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Apple iPhone SE 2020 Camera review
- oldstrangers 6y agoSo it competes favorably with the Google Pixel 3, released in 2018.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- baxtr 6y agoI don’t believe that’s a relevant comparison. AFAIK Pixel always has been the Android flagship. iPhone SE clearly isn’t its iOS equivalent. It speaks to a completely different audience / sub-market.
- foepys 6y agoI don't know who would consider Pixels to be flagships. Other than the relatively pure Android and timely updates, and the relatively good hardware, there are better phones available. Google is also very strict with their update policy, which means that after 3 years after release, the phone is EOL. I'm repeating myself on here but Nokia (HMD Global) is actually still providing my Nokia 6 from January 2017 with updates every 3 months. I recently went on a research mission for a new Android phone but noticed how bad the situation on Android still is.
- samwhiteUK 6y agoThe Pixel is Google's flagship android phone, there's no argument to be had here
- foepys 6y agoMight be Google's but they certainly aren't Android flagship phones. Samsung, Huawei, and previously Xiaomi are packing better hardware with innovative technology like under-screen fingerprint scanners and multi-lense cameras.
- jeffbee 6y agoYou don't seem to understand the word "flagship". It doesn't mean the most bodacious ship in the fleet. It means the one from which the admiral flies their flag. This is clearly Google and the Pixel, in the Android analogy.
- foepys 6y agoGP clearly said "Android flagship". Google is only selling Pixels, that's like saying iPhones are Apple's flagships which clearly says nothing.
- derethanhausen 6y agoParent comment might have meant Pixel 3a, which also aims for the market segment of $400, nice camera, no frills.
- scarface74 6y agoWell let’s see in four years which one is still likely to be getting operating system and security updates. The original iPhone SE released in 2016 will be supported at least through September 2021.
- speedgoose 6y agoWill it also run slower and slower until you know that you can pay Apple to replace its battery, or buy a new one?
- ibero 6y agonope!
- jeffbee 6y agoYou can just stick with Android which will randomly shut off instead. I'm sure Apple isn't worried about losing the business of irrational cranks. Another fun feature of Android is you can just wait for Google to ship that one last major release that makes the phone an unusable slideshow, the way they did to the Nexus 5X.
- cillian64 6y agoYou can disable the performance reduction and deal with the random shutdowns, if you'd prefer.
- speedgoose 6y agoIt doesn't sound better.
- scarface74 6y agoI never said that Apple had access to magical battery technology that didn’t lose it ability to charge
- molszanski 6y ago
- reaperducer 6y agoAccording to this†, the Pixel 3 stops receiving updates next year. We know that Apple supports its phones for at least five years, so this iPhone should last until 2025. Seems like a pretty good investment for $399. † https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en
- cobookman 6y agoI just picked up a SE with the T-Mobile free additional line & 50% off promotion. Cost was only $200 + Taxes. Amazing deal when you consider the support & hardware quality.
- toomuchtodo 6y agoLink? Promo still on? I’m a glutton for a deal.
- cobookman 6y agoThread on the free line promo. https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/hi8a98/reminder_get_your_free_line_before_its_gone/ https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/hi8a98/reminder_ge...
- toomuchtodo 6y agoThank you for the extra free line! Worked a treat.
- dylan604 6y agoUntil you remember you're on the T-Mobile network, and realize you'd now be willing to pay double to be on a different network
- reaperducer 6y agoIt depends on where you are. There are certain places where T-Mobile is the best network to be on. People like to think that Network X is terrible in my neighborhood, so it's terrible everywhere. That's simply not the case. The big three networks got to be the big three by buying smaller regional networks. Some of those networks were very good. T-Mobile, for example, is excellent in the upper Midwest because it came into the market by buying Voicestream, which had huge and dense coverage. There are places I have to visit in Nevada where T-Mobile is the only provider. Heck, there are portions of the city of Las Vegas where T-Mobile/Sprint was the only signal at all until AT&T service came in last year, and there's still no Verizon to be found as recently as February (I carry all three when I'm working). Bring your Verizon phone to southern Ohio, and get a fraction of the coverage you would get on a Cincinnati Bell (or AT&T roaming) phone. Cell phone networks, like politicians, vary in quality by region.
- Eridrus 6y agoThe score itself is identical to the Pixel 3A, which is from last year. But these scores are very subjective, so....
- oehtXRwMkIs 6y agoI think the Pixel 3a is a more relevant comparison. Very similar score to the SE and also a budget phone.
- CoolGuySteve 6y agoThe Pixel 3a has been discontinued and the 4a is either not released yet or cancelled. But I had a Pixel 3a, it was the worst phone I ever owned. The screen coating had a defect that Google refused to fix. The body is plastic and the screen is more brittle than Gorilla glass, so it shattered after hitting the ground on its corner. In 13 years of carrying these things around, it's the only phone I ever broke. This iPhone can't possibly be any worse.
- oehtXRwMkIs 6y agoFunny thing is that my first smartphone was an iPhone but after replacing it 3 times because of dead pixels, I switched to a Samsung Galaxy S3 or 4, can't remember. You're right that the Pixels are lacking in build quality but I think your experience is a bit unlucky like my own experience with iPhones. I'm a bit behind on the times, but it seems to me that for build quality Samsung is still the best. They've always been ahead with stuff like Super AMOLED, thin bevels (even curved edges), microSD slot, etc. But software matters more to me these days which is why I like the Pixel 3a. It was dirt cheap and has decent microG support. In my own very personal, biased, subjective experience, iPhones have had mediocre build quality and the worst software.
- fierarul 6y agoSo... this would be a good iPhone 6S upgrade?
- taf2 6y agoYes
- masklinn 6y agoIt's the iPhone 11 hardware in an iPhone 6S~8 body so yeah.
- switz 6y agoIf it had a headphone jack...
- earthboundkid 6y agoRemoving the headphone jack was a pure marketing move to get the bad press out of the way with iPhone 7, so iPhone X wouldn’t have to deal with it. Keeping the jack off of the 8 and SE is just spite. It’s the only flaw in the SE.
- steve_adams_86 6y agoUgh, agreed. I miss having a jack all the time. I’m so reluctant to buy an adapter for good headphones so I’m still using the ones it shipped with. They’re not great.
- pi-rat 6y agoYes, it's also really future proof with that A13 chip. That said though, the 6S is surprisingly good even today. Doesn't feel slow for normal tasks, and probably supported for at least one more OS upgrade cycle. Impressive little 5 year old phone.
- steve_adams_86 6y agoI made a comparable upgrade path and I’m unexpectedly stoked with where I landed with the SE. It’s a wonderful little device in its own right, and a significant upgrade over a 6S. I didn’t expect to like this phone as much as I do. Someone else mentioned the screen brightness isn’t great outdoors. It’s perfectly usable but my previous phone was noticeably better. It really doesn’t matter to me, though. I’m typing this without issues in direct afternoon sunlight.
- reaperducer 6y agoOff topic irony: A web site focused on visual quality uses #777777/#FFFFFF for its main content, rendering a FAIL for text readability on WebAIM. https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/ https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
- frou_dh 6y agoIt's now officially against the rules to post these. See third from bottom: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- reaperducer 6y agoAh, good to know. Is that a recent addition to the rules, or did I forget that since I joined?
- AnonC 6y agoThis seems like a more recent addition, though I don’t agree with it. I personally value such comments and avoid the sites in question. And the more the people who write about it and avoid those, the better. I wouldn’t have known about this new guideline if I hadn’t seen your comment above. >Please don't complain about website formatting, back-button breakage, and similar annoyances. They're too common to be interesting. Exception: when the author is present. Then friendly feedback might be helpful.
- misnome 6y agoI also avoided sites with (helpful imo) comments that the site did things like breaking the back button, or blocking full screen popups.
- pfranz 6y agoI understand the motivation (it doesn't encourage discussion about the topic at hand), but like to see these criticisms both as a warning before visiting the site and to know more about what things really bug other users and sites that may help quantify them.
- speedgoose 6y agoIt's a shame Huawei isn't allowed to have Google services on Android anymore. Their flagships smartphones have the best cameras in test, by far. But an Android phone without Google is not very attractive in the western world.
- jeffbee 6y agoWould be a lot more useful in practice if they did all of the benchmarks after touching the lens. Flare when you point it at the sun? No kidding.
- chvid 6y agoAmazing testing work; interesting to read about the company behind it: https://corp.dxomark.com https://corp.dxomark.com
- reaperducer 6y agoWhile the budget-friendly Apple device offers comparable quality in many respects to the more expensive iPhone 11, its single camera setup falls short for zoom and bokeh shots compared to our top performers. So, a $399-$549 phone doesn't perform as well as a $999-$1,449 phone. Shocking.
- satysin 6y agoAm I alone in preferring the iPhone SE 2020 camera over the iPhone 11 camera in their examples? Not always but way more than I expected anyway. It sounds a little hyperbolic but for $399 the iPhone SE 2020 seems to be shockingly good value.
- m0xte 6y agoIf you buy it with AppleCare ($79) and sell it after 2 years when that expires the total cost of ownership and the associated risk of owning it is unbeatable. Works out at around $12 a month.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago$80 insurance with $30 and $100 deductibles for a $400 product seems to be a terrible deal unless you are very prone to breaking your phone or you absolutely can’t afford to spend $400 for a new one. https://www.apple.com/support/products/iphone/ https://www.apple.com/support/products/iphone/
- adanto6840 6y agoAt first thought I totally agree, and feel quite similar about many insurance offerings -- especially on relatively low-value items. That said, and heavily based on my wife's track record & the fact that two years is roughly the average life expectancy for her iPhones (commonly broken glass and poor battery performance at/before 'EoL'), I actually think it's not such a bad sell -- but she's a much "heavier" phone user than I am. I'll probably pick it up for her next iPhone, which likely will be a higher-priced one, but even at the lower end the variance reduction isn't the worst thing for a luxury item that is relatively prone to breakage.
- pfranz 6y agoI think AppleCare+ is one of the rare insurances that can sometimes be a good value, but after looking over the numbers for phones I scratch my head. Looking at a broken screen: $80 upfront and $30 per incident -> $110 [1] $129 out of warranty [2] Out of warranty battery replacement is $49. In warranty is $0 (but in this scenario you paid $80 upfront) and depending on your use-case it may not qualify. It also sucks to tie yourself to Apple for repairs. For me they've required a scheduled, in person appointment before accepting a repair. Both parts and appointments have often been pushed out weeks. Since iPhones are so common, almost any mall has a spot that will repair screens/batteries on the spot within a few hours. I wouldn't recommend it to the average person, but iFixit has walked me through doing many by myself. The math does change if you get multiple broken screens, but they cap incidents at 2. [1] https://www.apple.com/support/products/iphone/ https://www.apple.com/support/products/iphone/ [2] https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/service/screen-replacement https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/service/screen-repla...
- throw_this_one 6y agoI have the SE 2020. It's awesome. Battery life and screen brightness outdoors is the only weakness. Perfectly smooth, processor is amazing. I also don't like the swipe gestures. Plus having a $1k+ phone on me while biking would make me kinda nervous.
- DavideNL 6y agoI agree... and what annoys me also is i can't quickly "tap and hold" on notifications on the lockscreen, for example to complete reminders. There seems to be no (hardware related) reason why this would not be possible. (on the X and 11 this is done with 3D-touch.)
- wlesieutre 6y agoiPhone 11 doesn't have the 3D touch hardware, and iOS 13 retroactively killed it on older devices. But good news on the lock screen notifications, long press for actions is back in the iOS 14 beta: https://streamable.com/ebkhe4 https://streamable.com/ebkhe4 (recorded on a 6s)
- doe88 6y agoAh! I thought of buying one and using it as bike computer on my bike, do you think the screen brightness would be an issue for this use case?
- throw_this_one 6y agoWell it’s the same as the 7, 8, and I believe 6s. I’d say it’s fine at the right angle. Maybe noon is tougher.
- kyskyskys 6y agoiPhone SE (1st generation) is still supported. iPhone SE 2020 is branded to manipulate consumers.
- antoniuschan99 6y agoiPhone SE has one camera, no night sight, latest A series chip, Fingerprint ID. 11 has a wide angle camera, night sight, larger screen, latest A series chip , Face ID.