Beyond size, the pros and cons of iPhone SE
A lot of similar features to 6S, for less money
NEW YORK — Unless you take a lot of selfies or need a bigger phone, Apple’s new four-inch iPhone SE is a good choice at a good price.
You get the same 12-megapixel rear camera that’s in the much larger iPhone 6S, but for $250 US less, at about $400 US. You also get the same speeds and graphics capabilities.
Of course, you don’t get everything. The SE isn’t going to be right for everyone, especially power users.
Now that Apple has started taking orders, with shipments due in a week, keep these differences in mind:
• Most noticeable is the front camera. The SE has an older 1.2-megapixel camera — not the five megapixel one in the 6S. But with software improvements, selfies taken with the SE came out better compared with the iPhone 5S it replaced. In addition, the SE’s screen turns into a front-camera flash. That’s more important than megapixels in darker settings.
• Though you get the same rear camera as the 6S, you don’t get an image-stabilizing feature found in the jumbo iPhone 6S Plus. This won’t matter to most people, though. I typically have to blow up shots and look real closely for differences. You get the same options for panorama shots, slow motion and highresolution “4K” video in all three phones.
• The SE lacks a barometer, which means fitness apps won’t record stairs climbed. The SE also lacks 3D Touch, in which you can press on an icon hard and harder for shortcuts and other options. Including it would have made the phone thicker. You can still perform the same tasks, but might need an extra tap or two.
• The SE doesn’t support “LTE Advanced” cellular technology, which can be twice as fast as regular LTE. The iPhone 6 doesn’t either, and frankly, I didn’t even notice when I got the 6S. There’s one SE model for Sprint and another for AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. China has its own model, though both U.S. versions should still work there and elsewhere abroad — data will just potentially be slower without LTE Advanced.
• The SE doesn’t come in a version with 128 gigabytes of storage — just 16 GB for starters and 64 GB for $100 US more. Many high-power users will probably want a bigger screen anyway, but if that’s not the case, splurge for 64 GB. Your phone will fill up quickly — especially as still images now come with threesecond videos by default, doubling storage requirements.
Promised battery life for video and web surfing is 13 hours — a few hours better than the 6S. It helps that there’s less screen to light up.
If you’ve been clinging on to your 5S because you don’t want a larger iPhone, now is a good time to upgrade. A new wireless chip enables payments with Apple Pay. There’s faster Wi-Fi, though not as fast as the 6S.
You can also access the Siri voice assistant anytime handsfree, without pressing the home button.