses FaceID.

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