9 ms·

Yes. I'm an Android user who is absolutely sick of phablets. I have a Pixel 3A (5.6") and it is way, way too big. I've been quite excited about this iPhone SE a

Yes. I'm an Android user who is absolutely sick of phablets. I have a Pixel 3A (5.6") and it is way, way too big. I've been quite excited about this iPhone SE announcement. However, the lack of a headphone jack is a huge negative, and 4.7" is the absolute largest I think is reasonable. A little smaller would've been ideal. I'm undecided on whether to switch to the SE, but I genuinely hope it sells like crazy. Then maybe the Android copycat manufacturers like Google will copy the small form factor, but add in a headphone jack. One can dream...

Nursie 7y ago
There have usually been smaller androids available. But people didn't buy them in enough numbers to make them a thriving sector AFAICT. Samsung used to do the Galaxy Mini line, Sony always had smaller xperia's... But most folks seem to want a bigger, shinier screen. That's not to say you're wrong in your desires, it's just they might not be widely shared. I also hope this does well. It's a nice looking unit.
- ogre_codes 7y ago
  Most of the time those smaller form factor Android phone have had lackluster CPU, mediocre battery life, and crappy cameras. The SE is very close to a flagship product in terms of performance.
  - Nursie 7y ago
    Indeed, I think it's been a vicious circle of lack of demand leading to lacklustre products. This phone does look close to flagship in terms of cpu etc, though may be missing various features - multiple cameras etc - compared to actual flagships. I'd like a tiny flagship....
    - ogre_codes 7y ago
      There are a lot of reasons small Android phones didn't work. One of the biggest reasons Android went to bigger form factors first was because they needed the extra battery capacity. Android was a bit of a battery hog and, CPUs on the higher end Android phones were pretty demanding. That last bit is likely the biggest reason small form factor Android died an untimely death.
      - Nursie 7y ago
        I'm pretty sure it was more market driven. Everyone laughed at the Galaxy Note when it launched, including me. Then we all went and bought one.
  - filleduchaos 7y ago
    The Xperia Compacts were almost exactly their flagship counterparts but with smaller bodies/displays (and sometimes less ROM).
- kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
  The problem with the Xperias is that there are counterfeits out there.
- Zak 7y ago
  It seems to me there's room in the market for one or two high-end compact Android phones. It's not a big enough segment for every company to sell one profitably, but if someone really nailed that niche.... Lower-priced sports cars don't sell well lately either, but Mazda continues to do well with the MX-5. There's a lot of value in finding an underserved niche and making a product that fills it perfectly.
Ataraxy 7y ago
The sony xperia compact phone models were my go to for a while since they had covered all of that.
- spurgu 7y ago
  Yes, I in fact bought a Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact yesterday to replace my SE.
  - dijit 7y ago
    I don’t want to make you feel bad about your purchase, but I also looked at that phone: It is only 1yr younger than the SE and about 90% as powerful on the CPU. Apple has had a silicone advantage for a while, most androids are 1-2 years behind. :/
    - spurgu 7y ago
      I definitely don't feel bad about my purchase, I don't play games (aside from puzzle games when flying) so I don't really care that much about high-end CPU/GPU. Regular apps running smoothly is all I need. I do love having a comfortable amount of RAM though, so that the phone doesn't forget app state when switching between apps. This happened way more often than I would've liked on the SE, not sure whether that was due to insufficient RAM or power saving measures though. And whatever the case may be it's not like I had much choice when looking at phones of this size. And I'm so relieved to get rid of iOS, which with I had a 1.5 year hate relationship. I miss one thing though - the Apple emojis. Google's are way nicer than they used to be but nowhere near Apple's. Let's see if I find myself missing anything else in the upcoming days.
akvadrako 7y ago
It isn't about the screen size - it's about the external dimensions. This is almost as large as the Pixel 4A, Samsung S10e or iPhone 11. You are only saving a couple grams and a few mm. Hopefully the Sony Xperia 5 II comes out soon - it should be smaller than this.
- coldpie 7y ago
  Yes, I agree, this iPhone SE is too large. But it's at least a step in the right direction compared to where we've been heading.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    I keep seeing this. I’m below average height and I only have use of one hand so I know I never use my phone with both hands. Between the single handed keyboard mode and double clicking on the home button to bring the screen down, I have no trouble using the 8 Plus with one hand.
    - dijit 7y ago
      You’re totally right! Everyone here is just making things up! Egregious sarcasm aside: I owned the 6s after the 5s and it was too large to use comfortably, I kept dropping it, it meant that I had to _only_ use the phone when I wanted to check something- maybe I could get away with just a glance but a quick reply required far too much time unless I used two hands. So I got a Samsung Galaxy S8 which felt superb in the hand, but was still wayyyy too big, and it saw the pavement in a similar way; I got rid of it because Samsung’s Android is horrible and on the S8 it wasn’t removable and went back to the old form factor SE. I haven’t dropped this phone once, it’s comfy, it’s light- easy to carry around and very easy to use in one hand while I wait and sip a drink or something. Anecdote: my girlfriend has an iPhone X and due to the size of the thing she leaves it hanging around the apartment and has to go searching for it each time she wants to use it. It’s simply too uncomfortable to keep in her pocket.
- mceachen 7y ago
  > almost as large as ... iPhone 11 See https://www.apple.com/iphone-se/specs/ https://www.apple.com/iphone-se/specs/ for a comparison. It's at least a quarter smaller in both dimensions.
hajile 7y ago
My current phone has no headphone jack and it's been an absolute pain the whole time. Adapters are hit-or-miss and generally suck. Even high-end devices (mine was over $800) often have hissing due to the analog signal running fractions of a millimeter from a bunch of digital signals. Adding insult to injury, music objectively sucks with bluetooth. A good DAC takes space and power. Multiple drivers take space and power. Bluetooth modems require space and power and generate interference simply because they are modems. When you try to shove all of that inside a tiny earphone, there are going to be massive tradeoffs.
- throwaway287391 7y ago
  Comments like this always make me really glad that I've never tried "good" audio equipment. I think music sounds great with my Sony XM3s and even my AirPods, and I don't have to travel with a DAC to experience it. shrug
  - Bahamut 7y ago
    I think it depends on what you want - I have some pricier headphones myself & I used to own monitor speakers too, but I never think to use any of it with a phone. I use a phone to be on the go, and having big headphones don't go with that well unless I'm sitting for a long time like an airplane. So far I've been dealing with being on the go with the PowerBeats Pro - it's good enough for my purposes (light, good battery life, sound is good enough, somewhat compact), although I have it mainly because the AirPod Pros were not out then.
  - williamdclt 7y ago
    On one hand you avoid frustration, on the other hand you miss out on greater enjoyment.
    - throwaway287391 7y ago
      I think I'd mentally adjust to the improved quality as the "new normal" pretty quickly and not get much out of it thereafter, leaving only the frustration when I couldn't have my audiophile quality. Seems like there's very little upside in it for me personally. I don't doubt that some people can genuinely sustain additional enjoyment out of it though.
dang 7y ago
(This subthread was originally in reply to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22878765 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22878765)
40four 7y ago
They make corded headphones that plug into the power port. My XS came with a set of corded pods in the box. I assume this phone will to unless the strip of for price reasons. Either way they are available.
PopeDotNinja 7y ago
I miss my old Nexus 4. That was a great size.
- valzam 7y ago
  and the rubber band around the screen was awesome, you never needed a case and it still had perfect grip!
- bscphil 7y ago
  I've said it here before many times - the Nexus 4 was nearly the perfect phone in every way and was the best Android phone ever made. Literally all I want in a phone is the Nexus 4 with software updated forever. Hell, you don't even need to upgrade the hardware, the 720p screen is fine. Just make the battery replaceable and you'd never need a new phone if manufacturers would commit to long term support. That said, imagine the world was sane and how it could be upgraded: they could reduce the size of the bezel, give it a more efficient processor and better battery life. It wouldn't take much, but it seems like the only reason we can't have good things today is that it isn't profitable enough. Somebody should do an open-hardware clone of the N4 form factor.
  - ferdbold 7y ago
    As much as I loved my Nexus 4, there's no denying its camera and battery were quite poor. I wouldn't call it the best phone ever made, even at its time
    - bscphil 7y ago
      Granted, that's very keyed to my own needs for a phone. I replaced the N4 battery twice, on my own. I don't care whether my phone has a crappy 8 MP camera, or even a 1 MP camera, because I have a real camera. It's there for convenience or video chats. On the other hand, I agree with you that there's plenty of room for improvement on the N4. But I don't think I've seen a significantly better phone. Certainly every phone I've had since then (and I'm careful to choose phones that meet my needs, not go for the flashiest model) has been worse.
mr_toad 7y ago
My AirPods are the best in-ear headphones I’ve ever used. I definitely don’t miss having a tangled fraying cable that gets caught on things. Plus I used to go through at least one set a year because the mechanical stress on the cable would break them. In the long run AirPods are actually cheaper.
- mackrevinack 7y ago
  really? I thought they would be more expensive in the long run since the battery will be degraded in 10 or so years to the point where you would have to constantly charge them I suppose it depends on what brands of wired headphones you would normally buy but it would probably be cheaper to just reinforce the part that keeps breaking on you
tim333 7y ago
I'm a recent purchaser of a slightly used old iPhone SE and it's great really. Headphone socket, does all I want, fast and snappy in practice, only cost like £100/$130.

Nursie 7y ago

There have usually been smaller androids available. But people didn't buy them in enough numbers to make them a thriving sector AFAICT. Samsung used to do the Galaxy Mini line, Sony always had smaller xperia's... But most folks seem to want a bigger, shinier screen. That's not to say you're wrong in your desires, it's just they might not be widely shared. I also hope this does well. It's a nice looking unit.

ogre_codes 7y ago
Most of the time those smaller form factor Android phone have had lackluster CPU, mediocre battery life, and crappy cameras. The SE is very close to a flagship product in terms of performance.
- Nursie 7y ago
  Indeed, I think it's been a vicious circle of lack of demand leading to lacklustre products. This phone does look close to flagship in terms of cpu etc, though may be missing various features - multiple cameras etc - compared to actual flagships. I'd like a tiny flagship....
  - ogre_codes 7y ago
    There are a lot of reasons small Android phones didn't work. One of the biggest reasons Android went to bigger form factors first was because they needed the extra battery capacity. Android was a bit of a battery hog and, CPUs on the higher end Android phones were pretty demanding. That last bit is likely the biggest reason small form factor Android died an untimely death.
    - Nursie 7y ago
      I'm pretty sure it was more market driven. Everyone laughed at the Galaxy Note when it launched, including me. Then we all went and bought one.
- filleduchaos 7y ago
  The Xperia Compacts were almost exactly their flagship counterparts but with smaller bodies/displays (and sometimes less ROM).
kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
The problem with the Xperias is that there are counterfeits out there.
Zak 7y ago
It seems to me there's room in the market for one or two high-end compact Android phones. It's not a big enough segment for every company to sell one profitably, but if someone really nailed that niche.... Lower-priced sports cars don't sell well lately either, but Mazda continues to do well with the MX-5. There's a lot of value in finding an underserved niche and making a product that fills it perfectly.

Ataraxy 7y ago

The sony xperia compact phone models were my go to for a while since they had covered all of that.

spurgu 7y ago
Yes, I in fact bought a Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact yesterday to replace my SE.
- dijit 7y ago
  I don’t want to make you feel bad about your purchase, but I also looked at that phone: It is only 1yr younger than the SE and about 90% as powerful on the CPU. Apple has had a silicone advantage for a while, most androids are 1-2 years behind. :/
  - spurgu 7y ago
    I definitely don't feel bad about my purchase, I don't play games (aside from puzzle games when flying) so I don't really care that much about high-end CPU/GPU. Regular apps running smoothly is all I need. I do love having a comfortable amount of RAM though, so that the phone doesn't forget app state when switching between apps. This happened way more often than I would've liked on the SE, not sure whether that was due to insufficient RAM or power saving measures though. And whatever the case may be it's not like I had much choice when looking at phones of this size. And I'm so relieved to get rid of iOS, which with I had a 1.5 year hate relationship. I miss one thing though - the Apple emojis. Google's are way nicer than they used to be but nowhere near Apple's. Let's see if I find myself missing anything else in the upcoming days.

akvadrako 7y ago

It isn't about the screen size - it's about the external dimensions. This is almost as large as the Pixel 4A, Samsung S10e or iPhone 11. You are only saving a couple grams and a few mm. Hopefully the Sony Xperia 5 II comes out soon - it should be smaller than this.

coldpie 7y ago
Yes, I agree, this iPhone SE is too large. But it's at least a step in the right direction compared to where we've been heading.
- scarface74 7y ago
  I keep seeing this. I’m below average height and I only have use of one hand so I know I never use my phone with both hands. Between the single handed keyboard mode and double clicking on the home button to bring the screen down, I have no trouble using the 8 Plus with one hand.
  - dijit 7y ago
    You’re totally right! Everyone here is just making things up! Egregious sarcasm aside: I owned the 6s after the 5s and it was too large to use comfortably, I kept dropping it, it meant that I had to _only_ use the phone when I wanted to check something- maybe I could get away with just a glance but a quick reply required far too much time unless I used two hands. So I got a Samsung Galaxy S8 which felt superb in the hand, but was still wayyyy too big, and it saw the pavement in a similar way; I got rid of it because Samsung’s Android is horrible and on the S8 it wasn’t removable and went back to the old form factor SE. I haven’t dropped this phone once, it’s comfy, it’s light- easy to carry around and very easy to use in one hand while I wait and sip a drink or something. Anecdote: my girlfriend has an iPhone X and due to the size of the thing she leaves it hanging around the apartment and has to go searching for it each time she wants to use it. It’s simply too uncomfortable to keep in her pocket.
mceachen 7y ago
> almost as large as ... iPhone 11 See https://www.apple.com/iphone-se/specs/ https://www.apple.com/iphone-se/specs/ for a comparison. It's at least a quarter smaller in both dimensions.

hajile 7y ago

My current phone has no headphone jack and it's been an absolute pain the whole time. Adapters are hit-or-miss and generally suck. Even high-end devices (mine was over $800) often have hissing due to the analog signal running fractions of a millimeter from a bunch of digital signals. Adding insult to injury, music objectively sucks with bluetooth. A good DAC takes space and power. Multiple drivers take space and power. Bluetooth modems require space and power and generate interference simply because they are modems. When you try to shove all of that inside a tiny earphone, there are going to be massive tradeoffs.

throwaway287391 7y ago
Comments like this always make me really glad that I've never tried "good" audio equipment. I think music sounds great with my Sony XM3s and even my AirPods, and I don't have to travel with a DAC to experience it. shrug
- Bahamut 7y ago
  I think it depends on what you want - I have some pricier headphones myself & I used to own monitor speakers too, but I never think to use any of it with a phone. I use a phone to be on the go, and having big headphones don't go with that well unless I'm sitting for a long time like an airplane. So far I've been dealing with being on the go with the PowerBeats Pro - it's good enough for my purposes (light, good battery life, sound is good enough, somewhat compact), although I have it mainly because the AirPod Pros were not out then.
- williamdclt 7y ago
  On one hand you avoid frustration, on the other hand you miss out on greater enjoyment.
  - throwaway287391 7y ago
    I think I'd mentally adjust to the improved quality as the "new normal" pretty quickly and not get much out of it thereafter, leaving only the frustration when I couldn't have my audiophile quality. Seems like there's very little upside in it for me personally. I don't doubt that some people can genuinely sustain additional enjoyment out of it though.

dang 7y ago

(This subthread was originally in reply to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22878765 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22878765)

40four 7y ago

They make corded headphones that plug into the power port. My XS came with a set of corded pods in the box. I assume this phone will to unless the strip of for price reasons. Either way they are available.

PopeDotNinja 7y ago

I miss my old Nexus 4. That was a great size.

valzam 7y ago
and the rubber band around the screen was awesome, you never needed a case and it still had perfect grip!
bscphil 7y ago
I've said it here before many times - the Nexus 4 was nearly the perfect phone in every way and was the best Android phone ever made. Literally all I want in a phone is the Nexus 4 with software updated forever. Hell, you don't even need to upgrade the hardware, the 720p screen is fine. Just make the battery replaceable and you'd never need a new phone if manufacturers would commit to long term support. That said, imagine the world was sane and how it could be upgraded: they could reduce the size of the bezel, give it a more efficient processor and better battery life. It wouldn't take much, but it seems like the only reason we can't have good things today is that it isn't profitable enough. Somebody should do an open-hardware clone of the N4 form factor.
- ferdbold 7y ago
  As much as I loved my Nexus 4, there's no denying its camera and battery were quite poor. I wouldn't call it the best phone ever made, even at its time
  - bscphil 7y ago
    Granted, that's very keyed to my own needs for a phone. I replaced the N4 battery twice, on my own. I don't care whether my phone has a crappy 8 MP camera, or even a 1 MP camera, because I have a real camera. It's there for convenience or video chats. On the other hand, I agree with you that there's plenty of room for improvement on the N4. But I don't think I've seen a significantly better phone. Certainly every phone I've had since then (and I'm careful to choose phones that meet my needs, not go for the flashiest model) has been worse.

mr_toad 7y ago

My AirPods are the best in-ear headphones I’ve ever used. I definitely don’t miss having a tangled fraying cable that gets caught on things. Plus I used to go through at least one set a year because the mechanical stress on the cable would break them. In the long run AirPods are actually cheaper.

mackrevinack 7y ago
really? I thought they would be more expensive in the long run since the battery will be degraded in 10 or so years to the point where you would have to constantly charge them I suppose it depends on what brands of wired headphones you would normally buy but it would probably be cheaper to just reinforce the part that keeps breaking on you

tim333 7y ago

I'm a recent purchaser of a slightly used old iPhone SE and it's great really. Headphone socket, does all I want, fast and snappy in practice, only cost like £100/$130.