[HN Gopher] New iPhone SE ___________________________________________________________________ New iPhone SE Author : 0xedb Score : 158 points Date : 2022-03-08 18:21 UTC (4 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.apple.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.apple.com) | politelemon wrote: | Could the mods please consider grouping up all these announcement | threads? We really don't need separate ones for every individual | thing. Looking at the guidelines as well, these are more | promotional and marketing in nature than something that | "gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." | htk wrote: | I'm fine with different threads for different products. Each | product merits its own discussion. | simpss wrote: | if anyone knows good android alternatives for a smaller | smartphone (something like sony xperia compact series) I'd love | to hear about it. | | Currently, it seems like the iphone SE is alone in the segment? | hammock wrote: | iPhone 13 Mini is even smaller than this (and lighter). And | with a larger screen due to slimmer bezels. | simpss wrote: | According to this[0] iphone 13 mini is 5.4" and according to | the OP new SE is 4.7" | | 0 - https://www.apple.com/iphone-13/ | hammock wrote: | Yes screen size. Look at the physical dimensions. https://w | ww.apple.com/iphone/compare/?modelList=iphone13mini... | bena wrote: | That's the screen size. | | The 13 mini as a whole is smaller than the SE because the | SE has a top and bottom that's not screen. | aidenn0 wrote: | I'm typing this from a Unihertz Jelly 2. It's small enough that | people make jokes about it when I pull it out. | | It cost $200 with 128GB of ram and a case included. | | Battery life gets me through the day, and no more, but it | charges fast. | | I thought the keyboard would be bad, but it's quite usable | after you get used to it. I'm probably 90% as fast as on a full | sized phone. | | The camera, on the other hand is just bad. Like $200 Android | phone from 2016 bad. | aidenn0 wrote: | I was adding info on how app use in it is when the edit- | window closed... | | Most apps are actually fine, if a bit cramped. The exception | is dialogs. I usually have to scroll to see all options. You | get used to it, but it isn't great. | | Webpages are alright, but I do occasionally need to hide the | keyboard while filling out forms to see feedback provided | below the input (e.g. username already taken, passwords don't | match, invalid CC #). | | I've never really gamed on my phones, so can't speak there. | | The one thing I did with a larger phone that I don't do on my | Jelly2 is read things like textbooks and comics where images | and text need to be laid out like print. It's too small to | fit a whole page of legible text and images at once. 720 | horizontal pixels and a 5" screen is the minimum there IMO, | though really this is what e-ink tablets were made for. | nerdponx wrote: | Does it run a non-Google/free OS? My primary qualm about | switching to a budget Android phone from an iPhone is the | security and privacy aspect, which seems _okay_ under Apple | but atrocious under Google /Android. | aidenn0 wrote: | I'm not aware of one. The bootloader is unlockable from ADB | and there's a TWRP image for it though. | foresto wrote: | I think the Samsung Galaxy S10e and some of the Google Pixel | models are nearly hand-size, but I don't know of any that rival | the (now unsupported) Xperia XZ1 Compact. The XZ2 Compact is | (AFAIK) still supported by LineageOS, but it's chunky. | | I have read rumors that a new Xperia Compact model is likely | within the next year. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, | because this is unconfirmed and because the definition of | "compact" seems to be expanding over the years, but I am | optimistic. | | I doubt that we'll ever see the likes of the Xperia Mini Pro | again. | | Edit: Here's a handy phone size comparison tool: | https://www.phonearena.com/phones/size | JamesAdir wrote: | From about 2 weeks ago: Ask HN: Why is there no small Android | phone? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30405011 | | And another discussion from 3 months ago: | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29287158 | wryun wrote: | Sony Xperia 10 III (same width) | | Asus Zenfone 8 | technovader wrote: | The Pixel 5 is perfect. | | It's the only phone that tore me away from the iPhone 7/8 SE | form. | | The fingerprint sensor is arguable in a better position (on the | back). | | Plus you get better battery, an OLED screen, 90hz. | | It sucks the Pixel 6 series went huge and bulky instead of | continuing the successive wins of Pixel 3,4,5. | sfblah wrote: | I used to use a Motorola phone I got off Amazon for like $200. | It was great, but various factors have caused me to return to | using an iPhone. Looking online a bit maybe it was the G7 plus? | | My favorite "feature" of these Android phones is the price. | It's like having insurance on your phone. If you lose or break | it, it's not $1500 down the tubes. | fouc wrote: | > My favorite "feature" of these Android phones is the price | | Honestly that's my favorite feature of iPhones too. I've | always bought used iPhones 2-3 generations behind. And | they're often supported for many years. | | Current iPhone is 1st generation SE 2016, probably worth less | than $80 and runs latest iOS. | sokoloff wrote: | I've usually bought 1-2 generations behind, often at the | $250-400 price point, and then run them for 3-4 years or | so. I just replaced the battery on my wife's X and that | looks like it'll now go well past the 4 year mark. | rchaud wrote: | Nearly impossible, and I'm saying this as a lifetime Android | user. | | Your best bet would be boutique OEMs like Unihertz, who have a | 3.1-inch Jelly phone (underpowered) and a Blackberry style | Titan Pocket with a hardware keyboard and 4-inch screen. | | Neither of these sound like what you want. In the Android | world, one can only hope that another small-time OEM will swoop | in to fill the gap, before inevitably disappearing. | fragmede wrote: | Since pocketability is a large component of the size | question, the foldable Motorola Android phone is worth taking | looking at (if you can afford it). Unfolded it's modern-sized | but folded up it fits in more places. | jazzyjackson wrote: | I don't suppose there's any reason to expect a price cut on the | 13 minis someday, is there? | criddell wrote: | Apple sells refurbished phones for around a 20% discount. | SmellTheGlove wrote: | Apple hasn't even put the iPhone 12 on the refurbished store | yet. It's going to be a while. | fckgw wrote: | Apple doesn't cut the price on their phones, they stay the same | price until replaced the next year. | | You can often find some retailer discounts later in the cycle | but the Mini and SE are in different market segments as far as | Apple is concerned. | ceejayoz wrote: | Sure they do. | | You can still buy an iPhone 11 for $499 at | https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-11. Launch price | $699. | | The iPhone 12 is similarly still available for $599 at | https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-12. Launch | price, again, $699. | | (The iPhone 13 mini is, unsurprisingly, $699. It'll almost | certainly drop to $599 when the 14 comes out, and $499 when | the 15 does.) | loeg wrote: | 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. | eisa01 wrote: | What about the 13 mini? | josefresco wrote: | My wife has it.... chonky as hell. It looks and feels (not | operates obviously) like a step back from her sleek and thin | 6S. | markdown wrote: | > My wife has it.... chonky as hell. | | That's a feature, not a bug. I can't stand thin phones. | loeg wrote: | It also uses FaceID. | deltarholamda wrote: | 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. | markdown wrote: | 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. | loeg wrote: | TouchID vs FaceID is a bigger criteria than photo quality for | me. | amoorthy wrote: | Wow, the home button reappears! Love this. | | On my iPhoneX I've had the touch screen get into a frozen state | so many times and there is no way to unlock or dismiss apps. And | then there's the face ID unlock issue when you're wearing a mask | or not looking right at the screen... which is better solved with | thumbprint unlock. | | I get that you lose screen real estate with bringing back the | home button but I think it's the right call. | nebula8804 wrote: | I am not sure about iPhone X but I thought there was a new mode | on the latest iOS that allows you to add a second Face ID | unlock when wearing a mask? Its an additional setup you have to | do I think? | Tomte wrote: | On next week's iOS 15.4 | babypuncher wrote: | Just in time for most mask mandates/recommendations to | finish disappearing. | | Where was this feature like 18 months ago? | mkr-hn wrote: | They'll be back with the inevitable next major variant | just like Delta and Omicron. Some countries always had | enough mask usage to justify a feature like this. | melling wrote: | The home button isn't reappearing. | | It's an upgrade to the SE, which always had the home button | ComradePhil wrote: | SE started as a copy of their previous models (iPhone 5) and | then SE2 was a copy of iPhone 8. | | The SE series is not defined by its design because iPhone 5 | and 8 were very different design-wise. | | The thing that is different about the SE series is the lower | price. | dejj wrote: | Do you know of any gimmick, e.g. case that brings the | button and its tactile feedback to 11,12,13? | amoorthy wrote: | Ah silly me. Thanks for the clarification. | [deleted] | TAKEMYMONEY wrote: | Giant bezels, no USB, and a _physical_ button? Feels very | outdated compared to the rest of the lineup announced today. | Fezzik wrote: | I think what they're doing is super-smart: there is a giant | section of the population that wants consistency over any other | feature - my mom, 74, and her 5 siblings are always thrilled to | have a phone that works exactly like their last phone; 54+ | million people in the United States are over the age of 65. I | don't know if that plays in to their decisions, but it sure is | appreciated. | mholm wrote: | Additionally, an A15 processor means this phone is going to | stay solid and consistent for at least 5 more years. No | issues with buying the cheaper phone and needing to replace | it more often because the software phased it out faster. | kcartlidge wrote: | No USB isn't great, but personally: | | - Giant bezels => easy grip without touching the screen or | covering it | | - Physical button => still works better for unlocking than | FaceTime (especially with a mask) | | Virtually every other phone doesn't "suffer" from those | "drawbacks" so this is probably my next phone when my current | 2nd gen SE expires. | 2muchcoffeeman wrote: | USB C isn't exactly everything it's cracked up to be. You | can't exactly just grab any USB C cable and plug it into any | USB C port and it works. I still need to keep that one USB C | cable with thunderbolt and charging specifically for my | laptop. Except now I have to label it or be careful with | cable management. | | I'd rather be able to just look at the connector and tell | what it does rather than this silly game of "this USB C cable | is fat, maybe I can use it to charge my laptop". USB C ports | are harder to clean too. | leetcrew wrote: | I choose to look at it from a glass half-full perspective. | any usbc cable is at least as good as a standard usb2 | cable. anything past that is a bonus. it's mildly annoying | that some cables support high wattage PD and some don't, | but it sure beats carrying around two dedicated cables all | the time. | | but if it really bugs you that much, why not just find a | cable that supports all the features you need, buy a few of | those, and hide the rest? they're not that expensive... | dartharva wrote: | > - Physical button => still works better for unlocking than | FaceTime (especially with a mask) | | There are better ways of doing this than a button below the | screen unnecessarily eating up space; e.g. having the | fingerprint reader on the side, or the back, like literally | any modern smartphone. | asimops wrote: | If only it had android | Nition wrote: | The original iPhone SE (2016) is still the most powerful small | smartphone ever made. | | Here's everything released since 2015 that's SE size or smaller: | https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2015&nHeightM... | | This SE, and the previous one, are significantly larger. The | iPhone 13 Mini is closer to original SE size but still larger | (around 8mm longer and 6mm wider). | incanus77 wrote: | I agree. I'm an iOS developer (and Apple developer of 20 years) | and I'm still using one. | onemoresoop wrote: | Currently using the original SE and I'm quite happy with it; as | a device it still performs decently too. I don't need more than | that for my use so I'm going to hold onto it till it dies out. | One issue I've had with the small size is that a lot of | websites are not rendering properly with this screen size and | make the assumption that my phone's size is larger. It's not | the device's problem the websites are broken but it's quite | telling that the whole industry moved on to phablets. | givemeethekeys wrote: | Hows the battery life? | aidenn0 wrote: | I suppose it depends on your definition of small and powerful. | My phone is smaller in width and height than the SE (which is | what your gsm arena filters on), but has a larger volume due to | being twice as thick and weighs 3g less. | | With 6GB of ram and a 8-core (4 big + 4 little) 2GHz MediaTek | CPU, it's more powerful than the dual core A9. On the other- | hand its 480x854 screen is much lower resolution. | Nition wrote: | Can I ask what phone that is? | | I admit I'm being a little unfair on "small", to suit my own | preference. But you could fit a 5" edge-to-edge screen in | original SE size (the iPhone 13 mini has a 5.4" screen), and | it'd be fantastic. Hell you could do a 4" screen - same size | screen as the original SE - but make it edge-to-edge and the | phone would be tiny and just as functional (except maybe | battery life...). | aidenn0 wrote: | Unihertz Jelly 2. 3" screen, Android 11. | barbs wrote: | I have a first-gen iPhone SE and it's been great, but the | hardware is starting to wear out. I actually bought a | Unihertz Jelly to migrate to but I'm waiting until the | iPhone SE becomes unusable before switching over. How are | you finding the Jelly? | aidenn0 wrote: | I commented here. | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30606598 TL;DR | everything is "okay" or better except the camera, which | is terrible. | Nition wrote: | That looks really neat and it's not on GSMArena for some | reason, or else it would appear in my linked search. I | kinda thought they had everything. | [deleted] | nerdponx wrote: | I wish I still had my first-gen SE, because it actually fit in | my small hands, and its nice solid rectangular body made it | easy to hold and hard to drop. The home button on that unit was | starting to give out after 4 years of heavy service and I | didn't want to spend the money for an out-of-warranty repair. | | Unfortunately the Gen 2 is also mostly "non-repairable"; I had | to get a total phone replacement for something as simple as a | dying Thunderbolt port. According to the person at the Genius | Bar, the 12 Mini is much more repairable, more like the first- | gen SE in terms of its internals. | | This SE Gen 3 still has the rounded/slim iPhone 6 body style, | so I would expect it to be equally non-repairable. So all | things equal, I would still go for the 12 Mini over the SE Gen | 2 if I could make the choice over again. | Nextgrid wrote: | I've swapped the case on my iPhone 8 - the Lightning port is | on a separate board and I don't believe there's any active | logic in it that would prevent replacement. It's quite a long | process though that involves taking most of the phone apart - | plan around 3 hours if you don't have previous experience. | ummonk wrote: | I didn't upgrade my original style iPhone SE until the iPhone | 12 Mini came out. It's a little bit larger but still | manageable, unlike most other phones that come out these days. | No headphone jack though sadly. | teejmya wrote: | I held out as well until the 13 Mini. I still use my OG SE as | a media device, since it has a headphone jack. | dangus wrote: | It's also the hardest to compute on. The screen real estate is | truly just not enough. | | It's from an era where we didn't run our lives and businesses | on our phones. | | About 70% of all website visits come from mobile phones: | https://www.perficient.com/insights/research-hub/mobile-vs-d... | | The world has changed a lot since the original iPhone 4 and 5 | form factor hit the scene. | GloriousKoji wrote: | I would argue that the screen real estate is enough but with | the ~2:1 screen ratio the iPhone X introduced and excessive | UI whitespace bloat program UIs are just no longer space | efficient and so the true area of importance ends up being | the size of about two postage stamps. | ydnaclementine wrote: | Pretty sure that's a lightning port on the bottom unfortunately. | Waiting for usb-c like the ipads | onphonenow wrote: | Lighting is a much firmer connector from what I've experienced. | The latency on audio is also miles better if you do music. I | returned an ipad with USB-C - unusable. | paxys wrote: | Even if/when they do introduce usb-c on iPhones, it will start | with the high end models not the SE. The regular iPad doesn't | have usb-c either. | als0 wrote: | Still not small enough. The 1st gen SE was perfect in size and | easy to grip. The iPhone 13 mini is smaller but still easily | falls out of my hand if I'm not paying attention. Alas, we live | in the age of phablets. | uxp100 wrote: | It's a little bigger, but thinner, right? I also went 1st gen | SE for 5 years, and am hoping my 13 mini lasts 5 as well (with | a battery replacement at some point), but I drop this phone way | more than my SE. I think the edges are slipperier. | masklinn wrote: | Yes at 7.3mm the 8 design reused by the SE2 and 3 is quite a | bit thinner than the SE's 7.6mm, though it's at least a | blessing they used the 8's shell because the 6 to 7 shell was | only 7.1. | | The XR and 11 went way up to 8.3, but then the 12 went back | down to 7.4, and the 13 back up a notch to 7.65. | | IME it's not just that the edges are slipperier (though they | are), it's also that the rounded edges offer way less secure | a grip than the flat edges of the 5S shell. And the phone is | bigger and less well balanced, so holding it single-handed it | always teeters on the edge. | | I currently have an 11, which replaced a 6S. I'd not seen | they'd thinned the phones again so I'm quite dismayed, the 6S | was an absolute horror show which I kept dropping. The 11 is | _significantly_ better, though I still drop it way more than | I'm comfortable with. | | I miss the 4S design. Not only do I still think it better | looking, it was more safer, and easier to use: picking the 6S | from a table was an exercise in frustration. The 11 is | better, but it's not great. The 4S was easy, you just... | gripped it. You didn't have to claw your fingers under so it | didn't slip. | Nextgrid wrote: | Cynical me thinks that part of the reasons small phones died | out is because you can't fit as many ads on those screens. | | Small phones are good for a lot of _functional_ purposes, but | terrible at "growth and engagement". | MandieD wrote: | Also not as compelling for watching video, aka more ads. | | Current phone: SE 2020, purchased second hand last summer | Previous: SE 2016, purchased second hand fall 2017 | | Delighted to see this one hit the scene; would have been | happier if it were in the 5/SE 2016 form factor, but | satisfied with the internals. I'm looking forward to getting | one in about two years. | paxys wrote: | There is no market for small smartphones. The mini line has | consistently underperformed, and may get cancelled completely | in the next refresh. People who complain about large screens | online are unfortunately a vocal minority. | ivan_gammel wrote: | Women are the market for smaller devices and they are | majority in many countries. Today is a good day to remind | about it. | harperlee wrote: | Women tend to have more space for storing a big phone with | them, as they use more bags and less pockets. | mook wrote: | Storing phones in bags don't help with the phone being | too big to hold. | | (Incidentally, not all women store phones in bags; but | then I used to see men storing phones on those things | that clip into your belt too... probably not within the | last few years though. Also, you're not storing | _anything_ in women's pockets; they're mostly | decorative.) | ivan_gammel wrote: | https://www.instagram.com/reel/CPdotquH6e-/ | | Now, on the serious side, this is ignorant and sexist | comment. It is sexist because it focuses on gender-biased | fashion, emphasizing social gender inequality. It is | ignorant because it does not take into account that women | are usually physically smaller than men and they have | smaller hands. They need a smaller device to have the | same user experience as men, not because they want to | carry it in their pockets (though surely they want it | too). | hombre_fatal wrote: | All of the women in my life that I can think of have | larger phones, often the plus sized models. They tend to | use some form of a popsocket to make it manageable. | | This could very well be the reality of the phone market | for women without trying to unmask anyone making the | observation as sexist. Seems like you read their comment | as a prescription of how things ought to be. | | I'm not sure what the fuss is about though. The people | doing the market research have decided offer two small | options in the current iPhone generation, so there's | clearly a market for it whether that's women driving that | market or not. There are all sorts of reasons anyone | might want a smaller phone. I own a 13 mini myself and | I'm a big guy. | 2muchcoffeeman wrote: | Didn't they sell 24 million SEs in 2020? Apparently more than | any other iPhone model except the 11. | oreilles wrote: | This iPhone SE 2020 (and this new one) both have a smaller | screen than the 12/13 mini. The mini line underperformed | because it was in direct competition with the SE, not because | people didn't want small screen. If that was the case, they | wouldn't buy the SE either. You can see this very well in the | sales share by model from this article: | https://9to5mac.com/2021/07/15/iphone-12-line-accounted- | for-.... | dogman144 wrote: | Gets into interesting user design and accessibility topics. | | I have no idea what Apple did in this direction, but whenever | I hear "no market for small phones," I think of the women in | my life with small hands who bring up the lack of options | voluntarily when phone size is discussed (especially when an | older iphone SE that's small is seen). | Dunedan wrote: | Of course there is a market. Selling millions of devices | proves that, no matter if that's considered "underperforming" | when compared to the sales of larger smartphones. | dijit wrote: | The mini underperforming is unfortunately proof of very | little. | | I didn't upgrade to the 6 because it was too big, the iPhone | mini is the same size as a 6. | | https://imgur.com/a/W5b7RDF | | If you're in the market for a small phone: an iPhone mini is | just taking you back to when they were already too big. | mylons wrote: | unfortunately it's proof that people do not want it. | xboxnolifes wrote: | That's not really true. If people want a 4" phone and you | only give an option of 6" or 6.5", them picking one of | the other here doesn't _prove_ they don 't want an actual | small phone. | | I think it's true based on other evidence, but this on | it's own isn't conclusive. | mtalantikite wrote: | Yeah, I had a 7 and held on to it for a while hoping a | smaller form factor would come out. Then when the original | SE launched in 2020 I just gave up hope on a small phone | and bought it since my 7 was dying. A few months later the | Mini came out, which was annoying timing. I'd be interested | in the Mini, but I generally keep my phones at least a few | years. | | iPhone 4 was my favorite form factor. I just want something | I can use with one hand. | mkr-hn wrote: | The original SE was 2016. 2020 was the first update. | mtalantikite wrote: | Yeah, you're right, I guess I meant in this form factor. | The first to use the SE name was definitely back in 2016 | with that other 5S design. Thanks for recalling that! | memco wrote: | I felt a little cheated when they launched the nini after | the 2020 SE. I'm still using my 2020 SE and will probably | update in the next year but I'm not sure whether I'll go | for the 2022 SE or the mini. The cost of the SE and the | Touch ID are very strong selling points, but the size of | the mini and the squared sides are also appealing. I am | hoping they'll make an SE-mini hybrid but I'm not holding | my breath. | mantas wrote: | As 6 owner who upgraded to 13 mini... 13 mini fits in hand | much better than 6. Love it. | | ... although 5/se form factor would be even better. | fouc wrote: | Yeah that's an interesting problem, if people refuse to | buy/upgrade to newer phones because they're too big, it | might be hard to see there's a market for smaller phones. | testfoobar wrote: | Nah. Lots of people I know have the a 2020 iPhone SE - both | for its size and more importantly for the fingerprint reader. | I have one and love it. I would consider the 13 mini - but I | prefer fingerprint vs faceid. | ako wrote: | I'm afraid you're correct about it underperforming, but as an | owner of an iphone 13 mini i can only say i'm very happy with | it. As long as there is a mini available, i will not switch | to a larger model. | geoffjentry wrote: | There are many stories out there that there will not be an | iPhone 14 mini | joshmlewis wrote: | "They" said there would not be an iPhone 13 Mini either | but they were obviously wrong there. | holmium wrote: | No, "they" didn't. An iPhone 13 mini was rumored ten days | before the iPhone 12 was revealed [1] (see also in that | same rumor the 2022 SE 3 launch). There were rumors | through out following year that Apple was still going to | have 13 mini even with poor sales of the 12 mini [2]. | | The same people are saying that the mini is toast for the | iPhone 14. It's gone. Maybe Tim Cook will do his Tim Cook | thing and reuse the mini form factor as the next SE for | the next half decade, but I wouldn't bet on it. | | ----------- | | [1] | https://www.macrumors.com/2020/10/02/iphone-13-lineup- | rumore... | | [2] https://www.macrumors.com/2021/02/15/iphone-13-mini- | expected... | mholm wrote: | I actually don't recall any popular opinions that there | wouldn't be a 13 mini. Info I had seen over the whole | span of the 12 indicated that the 13 mini was too far | along to kill, and the 14 was going to get canned. | legulere wrote: | I would take a mini at the price point of the SE. At the | current price it's simply too costly. | cehrlich wrote: | If I needed a new phone I'd probably get this - will get 5+ years | of security updates, and does everything else ok. | new_stranger wrote: | I'm not a person with lots of free time that wants to update to | the latest and greatest every year. | | I now appreciate apple phones knowing I can upgrade when I want | and not in 1 year, 9 months when Google/Samsung drop support | for my phone. | | Also, CalyxOS on Android provides that same concept of support | for old pixels if you want to just keep using your phone as-is. | JazzXP wrote: | This is what pushed me back to Apple after a single Android | device. After 18 months, it was running like crap, and when I | bought it, it was considered one of the best flagship Android | devices available (there was another that was equal, so it | was a coin toss between them). | duxup wrote: | Yeah there's an Android Slowdown Syndrome that I don't know | what it is... but Android has it. My wife's old iPhone 8 | still runs fine. All my old android phones from that time | are a mess. | rodgerd wrote: | > I'm not a person with lots of free time | | > CalyxOS on Android | | Pick one. | new_stranger wrote: | Took about 10 minutes to install and most of that was just | waiting for the os to transfer to the phone. Really easy | install guide. Works great. I wouldn't ask grandma to do | it, but the technical crowd here probably isn't scared of | running a couple cli commands. | Nextgrid wrote: | That still doesn't address the issue that it's community- | supported and can disappear at any time. Cyanogenmod used | to be the main alternative ROM back in the day, and | disappeared virtually overnight? It came back as | LineageOS but it still meant that people had to reinstall | (or somehow convert their Cyanogen install into Lineage, | if that's possible) which takes time. | MrBuddyCasino wrote: | The 2nd gen SE is a nice phone, but battery life is terrible. | Couldn't find any numbers, has this improved? | pattyj wrote: | Video playback up from 13 hrs to 15 hrs | | Streamed video playback up from 8 hrs to 10 hrs | | Audio playback up from 40 hrs to 50 hrs | | According to | https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/?modelList=iphoneSE2ndg... | | It's the same thickness so who knows if the battery has more | capacity. I would think it's more likely that going from A13 | 7nm to A15 5nm chip nets ~20% battery | kemayo wrote: | The announcement post does mention "better battery life" a | bunch. No explicit numbers, though. | npage97 wrote: | From tech spec pages: | | iPhone SE (3rd gen) (https://www.apple.com/iphone-se/specs) | | Video playback: Up to 15 hours | | Video playback (streamed): Up to 10 hours | | Audio playback: Up to 50 hours | | iPhone SE (2nd gen) | (https://support.apple.com/kb/SP820?locale=en_US) | | Video playback: Up to 13 hours | | Video playback (streamed): Up to 8 hours | | Audio playback: Up to 40 hours | | So looking like a ~25% improvement. For some reason Apple | likes to hide the mAh... so not sure how much is the chip vs | possibly a bigger battery? | madspindel wrote: | Could someone confirm it has the U1 chip needed for Airtag | precision find? | waffleiron wrote: | It does not according to the apple.com compare between iphone | 13 and new SE | rchaud wrote: | Is this still 16:9? Or has it gone the ultra-narrow aspect ratio | of all the other phones? | Synaesthesia wrote: | Still 16:9 | azinman2 wrote: | Interesting to me to see how few upvotes this has gotten in one | hour (10). Perhaps not so popular HN? Which is surprising, | because I feel like before the relaunch many people complained it | didn't exist and wanted it. | [deleted] | newaccount74 wrote: | People would upvote it if came with USB-C or brought back the | headphone jack. | bjoli wrote: | You say this as a joke, but after seeing this phone my wife | decided to buy an android phone. She wants a 3.5mm jack. | | She has been holding out for apple to change their mind and | give her an update path from her 6s. | newaccount74 wrote: | I'm not saying it as a joke, I've switched to a Samsung | phone myself because it comes with USB-C and a headphone | jack. I miss some Apple things like iMessage, but I just | got so sick of carrying extra cables and dongles | everywhere. | nebula8804 wrote: | Its just a spec upgrade from last years phone no? | [deleted] | omgwtfbyobbq wrote: | I'd say so. In my experience, different carriers have been | discounting/clearing out many of Apple's 4g models at pretty | good prices over the last year. | stjohnswarts wrote: | I wish my fingers weren't so fat :( | ilamont wrote: | My mom uses an old iPhone 5, and is only giving it up this year | because the carrier will no longer support 3G. I am glad the new | SE phone is available ... the button and small form factor are | really important for her. | Nextgrid wrote: | Doesn't the iPhone 5 support 4G (LTE) though? | meragrin_ wrote: | Data, not voice over LTE. Lack of volte is the issue. | MrRadar wrote: | It does, but not Voice over LTE (VoLTE) for phone calls. | brimble wrote: | The single home button was such a brilliant UX move. It's been | weird to watch them ditch it. Such a genius little safety | blanket for ordinary users. "WTF is going on?!" Press home--the | _only_ button visible on the face of the phone--and you 're | back in familiar territory. | Nextgrid wrote: | Having a "safe" area to hold the phone by and be guaranteed | it won't interact with anything is also nice. Yes, in my | experience the touch rejection at the bottom for the new | borderless iPhones is very good, but it's still a touch | surface that under the right conditions could do something | unexpected (and never underestimate non-technical users to | break something you thought was bulletproof). | ilamont wrote: | The other thing I love about the button is the fingerprint | reader. Far superior to facial recognition IMHO. | ekanes wrote: | yeah especially in an age of masks | javajosh wrote: | Better in the back of the phone IMHO. | stjohnswarts wrote: | Yeah I miss this from my Pixel phones. I wish Apple would | build a model that uses this. | brimble wrote: | I was one of the people who could never get the damn thing | to work right. And re-training it a few times a year just | to get it _back up_ to a ~50% success rate, because of | humidity changes, was no fun. Eventually I just started | using a code again, since I 'd end up there more often than | not anyway. But it seems like it was probably awesome for | people who didn't have trouble with it. | kiwijamo wrote: | I'm also one of those who could never get the Apple | fingerprint reader to work well--for me it was 50/50 | whether it worked or not. Like the parent I ended up | switching back to code entry which was usually quicker | anyway. So when I moved over to Android I was very | suspicious whether the Android implementation would be | any better--and in fact it is miles better. My Samsung | S21 recognises my fingerprint around 9 times out of 10. | It works even in situations (e.g. sweaty fingers) where | the Apple implementation would not work at all. What | makes me even more impressed is that the S21 has the | fingerprint reader embedded into the screen, whereas | Apple had the advantage of a dedicated space for the | fingerprint reader without a screen getting in the way. | YMMV of course but now I understand how nice it is just | to press your fingerprint and it just works. Wonder if | there are people who have unusual features in their | fingerprint that causes Apple's implementation to | struggle? | brimble wrote: | IIRC my touchID phone was one of the early ones to have | it (a 7+, maybe? I don't recall for sure). I've used I | think three different Apple laptops with touchID, and | they've all worked fine. It could be that early versions | of the hardware didn't like something about my skin, but | later versions (by the time they started putting them in | laptops) were fine. I hold on to phones quite a while, so | my next upgrade after that had faceID. In fairness to | Apple, I didn't try any of their later touchID-equipped | models of phones. | Someone wrote: | > it is miles better. My Samsung S21 recognises my | fingerprint around 9 times out of 10 | | That second sentence doesn't imply the first one. The | Samsung could have a lower false positive rate (letting | the registered fingerprint unlock the phone more often) | at the cost of a higher false negative rate (letting | unregistered fingerprints unlock the phone more often) | | In the limit, if it rolled a ten sided die for any press | of its button, and unlocked the phone unless it rolled a | one, that would give users the impression that it | recognizes their fingerprint 90% of the time. | | (Of course, "doesn't imply" doesn't mean the first | sentence isn't true, either. It may be genuinely better, | or Samsung might have chosen a different cut-off, | sacrificing security for a gain in usability. I wouldn't | know. Do any phone reviews test these things at all?) | teekert wrote: | Yeah for me it works great. I feel like now everything | opens automatically as long as the thing is in the | general direction of my face, whereas one used to have to | constantly make a conscious action (push the fingerprint | reader). | brimble wrote: | Yeah, to be clear, the fingerprint reader is what never | worked well for me. 2-3x a year of re-training because | it'd stop working at all if the air (and so, my skin) got | too dry, or too wet. Pretty bad success rate even when it | was "working". Masks aside, face unlock has worked great | for me. | | [EDIT] But _if_ touch-to-unlock had worked for me, and | _if_ I had to take one or the other, I might prefer it. | DanTheManPR wrote: | I wonder why fingerprint readers act up for some people, | is there some sort of physiological reason? It works | perfectly for me, but I've seen how much a tech-savvy | friend of mine struggled with it (for them, faceid was a | godsend). | brimble wrote: | I suspect it's got something to do with skin oils or | natural variation in skin moisture. I know that big | humidity swings were guaranteed to ruin it for me. Air | gets dry in the winter, touch unlock drops to maybe 20% | success rate at best. Fix it by re-training, then in late | Spring it does it again when the air gets wetter. | | The ones on their laptops, however, have been reliable. | Possibly there was a generational improvement in the | equipment before it hit the laptops, and my problems were | just because I had an early model on my phone. | paxys wrote: | I am that way with Face ID. Even under optimal conditions | I can never get it to work more than 50-60% of the time. | hombre_fatal wrote: | Face ID, at least on the iPhone 13, is almost perfect for | me once I rescanned my face from below since I'm usually | peering down at it. Maybe try that. | lelandfe wrote: | As someone who used to feel similarly, I've acclimated to the | touch system now. I think it's pretty brilliant - swiping up | from the bottom gets you the same function. | ginko wrote: | Swiping up with your thumb is pretty awkward though. | brimble wrote: | That's a good point. It doesn't feel good with the case | on, and it makes me feel like I'm gonna drop the phone | with the case off. | brimble wrote: | It's fine for me--though I probably fail the swipe-up | gesture in one way or another 10% of the time, say by | accidentally engaging the task switcher instead, or not | quite getting close enough to the edge, which basically | never happened with the button--but the button was a great | affordance for the less-tech-savvy. | TheDudeMan wrote: | Rounded sides are no bueno. But I do miss the fingerprint reader | in the "better" models. | BigComrade wrote: | prototypeasap wrote: | So, to summarize: perfect size for one handed operation; Physical | button is also a fingerprint reader (but i don't see the | confirmation everywhere, only on some sites). No 3.5 jack (sigh). | | I am still a very content user of 2nd gen SE. Thanks to the | controversy with purposeful "slowing down" of aging phones, i was | able to get a discounted battery replacement a few years back. | So, my phone is holding up very well! | | But if it does break - i guess I'll be getting this one instead | of 'smallish' Pixel. | dstick wrote: | Get the iPhone Mini, you won't regret it. I've used up 5 of the | original SEs. The iPhone Mini's design is perfect and the | actual SE in terms of usability. This SE has those round edges | again which significantly lessens the grip. | 1980phipsi wrote: | I would love to get a 3.5 jack on an Apple product again | temp0826 wrote: | I replaced the screen of my last SE 4 times. Hard to beat when | there are $25 replacement kits available. Not the case with the | 12 mini I picked up recently - wish I would've held off for | this new SE (granted I don't think we'll see cheapo replacement | parts any time soon). Really prefer the smaller size and the | headphone jack isn't a dealbreaker for me | [deleted] | idonotknowwhy wrote: | What's it like in terms of camera app open speed? | | I made the mistake of getting a midrange android phone after | phones became over 1 grand AUD. Missed so many photos due to | the 2 seconds it takes to open. | | Ended up getting a $1500 phone again to get the >1 second | camera opening speed, like my 5 year old flagship had. | | Are apple's cheap phones fast with opening the camera app and | then taking a photo? | smoe wrote: | Not very scientific test, just pressing start stop on the | stop watch on Google with one hand and opening the photo app | and taking a picture with the other a couple of times. On my | iPhone SE 2nd gen, after some practise, I can get .5 to .75 | seconds. When including unlocking the phone first, it's | closer to 2s. | dangus wrote: | This updated SE model uses the exact same processor as the | iPhone 13 Pro. So, it's fast. Even the old model was fast. | | Apple doesn't really sell slow phones at any price point. | What you trade off on for their cheaper phones is usually the | "everything else" part of the equation. | | You want the camera to open fast, and for that reason alone | you should consider the iPhone 13, 13 mini, or 12. All of | those phones have a dedicated button on the lock screen to | open the camera, which I find easier than the swipe gesture | on the iPhone SE and all iPhones in that form factor. | | What you're missing out on with this SE is: | | - For the most part the entire body is the iPhone 8 | | - It has a far inferior screen, it's the old LCD iPhone 8 | screen, and it's the smallest phone screen Apple sells. | | - It has older cameras/sensors. You mentioned needing a fast | camera, and that means you use your cell phone camera a lot. | Maybe that means you also want a good camera, and you'll get | better cameras in the rest of Apple's lineup for not much | more money in some cases. | | - It has the worst battery life of any currently-sold iPhone, | though it's been improved from the second generation. The | physical battery size is smaller than more current iPhones, | and there's no way around that. | | - The base model storage level is 64GB. | | It's for people who "just need a phone" and want an iPhone, | I'd say the kind of people who have less than 2-4 hours of | screen-on-time per day. | | Still, I do think that someone who can spend a few more bucks | should consider the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, or iPhone 12. | I'd skip the iPhone 12 mini because the 13 mini gives you | extra battery life that I'd say it needs. | | With all of those models you're going to get better cameras, | better battery life, more screen real estate, OLED screens. | | If you're really into taking photos, the iPhone 13 Pro really | does have an amazing camera system. I didn't think it would | blow away my iPhone 12 mini but it really does. You get what | you pay for and the top-end is very good. If you're on a | postpaid carrier and don't plan to leave for 2-3 years, you | might as well take the subsidy and get a high-end phone. | [deleted] | ihuman wrote: | > Physical button is also a fingerprint reader (but i don't see | the confirmation everywhere, only on some sites). | | Apple's page says it has Touch ID | | > iPhone SE features the familiar Home button with Touch ID | leetcrew wrote: | reminds me of a feature I loved on my droid x. it had a | dedicated physical button that would wake the phone and | simultaneously open the camera app. inside the app, it would | function as the shutter, so you didn't mess up the shot trying | to tap on the screen. | | I wish that had carried over to modern devices. I guess it's | "too intimidating" to the user to have an extra physical | button. | falsenapkin wrote: | > vile shenanigans by Apple with slowing down of SEs | purposefully | | Wasn't this more a poor communication of performance throttling | to preserve battery that affected all phones? | | And haven't Google/Samsung/others(?) also been caught doing the | same thing? I thought just this past week Samsung backpedaled a | change to throttle apps for battery performance. | | I'm asking more generally because this is my understanding and | I'm sure if someone has better info they'll reply, but to me | "vile shenanigans" is a bit much. They could have done a better | job of communicating a feature with some negative impact, that | seems to be a not-uncommon problem for them. | jeffbee wrote: | Anyone who describes active voltage and frequency scaling in | order to keep the cpu from crashing as "vile shenanigans" outs | themselves as a person without worthwhile opinions on the | topic. | prototypeasap wrote: | Ok, yes - i remember them being fined and they did pay for my | battery replacement; So, i assumed it was an admission of | guilt. But now after some googling, you have a point here; | "vile shenanigans' is not a fair description (edited). | Nextgrid wrote: | The problem is that there was no notification to the user | that the CPU was slowed down on purpose because the battery | can no longer keep up, misleading them into thinking their | device suddenly developed a mysterious fault and/or passive- | aggressively annoying them into upgrading. | dartharva wrote: | Well, if you'd just let people replace the damn phone's | batteries by themselves, you won't have to resort to slowing | them down in the first place. | freeqaz wrote: | What's the camera like on this one? I owned the last-gen SE and | it's camera was the main reason that I upgraded to the 13 Mini. | It was truly awful -- it made my Pixel 2 XL's camera seem WAY, | WAY better than what the SE had. | | Looking at the press release, I don't see anything about any | "new" camera tech. The lens looks pretty similar too. Is anybody | able to confirm if this is the same camera as the last gen model? | plaidfuji wrote: | Agreed, everything else I love about my current SE, but the | camera was near zero improvement over my 6. If it's single lens | it's likely to still be a significant shortcoming. They try to | workaround it with better image processing algos but it's not | the same. | [deleted] | jcoder wrote: | It's in the sub-headline, and there's an entire section about | it: iPhone SE features an all-new camera | system powered by A15 Bionic, with a 12-megapixel f/1.8 | aperture Wide camera that offers incredible computational | photography benefits, including | Wiseacre wrote: | If there any confirmation on if this new version is compatible | with no sim card? One of the things I enjoy about the pixel | budget phones is that it's simless but I was thinking of | switching. | ThePhysicist wrote: | Yes it is, see spec. | Wiseacre wrote: | I had trouble finding it on the product page, even after | scrolling through all the animations. | 0x38B wrote: | The second-gen iPhone SE supports eSim - I use a SIM card for | Verizon and then another carrier with eSim. I can have both | active at once, make calls, etc. Uses more battery but is super | practical. | | Is this what you were talking about? | Wiseacre wrote: | Yes, thank you. | [deleted] | throwawayboise wrote: | Too big. Too expensive. | JamesAdir wrote: | Another mini iPhone with premium features, and still the Android | ecosystem doesn't have a comparable size/features competitor | although there are dozens of manufacturers. | [deleted] | wryun wrote: | Sony Xperia 10 III? (same width) | | Asus Zenfone 8 | websap wrote: | Zenforce....lol | mackrevinack wrote: | samsung's s10e is only slightly bigger than the SE and its | still a decent phone and has a fingerprint sensor on the side | where god intended for it to be. wireless charging. lots of | things you dont get on a lot of "premium" devices these days, | sd card slot, headphone jack, extra programmable button. | | sony's XZ1 compact is smaller than the SE and still works | great, but i only use it as a music player so im not exactly | doing anything that taxing. | | phones plateaued for me a few years back so keep that in mind. | all the new "features" that phones have these days dont really | seem like anything i need | krzyk wrote: | Pixel 4, and previously Pixel 1, 2, 3. | | All had smaller (non-XL) versions that had the same hardware | except the screen/battery. | paul7986 wrote: | I wish they just include a modern Touch ID in their latest phones | that's what keeps me away from the latest and almost greatest. | Love to have a better camera but it's Touch ID or nothing! | | I bought the X and loathed the unlock UX especially if you ever | might need to use your phone in the car. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-03-08 23:00 UTC)