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A question about the SE

F

FoamCup

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 30, 2016
44
2
Hello again. I am looking to buy the new iPhone SE but before I do, I was wondering if you guys can help me answer some questions that I have about the SE before I make the purchase?

Question number 1: When watching YouTube videos or even videos in fullscreen, will there be black bars on the top and bottom of the video?

Design wise, I know that the SE is almost identical to the 5S, but If you have an iPhone 6 and play YouTube videos or videos, there would be no black bars on the top and bottom. The video will scale and fill the entire screen. I think it's because of the resolution of the video and screen size/aspect ratio of the iPhone 6's screen that doesn't need the black bars when playing video.

I haven't gone back to the 5S ever sinceI got the 6 and now I want to go to the SE because I miss the small size of the 5S.

Question number 2: When playing converted videos in the native "Videos" app in iOS on the iPhone 5S, there would be like audio static or no audio coming out of the iPhone speakers. To fix this issue, I needed to plug the Apple headphones in to the headphone jack. It might have been either a hardware or video encoding problem or something, but I figured out the source of the issue or how to fix it. Is this strange/unknown audio problem still present in the SE?
 
The won't be any black bars when watching normal YouTube videos on the SE. It's a 16:9 display, just like the larger iPhone models.

As for the second problem, I've never heard of such an issue and it sounds like where was a fault with your old 5s.
 
MarcBook said:
The won't be any black bars when watching normal YouTube videos on the SE. It's a 16:9 display, just like the larger iPhone models.

As for the second problem, I've never heard of such an issue and it sounds like where was a fault with your old 5s.
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That annoying audio issue didn't happen costantly. It only happened at random. Looks like I'm getting the new SE for my birthday. Thanks for the answers!
 
FoamCup said:
That annoying audio issue didn't happen costantly. It only happened at random. Looks like I'm getting the new SE for my birthday. Thanks for the answers!
Click to expand...

Congrats! It's an awesome phone and I'm sure you'll love it.
 
MarcBook said:
Congrats! It's an awesome phone and I'm sure you'll love it.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I'll also be sure to test out the 2013 Mac Pro in-store while I buy the new SE, so that I can get a look at the Mac Pro in person and see how it performs.
 
FoamCup said:
That annoying audio issue didn't happen costantly. It only happened at random. Looks like I'm getting the new SE for my birthday. Thanks for the answers!
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Have a happy birthday. Welcome to the forum. I hope you get a nice SE with no issues and that you enjoy it.
 
GrumpyMom said:
Have a happy birthday. Welcome to the forum. I hope you get a nice SE with no issues and that you enjoy it.
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Thank you. I hope that they have it in stock in store since the online store seems to be out of stock.
 
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Newtons Apple said:
You can check stock via the internet. I know the 64gb models were hard to find for a while so I would call ahead to confirm.
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Call the Apple Store and say manager, this way you get the store itself. They will then actually tell you what's in stock. The online inventory thing seems to under exaggerate the numbers- always telling you they have none.
 
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Every iPhone since the iPhone 5 has almost the same aspect ratio, meaning you won't see letter boxing on an iPhone SE if you don't see it on an iPhone 6.

The 5/5s/SE and the 6/6s don't quite have a 16:9 ratio, but they're really close. Kind of weird Apple didn't go with 640x1138 instead of 640x1136 on the 5/5s/SE though. That's the closest they could have got to 16:9 while keeping the same horizontal (in portrait) resolution as the 4/4s.
 
I'm not sure if I want to get the SE because I'm afraid that videos will have letterbox on videos, like from this review:


I know some YouTube videos will not have letterbox depending on the video.
 
We bought one for my son as a media device to be able to stream on our extra T-Mobile line that nobody was using. He streams YouTube and Netflix all the time and I've yet to see a letterboxed video. I just tested it as we speak with Clifford the big red dog and Oso on Netflix. No letter box.
 
FoamCup said:
I'm not sure if I want to get the SE because I'm afraid that videos will have letterbox on videos, like from this review:


I know some YouTube videos will not have letterbox depending on the video.
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I owned one for a week and videos were not a problem. There was no letter boxing at all. I only returned it because my hands are too big.
 
Thank you for confirming. Looks like I'm going to buy the new SE in a few days at the local Apple Store instead of T-Mobile. I'll also hopefully be able to test drive the 2013 Mac Pro, if they were to have it in-store. I haven't visited an Apple Store ever since I got the 6.
 
FoamCup said:
I'm not sure if I want to get the SE because I'm afraid that videos will have letterbox on videos, like from this review:


I know some YouTube videos will not have letterbox depending on the video.
Click to expand...
Like I said, the iPhone SE and iPhone 6 have almost the exact same aspect ratio. They're so similar that you increased the size of the SE's display to match the 6, the resolution would vary only by one or two pixels. I only mention this before I get some smartass correcting me that they're not exactly the same.

Since they practically have the same aspect ratio, any videos you watch with letter boxing on the iPhone SE would also have letter boxing on the iPhone 6. All 16:9 videos will play with no letter boxing on both phones.
 
I'm still on the fence on whether I should still get the iphone se. I mean, it's smaller, no protruding camera, 2gb of ram, 12 mp front camera compared to the hefty price I paid for the iphone 6 with the most amount of storage and AppleCare.

Thanks for the help, everyone!
 
FoamCup said:
I'm still on the fence on whether I should still get the iphone se. I mean, it's smaller, no protruding camera, 2gb of ram, 12 mp front camera compared to the hefty price I paid for the iphone 6 with the most amount of storage and AppleCare.

Thanks for the help, everyone!
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I have the SE and love it. It is the perfect size and the performance is great. That having been said, I cannot imagine that the "no protruding camera" could possibly go into a decision to move from the 6 or 6S to the SE. I remain mystified about the negative attention that the protruding camera on the 6 gets. In any case, the SE is fantastic.
 
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mark34 said:
I have the SE and love it. It is the perfect size and the performance is great. That having been said, I cannot imagine that the "no protruding camera" could possibly go into a decision to move from the 6 or 6S to the SE. I remain mystified about the negative attention that the protruding camera on the 6 gets. In any case, the SE is fantastic.
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I'm glad that you guys love your SE. As for me, I'm not sure if I want to buy another iPhone even though I paid a ton of money for my iPhone 6. I mean, they're both iPhones, despite one being smaller and the other being larger. With different internal hardware in each phone. Whether I do choose to get the SE, the user experience will be the same overall. Even after adjusting from a larger screen to a smaller screen, both physically and visually.
 
FoamCup said:
I'm not sure if I want to get the SE because I'm afraid that videos will have letterbox on videos, like from this review:


I know some YouTube videos will not have letterbox depending on the video.
Click to expand...
This guy in this video is a jerk, as soon as he said the SE was for little girls or men with little girls hands I turned his video off...he lost all credibility in my opinion.
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FoamCup said:
I'm glad that you guys love your SE. As for me, I'm not sure if I want to buy another iPhone even though I paid a ton of money for my iPhone 6. I mean, they're both iPhones, despite one being smaller and the other being larger. With different internal hardware in each phone. Whether I do choose to get the SE, the user experience will be the same overall. Even after adjusting from a larger screen to a smaller screen, both physically and visually.
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Not sure why you even started this thread, sounds like you were never interested in the SE to begin with, better to try it at the Apple Store instead of wasting time on a forum asking others how you will like the SE. Your best to stay with your 6.
 
You've decided to buy from Apple direct. You've made the smartest move possible. Buy it. Use it. If at the two week mark it isn't for you, return it. Unless the store is and excessively long distance from you in honestly not sure what there is left to be on the fence about. It's an incredible phone at an incredible price. you can't beat the bang for your buck and still be on iOS.
 
I started this thread to get some answers to questions that I have about the phone from other users that have the phone before I make the purchase.

Yes, I'm buying it direct from the source instead of going with a carrier. That way, I can try out some of their computers in-store before I buy a new Mac, too.

Thanks again everyone. You've been really helpful.
 
I have some bad news...I won't be getting the new SE because 1. The Apple Retail Store is closed for renovations and 2. Since I already have the iPhone 6, I probably won't need another phone.

Thank you guys and gals for your help.
 
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