iphone takes us back to the future
Apple’s latest handset has that old familiar feeling
THE new iphone from Apple seems like a trip to the past, on first use – the smaller screen and the Touch ID take anyone living with the iphone X or 11 to what seems like an ancient world. And its design certainly is a throwback – it is identical to the iphone 8, which is now almost three years old, and discontinued on the release of this new SE.
The headline features that you don’t get on this phone that are on all the other iphones Apple now sells – the XR, the 11, and the 11 Pro - are Face ID and the multiple camera array on the back. And that’s about it.
So there is lots to like about the new SE, but chief among them is its relatively low price.
It actually replaces the four-year old first generation SE. That phone was modelled on the iphone 5S – so if you’ve been using that until now and upgrade to this you’ll be taking a giant leap into the future rather than a step into the past.
THE PROCESSOR: At the heart of the new SE is its processor – the A13 Bionic – this is the same chip Apple uses in its highest-end phone, the iphone 11 Pro.
Whatever compromises were made on this phone to keep the price down, performance is not one of them. You can use all the latest apps, and it will continue to be supported by software updates from Apple for a long time.
THE CAMERA: The rear of the iphone SE sports a single camera. And yet, is still capable of producing Portrait-effect photos with blurred backgrounds that make subjects pop out of images.
That this phone can do that with a single lens is down to a combination of remarkable software, and that fast A13 Bionic chip.
The iphone XR also has only one camera, and can also do Portrait mode. But it does it in an entirely different way to this phone. The XR has a different kind of sensor that can help detect depth in a scene to replicate background blur.
The SE has no such hardware help, and achieves the effect using machine learning only. It can understand what’s in your photo and apply the effect using software alone.
It’s a stunning achievement, and even works if you take a photo of another photo, so you can add background blur to images taken decades ago on film...
THE SCREEN: The SE’S screen is also much better than it should be for the price. It’s smaller than any other iphone, of course - 4.7in across. But it features True Tone (Apple’s trickery that matches the colour temperature of the screen to that of your surroundings to make it easier on the eye) and Haptic Touch (if you press and hold on a button you get a little haptic click feedback as a menu pops up).
THE DESIGN: The iphone 8 was a goodlooking phone, and so is the SE.
If you’re coming from the high end to this, the wide bezel at the top and bottom of the front screen will be something of a distraction at first… but one you will quickly get used to.
THE PRICE: The SE’S biggest and best feature – it starts at £419. That’s quite a lot less than half what you’d pay for the base model iphone 11 Pro. And it’s more than £200 less than even the next model up – the XR (which features an older processor). It is most certainly a stone- cold bargain. And it’s all the iphone a lot of people would ever need.