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What It's Like Using an iPhone SE in 2019
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Well, this forum is mostly about a company which focuses on phones and other devices comprised of metal and glass. I haven't detected much overwhelming emotions on this topic, just folks expressing likes or dislikes of the SE product. Emotions only seem to arise when the discussion results in personal invective/insults.
The polycarbonate housing was the best part of the 5c, they just made the phone a horrible value by stuffing it with iPhone 5 internals and pricing it only $100 less than 5s which brought the first 64 bit chip in a smartphone, noticeable camera improvements and Touch ID.
I would welcome a modern iPhone that used alternative materials such as polycarbonate to make a lighter, and hopefully smaller, device.
I LOVE iPhone SE for its SIZE. It is the only phone that fits into my hand comfortably. I actually bought the iPhone 6 and returned it for a new SE to replace my 5S because the 6 hurt my hand and took two hands for nearly all operations. I like being able to turn it on/off and even take photos quickly using one hand! It fits in all pockets and even into all small purses. For certain work, iPad is better and/or MacBook, but for phone and portability, nothing is as good as compact SE. Buttons are still nice. Earphone port is convenient for when Bluetooth is not the way to go or is not available. Only thing better would be a folding phone, half as large, that could do the same. Remember not everyone has hands like a giant. And I'm not a child. But those new phones are really hard to hold!
This, to me was the perfect size iPhone. It worked well with one hand which is what I care about. And I can play octaves on a piano so phone to hand size is not the issue. I simply cannot type in any speed with one hand on the (currently) X.
My dream is Apple makes the SE size foldable that unfolds to twice it's screen width.
My dream is Apple makes the SE size foldable that unfolds to twice it's screen width.
Yep. I was like that with my Nokia 8210, I bought a bunch. The SE for me was an opportunity to upgrade my iPod Touch 6gen. However I do believe a 4" phone will make a return. It won't be the SE but it appears that they are heading back to a more straight sided design aesthetic anyway. btw, this is a brilliant case that's as close to having no case as possible.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/iPhone-SE-5s-5-Case-Slim-Thin-Hard-Back-Shockproof-Bump-Cover/283079780018
Different strokes for different folks. I hope they update the SE. I'm sure they'd sell boatloads.
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I hear ya. They reallllyy need to update the SE. It makes sense.
I will say as an iOS developer I hate that screen size. People don't like to scroll to see info. People love lots of info on the screen. We fight to make things look good at that super low resolution. I am not talking pixels here but points. For retina displays the pixel count went way up but the point count stayed the same. You saw the same content, words, etc but retina made it all look so much clearer. Developers deal in points, not pixels.
Working on a shopping app with live video feed. To try and get all the crap we need on the screen on the SE screen size is impossible. Looking at our user base we sit at about 1% of users on an SE / 5 size screen so we are just not going to do all the work to not have overlapping UI elements.
I get why people like the size but it is becoming harder to support it when the user base is getting smaller. If the apps you have for your phone work then great, keep using it. Newer apps get tested less and less on that size and many are probably going to start looking like crap on it as many apps are becoming very feature rich.
I know, poor programmer making money off me, just shut up. Just tossing in another hiccup to this discussion.
Working on a shopping app with live video feed. To try and get all the crap we need on the screen on the SE screen size is impossible. Looking at our user base we sit at about 1% of users on an SE / 5 size screen so we are just not going to do all the work to not have overlapping UI elements.
I get why people like the size but it is becoming harder to support it when the user base is getting smaller. If the apps you have for your phone work then great, keep using it. Newer apps get tested less and less on that size and many are probably going to start looking like crap on it as many apps are becoming very feature rich.
I know, poor programmer making money off me, just shut up. Just tossing in another hiccup to this discussion.
I wonder if a small battery in an SE size can efficiently run an A11 or A12 chip.
I wanted the SE update for a long time but don't see that happening. I've had every size phone and now I think an iPhone sized like the 6-8 but a bit more wide for 16:9 watching videos. I went from the XS to the iPhone 8 Plus as I watch a lot of YouTube.
I wanted the SE update for a long time but don't see that happening. I've had every size phone and now I think an iPhone sized like the 6-8 but a bit more wide for 16:9 watching videos. I went from the XS to the iPhone 8 Plus as I watch a lot of YouTube.
Gonna be honest, in the bleary-eyed early morning hours I was kinda tempted to pick up the iPhone X that Best Buy currently has on sale for $749 today but I pulled up a size comparison on the web and Jesus Christ that thing is massive. Nooooo thanks.
![VMe5py9.png]()
I'm glad there are options for multitudes of people who don't want bigger screens, don't care for the latest and greatest but still want to be in the iOS platform. it's especially helpful when people with limited budgets can purchase a good phone that's still getting updates outright without having to spend north of $1k.
I can see the day where technology is so inconvenient we go back to the old stuff. Imagine 30 years from now, at an Apple presentation.
"Phones today are too large to hold comfortably. They're too thin and delicate. Even listening to music requires tiny ear-pieces that are easily lost, drop connection and run out of battery power at the most inopportune times. At Apple, we've been working on ways to fix these issues. So today, we are introducing the iPhone Retro. It's the most dense, thickest iPhone we've ever designed, with the smallest screen ever in an iPhone. It comes with an auxiliary port so pairing, unpairing and needing another source of power for yet another device is a thing of the past. Our iPhones ship with earbuds with convenient, thin wires which tether them to both you and your device, keeping them more secure and reducing the chance of you losing them. It's the best iPhone we've ever made".
Johnny Ive: "Life today has become complicated, and so have our devices. Our goal with the iPhone Retro was to go back to a simpler time, when technology was reliable, but not intrusive, or a hindrance. We wanted to take what makes iPhone great, and repurpose it in a way that retaines its usefulness while making it more simple. It's easy to hold. Instead of staring at a screen to make it work, we've added a mechanical button that you can operate without ever looking at your device or removing it from your pocket. Other physical buttons allow you control without thought. It's the most simple iPhone to use ever."
iPhone Retro: Starting at $3,500.
"Phones today are too large to hold comfortably. They're too thin and delicate. Even listening to music requires tiny ear-pieces that are easily lost, drop connection and run out of battery power at the most inopportune times. At Apple, we've been working on ways to fix these issues. So today, we are introducing the iPhone Retro. It's the most dense, thickest iPhone we've ever designed, with the smallest screen ever in an iPhone. It comes with an auxiliary port so pairing, unpairing and needing another source of power for yet another device is a thing of the past. Our iPhones ship with earbuds with convenient, thin wires which tether them to both you and your device, keeping them more secure and reducing the chance of you losing them. It's the best iPhone we've ever made".
Johnny Ive: "Life today has become complicated, and so have our devices. Our goal with the iPhone Retro was to go back to a simpler time, when technology was reliable, but not intrusive, or a hindrance. We wanted to take what makes iPhone great, and repurpose it in a way that retaines its usefulness while making it more simple. It's easy to hold. Instead of staring at a screen to make it work, we've added a mechanical button that you can operate without ever looking at your device or removing it from your pocket. Other physical buttons allow you control without thought. It's the most simple iPhone to use ever."
iPhone Retro: Starting at $3,500.
Never apologize (to me anyway) for offering valuable input and food for thought!
I do sometimes mourn the fact that apps become unusable as devs move on to the next iterations of hardware and operating system capabilities.
But, I know I must finally get down to saying ok that's gone, find something else that a) works and b) is still actively maintained. Evolve or Die is no joke... for customers, not only developers.
Just not totally convinced the time of the SE-sized iPhone is over. Maybe it will have fewer cool games or fancy apps, I can understand limitations on real estate.
But a lot of us in this thread have evinced interest in a small phone that handles the basics expected of a smartphone --calls, contacts, mail, texting, calendar, maps, a quick glance at news headlines and weather-- and have noted that they also own iPads of one or another size (or in my case my XR which I've taken to calling a narrow tablet lol) to use when the phone sized screen doesn't cut it.
Win win win... more hardware gets sold, more devs get to keep writing apps for the larger screens and there's something for that newbie y'all just took on, he or she can fix that bug in the alternate mail client for the "X-SE" before Apple gets around to debugging more of their stuff here and there.
[ yep a winter day of brilliant sunshine has helped me find rose colored glasses]
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Post of the day, maybe of the decade.
I know, right? I want all those things too! I saw the benchmarks of LTE speed on the SE vs the newer phones... That one really kills me. I want a premium phone, and I'd happily pay for it. But I want it all in a small form factor. So here I am, stubbornly sticking with my SE until apple has another "courageous" moment and decides the latest OS update won't support my phone anymore.
At least I get two big features that big/modern phone people don't: a headphone jack and TouchID.
*drops the mic*
I run iOS 10.3 on my SE, and it's as good as the day I bought it. Most of my apps still update on a daily basis, and don't have any issues using it with macOS 10.14. I'd love an SE2, but until then I'll keep my SE until you pry it from my cold, dead, hands.
No rush - I only upgraded from my release-day iPhone 4 to an iPhone SE 2.5 years ago, thus I might be in the market for a new iPhone in late 2022...
I think what many people want, as can be seen from comments here (and my "real life" experiences) is an iPhone a similar size to the SE but with the modern tech and LARGER, borderless screen. The iPhone X would have been amazing if it used a 6/7/8 sized screen in a smaller phone than them - best of all worlds!
Sorry for old guy comment... are you aware the original 68030 upgrade to the Macintosh SE was supposed to be SEX like the Macintosh IIX after the II. SE30 happened instead for PC reasons. Back in the day I hacked my boot screen to say SEX. Aw the simple pleasures of the simple days.
i did not, but someone mentioned that a few posts back. i can't believe they missed this opportunity!
My first iPhone was a 5S. My second was a 6. My third was an SE (in silver with 64GB). I would have bought a 64GB 5S if Apple hadn’t discontinued it...
My fourth was an iPhone SE, a gold one with 64GB. My fifth was a black (or “space gray” lol) SE with 128GB. My sixth was an iPhone SE, silver again, ALSO with 128GB.
I bought the space gray one because it was actually cheaper than NOT buying one, (through a carrier) the others I bought from Apple directly; the rest I bought as a hedge of bets against Apple doing just what I thought they’d do, unceremoniously discontinuing it and trying to force me to buy an overpriced, oversized, defective by design POS like every iPhone is since the 7.
I don’t need or want forced touch. I don’t want or need facial ID. I don’t want or need 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or more cameras, because I’ve never wanted to shoot professional photos, 12MP is way more than enough for me. I don’t want or need a phone without a HEADPHONE JACK, (that is an absolute dealbreaker for me, as it would add even more cost to the already absurdly stratospheric price just to replace audio devices I use WITH my iPhone that work just fine thank you very much, that don’t have BLUETOOTH,) AND I don’t want or need a phone that is that stupidly, absurdly BIG OR THIN. I ***HATED*** the rounded edges on my iPhone 6, which is why I was willing to pay Apple even more money, to go from a 64GB iPhone 6 BACK to an iPhone 5S, (or even a not-s 5!!!) with 64GB, but they’d discontinued them. I almost dropped (meaning dropped but caught,) that stupid 6 with its stupid rounded edges repeatedly, and that’s part of why I so love the 5’s form factor. The square edges are, I think, attractive, stylish, and easier for me to hold onto.
I didn’t mind that Apple was making the 7, the 8, or the 9 (that they mistakenly called the 10, because everyone is apparently allergic to the number NINE...it’s the new 13, apparently,) if that’s what other people want, but the very fact that the SE WAS SELLING JUST FINE as evidenced by the fact that when they put some in the clearance store, they disappear pretty quickly, indicates there’s still a demand for them. There are still people willing to pay Apple good money for the SE, and they’re getting rid of it anyway, just to force people into more expensive crap-phones with no headphone jacks, that require a new case because they’re almost never the same shape, that are less durable, more likely to be dropped and more likely to be broken WHEN dropped... etc. I will NOT support that kind of behavior.
Apple has forgotten the old business adage that the customer is always right, and replaced it with “APPLE IS ALWAYS RIGHT.” Well, fine, let Apple be its own customer then, for I shall not.
My phone will have a headphone jack. Period. My phone will fit comfortably in my pocket. Period. My phone will not be more expensive than my monthly car payment. Period.
Also, I wish I could refinance my car and pay less than 550 a month... but that’s not really relevant.
Apple discontinues products I like in order to try to squeeze more and more money out of me while offering progressively inferior products for ever escalating prices. Products that bend too easily,products with keyboards that can be rendered inoperable by a speck of dust, all for the sake of thinnness like a mentally ill, 5’9” supermodel who dies weighing 60 pounds and still thinks she’s too fat.
I say NO.
Two in our immediate family, we joking refer to them as "iPhone 2's" after one user was seriously asked if the SE was an iPhone 2 at work.
I bought it a bit over a year ago and I'm loving it. It's the perfect size and I'm not seeing any slowness even on the newest iOS. I can't think of a single feature that it's lacking. I love Touch ID, it works every time, I love the headphone jack, I use it every day, I love the screen size and the lack of a camera bump. I also like how it looks and feels in your hand, I prefer it to the newer thinner phones that are awkward to hold without a case.
I don't like the thought of spending a lot of money on a phone, but I also don't want to use Android phones, as I like iOS a lot. I wish Apple continued to offer something for everyone, so that those who don't want to spend their entire month's wages on a phone can still get something. I don't think having to spend that much on something as basic and necessary as a phone is fair, especially considering how quickly they go obsolete. If someone is super rich and wants to spend unbelievable amounts of cash on a phone, fine, but give normal people a choice, too.
The SE proves that Apple can make a truly affordable phone if they want to. Actually I would be much more willing to upgrade more often if these things weren't so expensive.
I don't like the thought of spending a lot of money on a phone, but I also don't want to use Android phones, as I like iOS a lot. I wish Apple continued to offer something for everyone, so that those who don't want to spend their entire month's wages on a phone can still get something. I don't think having to spend that much on something as basic and necessary as a phone is fair, especially considering how quickly they go obsolete. If someone is super rich and wants to spend unbelievable amounts of cash on a phone, fine, but give normal people a choice, too.
The SE proves that Apple can make a truly affordable phone if they want to. Actually I would be much more willing to upgrade more often if these things weren't so expensive.
Depends.
I don’t use it for much beyond text, e-mail and the occasional foray onto the web. It’s primarily a telephone.
Then again, I’m a bit anachronistic, all my hardware is old, all dual-boot between Snow Leopard and Dosdude1’s unsupported Mojave (which is sharp with the dark mode, I’ll give it that, but it’s less usable than 10.6.8. None of my old PPC paint programs OR my 1999 Wacom Intuos 1 works, and as my PSCS3 is 32-bit, 10.14 is crabbing constantly that the program is not ‘optimized’ - that is, 64-bit. Honestly I get far more work traction from Snow Leopard - all the browsers I use run NoScript, uBO, and the Mozilla ones - Firefox and SeaMonkey -also have the User Agent Switcher add-on.)
From that long-term perspective, approaching any tech purchase as a ‘multi-year investment’ that will run the latest-greatest code for the life of the device is folly. I buy with the mind that it’s going to be subject to a planned obsolescence within 24 months and adjust expectations and usage accordingly.