I just sent back 2 iPhone SE's that I purchased for my wife and I. Both 128GB, White, brand new 2020 SE's. BOTH had the same problems right out of the box:
1. Bad cell antenna
2. Unresponsive/glitchy touch screen
I'm not one to nitpick cell phones, or even need flagship quality. I rocked an iPhone 8 base model for 3 years before making the transition. But there's something fishy about the 2020 SE that I don't think has been revealed yet. We already know it's just an iPhone 8 with an A13 chip inside. But I suspect some parts are weaker than even that. Particularly the cell antenna. Ever since I first booted up the new phone, my cell quality was trash. Every single person I talked to said they had a VERY hard time understanding me, that the connection broke up constantly. Every. Single. Time. I did a factory reset, I had the latest software. Even my iPhone 8 that I used for THREE YEARS never had the cell reception issues that the new SE did.
My wife experienced the very same cell reception problem. We could hear people just fine, but they could hardly hear us for all the disruption in the signal. I called local businesses, 1-800 numbers, even other iPhones -- all phone calls were riddled with poor cell reception. My iPhone 8 - supposedly the SAME physical device as the SE - never once had that issue.
Next, we found the touch screen to be unresponsive along the bottom and right sides of the display. Even raising the volume on the music player took a few swipes sometimes to get the screen to respond. Scrolling on the right side was equally finnicky. This was not a deal breaker by itself, but a frustration that I figured an eventual OS update would address. But coupled with the very poor cell reception, I decided to beat my return window to the punch and send the devices back. We've since gone with an XR and 11. Several hundred more dollars total than I wanted to spend -- wanting so much for the cost effective deal on the SE to be a dream come true -- but at the end of the day, we use our phones for 2-3 years and need these things to be 100% reliable.
A small note that's not a glitch, but a reality you must face with the SE: The battery is trash. You WILL charge this thing every day. Sometimes more, depending on your usage. I had a FaceTime call that took my battery from 40% to 6% in less than an hour. It's an outdated battery, we all know that. In theory, it sounds fine. "I'll just charge every night, no big deal." Depending on what device you're coming from, this could be a bigger annoyance than you think. Again - that wasn't a deal breaker alone, but roll it all together, and the SE just failed to be a reliable device even for $399. It's the first iPhone that truly felt "budget" to me. (Maybe the 5C was, but I never owned that, so I can't speak to it.)
I owned the standard iPhone 8 for 3 years and found it to be a better, more reliable phone than the 2020 SE which is supposedly the same thing with better internals.
Just my experience. As always, YMMV.
1. Bad cell antenna
2. Unresponsive/glitchy touch screen
I'm not one to nitpick cell phones, or even need flagship quality. I rocked an iPhone 8 base model for 3 years before making the transition. But there's something fishy about the 2020 SE that I don't think has been revealed yet. We already know it's just an iPhone 8 with an A13 chip inside. But I suspect some parts are weaker than even that. Particularly the cell antenna. Ever since I first booted up the new phone, my cell quality was trash. Every single person I talked to said they had a VERY hard time understanding me, that the connection broke up constantly. Every. Single. Time. I did a factory reset, I had the latest software. Even my iPhone 8 that I used for THREE YEARS never had the cell reception issues that the new SE did.
My wife experienced the very same cell reception problem. We could hear people just fine, but they could hardly hear us for all the disruption in the signal. I called local businesses, 1-800 numbers, even other iPhones -- all phone calls were riddled with poor cell reception. My iPhone 8 - supposedly the SAME physical device as the SE - never once had that issue.
Next, we found the touch screen to be unresponsive along the bottom and right sides of the display. Even raising the volume on the music player took a few swipes sometimes to get the screen to respond. Scrolling on the right side was equally finnicky. This was not a deal breaker by itself, but a frustration that I figured an eventual OS update would address. But coupled with the very poor cell reception, I decided to beat my return window to the punch and send the devices back. We've since gone with an XR and 11. Several hundred more dollars total than I wanted to spend -- wanting so much for the cost effective deal on the SE to be a dream come true -- but at the end of the day, we use our phones for 2-3 years and need these things to be 100% reliable.
A small note that's not a glitch, but a reality you must face with the SE: The battery is trash. You WILL charge this thing every day. Sometimes more, depending on your usage. I had a FaceTime call that took my battery from 40% to 6% in less than an hour. It's an outdated battery, we all know that. In theory, it sounds fine. "I'll just charge every night, no big deal." Depending on what device you're coming from, this could be a bigger annoyance than you think. Again - that wasn't a deal breaker alone, but roll it all together, and the SE just failed to be a reliable device even for $399. It's the first iPhone that truly felt "budget" to me. (Maybe the 5C was, but I never owned that, so I can't speak to it.)
I owned the standard iPhone 8 for 3 years and found it to be a better, more reliable phone than the 2020 SE which is supposedly the same thing with better internals.
Just my experience. As always, YMMV.
