I may be needing a new phone soon. Good thread!

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Originally posted by Bigbuck5:
The Apple website says the battery life is about the same as an iPhone 8. Anyone have an 8? How is the battery life? My current phone (Android) is pushing four years old and I still get 24+ hours out of the battery. I don't watch a lot of video, but do use Whatsapp, translators and email a fair bit.

I currently own an iPhone 8 and was really looking forward to the release of the iPhone SE with the expectation that it would offer a faster processor, upgraded camera (I don’t take a lot of pics but it’d be nice to have), and much better battery life. To be honest, my iPhone 8 can make it through the day on a single charge if I’m not using it heavily for more than 3 or 4 hours, but I was hoping for battery life closer to that of the XR at least. I won’t deny that having a much faster phone that last lasts as long as my iPhone 8 is a plus, but I hoped for better battery life to compensate for the loss of 3D Touch (leaving more volume for a bigger battery and the A13 processor is more power efficient than the A11 of the iPhone 8) and I’m hesitant to spend the money to upgrade at this point.

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Originally posted by bigdeal:

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Originally posted by henryaz:

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Originally posted by Black92LX:
I like the smaller size and prefer the thumb unlock to the FaceID.

I thought the Touch ID (fingerprint) was great, until I got a Face ID phone. I much prefer it to the Touch ID because it is much faster, unless you're wearing a mask all the time.

Never understood why it had to be one or the other. Removing functionality from a phone which is sure to annoy some customers, especially in a phone costing $1k+, seems imprudent to me. Interestingly, one of the features of the Google 3a that gets the most positive feedback is the rear mounted fingerprint sensor. I recognize this is so two years ago, but its still my favorite implementation of a way to access a phone.

They went to the facial recognition because the screen is much larger and goes edge to edge now. The finger print reader takes up a lot of real estate on the face making the screen smaller.

quote:

Originally posted by Bigbuck5:
The Apple website says the battery life is about the same as an iPhone 8. Anyone have an 8? How is the battery life?

The product page claims "The show must go on. So iPhone SE lets you watch up to 13 hours of video on a single charge." That seems pretty impressive. Be interesting to see if real world testing bears that out.

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The product page claims "The show must go on. So iPhone SE lets you watch up to 13 hours of video on a single charge." That seems pretty impressive. Be interesting to see if real world testing bears that out.

Not that I would watch 13 hours of video on my phone, but that seems hard to believe. If it's true, it sure is impressive.

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To be honest, my iPhone 8 can make it through the day on a single charge if I’m not using it heavily for more than 3 or 4 hours, but I was hoping for battery life closer to that of the XR at least.

Thanks! I was looking for a real world report. I also talked to a friend here about it (she has the iPhone 8) granted, she is younger than I am and uses her phone differently than I would, but her experience has dampened my enthusiasm a bit.

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Originally posted by Bigbuck5:
Not that I would watch 13 hours of video on my phone, but that seems hard to believe. If it's true, it sure is impressive.

That's why I'll wait for reviews.

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Originally posted by Bigbuck5:
I also talked to a friend here about it (she has the iPhone 8) granted, she is younger than I am and uses her phone differently than I would, but her experience has dampened my enthusiasm a bit.

Youngsters (did I really just write that?) use their phones much differently than the older crowd. Almost constantly texting. That means lots of screen time. That's a big battery drain.

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Originally posted by Black92LX:

FaceID is a gigantic pain in the ass when your phone is on the dash mount and you have to unlock it to skip to the next song or when you try to use Apple Pay and the reader is in a weird location which is a lot of the time.
I’ll take the thumb any day. I found it to be faster. Pull the phone out of your pocket with your thumb on the button and it is unlocked before you can even look at the screen.

Hmm, mine lets me change tracks all the time from the lock screen without unlocking. Have yet to come across an Apple Pay reader that won’t let Face ID see me.

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Originally posted by Bigbuck5:

quote:

To be honest, my iPhone 8 can make it through the day on a single charge if I’m not using it heavily for more than 3 or 4 hours, but I was hoping for battery life closer to that of the XR at least.

Thanks! I was looking for a real world report. I also talked to a friend here about it (she has the iPhone 8) granted, she is younger than I am and uses her phone differently than I would, but her experience has dampened my enthusiasm a bit.

You’re welcome. My iPhone 8 fits the bill for my needs but I was tempted to upgrade on the possibility of the iPhone SE being more future proof AND offering better battery life. Now that I’m only guaranteed one of these, I’m more inclined to see what the rumored 5.4” iPhone 12 has to offer. Even though 5G is in its infancy, I may be inclined to bring my wallet out for something that offers more of an incentive to upgrade if it’s a more well rounded package as opposed to the iPhone SE which is appeals more to my budget. A 5.4” iPhone 12 is likely to be the same size as the SE if rumors are to be believed plus it’ll feature a better screen and 5G connectivity. I’m not convinced to bring my wallet out yet, but for someone on a budget and who is coming from an iPhone 7 or earlier, this is a gimme and will help Apple capture more of the market due to iMessage,FaceTime, and the allure of the Apple ecosystem.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
Never understood why it had to be one or the other. Removing functionality from a phone which is sure to annoy some customers, especially in a phone costing $1k+, seems imprudent to me...

So when the cost and battery life are some of the most frequent bitch points, they should have multiple biometric unlock systems, increasing cost and reducing battery life. Seems silly and redundant to me.

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Originally posted by jimmy123x:

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Originally posted by bigdeal:

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Originally posted by henryaz:

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Originally posted by Black92LX:
I like the smaller size and prefer the thumb unlock to the FaceID.

I thought the Touch ID (fingerprint) was great, until I got a Face ID phone. I much prefer it to the Touch ID because it is much faster, unless you're wearing a mask all the time.

Never understood why it had to be one or the other. Removing functionality from a phone which is sure to annoy some customers, especially in a phone costing $1k+, seems imprudent to me. Interestingly, one of the features of the Google 3a that gets the most positive feedback is the rear mounted fingerprint sensor. I recognize this is so two years ago, but its still my favorite implementation of a way to access a phone.

They went to the facial recognition because the screen is much larger and goes edge to edge now. The finger print reader takes up a lot of real estate on the face making the screen smaller.

Not if its implemented 'under' the screen like most Android phones today. It could have been easily implemented 'if' Apple saw a reason to include it.

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Originally posted by 911Boss:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
Never understood why it had to be one or the other. Removing functionality from a phone which is sure to annoy some customers, especially in a phone costing $1k+, seems imprudent to me...

So when the cost and battery life are some of the most frequent bitch points, they should have multiple biometric unlock systems, increasing cost and reducing battery life. Seems silly and redundant to me.

When you've crested the $1k+ price point expecting both options is certainly not unrealistic. I for one prefer a fingerprint reader on my phone. If you haven't followed it, check out the uproar and bitching cellphone buyers unleashed on manufacturers when the 3.5mm headphone jack started to disappear from phones. I never imagined any real issue with that deletion and was amazed by the uproar. Some people are still grinding gears over it. Once something has been made a part of a phone, taking it away will not be viewed as a positive by a lot of buyers.

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Originally posted by 911Boss:

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Originally posted by Black92LX:

FaceID is a gigantic pain in the ass when your phone is on the dash mount and you have to unlock it to skip to the next song or when you try to use Apple Pay and the reader is in a weird location which is a lot of the time.
I’ll take the thumb any day. I found it to be faster. Pull the phone out of your pocket with your thumb on the button and it is unlocked before you can even look at the screen.

Hmm, mine lets me change tracks all the time from the lock screen without unlocking. Have yet to come across an Apple Pay reader that won’t let Face ID see me.

Sorry, that should say choose the next song not skip.

I guess you don’t hit the drive thru much. That and a lot of places around here tend to mount the unit especially the smaller ones flat on the counter. I am 6’2” and either have to squat way down or pull the camera up then put it back down closer to the reader after FaceID as recognized me.

As for battery life I went from an 8 to an Xr and really don’t notice much difference. Last me the day and put it on the charger before bed.

But it is all boils down to personal preference in the end and end the end more options at a cheaper price.
I am tired of these 1k phones that I don’t even come close to using the capabilities of. Plus they are HUGE!!

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Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
Interesting, might be time to replace my SE.

I'm very happy with the size of my current SE. The Gen II one will have come down in price about the time the battery in my existing one won't hold a charge and the new one will be no bigger but have a better chip and 4x the memory.

On the other hand, if anyone at Samsung had half a brain they would revive the Galaxy 4 Mini form factor and pack it full of an updated processor, latest Android version, better camera and more internal memory while retaining the replaceable battery and MicroSD card slot. I loved that phone and only switched to the iPhone SE when my 4-Mini died because the SE is almost exactly the same size. No Apple Kool-Aid drinker here.

I loathe the fingerprint thing because it does not work with gloves which I use frequently for all sorts of things. Yard work, K9 work, MTB riding, motorcycle riding, weight lifting, shooting, winter time gloves, PWC riding, etc. Fingerprint they can put it on the back at the bottom or really any place on the entire screen.

I can hardly contain my excitement.

Did a bit of back-of-the-napkin calculating last night. A 64GB iPhone SE is $360 with the Veteran's and Military discount. Buying them with my Apple Card would get us an additional 3% cash back. Now we're down to $350. I figure we should be able to get about $85 for our iPhone 6S'. (They're in cosmetically mint condition.) That brings our out-of-pocket down to $265

ETA: Better yet: We don't even have to deal with selling the 6S'. Apple will give us $80 trade-in on each of 'em

I think this is an excellent early review of the SE2 and hits on many of the things already discussed here.


THE NEW IPHONE SE IS A SHOCKINGLY GOOD VALUE

Yesterday,Yesterday, Apple announced the new $399 iPhone SE. The TL;DR appears to be really simple: the iPhone 8’s body, the iPhone 11’s processor, and the iPhone XR’s camera system with a few new capabilities. I’ll obviously wait to review this phone to tell you if it’s any good, but assuming Apple lives up to its usual standards I can tell you something right away:

At $399, the second-generation iPhone SE is a shockingly good value.

The most important thing to know about the SE’s value proposition is simply that it has the A13 Bionic processor, which is bar-none the fastest processor you can get on any smartphone at any price, full stop. You could spend $1,449 on a fully maxed-out iPhone 11 Pro Max and it wouldn’t be faster than the iPhone SE. You could spend $1599.99 on a maxed-out Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G and it would be theoretically slower (with the exception of 5G downloads).

This isn’t just a matter of processor megahertz per buck, it’s a matter of the longevity of the phone itself. More than any other phone company, Apple supports its phones for a very long time. Since this iPhone SE has the most modern processor available, it’s quite likely that it will receive software updates for many years to come.

Hell, Apple even did the right thing with storage: offering a humane 64GB at the base level and making the 128GB model only $50 more.

Over the course of 2019, we marveled at the level of quality you could get in a long series of relatively inexpensive Android phones. That’s still true today, but those phones will receive three years of updates from Google at most. And as my colleague Chris Welch will argue later today, the iPhone SE sets a bar that the upcoming Google Pixel 4A will have an incredibly difficult time clearing.

Again, we’ll need to review the new iPhone SE and the Pixel 4A to know whether one of them has an advantage with any particular feature (like the camera). So no final judgements here. But I just need to point out that for most of 2018 and 2019, every Android maker has had a bit of a green field to play in: phones that cost less than $500.

Google, Asus, Samsung, and many others did good work in that green field, but now there’s real competition from Apple.

On Tuesday in this newsletter, I had half a thought about these low-cost phones. Forgive me for quoting myself:

Increasingly, I find that “flagship” phones are mainly about luxuries instead of tangible benefits to most people. Those luxuries include screen quality, 5G, wireless charging, face unlock, speed, overall build quality, camera quality, and a smattering of other things.

Will the iPhone SE match the iPhone 11 or 11 Pro on most of those metrics? Nope. But when I wrote that I hadn’t imagined that Apple would use its newest chip. The inclusion of the A13 Bionic means the SE will match the most luxurious phone on speed and on longevity.

I know I’ve now brought up software updates twice now, but it’s super important. $399 spent on this iPhone SE means it’s less likely you’ll be forced to spend another $399 next year or the year after.

There are several things to be bummed about with the iPhone SE 2 — starting with the fact that Apple calls it the “second-generation iPhone SE,” which is a bad name. Eventually we’ll settle on what to call it, but until then prepare for iPhone SE, second-generation iPhone SE, iPhone SE 2, iPhone SE (2020), the new iPhone SE, and probably something I can’t imagine right now. Ugh.

IT DOESN’T MATTER THAT IT’S A PARTS BIN PHONE IF THE PARTS ARE GOOD
I kid, that’s not really a real problem. Neither is the claim that this is just a “parts bin” phone. Yes, Apple is using a lot of parts that have been bouncing around its product lines for years. But, and I want you to really feel this: who cares? It doesn’t matter how old the parts are if they’re good.

No, there are real issues we know about already just from the basics. For example, this form factor — the same as the iPhone 6 — isn’t especially inspiring. I hate the size of the bezels. It seems like a petty complaint, but reducing them really does change your experience. You get more screen in a smaller body. Plus, it’s something most Android phones accomplished by putting a fingerprint sensor on the back or under the screen.

Speaking of size, this iPhone SE is larger than the last iPhone SE, which means that even ‘small’ phones are big now, as Dan Seifert observed yesterday. Finding a truly good, truly small smartphone is nigh impossible right now.

YES, IT’S OKAY TO BE A LITTLE BUMMED ABOUT THE MISSING HEADPHONE JACK
And though I know many people will tell me to just get over it already, the fact that this low-cost iPhone lacks a traditional headphone jack is a bit of a bummer. Other low-cost Android phones explicitly include them. Bluetooth headphones aren’t just another thing to charge, they’re another thing to buy and another thing that could break.

Apple has a reputation for overcharging for hardware. It’s become a point of contention in the flamewars between Apple, Windows, and Android stans. My take is that sometimes Apple is guilty and sometimes it’s not. The new MacBook Air is a great value. Selling Mac Pro wheels for $699 and literal metal posts for $299 is so incredibly hilarious that even pointing out that it’s become self-parody feels so obvious it’s embarrassing.

On that spectrum, the new iPhone SE (or whatever we decide to call it) is not just a good value for Apple. It’s one of the very best values I’ve seen in the smartphone market in years. In theory, at least: now we just have to test it and see if it lives up to its spec sheet.

Looked a couple days ago, and the reviewers have the new SE in-hand. The reviews are overwhelmingly positive. Heck, the Engadget reviewer was almost gushing over the thing. The biggest negative: That the camera doesn't have a night mode.

In response to an earlier poster's question about battery life: It appears to be at least as good as an iPhone 8. One reviewer found it to be significantly better. It would appear that at least an entire day in heavy use, and up to two in moderate use, can be expected.

So I may be SF's iPhone SE (2020) guinea pig , as I just finished pulling the trigger on a pair of these for my wife and I. $300 each, with tax, after my military/veteran discount and the trade-in allowances on our iPhone 6S'.

Delivery is currently quoted at 1-2 weeks.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
I loathe the fingerprint thing because it does not work with gloves which I use frequently for all sorts of things. Yard work, K9 work, MTB riding, motorcycle riding, weight lifting, shooting, winter time gloves, PWC riding, etc. Fingerprint they can put it on the back at the bottom or really any place on the entire screen.

THis, you can't open the phone wearing full motorcycle gloves, mine tethers into the entertainment system for comm, gps and music systems, with the new face recon, I can glance at it and it opens up.

I'd rather have BT ear buds and no wire connection, being tied to a device is a PIA...

Doesn't matter what you do, someone somewhere is gonna bitch, hell they probably still want a rotary dial...