The smaller, lighter iPhone SE: When less can mean more
Apple introduced the iPhone SE earlier this year and I’ve been testing a 64GB model for the past couple of months. While it looks like an iPhone 5 or 5s from the outside, inside you’ll find thoroughly modern guts based on the iPhone 6s.
Apple calls it “the most powerful phone with a 4-inch display,” and I see no reason to quibble. For starters, its 64-bit A9 processor makes it up to three times faster than an iPhone 5s, and its integrated M9 motion coprocessor lets you use more features with less drain on the battery. Speaking of the battery, although the iPhone SE is significantly smaller and lighter, with less space inside for batteries, I was surprised to discover its battery lasted about the same as the significantly larger iPhone 6s Plus. Part of this is surely due to its 4-inch screen having a lot fewer pixels to light up, but it was impressive nonetheless. I expected the smaller phone to have shorter battery life, but that wasn’t the case.
In addition to processor upgrades, the iPhone SE sports the same highly regarded 12-megapixel iSight (back-facing) camera as the iPhone 6s, with support for Live Photos, plus HD and 4K video with frame rates as high as 240 frames per second.
While the FaceTime (front-facing) camera is the older 1.2-megapixel design and not the 5-megapixel model found in the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, it now supports Retina Flash with TrueTone lighting, resulting in better images and less noise than the iPhone 5s.
I like the 3D Touch feature on my iPhone 6s Plus and was disappointed it’s not available on the iPhone SE. But I got used to not having it pretty quickly. Another thing I noticed is that while the iPhone SE does support Apple Pay, it uses the first-generation Touch ID sensor, so it takes slightly longer for it to recognize your fingerprint. That’s not a huge deal, but after using the iPhone 6s Plus with lightning-fast fingerprint recognition, I definitely noticed.
At the end of the day, what I liked the most was the iPhone SE’s size. It slipped easily into pants pockets too small for my iPhone 6s Plus and fit into shirt pockets too small for a bigger device.
Sadly, though I prefer the smaller size, my fat fingers and aging eyeballs prefer the bigger screen of the iPhone 6s Plus. So, while the iPhone SE wasn’t the right iPhone for me, it may be the right one for you.
Visit your local Apple dealer and hold one; you’ll know within minutes whether smaller is better for you.