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Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

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Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#251

Post by jfoutz »

d--b wrote: post #243
whitepoplar wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like small phones because I feel that they're a better tradeoff between form + functionality. I want a premium phone, and I'm willing to pay a lot for it, but I also want to spend as little time on my phone as possible. A smaller screen gives me all the benefit while being easy to carry and handle, and the small screen keeps me from using it too much. I also happen to think small screens feel more elegant. The prom…

Totally agree. HNers do understand the tradeoffs better. It's like when they started making laptop screen reflective. All my non-tech relatives were saying: "wow that screen is super nice" while I was thinking: "holy crap, the matte screen is disappearing, how I am going to work?"

apple has masterful market segmentation.

they want the inexpensive option to not really fill a specific niche, they want it to be a little uncomfortable, that you're already making compromises so you'll pay a grand for the fancy one instead.

What i'm trying to say is, making a smaller option would be cheaper. That would cannibalize high end sales. From the seller's point of view, you want the best alternative to compromise all of your desires, so it's not that big of a deal to just upgrade. something inherently small violates that.

HNers can identify the tradeoffs. Apple probably understands the tradeoffs better though. Apple exploits them. (I say this as a loyal iphone owner.)

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#252

Post by AceyMan »

geofft wrote: post #40
adzm wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people have small hands and/or short fingers. If you don't, it's hard to sympathize. Imagine trying to use a nine inch tablet with one hand.

I have, I think, relatively large hands (I'm a 5'11" cis guy / I can comfortably play a 9th on a piano and uncomfortably play a 10th) and I still find the SE as large as I can manage. I want to be able to hold the phone in one hand and reach everything with my thumb. I can't do that on the 6 or anything larger. (I'd prefer the iPhone 4 form factor, with one fewer row of icons, if possible.) A couple years ago they ca…

> A couple years ago they called large phones "phablets." We've lost that word now.

The correct term is tablone .

I loved my SE until I bricked it jumping in our local pool not feeling it was still in my pocket — one of the downsides not yet mentioned. I brought my previous Nexus 6 out of retirement since there aren't any phones, Android or iPhone, that is worth new pricing right now.

Plus, I demand a 3.5mm headphone jack — dropping that was the most annoying design choice I can remember in a long time, in any consumer device.

Grrr.

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#253

Post by lostlogin »

radlad wrote: post #192
mark-r wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently had to use a smaller screen phone when my larger one broke and I was waiting for its replacement. I found the smaller keyboard to be nearly unusable compared to what I was used to, and the replacement larger phone only reinforces that impression.

I have very small hands. Many small gloves don't fit me. I have no issues with keyboards on small phones, especially with a learning keyboard like SwiftKey.

Some people are very offended to be told they have small hands. Don’t miss the bit where a photo of his hands is posted out yearly. https://money.cnn.com/2016/03/04/media/donald-trump-fingers-...

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#254

Post by lostlogin »

ianai wrote: post #214
darkpuma wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately this time, Steve Jobs can't come back to set things right.

I genuinely think they have the wrong ceo.

Imagine if it had been Ive. For one thing, I bet we wouldn’t have camera bulges.

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#255

Post by tass »

burlesona wrote: post #188

Like many others I wish they’d release one with fresh hardware. I’d buy one immediately, for my wife, who hates all the phones since the 5s because she can’t hold them well. There’s this whole ridiculous pop-socket thing she uses so that she can hold an iPhone 7 without dropping it, she swears it’s the only thing that makes it usable for her. Wish this market was bigger since apparently there’s not enough demand.

Those awkward things attached to the back? I guess she doesn’t have pockets since it makes them a really awkward shape - such a weird usability trade off yet many people seem to have them.

I hope this is a test of demand - I ordered one since my existing one is falling apart after some big drops but I didn’t want something bigger.

I tried an LG v30 and it always felt like I was about to drop it (though the audio sounds really nice!) I can’t find any phone besides the SE that I’d rather buy even without price as a factor.

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#256

Post by slededit »

jfoutz wrote: post #251
d--b wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree. HNers do understand the tradeoffs better. It's like when they started making laptop screen reflective. All my non-tech relatives were saying: "wow that screen is super nice" while I was thinking: "holy crap, the matte screen is disappearing, how I am going to work?"

apple has masterful market segmentation. they want the inexpensive option to not really fill a specific niche, they want it to be a little uncomfortable, that you're already making compromises so you'll pay a grand for the fancy one instead. What i'm trying to say is, making a smaller option would be cheaper. That would cannibalize high end sales. From the seller's point of view, you want the best alternative to comp…

They’ve done this forever with their computers. Happy with the CPU but don’t want a horrible 5400rpm hard drive (Yes iMacs still ship with those)? Well you’re going to need to bump up to the higher CPU model.

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#257

Post by darkpuma »

vvhn wrote: post #238
darkpuma wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately this time, Steve Jobs can't come back to set things right.

i love how everyone’s idea of what Steve Jobs would do is what they would they would like to see happen :-)

I've got no skin in the game, I don't buy iphones.

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#258

Post by somethingle234 »

jdietrich wrote: post #73
JBReefer wrote: post #7

Why does everyone love this phone so much? Clue me in?

The iPhone SE was the last stand of a dead philosophy - the one-handed phone. To Steve Jobs, it was absolutely essential that all of the core functions of the iPhone could be performed with one hand. That requirement dictated large parts of the iPhone's design and the UX principles of iOS. One-handed operation formed a key part of the marketing of the iPhone 5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O99m7lebirE The one-hand…

I don't think it's a dead philosophy. I personally prefer one-handed phone.

We instead should adjust the UI to make it more comfortable with one hand (as in using thumb to navigate comfortably).

But, like you said, none of the phones is going this direction. This seems similar to the situation in 2005 where every phone required a stylus, and Steve Jobs came along and adjusted every UI/UX to be usable by fingers.

We need another Steve Jobs to revolutionize how a phone should work.

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#259

Post by btb »

wodenokoto wrote: post #89
lostlogin wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only is this something I’d love, it’s also a comment that gets a lot of upvotes on Hackers News every time it’s made. Do HN readers have an unusual like for ‘small’ phones or is it just an unserved market?

Since no one here is rushing to get the small xperia phones I'm guessing it is one of those things people want, but at the same time is the first feature they are willing to give up. another case in point: parent only wants to change to smaller phone if all other specs are also improved.

Actually sony compacts were some of the phones I was considering when I upgraded from iphone 4, to iphone SE. But the iphone se was just a tad smaller and I liked the look and feel of it. Had there been no iphone SE i would most likely be an android user now. And if apple stops producing a small model like iphone SE, that will probably be the thing that pushes me towards some sort of android phone.

Re: Apple resumes selling iPhone SE at lower $249 price on its clearance store

#260

Post by mrzool »

stanmancan wrote: post #71

The only thing that could get me to upgrade from my iPhone 7 would be a premium version of the iPhone SE. I want a smaller phone, not a bigger one, but I want updated specs and possibly an OLED screen.

I stopped considering my iPhone SE a “small phone” and I started considering it for what it actually is: a “just right” phone.

Ergonomically speaking, 4 inches is the right size for a device that is meant to be operated by a human hand. Phones bigger that that are grossly oversized and anti-ergonomic.

That’s just common sense (cit. Apple): https://youtu.be/O99m7lebirE

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