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iPhone SE 2 Rumors Remain Conflicted Over Design and Release Date
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After living with a 6s for ~2 weeks, I couldn't agree more. I hated it.
I might, however, be conflicted to pay the X price for an SE. A phone over $600 that needs to be replaced every few years just does not sit well with me, but that's just me. Now, if the only options out there were an X-size phone and SE-size phone at the same price, then it's the SE all the way for me.
I had a 6 when it first came out for about a month - then back to my 5s..
I tried again when the 6s came along...back to my 5s and then to my SE that I have now.
I'm done ***** around with larger than 5s/SE size phones.
I've tried it - It's awful for me and totally the opposite of how I use my phone.
I don't want to shift my hands around trying to hold it securely.
I'm not interested in "reachability" or weird features to try to "help" with using it.
I don't want to have "find space for it" in shorts and pants pockets and backpacks during exercise or biking or around my car dash/cup area.
It's just not a superior experience for all people to have a large phone.
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So more people than me are bothered by Jony Ive's and Apple's contradictory fascination with size/fashion over function...this completely unnecessary (and often self-defeating) fascination with making laptops (which are supposed to be powerful and convenient) thinner and thinner (with the undesirable effect of losing functionality and convenience such as ports, tactile keyboards as well as losing opportunities for expandability and increased battery life) while making screen areas on phones (which are supposed to be portable) larger and larger as well as sleeker and slipperier (with the undesirable effect of being less convenient to tote around while being more susceptible to dropping due to inability to securely grip it).
They make it so hard since 2013 to be an Apple fan...
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@Tozovac
Well said - It's like they design almost exclusively around "does it look amazing, sleek and sexy" and work backwards from that. It's close to the complete opposite of how I want my technology tools thought about from a design perspective.
Well said - It's like they design almost exclusively around "does it look amazing, sleek and sexy" and work backwards from that. It's close to the complete opposite of how I want my technology tools thought about from a design perspective.
Look no further than Jony Ive's idea of an ideal Christmas tree (a drab white/grey/dark scene).....and his ideal vision of an office space where people are walking into glass doors/walls... He (I assume) was the main reason for the ruined iOS and OSX experience as well as the misguided priority on fashion/delicateness over functional, intuitive, and robust design, and shame on the leadership team and those around him who were unable to recognize the need to reign in him and his design team. iOS is so full of compromises, inefficiencies, and unfinished-looking design that it bothers me to this day since iOS7 poisoned (and bricked) my iPhone 4 in 2013. I scrambled in the summer of 2014 to buy an MBAir while I could still have Mavericks instead of the Fisher Price My First Computer-looking OSX of Yosemite...Still use Mavericks to this day, for better mostly than worse.
[doublepost=1531928770][/doublepost]Users (and paying customers) can say they don't mind the cleaner interface since 2012 and even, they prefer it, but there is no way anyone can convince me that by and large, the white-out borderless intuitiveless-buttonless text-based interface is better than the iOS UIx of iOS6 and prior. Nor the slipperiness and size of a 6 or 7 or 8 or X over a 5 or SE. None of us needed leather stitching or analog-tape-looking or green felt to use our phone, but none of those small details ruined the experience of using such a world-class industry-leading intuitive UI on a securely-grippable phone. Those who were bothered enough by the leather stitching to have then thrown the baby out with the bathwater exposed themselves for being not nearly as good a designer as they were made out to be. Trouble is, the majority of people will buy/use most anything and just adapt and move on, and not realize what they're missing out on...just look at GM designs of the 70s thru 00s compared to Honda or anything from Germany at the time. We're in that phase now where iPhones and MB's are so darn polished but now considered commodities by Apple, so the packaging is getting the prioritizing for marketing instead of focusing on the content which was the very reason they became so popular in the first place... For God's sake, Apple already is the dumbest as far as naming ipod & ipad iterations to the point where you need an app to track models, and they completely skipped iPhone 9 just for things to look & market a certain way. What a joke.
Hold onto your SE's dearly. I'm likely to just buy a $350 model here to replace my 5S and be done for ~4-5 years.
[doublepost=1531930375][/doublepost]
Yup. Like my sig file says, RIP "it just works" and "form follows function" ever since 2013.
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I'm with you, mattopotamus; it's all about the form factor for me. I would gladly pay a higher price to keep that form factor. If Apple wants to do away with the cheap/budget SE, that's fine by me, but please don't abandon that ideal size! Give us an 8 or an X in an SE package and you can take my money!
It's both form AND price for me. I think it is insane to spend $800 in a phone (even though I could easily afford it). I paid $300 exactly 2 years ago for my 64GB SE. Even $300 is above what I think is reasonable, but the SE is such an excellent phone, I made an exception. Sadly, it is now flaking out and can no longer make calls, so I need to replace it... and going back to Android. Before buying the SE, I had a Sharp Aquos Crystal. The best phone $150 could buy at the time.
Was it a new SE? Only 2 years of useful use sounds scary to me...as a guy about to pull the trigger on an SE, will you buy a new SE for $349?
Yes, brand new SE. I was quite surprised too by what i consider a premature failure. As for buying a new SE for $349, no i wouldn’t. I don’t say that with any anger. it was a fantastic phone for those 2 years.
My carrier was selling them for $125 (no contract) this past January but no longer sells them. For $125 I definitely would.
Please don’t let my isolated experience influence your purchase decision too much. There are many who have had their SE’s longer than me and haven’t had any problems.... unless others chime in with similar experiences.
I’ve had my 64gb SE since they first came out.
Solid as a rock and I’ve even dropped it about 12 times (I keep it in cheap Chinese bumper cases).
Awesome phone.
Solid as a rock and I’ve even dropped it about 12 times (I keep it in cheap Chinese bumper cases).
Awesome phone.
What a great deal!
I have att and will look around to see if I can find anything better than $349...I’ve had a preowned (from a friend) 5s for the past 2 1/2 years which worked out well, but the idea of $350 for a new one which should get me at least 3 to 4 more good years seems fair to me.
I wouldn't worry about the SE slowing down. If anything IOS12 not only runs better than IOS11, but should give you confident the SE will be supported for a really long time. IOS12 supports the 5S, which is 5 years old.
It is still a damn good phone at a damn good price. My only really complaint with the SE is the screen quality. It is super outdated, but then again if you are getting the SE you are probably not consuming a ton of media on it.
^And the cameras. Can’t complain about that though. It’s just what made me want to skip the 6 and 6s and upgrade to the 7 and then to the X.
That's not necessarily true.
I probably consume a lot of media, BUT I fully realize that I'm doing so on a phone that right-sized for me. At the heart of it all, my phone is a phone first and foremost...not a substitute for an iPad or computer, not a fashion statement or status symbol, etc. So I'm all about function first and luxuries second. I'm fully happy with working a "desktop site" on a phone screen, but I'm in the vast minority.Played with a friend's iPhone 7 briefly and absolutely detested the non-button button. Expecting Apple to ruin any SE 2 with forced "improvements" like a non-button button and side-mounted on/off button, I might have to stock up on SE's like Elaine did sponges on Seinfeld.
The SE 2 will be released in March after the initial wave of sales for the 3 new September iPhones.
It sounds like the next "SE" is likely going to be in the iPhone 6/7/8 form factor/shell..
...thus totally ruining a huge reason many of us have an SE (physical size)
...thus totally ruining a huge reason many of us have an SE (physical size)
Just bought my mother an SE, 16GB, used but looks like it's in good condition. Battery is at 83%. She doesn't need much storage, so it should be enough.
I wonder when no SE2 turns up, will the prices of the SE actually go up, like those of the 2012 Mini when the 2014 came out?
The only other phone that I like from the current line-up is the X. I really like its haptics. I'm not so sold on the whole button-less thing. Getting reachability to work was a pain, even for the Apple Store employee.
Price wise, the X is in a different universe ;-)
I wonder when no SE2 turns up, will the prices of the SE actually go up, like those of the 2012 Mini when the 2014 came out?
The only other phone that I like from the current line-up is the X. I really like its haptics. I'm not so sold on the whole button-less thing. Getting reachability to work was a pain, even for the Apple Store employee.
Price wise, the X is in a different universe ;-)
That's not necessarily true.
Played with a friend's iPhone 7 briefly and absolutely detested the non-button button. Expecting Apple to ruin any SE 2 with forced "improvements" like a non-button button and side-mounted on/off button, I might have to stock up on SE's like Elaine did sponges on Seinfeld.
I can’t stand the home button on the 7
Seems like it, didn’t find it Swedish store either. But it did show up in comparison.
But other stores probably still have it.
Mine will last awhile longer, thankfully.
I'll likely stop by the apple store, they're likely to have stock. Time to load up and ride out the next 2-3 years of useful use with a right-sized phone.
Here's the headline:
"APPLE TURNS BACK ON SMALLER PHONE FANS DUE TO DATA SHOWING PER PHONE APP STORE REVENUE IS TIED TO SCREEN SIZE."
I look at these new phones and the current ones, compare price points and relative sizes, and see where the recent information that Apple makes more on apps the larger the phone screen size is proven. No more SE-sized phone, unless they release an XR Mini soon. Since the price increases are not linear with the size increases — purchase costs are comparatively higher for less screen-estate — so the XR Mini could cost the same as the XR. I'd still buy it. The dimensions of an SE could have what? A 4.5" screen? I'd live. I have a dog of a 6S and I still spend a fortune on apps. I would consider the XR, but the size increase is so much, I would trade it after a week (if I didn't leave it somewhere first), so that leaves me with the option of an Xs? I feel forced into a crappy decision. I think I'll wait a couple of months....
"Size is everything, and some of us like small"
[doublepost=1536785893][/doublepost]
Go to the carrier retailers. All old stock is pushed out through them. You can get an X(no suffix) there too.
"APPLE TURNS BACK ON SMALLER PHONE FANS DUE TO DATA SHOWING PER PHONE APP STORE REVENUE IS TIED TO SCREEN SIZE."
I look at these new phones and the current ones, compare price points and relative sizes, and see where the recent information that Apple makes more on apps the larger the phone screen size is proven. No more SE-sized phone, unless they release an XR Mini soon. Since the price increases are not linear with the size increases — purchase costs are comparatively higher for less screen-estate — so the XR Mini could cost the same as the XR. I'd still buy it. The dimensions of an SE could have what? A 4.5" screen? I'd live. I have a dog of a 6S and I still spend a fortune on apps. I would consider the XR, but the size increase is so much, I would trade it after a week (if I didn't leave it somewhere first), so that leaves me with the option of an Xs? I feel forced into a crappy decision. I think I'll wait a couple of months....
"Size is everything, and some of us like small"
[doublepost=1536785893][/doublepost]
Go to the carrier retailers. All old stock is pushed out through them. You can get an X(no suffix) there too.
The thought occurred to me that going the SE route will certainly not be without the burden of having to deal with applications & websites geared towards large phablet-sized screens. Major irks of mine are having to scroll more than before due to this dumb trend towards "large" blockish mobile-centric webpages that require loads of scrolling and where images don't even fit on one screen (so you can't get the entire context of things on a screen view), as well as pressing more taps or swipes than before just to do the same thing that used to take one press or swipe, all in the name of removing buttons and being "new...." Even with my 5S I can't see an some instagram photos fully on the screen. It's clear that an SE will continue to be the unloved stepchild and compromised when it comes to screen content. Still I'd prefer it over the too-lage 6S I tried for a week this summer, but in general, iPhones keep losing their "can't do wrong" magic they had before ~2013 for me....
I still have a 4S. A lot of sites just don't load anymore. Like macrumors.com for example.
Appleinsider.com does, though.
Thinking about my options.
But I will have to try them at the store, anyway. Price-difference between a 256GB XS and XR is negligible IMO.
Though I could just buy an SE - I'm sure my carrier still has them.
The would make much more sense, financially....
Appleinsider.com does, though.
Thinking about my options.
But I will have to try them at the store, anyway. Price-difference between a 256GB XS and XR is negligible IMO.
Though I could just buy an SE - I'm sure my carrier still has them.
The would make much more sense, financially....