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The 2020 iPhone SE

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141–150 of 317 posts

Re: The 2020 iPhone SE

#141

Those benchmarks are impressive. iPhone SE beating the 2019 MBP in single core performance? That's fantastic! I wish I could comment on or know what he was talking about with the iPhone X vs "old iPhone" interaction paradigm. I personally thought the "single button" hardware interface was an incredible innovation that changed everything. Even Android relies on it. My Galaxy S9+ has a "software home button" (like most…

the real question is why we need that performance in your phone? I'm honestly asking, because with every flagship phone (no mater the brand) there is the hype about performance (X's processor is 2x quicker than Y) and it always makes me think. I don't think that in the last 10 years I ever had thought "I wish my phones CPU had higher clock speed"...

Re: The 2020 iPhone SE

#142
post #7

Those benchmarks are impressive. iPhone SE beating the 2019 MBP in single core performance? That's fantastic! I wish I could comment on or know what he was talking about with the iPhone X vs "old iPhone" interaction paradigm. I personally thought the "single button" hardware interface was an incredible innovation that changed everything. Even Android relies on it. My Galaxy S9+ has a "software home button" (like most…

Fun fact: iPhone's buttons are not mechanical buttons starting with iPhone 7. The click you feel when you press it is just the taptic engine. If you have an iPhone 7 or 8, try turning it off and try to press the button.

You shouldn't need to turn it off, it feels like a knockoff of a real button, like a fake designer bag. Don't know what was wrong with a regular button that presses.

Re: The 2020 iPhone SE

#143
post #126

Compared to my first gen SE, I'd like the faster processor, better camera and better battery life. But I'm not sure I'm willing to go up in size and weight, and get the rounded edges that make it even harder to grip one-handed. For me, a bigger screen isn't a plus - after years of following the trend and being on my phone more and more, I managed to kick the habit and I'm very happy that my phone has now found its ri…

I'm with you here, I went through a period of moving to feature phones and ditching the smart watch to reduce the phone back to utility rather than a distraction. But feature phones, even those running kaiOS, just don't have the support for communication tools and things like 2fa authenticator apps.

I eventually went for an iPhone SE (2016) in the last year, after it was discontinued and managed to get a boxed, new unit for less than even the low-end android market phones go for. Thus far it's the most enjoyable phone to use having moved from an S8 which was certainly "better" on paper.

The size is incredibly portable and easy to handle, the battery, despite only being 1500mAh, does a very good job lasting me the day (though I certainly expect it won't continue to do so) and the screen is acceptable but annoying enough that I don't want to be using it for long stretches. It's got the lastest iOS and I fully expect the lack of iOS 14 support will be the reason I have to swap it for a new model once software support falls away.

It seems like this new SE model is still the smallest phone you can get despite the increase in dimensions and weight that you mention. It's nice to see a comment that shares my view and I hope a market for the smaller phone will come back around similar to that odd stage in the early 00s where handsets suddenly became impossibly small.

Re: The 2020 iPhone SE

#144
post #18

> Once you get used to the post-iPhone-X interaction model, there’s no going back. A week with the new SE has not shaken my belief that the X-style interaction design is superior. Not one iota. I have an iPhone 8 (TouchID) and an iPad Pro (FaceID) and personally the multi-tasking gestures are ridiculously inferior to the home button. FaceID is nice (ApplePay, unlocking, etc) but switching to another app (multi-taskin…

I do miss the home button for authentication. FaceID requires "full attention", while TouchID works even while distracted, and (crucially) in landscape. But for multitasking, I really do prefer the swipe-up gesture. I don't find it painful at all, it feels very natural: touch from the bottom, slide up, and then horizontally to select what you want.

Oh don't get me started about how many times I have do a weird 90 degrees head turn to unlock my XS when it is in landscape mode. I don't get why it is so hard to compare a 90 degree rotated FaceID match.

Everyone that owns a iPhone with FaceID knows the trouble, for everyone else it looks like I am trying to read something without turning my phone.

Re: The 2020 iPhone SE

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a terrible camera and horrendous battery life I’m not sure I’d call the Palm Phone “decent.” https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/palm-phone

The review states Android 8.1. The current site says Android 8.1[1] The updates section of the FAQ only talks about Google Play updates.[2] That’s not good enough for me. [1] https://palm.com/pages/product#s-a7c5360d-c3db-4c91-bb73-841... [2] https://palmsupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/3600181853...

[deleted]

Re: The 2020 iPhone SE

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Taking it at face value, I assume that they sell more phones than laptops, and can put more resources into the phone. I mean, maybe you're suggesting they should just use the phone CPU for a laptop, but I guess it's not suitable?

It's baffling because top end x86 CPUs consume significantly more power and run at significantly higher clock speeds. If these benchmarks are actually valid it suggests that we might see ARM ousting x86 on the desktop too sooner rather than later, which would be massive considering PCs have been x86 based for about 4 decades.

Remember though that performance doesnt scale linearly with power though - a 15W laptop CPU is only something like 30% slower in single threaded performance than a 95W desktop CPU (which is what the discussed benchmark is measuring).

ARM is pretty unlikely to oust x86 in Windows PCs any time soon. Even if Intel continues to struggle to catch up to TSMC's fab advantage, AMD is making pretty compelling CPUs using the same fabrication node as Apple. And really, Windows is stuck with x86 largely for compatibility reasons - emulation would be both a performance and power drag. If ARM is destined to defeat x86, its probably going to have to win in the datacenter first, depriving Intel (and possibly AMD, soon) of their highest margin sector.

Re: The 2020 iPhone SE

#148

I don't think I can justify, no matter how good the hardware is, relative to the value of the phone compared to other leaders in the market, buying a phone in mid 2020 without 5G support. It lends its self I guess to my opposition to buying every 1 or 2 years.

I honestly don't understand what direct benefit that I, a consumer, get from 5G (mmwave or normal spectrum)? My 4G device already can stream 1080p video at high quality. For every use case that I have with my phone, 5G doesn't appear to offer any material improvement. Sure, the carriers can make more out of their bandwidth, but that's not really something I'm willing to pay for. And, it's not like 4G is going anywher…

I had this discussion with another friend yesterday, and for 99% I agree with you. He told me about one thing that stuck with me and why I do see some value in 5G networks.

He told me that 5G is able to handle more traffic (= more connections) per tower. So on some busy places like festivals or other places where there is a huge crowd 5G could help to let all those people access their internet. Of course you could make an argument of "why would all those people need access to the internet" but that isn't the point.

Other than the point above I don't see a value in consumer 5G either.

I do not have a source, so if this is wrong then my/his points becomes complete moot.

Re: The 2020 iPhone SE

#149
post #126

Compared to my first gen SE, I'd like the faster processor, better camera and better battery life. But I'm not sure I'm willing to go up in size and weight, and get the rounded edges that make it even harder to grip one-handed. For me, a bigger screen isn't a plus - after years of following the trend and being on my phone more and more, I managed to kick the habit and I'm very happy that my phone has now found its ri…

This is a fair point but everything is online and at our finger tips. Having it on your phone just means you’re not sitting at your computer for longer hours, hurting your back, neck and even fingers.

This is anecdotal, of course, but I hurt my body much more by using a phone as my primary computer. Using a desktop (with a proper keyboard) is much less taxing on my RSI than a phone is.

Re: The 2020 iPhone SE

#150
I disagree. The home button is a superior interface, as compared to the swipe up.

By removing the home button, Apple took away another physical control interface. You can still swipe up, with the presence of the home button.

Instead of removing the home button, Apple could have used the bottom area to install some other context sensitive touch controls. Like the MacBook Touch Bar.

How the heck are you supposed to go for a jog, and carry a large screen phone on you?

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