Gadgetory

we've unboxed it spend some time with it and it's time to share our thoughts on Apple's Mighty Mouse of a mid-range phone I'm Juan Carlos bag now for pocket now and here's our full review of the iPhone se Apple is often criticized for being very conservative with the technology and design of the iPhone the iPhone se is not a phone to blazed new trails and this design is now entering its fourth year of service dating back to the original iPhone 5 this isn't like the galaxy s7 looking kinda similar to a galaxy s6 the iPhone se has exactly the same layout as the iPhone 5s cases covers and skins designed for the 5s fit the SE like a glove this isn't a crown jewel phone for Apple it's a practical response to the fact that over 2015 Apple sold 30 million smaller iPhones looking to the future that hardware will have an increasingly difficult time supporting new software and services instead of reinventing the wheel the exact same shell is used with new tech guts packed inside and yet if Apple had to recycle any phone design a company could do far worse than the metal and glass combo of the 5s it still stands as this reviewers favorite look for any iOS device ever built flat rectangular sides with chamfered edges and no camera bulge maybe the only build quality critique was brought to my attention via subscriber on Twitter that the mute switch on the SE II is a little on the loose side I no longer have a 5s to compare but I can report there is a bit of a wiggle on the SE the look of this phone is either retro or recycled depending on who you ask but the internals are a significant refresh we have a whole separate video detailing exactly the tech inherited from the iPhone 6s and what was left out but as a quick rundown the iPhone se gets the a9 processor with m9 Co processor 2 gigabytes of RAM 16 gig base storage the 12 megapixel rear camera NFC radio for Apple pay and identical headphone performance the items left out no MIMO antennas for stronger Wi-Fi signal no support for LTE advanced a fairly poor FaceTime camera no 3d touch or taptic engine vibration motor and a slower touch ID sensor the SE asks a few compromises but overall it's a solid hardware spread for the $399 retail price now a four inch screen and 2016 won't win any awards but this is a capable LCD panel with respectable viewing angles and better than average outdoor brightness comparing LCD to AMOLED is old territory at this point but the SE won't get is bright in daylight and won't get his dim at night as a Samsung flagship might we've got the same resolution of 11 36 by 640 from when iPhone started using widescreen displays and this pixel density is the same as the iPhone 6s text and fine details will look similar there's just less surface area across the front face something really interesting happens with iOS when we return to a smaller screen everything just sort of fits like it used to I don't think there was very much ergonomic consideration with the software design when Apple increased the screen size from 4 inches on the diagonal to 4.7 menus the notification shade quick actions there's not a point on the screen which can't be easily reached but best of all is being able to hit upper corner controls like cancel options or back buttons it's been two and a half years since I could reach these with my stumpy thumb without sliding an iPhone around in my hand balancing a slippery device on my fingertips or dedicating both hands to using the device I like iOS a lot better when used on this hardware outside of the better ergonomics iOS is still the same as it ever was it's snappy and it's quick it really doesn't get much simpler than touch square get app iOS still does a good job of getting to the point of each interaction with the phone iOS 9.3 also brings night shift to the masses where the screen will shift to a warmer color temperature at night which is a nifty little trick to have built into the OS and with those pros we have the same cons we've been sharing for years I'm not a huge fan of how settings can sometimes be split between what's in the app and what lives in the phone's main settings I wish there was more control over which default services are used as I prefer Google Maps to Apple maps it's disappointing that we still don't have better app integration for sharing content it takes an operating system update to add a service to this menu and final management has gotten better over the years but we still don't have the same control over our content which we enjoy on Android there are just a number of situations which still require the assistance of an additional computer like loading high quality audio files to test the headphone playback I can't just save them directly to the phone from my onedrive account I have to use iTunes Gaming is well represented here from a horsepower perspective I'm not going to bother with older titles or candy crush style games the SE will chew those up easily jumping directly to more graphics intensive titles like asphalt 8 and Marvel future fight this little bugger has zero issues providing a fluid framerate the small screen though does make interacting with some game elements more difficult these controls up here yeah my finger can't select those options at all everything about this phone is built to provide a tactically efficient brief interaction and even though it's powerful it's not an ideal platform for marathon gaming moving over to audio speaker playback is pretty familiar for any bottom firing speaker at this point it's one of the better performers we can listen to but can't match the clarity we enjoy from stereo speaker solutions now headphone playback is top not Apple continues a legacy of packing solid headphone amps into all iPhones punchy loud the iPhone se is an almost identical match for the iPhone 6s and it absolutely shames the galaxy s7 for output volume this little mid-range er almost matches the LG v10 for overall volume has a slightly higher noise floor and more stereo crosstalk though this Hardware shows slightly less distortion testing using 24-bit 96k audio files we do see a steep drop-off around 20k which means this phone is downsampling 24-bit audio but this will only affect high quality lossless files those of you listening to mp3s won't be affected by this and if all of what I just said sounded like gibberish to you the takeaway is this is excellent audio hardware for a phone more subjectively using the stock EQ settings the bass is fun and rumbly mids are well represented but the highs are a little more stressed than I would normally enjoy instruments at the upper end of the EQ can sometimes feel a bit shrill this of course is highly dependent on what music you listen to and what headphones you use and you can of course adjust the EQ in the phone settings when Apple said the SE has the same camera as the success they weren't joking this thing performs identically to the more expensive iPhone this is well traveled camera territory the third inch sensor F 2.2 aperture and lack of optical image stabilization won't quite compete with Samsung and LG offerings especially in low-light situations but it's a solid performer producing crisp images with fantastically consistent color processing best-in-class HDR output high-quality UHD video terrific panoramas and superb slow-motion video to see how this camera stacks up against other flagships we have a crazy in-depth comparison between the iPhone 6s galaxy s7 and Lumia 950 on this channel and linked below this video what hasn't been improved over the iPhone 5s is the front-facing camera it's fine for a FaceTime call but the output from this 1.2 megapixel shooter is pretty dull I'm not a fan of selfies in general but this camera isn't one I'd rely on seriously for capturing memories running down the hardware specs on the SE one might notice that the battery is around 5% smaller than battery on the iPhone success happily overall run time seems to be better on the smaller phone than on the flagship first of all Apple standby times are always impressive seven hours overnight resulted in two percent battery drop when this thing sleeps it sleeps deep using the phone throughout the day I can easily make it to dinnertime with a little room to spare on our video test streaming 30 minutes of video over Wi-Fi at 50% brightness the SE drained three percent of its battery that's now the best phone we've ever run through this test our six month old iPhone 6's drained 6% under the same conditions likely owing to the larger and higher resolution display this small battery is pretty quick to recharge as well using the Apple supplied charger you can expect around a thirty percent boost after a half hour plugged in so let's wrap this up where does that leave us with the iPhone se this is the most fun I've had with an iPhone in a couple years inexpensive entry-level phones can tackle the basics if all you want to do is check your email and tweet than a hundred dollar phone should handle that well enough but this iPhone mashup brings some serious performance features to the mid-range smartphone market covering the basics is just a lot nicer when you've got powerful tech on tap those faster transitions fewer instances of hiccups or lags it's an overall cleaner feel for a phone which celebrates a brevity of interaction few people will want to stare at a 4-inch screen for a long period of time this really isn't a great option for in-depth gaming watching feature films or for people with vision issues you'll never need split-screen multitasking apps on this phone but for a quick text or tweet scan through an email or send turn-by-turn directions to your car stereo it's difficult to find any fault with how snappy this little guy is I know quite a few people personally who will appreciate that idea interacting with their phone less so they can just get on with their day add in a very good camera excellent audio playback and very good battery life and despite a few flagship feature compromises I think we end up with something kind of special this is only the second phone Apple has purposely built to compete in the mid-range and the differences here are night and day over the 5c instead of a plastic EMS we have a practical premium small form-factor phone which has the potential to crush a good chunk of the overall mid pack smartphone market and it might cannibalize a good chunk of the sales for Apple's 2014 i phone six the iphone as he brings us back to the original iphone ideals of quick clean and simple right a personally buy any device in the iOS lineup today the iPhone se would have my cash as always thanks so much for watching be sure to subscribe to this channel for more reviews like these we'll have the full text review of the iPhone se up on pocketnow.com in a couple days and hit that thumbs up button for a little extra positive reinforcement for pocket now I'm Juan Carlos now you can chat me up on Twitter and Instagram is some gadget guy and I will catch you all on the next review you