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I bought an iPhone SE last night. The smartphone industry's decision making in the last few years has been... bizarre. I've been an Android user up to this poi

I bought an iPhone SE last night. The smartphone industry's decision making in the last few years has been... bizarre. I've been an Android user up to this point because I appreciated the vast feature set, open architecture and diversity of hardware that I could find. That initially meant settling for a lot of the quirks and general cheapness of early Android phones - Apple had them all so thoroughly beat on polish. With the advent of really good high-end phones from Samsung and others, and the great advancements in Android's software, it seemed to me that we were getting to the point that there was no particular reason why anyone should prefer an Apple smartphone over any of the other high-end options. The phablet craze and the ridiculous explosion in screen size should have tipped me off that something was very wrong with the industry. It didn't make sense to me that literally no-one would offer a phone that was small enough for one-handed use. And then they started eliminating the headphone jacks. And then... the notch. Multi-billion dollar development teams started chasing each other down degenerate design paths. The modern smartphone is this weird art project that's uncomfortable to interact with, and doesn't have a lot of basic features I use. Swappable battery? Expansion slot for microsd? Rare, and getting rarer. Worse, Google seems to have totally abandoned the initial premise behind Android, and every handset manufacturer has erected a walled garden filled with bloatware and with no expectation of any future support. If I'm going to live in a walled garden, I would rather live in a nice one. I won't put the iPhone SE on a pedestal. It's older hardware, and you're definitely sacrificing some battery life and camera quality (two of the few positives of these modern phablets). But I can reach across the whole screen with my thumb, and I can listen with any set of headphones I want, and it's really very pleasant to use - after only half a day of use, it has just seamlessly disappeared into my life. Exactly as it should.

mlcdf 8y ago
Why not go with the Xperia XZ1 Compact then? Because of this? -> > Worse, Google seems to have totally abandoned the initial premise behind Android, and every handset manufacturer has erected a walled garden filled with bloatware and with no expectation of any future support. If I'm going to live in a walled garden, I would rather live in a nice one. I'm asking because I'm torn between Xperia XZ1 Compact and the iPhone SE... edit: forgot the "Compact" part...
- nategri 8y ago
  Wow that's an especially bad case of Android Phone Name
  - NathanOsullivan 8y ago
    Apple iPhone XS Max Sony Xperia Z1 Compact Seems the same to me
- DanTheManPR 8y ago
  I've considered Sony's compact series of phones, as they're about the only higher end phones that are small enough for one handed use. The XZ1 itself is quite a large phone, 73 mm wide. I find those quite awkward to use.
  - d1zzy 8y ago
    XZ1 Compact is different from XZ1. Make sure you are checking out the right phone specs.
  - mlcdf 8y ago
    I meant the XZ1 Compact sorry. (I edited my post since)
- sethhochberg 8y ago
  I used an Xperia Z3 Compact for a while before I bought an iPhone SE and loved it. Sony's walled-garden for Android was pretty nice, I'll probably be back as long as they continue making compact phones once my SE gets too slow/old/breaks/whatever. The SE was my first iPhone, and unfortunately seems like it might be my last.
  - wlesieutre 8y ago
    I also had a Z3 Compact before switching back to an SE. There was some stupid crap, off the top of my head I believe the camera's image processing was DRM locked and didn't work in any 3rd part camera apps. Low light noise reduction was the most obvious symptom. This might have been fine if Sony's camera app wasn't a trainwreck compared to the 3rd party developers'. It also meant that image quality in other apps like Snapchat suffered. I was never 100% clear on whether the better camera algorithms were available to 3rd party devs if they bothered to implement them as a Sony specific feature, or if they were entirely locked to Sony's own camera app. In either case, 3rd party camera apps were bad. Similarly, if you unlocked your bootloader you'd lose those image processing DRM keys and the camera turns into hot garbage. > Sony has updated the text of the bootloader unlock warning on its website to be clear about the camera impact. It reads, "...the removal of DRM security keys may affect advanced camera functionality. For example, noise reduction algorithms might be removed, and performance when taking photos in low-light conditions might be affected." https://www.androidpolice.com/2014/10/02/unlocking-the-bootloader-on-sonys-xperia-z3-and-z3-compact-causes-poor-low-light-camera-performance-thanks-to-drm/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2014/10/02/unlocking-the-bootl... I don't know whether they're still doing this nonsense or not. Other than that it was a decent phone. They didn't mess with the OS too much. I don't hate Android as an OS, but it seems like whichever OEM you pick you're just deciding which particular flavor of bullshit you want.
blattimwind 8y ago
The SE was what drove me to buying an Apple smartphone and I'd very much like to stay with iOS, which clicked in a way for me that Android never did. I will not buy a phone ever again bigger than the SE. It really is the perfect size, and it even looks and feels very good, too. It's the first smartphone I've ever used that I actually enjoyed. (Even though it is rather inconvenient and cumbersome to move data from or to the device.)
- rsync 8y ago
  I use this: https://macroplant.com/iexplorer https://macroplant.com/iexplorer ... which allows me to treat everything in my iphone as a filesystem and pull items off / delete them / add them, etc. I am not sure I could be an iphone user without this tool.
vinylkey 8y ago
Can I ask where you bought it from? I've been trying to find a new one and haven't been having any luck other than eBay
- DanTheManPR 8y ago
  My local Best Buy had a few in stock.
thijsvandien 8y ago
I'd do the same if I could still find a new LifeProof Nüüd for it or a very convincing alternative. Otherwise it wouldn't last very long anyway...
wilsonnb3 8y ago
> The smartphone industry's decision making in the last few years has been... bizarre. Is it really that hard to believe that most people like phones with larger screens and there's little reason to include a third way to output audio from your phone (in addition to Bluetooth and lightning)? I'll kind of give you the notch, but I honestly like the look of the iPhone X quite a lot.
jonknee 8y ago
> The smartphone industry's decision making in the last few years has been... bizarre. By selling what the market wants? From sales figures it is quite clear what people want and it's probably because the phone is most people's primary computer outside of work. That's not the case for a typical HN user, but big screens make a lot more sense when you don't come home to a computer.
- ianai 8y ago
  That’s the problem with monopolies. They’re the company offering iOS devices. So if they suddenly make only big phones then there won’t be any demand for small iOS devices because none are for sale (new old stock doesn’t count). It automatically makes the big phone choice a winner simply by incumbency. As a result, Apple cannot know the size of the small iOS device market.
  - CardenB 8y ago
    Except they sold a small phone and it sold poorly?
  - jonknee 8y ago
    > Apple cannot know the size of the small iOS device market What are you talking about, Apple knows this more than anyone. Why do you think they abandoned the SE?
    - ianai 8y ago
      Without trying to answer why, they appear to have discontinued 1/3 of their line if this source is accurate. https://www.statista.com/statistics/804398/us-iphone-sales-by-model/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/804398/us-iphone-sales-b... The 6s and SE were their last remaining headphone jack phones. Maybe they’re trying to force the wireless headphones change as well as pave a way for new models. The SE actually sold more this year. But adding it’s 8% made it a clear 33% model replacement.
redisman 8y ago
I bought a used SE to upgrade from my 5C. I'll never buy a bigger phone than this. We've had smart phones for 8 years now. I've figured out my use cases. They don't really need the latest and greatest. Podcasts, Maps, email, Safari. None of these really need a 12-core CPU to work flawlessly.

mlcdf 8y ago

Why not go with the Xperia XZ1 Compact then? Because of this? -> > Worse, Google seems to have totally abandoned the initial premise behind Android, and every handset manufacturer has erected a walled garden filled with bloatware and with no expectation of any future support. If I'm going to live in a walled garden, I would rather live in a nice one. I'm asking because I'm torn between Xperia XZ1 Compact and the iPhone SE... edit: forgot the "Compact" part...

nategri 8y ago
Wow that's an especially bad case of Android Phone Name
- NathanOsullivan 8y ago
  Apple iPhone XS Max Sony Xperia Z1 Compact Seems the same to me
DanTheManPR 8y ago
I've considered Sony's compact series of phones, as they're about the only higher end phones that are small enough for one handed use. The XZ1 itself is quite a large phone, 73 mm wide. I find those quite awkward to use.
- d1zzy 8y ago
  XZ1 Compact is different from XZ1. Make sure you are checking out the right phone specs.
- mlcdf 8y ago
  I meant the XZ1 Compact sorry. (I edited my post since)
sethhochberg 8y ago
I used an Xperia Z3 Compact for a while before I bought an iPhone SE and loved it. Sony's walled-garden for Android was pretty nice, I'll probably be back as long as they continue making compact phones once my SE gets too slow/old/breaks/whatever. The SE was my first iPhone, and unfortunately seems like it might be my last.
- wlesieutre 8y ago
  I also had a Z3 Compact before switching back to an SE. There was some stupid crap, off the top of my head I believe the camera's image processing was DRM locked and didn't work in any 3rd part camera apps. Low light noise reduction was the most obvious symptom. This might have been fine if Sony's camera app wasn't a trainwreck compared to the 3rd party developers'. It also meant that image quality in other apps like Snapchat suffered. I was never 100% clear on whether the better camera algorithms were available to 3rd party devs if they bothered to implement them as a Sony specific feature, or if they were entirely locked to Sony's own camera app. In either case, 3rd party camera apps were bad. Similarly, if you unlocked your bootloader you'd lose those image processing DRM keys and the camera turns into hot garbage. > Sony has updated the text of the bootloader unlock warning on its website to be clear about the camera impact. It reads, "...the removal of DRM security keys may affect advanced camera functionality. For example, noise reduction algorithms might be removed, and performance when taking photos in low-light conditions might be affected." https://www.androidpolice.com/2014/10/02/unlocking-the-bootloader-on-sonys-xperia-z3-and-z3-compact-causes-poor-low-light-camera-performance-thanks-to-drm/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2014/10/02/unlocking-the-bootl... I don't know whether they're still doing this nonsense or not. Other than that it was a decent phone. They didn't mess with the OS too much. I don't hate Android as an OS, but it seems like whichever OEM you pick you're just deciding which particular flavor of bullshit you want.

blattimwind 8y ago

The SE was what drove me to buying an Apple smartphone and I'd very much like to stay with iOS, which clicked in a way for me that Android never did. I will not buy a phone ever again bigger than the SE. It really is the perfect size, and it even looks and feels very good, too. It's the first smartphone I've ever used that I actually enjoyed. (Even though it is rather inconvenient and cumbersome to move data from or to the device.)

rsync 8y ago
I use this: https://macroplant.com/iexplorer https://macroplant.com/iexplorer ... which allows me to treat everything in my iphone as a filesystem and pull items off / delete them / add them, etc. I am not sure I could be an iphone user without this tool.

vinylkey 8y ago

Can I ask where you bought it from? I've been trying to find a new one and haven't been having any luck other than eBay

DanTheManPR 8y ago
My local Best Buy had a few in stock.

thijsvandien 8y ago

I'd do the same if I could still find a new LifeProof Nüüd for it or a very convincing alternative. Otherwise it wouldn't last very long anyway...

wilsonnb3 8y ago

> The smartphone industry's decision making in the last few years has been... bizarre. Is it really that hard to believe that most people like phones with larger screens and there's little reason to include a third way to output audio from your phone (in addition to Bluetooth and lightning)? I'll kind of give you the notch, but I honestly like the look of the iPhone X quite a lot.

jonknee 8y ago

> The smartphone industry's decision making in the last few years has been... bizarre. By selling what the market wants? From sales figures it is quite clear what people want and it's probably because the phone is most people's primary computer outside of work. That's not the case for a typical HN user, but big screens make a lot more sense when you don't come home to a computer.

ianai 8y ago
That’s the problem with monopolies. They’re the company offering iOS devices. So if they suddenly make only big phones then there won’t be any demand for small iOS devices because none are for sale (new old stock doesn’t count). It automatically makes the big phone choice a winner simply by incumbency. As a result, Apple cannot know the size of the small iOS device market.
- CardenB 8y ago
  Except they sold a small phone and it sold poorly?
- jonknee 8y ago
  > Apple cannot know the size of the small iOS device market What are you talking about, Apple knows this more than anyone. Why do you think they abandoned the SE?
  - ianai 8y ago
    Without trying to answer why, they appear to have discontinued 1/3 of their line if this source is accurate. https://www.statista.com/statistics/804398/us-iphone-sales-by-model/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/804398/us-iphone-sales-b... The 6s and SE were their last remaining headphone jack phones. Maybe they’re trying to force the wireless headphones change as well as pave a way for new models. The SE actually sold more this year. But adding it’s 8% made it a clear 33% model replacement.

redisman 8y ago

I bought a used SE to upgrade from my 5C. I'll never buy a bigger phone than this. We've had smart phones for 8 years now. I've figured out my use cases. They don't really need the latest and greatest. Podcasts, Maps, email, Safari. None of these really need a 12-core CPU to work flawlessly.