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IPhone SE after one month of usage
- Thread starter Sunny1990
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Would also be interested to hear folks' day to day battery life - i.e. not a screenshot but impressions on how it fits into your usage patterns.
Honestly not as good as everyone was making it out to be. Maybe I just had higher standards than I should because of that.
Battery life is still plenty good enough for me, though. I don't see myself ever needing to charge it more than once a day.
Mostly Hangouts, Safari, and Google Play Music. I use Google Voice, so Hangouts is used for IM, texting, and calling.
Form factor and battery life are much better than my soapy 6- so happy. Dont give me a bigger screened high resolution phone though, like my old htc one m7, then I regret having such a small screen.
But battery life and form factor are more important at the end of the day.
But battery life and form factor are more important at the end of the day.
I'm coming from the iPhone 5, so definitely a "hit" in my situation. I got the 64 GB silver.
Battery life is outstanding, but again, coming from an aging 5. Usage includes: Mail, Safari, Facebook, casual gaming, and Messages. (Interesting that I barely use the Phone app on my phone. This is probably true for most people nowadays...)
Battery life is outstanding, but again, coming from an aging 5. Usage includes: Mail, Safari, Facebook, casual gaming, and Messages. (Interesting that I barely use the Phone app on my phone. This is probably true for most people nowadays...)
I can't complain about the battery life. When just using on standby mostly, some safari now and then, whatsapp etc. 2 days are easy to get from the battery, if not three.
Call quality on lte is midrange, I have used androids who cost about 130€ who gave much better call quality on 3G. But I knew this before, iPhones have always been bad on voice calls, beginning with the first iPhone up until today.
Wifi is good, always working and does not drain the battery. Overall response of the phone is very quick. Camera is doing wonderful pictures in my opinion.
The loudspeaker on bottom is good, but outside on the street with car traffic I need to pull it to max, otherwise I won't hear it in my jacket. Vibration is hard to feel in pocket, but I never had a phone were I was satisfied with vibrating alarm.
Fingerprint sensor works quick and easy, no problems with it so far.
Screen quality is ok, average expresses it best. Nothing really good about it, and nothing really bad.
At all it's a good phone without any real drawbacks, I would buy it again. But mostly because of iOS, which I prefer over android in almost all scenarios.
Overall when comparing price and what you get the se is probably the best choice if you want an iPhone today. The bigger models don't offer that much more that it would justify their prices.
Call quality on lte is midrange, I have used androids who cost about 130€ who gave much better call quality on 3G. But I knew this before, iPhones have always been bad on voice calls, beginning with the first iPhone up until today.
Wifi is good, always working and does not drain the battery. Overall response of the phone is very quick. Camera is doing wonderful pictures in my opinion.
The loudspeaker on bottom is good, but outside on the street with car traffic I need to pull it to max, otherwise I won't hear it in my jacket. Vibration is hard to feel in pocket, but I never had a phone were I was satisfied with vibrating alarm.
Fingerprint sensor works quick and easy, no problems with it so far.
Screen quality is ok, average expresses it best. Nothing really good about it, and nothing really bad.
At all it's a good phone without any real drawbacks, I would buy it again. But mostly because of iOS, which I prefer over android in almost all scenarios.
Overall when comparing price and what you get the se is probably the best choice if you want an iPhone today. The bigger models don't offer that much more that it would justify their prices.
Bought an SE 64GB Space Gray. I'm coming from a 5 so keep that in mind.
Love the style it has just loving it. Touch ID gets my print 80% of the time I guess so that's good.
The back camera is great! Getting some real good looking photos of it. The front camera is another story though.. It's not bad but not good either certainly in low light conditions. The phone responds very quickly no lag or whatsoever. The screen size is great the resolution is in my opinion average. Battery life is great coming from a 5 that lasted max. 4-5 hours with the SE I get 8-9 hours occasionally 10 hours with light usage (no mobile data, low power mode used,...). My general usage: Messages, Safari, some light gaming, social media, taking quite a lot of photos. But also the price is competitive in EU it sells for 589 EUR for the 64 GB version.
Love the style it has just loving it. Touch ID gets my print 80% of the time I guess so that's good.
The back camera is great! Getting some real good looking photos of it. The front camera is another story though.. It's not bad but not good either certainly in low light conditions. The phone responds very quickly no lag or whatsoever. The screen size is great the resolution is in my opinion average. Battery life is great coming from a 5 that lasted max. 4-5 hours with the SE I get 8-9 hours occasionally 10 hours with light usage (no mobile data, low power mode used,...). My general usage: Messages, Safari, some light gaming, social media, taking quite a lot of photos. But also the price is competitive in EU it sells for 589 EUR for the 64 GB version.
Interesting. Have you ever made a cell call using the cell service rather than the data service? Both LTE and 3G are data, so calls using either would be VOIP calls rather than cell calls. Or do you only make VOIP calls on your cell phone?
If you are in fact using your cell service, LTE or 3G have nothing to do with the quality of your calls.
I spent a couple of days with the Space Gray SE without touching my 6s Plus. It's nostalgic. To me, the SE feels outdated because of how much my smartphone usage has changed since the iPhone 5 first came out. I do more things that make the bigger screen an advantage for me, but at the same time there are so many folks out there who use it more like a phone, than a media device. And that's what it comes down to. Personal preference.
What do you mean?
Maybe I wasn't precise enough, I'm not talking about connection quality, but more about voice and sound quality.
On other phones I used the same SIM card and network and it sounded much better. Also the speaker seemed capable of higher volumes than the se does.
But I know this from my 4s and from the iPhones of a friend, who had all versions so far.
Ah, ok....seems like you are commenting on the call quality of the cell service after all, not VOIP over LTE or 3G. No worries.....just a small correction in that LTE or 3G had nothing to do with it.....you are just saying that in your experience cell calls sound better over Android than iPhones using the same cell network.
Not over android, but on other hardware. Apple is simply not good on the hardware side when it comes to call quality.
It has become a bit better with the 6 series, but they never were superior in that field.
They are great in design, and for most people that is enough. But besides anything visual it does not play in the top field.
I like my se, but for some people a phone is mainly for calls and to be fair, they should know the downsides when paying so much.
It's not so bad that you can't use it, but if I would do many calls a day, an iPhone wouldn't be my first choice.
I can't speak for foreign networks but I am in Germany at the moment and the experience above is when using iPhones here. Could be it's different in other countries and different networks.
I use it for work and music/podcasts and it does well. The battery life is great and I can get two days of use out of it for what I use it for.
I'm in Germany too but never noticed a lower sound quality or anything that bothered me during phone calls. Had some androids before I went to iOS.
My mother noticed immediately the first time I called her using my SE compared to the prior day when using my Note 5. She said the quality wasn't as good as normal. (I never told her I switched phones). Also I have noticed where the Note 5 (during my commute) would hold a strong LTE signal, the SE drops to 3G or sometimes even down the 1X. Other than that, I have been entirely happy with the little SE. Battery life is superb for me. If Apple decides to do a 2nd gen SE then I could go for a slightly higher res screen with an emphasis on slightly (720p would work...but no more than 1080), and trim the bezels a bit or go with a 4.3" screen and it would still be just great, for me.
I would've considered going back to a 4 incher if the screen wasn't so bad compared to the 6s.
I'm very happy with my SE, great screen, wonderful form factor, great battery, and blazingly fast.
Not sure what everyone is talking about. Except for the size, the screen is almost identical.
Very happy with my Space Gray 64 GB SE!
Coming from an iPhone 6S that I was never quite happy with (wanted another smaller screen, but at the time of my contract only the 6S and 6S+ were offered).
I never used the force touch or selfie camera of the 6S, so I don't miss them.
I feel the camera, call quality etc. are all very good on the SE. I was concerned about the Gen 1 touch ID vs the Gen 2 (on the 6S) but honestly don't miss it like I thought I would. 6S was blazingly fast to unlock, but the SE actually gives me a second to see the notifications on the lock screen before unlocking the phone, so it's kind of nice. I don't miss the Gen 2 touch ID.
In regards to usage and battery life - I do a lot of Instagram, web forums, email and apps - usage has gotten heavier over time. The battery seems a bit more robust and lasts longer than my 6S - but not tons longer. I generally carry my charge cable, so fine either way.
And finally, the best part is the size and ergonomics of the SE. Enjoy carrying and using this phone much more than the 6S (I'd already learned this lesson when I got a Note 3 instead of the 5S and shortly thereafter purchased a 5C for full price because I missed my smaller phone / Apple ecosystem - but on latest upgrade cycle a smaller phone wasn't an option).
Glad to be back to a reasonably sized phone that's easy to talk on, carry and use. I have my iPad or laptop for when I need a big screen!
Coming from an iPhone 6S that I was never quite happy with (wanted another smaller screen, but at the time of my contract only the 6S and 6S+ were offered).
I never used the force touch or selfie camera of the 6S, so I don't miss them.
I feel the camera, call quality etc. are all very good on the SE. I was concerned about the Gen 1 touch ID vs the Gen 2 (on the 6S) but honestly don't miss it like I thought I would. 6S was blazingly fast to unlock, but the SE actually gives me a second to see the notifications on the lock screen before unlocking the phone, so it's kind of nice. I don't miss the Gen 2 touch ID.
In regards to usage and battery life - I do a lot of Instagram, web forums, email and apps - usage has gotten heavier over time. The battery seems a bit more robust and lasts longer than my 6S - but not tons longer. I generally carry my charge cable, so fine either way.
And finally, the best part is the size and ergonomics of the SE. Enjoy carrying and using this phone much more than the 6S (I'd already learned this lesson when I got a Note 3 instead of the 5S and shortly thereafter purchased a 5C for full price because I missed my smaller phone / Apple ecosystem - but on latest upgrade cycle a smaller phone wasn't an option).
Glad to be back to a reasonably sized phone that's easy to talk on, carry and use. I have my iPad or laptop for when I need a big screen!