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New iPhone SE

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641–650 of 1001 posts

Re: New iPhone SE

#641

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a few people that still have the SE, and for all of them it was mainly about the size. That and a belief that they didn't want to be glued to their phone all the time. So the benefit was a combination of the smaller size being more ergonomic, plus the fact that less content fit on the screen was actually a pro for them because the extra friction encourages wasting less time on it. It does seem weird that inste…

Main thing for me is size in the hand and squared off sides. I find anything with rounded edges I can't hold on to and just hits the floor constantly... little better with a case, but that makes the phones just that much bigger and less comfortable. I can't bring myself to let go of the old SE's.... of which I keep two around just in case.

I found the iPhone 5 the slipperiest phone I’ve ever held. The texture seems designed to minimise friction between the phone and your hand, and the square edges make sure as little as possible of the back is in contact with it too!

Re: New iPhone SE

#642

I was itching for this announcement, not because I want to buy an iPhone, but because this will finally mean other manufacturers will start to make compact phones. It drives me up the wall that I simply cannot find a reasonably competent phone (i.e. mid/upper range from the past 4 years) which is not absolutely fucking huge. It's insane that the "phablet" standard from ~5 years ago is now not even the new standard, b…

I have the same sentiment. I held tight onto my Xperia X Compact until the battery gave way. Looked around and found literally no replacement for it, out of all manufacturers on the planet. In the end decided to go for XZ2 Compact which was already outdated at the purchase date.

I haven't seen any new phone in that class since mid-2018.

Re: New iPhone SE

#643
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might as well give up on the headphone jack bud. It ain't coming back.

And give up on the screen size. The number of people who want a phone to fit in their hands and pockets is effectively zero compared to people who want huge screens to scale up content size or watch videos on their commute.

> The number of people who want a phone to fit in their hands and pockets is effectively zero

You're not wrong, but seriously, what is wrong with the world?

Re: New iPhone SE

#644
post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sony xperia compact phone models were my go to for a while since they had covered all of that.

Yes, I in fact bought a Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact yesterday to replace my SE.

I don’t want to make you feel bad about your purchase, but I also looked at that phone:

It is only 1yr younger than the SE and about 90% as powerful on the CPU.

Apple has had a silicone advantage for a while, most androids are 1-2 years behind. :/

Re: New iPhone SE

#645

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...as someone who absolutely loves big phones - I am on the other side of this argument. I read and watch shows on my phone constantly, and screen size is a major factor for me. I specifically buy clothes with larger pockets to accommodate. I agree that choice would be better - but I imagine that economies of scale sometimes means having only one size for everyone if you want to keep them cheaper than the competition…

I never understood watching stuff on a phone given tablets, laptops, PCs, smartTVs and even VR headsets. But then again, I take my laptop everywhere and use it for everything when there's a choice between the two.

Watching TV is, for some people, a Very Important Activity

I don't get it myself, but for whatever reason a lot of people do enjoy this. I'm guessing as a coping mechanism. Probably in the same vein as reading books/news, or playing video games etc.

I have an old friend who every night picks out some criterion collection DVD to watch, and posts about it on social media before/during/after.

That said, I have a tablet I use for long-form reading/youtube (90%+ reading) during train/ferry rides > 10 min, but obviously haven't had to use it much recently. Mostly reading.

Re: New iPhone SE

#646
post #68

The old iPhone SE had two things that appealed to me (and anecdotally, that appealed to some of my friends): 1. it was small-ish 2. it had a headphone jack Without those I don't see this as a viable followup product.

Agree. I was so excited to see this announcement and kept reading and reading to see if they had left the headphone jack :( I would have bought two _today_ if they'd kept the same outside and just updated camera + internals. As it stands, not sure what I'll do as an updated SE was my last hope that Apple would continue making a phone with a headphone jack, but that was probably a pipe dream to begin with. And please…

> but it's super frustrating when it fails

Yep, plus my phone is just one of many devices that I connect headphones to and I can't be bothered to maintain a collection of adapters. Also, did you know that the firmware on the Lightning->3.5mm adapter can crash?

My basic point about Bluetooth audio is usually this:

In the absence of hardware failures, audio cables are almost 100% reliable. In the absence of hardware failures, Bluetooth still suffers from a variety of random issues.

Bluetooth has its place (I find it useful to walk around the house listening to stuff without carrying a device), but it's certainly not - and won't ever be - a replacement for audio cables.

Re: New iPhone SE

#648

I am apparently in the minority here who prefers faceID, mostly because how transparent it is UX-wise. I don't have to do an additional 'Authenticate' press when opening protected apps, instead I pass through the security while the app loading animation completes. Though, it has been hell now with using face masks for the past few weeks, where I have to spend 5 seconds on every auth-screen, where it tries faceID twic…

If you tap the screen right away when the face ID icon appears you can enter your PIN right away. I am not sure if this works everywhere, but it does at least work when unlocking your phone.

Found this out when I (recently) went to Asia and was wearing facemasks all the time too. :)

Re: New iPhone SE

#649

Like many here I prefer the (original) iPhone SE due to the small size. Rumors of the iPhone 12 say that there will be a smaller model with a 5.4" edge-to-edge screen. I wanted to see how the size of that device would compare to the SE. If we assume that the iPhone 12 would have the same aspect ratio as the iPhone 11, and that the "margins" between the edge of the device and the edge of the screen will be the same as…

They could fit a 5" screen on the SE form factor if it was edge-to-edge like the iPhone X, or keep the old SE 4" screen, make that edge-to-edge, and make the phone itself even smaller.

Shown to scale: https://imgur.com/OKZiWrN

I'm a bit disappointed but not surprised they took neither of those options for the new SE.

Re: New iPhone SE

#650

Yes. I'm an Android user who is absolutely sick of phablets. I have a Pixel 3A (5.6") and it is way, way too big. I've been quite excited about this iPhone SE announcement. However, the lack of a headphone jack is a huge negative, and 4.7" is the absolute largest I think is reasonable. A little smaller would've been ideal. I'm undecided on whether to switch to the SE, but I genuinely hope it sells like crazy. Then ma…

(This subthread was originally in reply to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22878765)
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