5s to SE worth it

[thesim]

Hi, I have been reading through all the other se threads on hear to get a good idea of the different opinions of the se and overall it seams like its going down well. It seams to be that those who like the smaller size are enjoying the speed bump of the se which brings it up to 6s specs.

Now this is my situation and question to anyone who has similar experience. I recently bought my first iphone which is a 5s refurb and it looks brand new and runs really well on latest ios 9 update. I like the smaller size which is why i bought it coming from a large android phone which i found uncomfortable to use and its really easy to carry around and just works well. Now because i am enjoying it so much i am having my head turned by the iphone se as i'm thinking i get the same phone but with the big speed bump but i'm not sure whether i really need it. My usage is web browsing, youtube and just news apps and google +, i dont game at all but do like to think i have the latest specs.

So for my use do i really need to go for the se and will i see a significant difference for my basic uses? Battery life is also a big draw to the se for me from what i've read.

Thanks for reading and hopefully ill get some advice from you people in the know.

Simon

 

[JohnApples]

I don't have an SE, but based on what many users are saying here, these are the major differences:

• ~2X faster than 5S
• 12MP camera vs 8
• Live Photo capture support
• ApplePay
• Modest battery increase

If you're not having any issues with the speed of your phone, you're fine with the quality of the camera, not interested in ApplePay, and satisfied with battery life, then I don't see a reason to upgrade right now.

Something also to consider is that if you're in the US and near an Apple Store, you can trade in your 5S and get the SE for roughly $250. It's all up to you and your personal sense of worth.

 

[thesim]

I don't have an SE, but based on what many users are saying here, these are the major differences:

• ~2X faster than 5S
• 12MP camera vs 8
• Live Photo capture support
• ApplePay
• Modest battery increase

If you're not having any issues with the speed of your phone, you're fine with the quality of the camera, not interested in ApplePay, and satisfied with battery life, then I don't see a reason to upgrade right now.

Something also to consider is that if you're in the US and near an Apple Store, you can trade in your 5S and get the SE for roughly $250. It's all up to you and your personal sense of worth.

Thanks for that John I think the only thing right now is battery life but I can live with it and it does charge very fast. I live in uk and have an Apple Store close by so I may call in for a price on a trade in.

 

[Channan]

Honestly, unless you can get the SE for not much more than you paid for the 5s, I'd say keep the 5s.

I had a 16GB 5s that I was just using as a backup phone after replacing it with a Moto X and Galaxy S7 Edge, but I had limited data on it so I couldn't really stream any music on it without Wi-Fi. I upgraded to the SE mainly for the extra storage. I got the 64GB SE and now keep all of my music and a bunch of videos on it as well.

In my experience, I was expecting it to be extremely quick and snappy, but the SE isn't that much faster than the 5s. That just goes to show how well the 5s is still holding up, which is in stark contrast to my iPad mini 2 with the same processor and amount of RAM.

The camera is also improved - obviously - but the only major difference I can tell is just a little better detail when zooming in on a picture, thanks to the higher MP count on the SE.

I can't really comment on battery life, because my 5s was already two and a half years old by the time I traded it in, so the battery wasn't holding up as well as it used to.

All in all, I don't regret upgrading because I got what I really wanted: the extra storage. Also, the battery life is a lot better now. Just replacing my 5s' battery at Apple would have cost me $80. And I didn't have to pay for the phone outright. After trading in my 5s, I pay just $14.16/month. But if my 5s' battery was still new and it had more storage, after owning an SE, I'd probably just stick with the 5s and save some money.

 

[Ortiz7983]

All I know is that every new iPhone that comes out is worth it to me. So I get a new phone every time a new iPhone comes out. With the exception of the iPhone SE. Since that is a downgrade from my iPhone 6s Plus.

 

[aohus]

my 6+ was notably slower than the SE.

im happy with the SE and will be using it as my main driver until the 7 is out.

 

[thesim]

@Channan Thats interesting to hear your experience with it and I'll be honest your probably right about hanging onto the 5s while it's running fine for me. If I hold out for now then when I do come to upgrade I could look at the 64gb where as now would have to be 16 due to cost.

 

[Phone Junky]

Honestly, unless you can get the SE for not much more than you paid for the 5s, I'd say keep the 5s.

In my experience, I was expecting it to be extremely quick and snappy, but the SE isn't that much faster than the 5s.

I don't know how this could be true. A7 with 1GB ram to A9 with 2GB. When the 6S came out, everybody on here was saying how much faster and better it was over the 6 and that was only going from the A8 with 1GB of ram to the A9 with 2GB.

 

[Channan]

I don't know how this could be true. A7 with 1GB ram to A9 with 2GB. When the 6S came out, everybody on here was saying how much faster and better it was over the 6 and that was only going from the A8 with 1GB of ram to the A9 with 2GB.

Sure, the processor is twice as fast, and the benchmarks are impressive, but when you're talking about an app opening in half a second vs. a second, it's barely noticeable. And yeah, the SE can keep more apps suspended in memory, but I never had an issue with apps closing in the background on my 5s anyway.

It's not just A7 vs. A8/A9. If this were about an iPad mini 2/iPad Air and iPad mini 4/iPad Air 2, I'd definitely recommend the newer iPads because the older ones struggle with multitasking. That just wasn't my experience at all on the iPhone 5s.

 

[thesim]

Sure, the processor is twice as fast, and the benchmarks are impressive, but when you're talking about an app opening in half a second vs. a second, it's barely noticeable. And yeah, the SE can keep more apps suspended in memory, but I never had an issue with apps closing in the background on my 5s anyway.

It's not just A7 vs. A8/A9. If this were about an iPad mini 2/iPad Air and iPad mini 4/iPad Air 2, I'd definitely recommend the newer iPads because the older ones struggle with multitasking. That just wasn't my experience at all on the iPhone 5s.

I do usually fully close apps when I have done with them and never leave anything open in the background, not sure why but it's something I've always done. Will doing this effect the ram usage in general and mean my way of using apps will not see a great gain in the extra ram?

 

[Channan]

I do usually fully close apps when I have done with them and never leave anything open in the background, not sure why but it's something I've always done. Will doing this effect the ram usage in general and mean my way of using apps will not see a great gain in the extra ram?

If you're the type to always leave your apps running and like to go back to an app from hours ago, you would benefit from the extra RAM on the SE.

Since you're saying that isn't the case, you probably wouldn't even notice the difference in the extra RAM. At least, not now. You might after a few major iOS updates. The fact that the 5s has a relatively low resolution helps a lot.

Don't mistake me. I'm not trying to downplay how great the SE is. I'm just amazed by how good the 5s still is. If you have extra money to spend on upgrading to the SE, go for it. But if money is a little tight, the 5s is still extremely good.

 

[thesim]

If you're the type to always leave your apps running and like to go back to an app from hours ago, you would benefit from the extra RAM on the SE.

Since you're saying that isn't the case, you probably wouldn't even notice the difference in the extra RAM. At least, not now. You might after a few major iOS updates. The fact that the 5s has a relatively low resolution helps a lot.

Don't mistake me. I'm not trying to downplay how great the SE is. I'm just amazed by how good the 5s still is. If you have extra money to spend on upgrading to the SE, go for it. But if money is a little tight, the 5s is still extremely good.

Seriously thanks for your help with this I can safely say I'll be saving my cash and sticking with the 5s. Like you say it still has a lot going for it and my usage it will be just fine until it becomes obvious that I need to upgrade.

Thanks again

 

[aohus]

Seriously thanks for your help with this I can safely say I'll be saving my cash and sticking with the 5s. Like you say it still has a lot going for it and my usage it will be just fine until it becomes obvious that I need to upgrade.

Thanks again

may be best to go to your local Apple store if possible and compare the speed differences yourself. Speed increase alone is worth it for me. Future proofs the device until the iPhone 8 comes out 2017 with the AMOLED display.

 

[thesim]

may be best to go to your local Apple store if possible and compare the speed differences yourself. Speed increase alone is worth it for me. Future proofs the device until the iPhone 8 comes out 2017 with the AMOLED display.

The future proofing is one of the main draws for me and I will go and have a play around with one next time I'm near the Apple Store. At the moment in my area there are none available anyway until sometime next month so there's no rush.

 

[maflynn]

If you just bought the 5s and are happy with it, why not keep it a bit longer and then sell it when you really need a new phone.

 

[thesim]

If you just bought the 5s and are happy with it, why not keep it a bit longer and then sell it when you really need a new phone.

Yes I think that's what I'll do it makes sense.

 

[NYMinute]

I have a 32G 5S since launch and I use it for the same things you use yours. The only thing I which I had was the extra battery live. I use to upgrade my phone every two years because ATT used to force you to pay the extra subsidized cost of the phone on your monthly bill even after your contract expired. You were better off getting a new phone under contract and selling your old phone to a third party. You would probably come up ahead and have the same monthly payment. That changed on December 2013. When your contract ended you would get a discount on your bill. When that happened I decided not to upgrade again until my phone dies, doesn't support the latest iOS version or is very slow. Very slow is very subjective so my current benchmark would be the iphone 4s running iOS 9. So if the five inch iPhone name pattern hold (5, 5S and 5SE) my next phone will be released two years from now about the same time as the iPhone 7s where they will add another letter to the name: The iPhone 5SEX with an A11 processor. That would be an unfortunate name.

Anyway, keep your phone and save your money unless your usage changes or iOS10 brings software changes that you really want and you hardware does not support.