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The original iPhone SE (2016) is still the most powerful small smartphone ever made. Here's everything released since 2015 that's SE size or smaller: https://w
by Nition 5y ago
The original iPhone SE (2016) is still the most powerful small smartphone ever made.
Here's everything released since 2015 that's SE size or smaller: https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2015&nHeightMax=125&nWidthMax=60&sFormFactors=1 https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2015&nHeightM...
This SE, and the previous one, are significantly larger. The iPhone 13 Mini is closer to original SE size but still larger (around 8mm longer and 6mm wider).
- incanus77 5y agoI agree. I'm an iOS developer (and Apple developer of 20 years) and I'm still using one.
- aidenn0 5y agoI suppose it depends on your definition of small and powerful. My phone is smaller in width and height than the SE (which is what your gsm arena filters on), but has a larger volume due to being twice as thick and weighs 3g less. With 6GB of ram and a 8-core (4 big + 4 little) 2GHz MediaTek CPU, it's more powerful than the dual core A9. On the other-hand its 480x854 screen is much lower resolution.
- Nition 5y agoCan I ask what phone that is? I admit I'm being a little unfair on "small", to suit my own preference. But you could fit a 5" edge-to-edge screen in original SE size (the iPhone 13 mini has a 5.4" screen), and it'd be fantastic. Hell you could do a 4" screen - same size screen as the original SE - but make it edge-to-edge and the phone would be tiny and just as functional (except maybe battery life...).
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- aidenn0 5y agoUnihertz Jelly 2. 3" screen, Android 11.
- Nition 5y agoThat looks really neat and it's not on GSMArena for some reason, or else it would appear in my linked search. I kinda thought they had everything.
- barbs 5y agoI have a first-gen iPhone SE and it's been great, but the hardware is starting to wear out. I actually bought a Unihertz Jelly to migrate to but I'm waiting until the iPhone SE becomes unusable before switching over. How are you finding the Jelly?
- aidenn0 5y agoI commented here. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30606598 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30606598 TL;DR everything is "okay" or better except the camera, which is terrible.
- skavi 5y agoIn fact, the A9 is likely at least as fast as the Helio P60 your Jelly’s got. It generally performs better than the Snapdragon 835, which is a higher performance implementation of the A73 + A53 design.
- nerdponx 5y agoI wish I still had my first-gen SE, because it actually fit in my small hands, and its nice solid rectangular body made it easy to hold and hard to drop. The home button on that unit was starting to give out after 4 years of heavy service and I didn't want to spend the money for an out-of-warranty repair. Unfortunately the Gen 2 is also mostly "non-repairable"; I had to get a total phone replacement for something as simple as a dying Thunderbolt port. According to the person at the Genius Bar, the 12 Mini is much more repairable, more like the first-gen SE in terms of its internals. This SE Gen 3 still has the rounded/slim iPhone 6 body style, so I would expect it to be equally non-repairable. So all things equal, I would still go for the 12 Mini over the SE Gen 2 if I could make the choice over again.
- Nextgrid 5y agoI've swapped the case on my iPhone 8 - the Lightning port is on a separate board and I don't believe there's any active logic in it that would prevent replacement. It's quite a long process though that involves taking most of the phone apart - plan around 3 hours if you don't have previous experience.
- kawsper 5y agoI still have my first-gen SE and it's my primary phone, the battery have started to show its age. I am also experiencing the problems you mention with the home-button being worn out, in humid conditions it will press without me pressing it, I've sort-of solved it by using the on-screen home-button (I haven't found a way to tell iOS to ignore the hardware button). It's the perfect size of a phone, I've considered seeing if someone can replace the battery and the home-button.
- dbtc 5y agoIt's quite easy to replace the battery yourself. You can buy a kit with a battery and all tools, follow the included instructions, watch a video tutorial if you need.
- vanilla_nut 5y ago
- onemoresoop 5y agoCurrently using the original SE and I'm quite happy with it; as a device it still performs decently too. I don't need more than that for my use so I'm going to hold onto it till it dies out. One issue I've had with the small size is that a lot of websites are not rendering properly with this screen size and make the assumption that my phone's size is larger. It's not the device's problem the websites are broken but it's quite telling that the whole industry moved on to phablets. A teenager nephew saw my SE recently and he held himself from laughing at it. I take pride in using an old phone.
- urbushey 5y agoUsed it for so many years, just last year I switched to the 12 mini. The form factor was my primary decision in using the SE, and when my last one broke I decided that the relative improvement in battery life was worth trading to a larger phone. I'm happy enough but if they make a phone the size of the SE again I'll switch in a heartbeat, and I would not be sad if I had to "down"grade again in the meantime.
- givemeethekeys 5y agoHows the battery life?
- onemoresoop 5y agoI've replaced the original but it's still not really great. I do need to recharge my phone at my office...
- meerita 5y agoI am an iPhone 13 Mini user and the battery sucks. I am waiting to see the next gen and i will go for a larger iphone.
- gnicholas 5y agoHow do you use it? I've not had any issues with mine, but I've not been using it super heavily due to COVID/WFH. I don't think it'll be an issue for my normal post-COVID behavior, but I can see it being a stretch when I'm off at a conference, using it a lot, and without easy access to charging. I also expect that 2 years from now it'll probably be borderline for perhaps 20% of my days. I'd be curious to know what your situation/usage is that it's been unsatisfactory.
- ummonk 5y agoI didn't upgrade my original style iPhone SE until the iPhone 12 Mini came out. It's a little bit larger but still manageable, unlike most other phones that come out these days. No headphone jack though sadly.
- teejmya 5y agoI held out as well until the 13 Mini. I still use my OG SE as a media device, since it has a headphone jack.
- zeckalpha 5y agoThere’s a lightning to 1/8” dongle for that
- amanzi 5y agoMy daughter has broken 3 of these in the last couple weeks. Also, you can't charge the device and listen to music at the same time (unless you buy that extra dongle).
- wanderer_ 5y agoAnyone who can retain their dignity while also using something called a dongle can probably do anything.
- wwweston 5y agoFor almost 4 decades 1/8" was a "just works" standard for interfacing consumer audio output from electronics. No fuss. More reliable than airpod pairing. Doesn't rely on battery life. No latency issues. Interference vanishingly rare. Yeah, I can buy a dongle. Maybe I will someday when my original SE dies. Maybe I'll never buy an Apple phone again. But if I do buy a dongle, every time I will be cursing the person who took out the 1/8" jack.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- dangus 5y agoIt's also the hardest to compute on. The screen real estate is truly just not enough. It's from an era where we didn't run our lives and businesses on our phones. About 70% of all website visits come from mobile phones: https://www.perficient.com/insights/research-hub/mobile-vs-desktop-usage https://www.perficient.com/insights/research-hub/mobile-vs-d... The world has changed a lot since the original iPhone 4 and 5 form factor hit the scene.
- GloriousKoji 5y agoI would argue that the screen real estate is enough but with the ~2:1 screen ratio the iPhone X introduced and excessive UI whitespace bloat program UIs are just no longer space efficient and so the true area of importance ends up being the size of about two postage stamps.
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- o_nate 5y agoI'm kicking myself that when I bought the original SE in 2016 I opted for the smallest memory size. 16GB is just not enough any more, with the size of apps and OS constantly increasing. I'm seriously tempted to buy a used one with a bigger memory card, but am worried about end of life for OS upgrades.
- kevinconroy 5y agoAs a long time SE v1 user, I’m really happy with my iPhone 13 Mini. Yes slightly bigger, but I love it for all the same reasons I loved my SE
- highpost 5y agoI have an original iPhone SE and it's the best phone I've ever had. But it does have only 16GB and I have to suffer with offloading apps. Still, I was delighted last September when the SE made the cut for iOS 15. I'll probably replace it with a iPhone 12 mini sometime over the next few months. It's been a long run.
- muppetman 5y agoWhat abouy my Jelly2? https://www.unihertz.com/products/jelly-2 https://www.unihertz.com/products/jelly-2
- Nition 5y agoSeems that it's not on GSMArena for some reason, so it doesn't appear in my linked search and I hadn't seen it. I'm a bit surprised as they usually have everything.
- muppetman 5y agoIt's a great little phone but yea, it's not in Apple league at all. [I bought mine mostly for jogging in case I fall down and break a leg.]
- ramesh31 5y agoYep. I don't care if the new one is "only half an inch" bigger than the old SE. That's still half an inch too big. Apple absolutely nailed it with the original SE dimensions, and I will never upgrade until they make another.
- pkulak 5y agoOnce it was clear that Google was totally done releasing phones that fit in my pocket, I upgraded my Pixel 3 to a 13 mini. It's an amazing phone. Not as small as the OG SE, but I'm not sure I'd want it any smaller.
- girvo 5y agoMy 12 Mini has been a brilliant replacement to my original SE. Easily the best iPhone I've ever owned. The quick detour to the XS just made me angry. I hate the big phone trend (can you call it a trend when its the default now?)
- saagarjha 5y agoI have an iPhone 12 mini and still find myself liking the size of the SE over it :(
- strictlybiznes 5y agoYeah what's the go with this, the SE is technically bigger but somehow feels smaller?