iPhone SE Review - Could this device be any more boring??
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,788 words · ~8 min read
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the iPhone SE possibly the least
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exciting product that Apple has launched since like some random iPod Touch
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refresh but I spent a couple of weeks
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with it knowing full well that I wouldn't be switching to it as a daily
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driver because in addition to giving my
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Impressions on the iPhone SE this felt like a good opportunity to discuss
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Apple's Direction in general right now so let's get crackle lacking
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Intel skull Canyon Nook features a sixth generation core i7 processor and
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Thunderbolt 3 learn more at the link in the video
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description the iPhone SE packs truly Flagship specifications into an
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unapologetically small 4in screen form
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factor for little girls and men who happen to have little girl sized hands
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it boasts Apple's latest A9 processor the same one found in the 6s and the 6s
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plus 2 gigs of RAM the same 12 megapixel
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camera sensor found in the 6s AC Wireless LTE Advanced NFC for Apple pay
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a 1624 milliamp non- removable battery
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and an IPS 640x 1136 Retina Display and
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there's a lot to like about that I mean honestly it's the kind of product whose
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merits I've been arguing for since the f race started a handful of years ago
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asking who needs 1440p or 4K phone
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screens who can operate these things with one hand to which the answer was
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always bigger is better and use two hands but there are of course some
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compromises to be made here some of them are minor the storage speed has been
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downgraded somewhat but not to the point where it's likely to bother anyone and
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the same goes IMO for the slower Wi-Fi
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and LTE Advanced I mean I haven't had
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issue streaming YouTube videos team viewer desktops or music in years and I
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actually can't figure out what people need these ever climbing data speeds for
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but there are a few things that ground
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my gears a bit more the inclusion of an NFC radio for Apple pay gets 4in device
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users closer to feature parody with current generation devices than they
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were before but Touch ID was already present on the iPhone 5S and it even
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uses the same older slower and less
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accurate first generation sensor though in practice this didn't end up bothering
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me much and the other big thing missing is 3D touch having a right click is
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always better than not having one always
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apple and that's what 3D touch effectively is so ignoring the
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distinctly last gen industrial design with only a pink color option and a
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sandblasted versus polished Edge to distinguish it from the 5S the lack of a
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push harder to do more stuff faster button is the most outdated feeling
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thing about this device I mean of course
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aside from the fact that apple is still equipping a
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$400 smartphone with 16 gigs of onboard
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storage and no SD card expansion making the cost of this device effectively $500
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for anyone who intends to use the 12 megapixel Stills 4K video rear camera so
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let's talk about that camera now then shall we it lacks Optical image
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stabilization like the 6 and the 6s but it's characteristically really good it
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opens and focuses quickly it's got a two-tone Flash and the full auto mode
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gets it right the vast majority of the time the Zoe excuse me live photo mode
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is great for capturing moving objects like children but the app just sucks I
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actually used to prefer Apple's hands off the wheel approach to phone pictures
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but that was back when a great phone camera shot and a decent phone camera
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shot both kind of looked like trash and
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when Android phone makers were baking all these weird Half Baked like put
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dinosaurs and fish all over the scene functionalities in I mean these days a
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Samsung device can take videos and photos with as much or as little control
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as I want from the same screen with one tap when Apple still requires swiping
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through modes one by one with their extremely limited first- party app or
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opening an entirely separate in the case of Camera Plus $ app to enable manual
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control just for Stills I mean that coupled with their lack of a screenoff
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gesture to launch the camera made it noticeably slower for me to capture
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unexpected moments with that said though that's about all I can criticize about
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the SE from a performance perspective actually using the device is about like
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using my old iPhone 4 if my iPhone 4 was
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the equivalent of a Pontiac Firefly with an 8 cylinder engine in it and they did
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this remarkably without hurting battery life which isn't to say I don't still
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think there's room for improvement I mean can you imagine living on a planet
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where you could buy a phone with iOS's idle power management and your typical
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Android handsets 2500 to 3500 mAh
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battery the SE on most days would
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actually best the S6 and the Z5 compact
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for me for percentage remaining at the end of the day
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but then on heavy days I could run out of battery by dessert still impressive
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though considering its size and raw horsepower with that said it's shocking
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to me after all the moaning that I've done about smaller devices being better
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for people with smaller hands how much less I personally found myself using
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this phone due to its smaller screen it's frustrating how little real estate
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is left for the actual conversation I'm having once you've got the keyboard on
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there and during my veg time watching videos on curiosity stream or whatever I
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actually found myself more than once running upstairs for a tablet something
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I really haven't felt I needed to do in a long time which I guess leads us into
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the conclusion it's strange to be saying this so soon after giving Apple my best
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smartphone of 2015 award for the iPhone 6s only a few short months ago but it
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seems like the accountants are running certain aspects of the company at this
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point instead of the designers Apple's own words people wanted a smaller better
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iPhone says it all the iPhone SE is a carefully engineered and carefully timed
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response to this feedback one that
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brings existing customers who were on the brink of a somewhat forced
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obsolescence an all 64-bit app store is going to happen soon and iPhone 5 and
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below users will be on the outside looking in and potential customers in
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developing markets an obvious and lower
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cost wage to stay in or enter the Apple
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ecosystem it's a strong business move
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but there's really no Artistry or innovation or pride in it it's just
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cheaper they reused the older block here
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design language because they want it to look and feel cheaper to drive customers
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who can afford it to the much higher margin 6s and 6s plus I mean remember
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those contain basically the same hardware and if you've ever bought a replacement screen on eBay that should
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give you some idea what the cost of a 4 in versus a 4.7 in screen is they're
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pretty much the same but this move delivers zero Innovation Apple's
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customers are crying we want you to remake that thing we liked from before
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but faster and they're doing it it's about the least Apple manner of Behaving
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that I can possibly imagine I mean I don't always agree with Apple's choices
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but I respect that they have the guts to make what they think is best and then
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educate their customers about how that should enrich their lives and while the
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objective likely one from the bean counters of build a lower cost skew to
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maintain the install base and improve gross profit dollars at the cost of some
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margin has pretty much been accomplished here I have some serious misgivings
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about what this means for Apple's Direction as a company over the coming
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years maybe the iPhone 7 will completely prove me wrong maybe I'll be able to
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rearrange the icons on my home screen the way I want I guess we'll find out in
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the fall okay so I know that there are some
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of you who complain about our phone
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reviews always having these debrand
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skins on the phone saying that you find them ugly so I said to dbrand I was like
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look you guys you got that great configurator on your site where you can
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pick out exactly you know what type of skin you want on which part of the phone
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you can you can preview it on the site and see what it's going to look like in
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person so if you guys have got this great configurator why are you guys
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always picking the color scheme and sending it to me and people are complaining why are we doing this let me
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pick the color scheme this time so they did and I used DeBrands configurator to
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cover the iPhone SE and what I think is the most beautiful vinyl skin that I
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have ever seen in my life I mean look at this I have 1 two three four five
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different colors if you count wood grain
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as one color cuz it's got multiple colors to it it's like wood grain and
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with this skin not only does my phone look great it is protected from
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incidental scratches the kinds that come about during life so check it out get
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your dbrand skin they ship worldwide and they're affordable at the link in the
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video description let's see if you can put together something even sexier than
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mine thanks for watching guys if this video sucked you know what to do but if
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