Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/04/15/new-iphone-se-finally.html
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Thank Christ, the battery on mine has become a complete disaster over the last few months.
While the new iPhone SE is superficially a warmed-over iPhone 8, and so still too big
Oh god dammit.
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They do make relatively small android phones if the thing you’re chasing is a simpler phone with a manageable size. But if you prefer to stay with the iOS ecosystem then you do you.
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The last time I looked the only candidate was the Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact. Anything lately?
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Has anyone tried on of these? They were originally locked to existing smartphone lines a la LTE smartwatches, but no-one bought them and they’re on the remainder heap as unlocked smartphones now.
Unfortunately i’m a lousy person to ask since i currently have a giant phone myself (Samsung S10). I only mentioned the above because i do see smaller androids occasionally but have never handled one so i can’t speak on what might be worth buying.
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My wife has one of these:
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You know you can have the battery replaced fairly cheaply, don’t you?
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For me part of the potential concern is overall lifespan of the device and if its no longer receiving support/updates from Apple then one would likely need to start rooting it which is a can of worms some would rather not open.
Thankfully i don’t mind larger phones but i can sympathize with wanting something more straightforward and minimal. I’m usually like that with most devices with the exception of my phone.
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I do. I’ve been holding off because the rumor mill had been going full-bore on there being a replacement SE this spring, so I didn’t want to spend money twice. At this point I’ll probably jump for the battery replacement and see if anything better comes out this fall.
I get that they’re basically using their existing manufacturing pipeline to build an iPhone 8 with new innards, but it kind of baffles me that they didn’t come out with a 4.7" display in an edge-to-edge design with FaceID like their other phones have. That would have kept the size a lot closer to the original SE than the 8’s dimensions.
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Is this correct? Apple’s pricing page says that it starts at $399 (or $229 with trade-in).
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I had the same problem with a dying battery. Here’s what I did. They also have very good videos walk thru’s that are step by step.
https://www.ifixit.com/Store/iPhone/iPhone-SE-Replacement-Battery/IF327-004?o=7
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I didn’t try the Palm phone, all the podcasters I heard that reviewed it thought it was junk. As in it is super slow, so for a “minimal phone experience” getting into contacts, or launching calendar and adding an event should take under 30 seconds and due to slow launch times it really didn’t.
Which is a shame because new market segments in the smartphone world come by rarely, and it would have been nice if this was one (and I have a fondness for Palm of the past and all).
It was marketed as a sleek 2nd phone experience, but the actual facts on the ground were basically wormed over low end product with a small screen and some proprietary sync software (for SMS messages or something) that only kind of mostly worked, and only for VZW, and only if your other phone is running the right version of Android.
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I’m going to assume that the point is FaceID and edge-to-edge are for people paying $700 (ok $699), the new phone is really dramatically cheeper then the iPhone 11. Market segmentation and all that.
I don’t think you are wrong, an edge-to-edge small screen phone would be a very nice product (although in the pandemic era TouchID would be nice, no matter how much nicer FaceID is when you have no mask).
I have the 6s and it’s about the same size. I could probably use the same case too. The 2nd gen SE is also water resistant but it sacrifices the headphone jack of course. With my trade in it’ll be $370 for same size storage size. knock on wood my 5yo has not accidentally spilled any liquids on it…yet.
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A phone should fit in your pocket. Anything larger is a tablet.
My iPhone 7 just generally meets my requirement.
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Was hoping for something the same size as the old one. Sadly this is too big for my better half’s requirements. 
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I have an iPhone5 that’s still chugging along (had to replace the screen a few months ago because it started coming off). Anyway, just wanted to also express some love for tiny phones. I have small hands, even for a woman, and I need something I can actually hold.
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The husband has a 7; it’s too big for me. My 5SE (2nd one) is too big. I want a phone that feels like the 3 - small but substantial, smooth and comfortable in the hand. Nothing below $1000 fits the bill.
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I have an still working SE, replacing my old 6 (same form factor, size, and Otter case). It has a headphone jack, which I require. The battery is definitely needing replacement. The guys who I trust at Batteries Plus in south Austin warned me to hurry up, because soon the battery I need will no longer be available; I had brought in an older phone and they kindly explained that the battery for that iPhone was simply not obtainable any more.
My SE’s old and tired and not behaving well. Of course, I have yet to see my $25 either. I gave up on the whole update-the-iOS because the throttling was so damn obvious. I don’t do much on this phone that needs decent security. It’s my surfboard-camera-docu-phone.
Oh hell and now I see I have missed the March 23 deadline. Pff! Like I haven’t been busy like everyone else, what with COVID-19:
https://kccsecure.com/powerbuttonclassaction/Claimant
Ok, so now I also have an iPhone 11r–the “smallest” 11 Apple makes. I needed a better lens, a better camera sensor, and a different carrier that would not drop voicecalls as often as carrier for my SE.
The 11r’s form factor is grotendous and not a good fit for my pockets, hands, etc. I take a lot of pictures one-handed. This has never ever been a problem with my SE. I get it now why people put those dang popsockets on the backs of their phablets. If I put one of those on the 11r it will never fit into anything but my purse or cargo pants. Sheesh.
I was told (by the Costco guy selling iPhones) that the 11 series is the last iPhone series wherein face recognition is optional because Apple intends to make face-recog-to-unlock a “feature” one can’t opt out of.
