Don't forget about the Taptic Engine. Probably not space for that in the 4" phone.
Doesn't the Watch have a Taptic engine surely the size can be relative to the device?
Edit to add more generally: The main sales pitch to me would be ApplePAY but not so much given the limited roll-out of the service here. Still if i broke/lost my 5S at least i could buy a worthy replacement now.
The taptic engine takes half the inside of the watch, so including it in this phone would have impacted battery life.
Other missing key features: Water resistance, wireless charging, Micro SDHC slot, replaceable battery. The first two were "must have" features for me, and the reasons I replaced my Galaxy S5 with a Galaxy S7. Yeah, I get it, this is a low-end iPhone for budget conscious buyers, but it really provides no compelling reason to upgrade my daughter's iPhone 5s. I really like the 4" form factor, it's small enough to fit easily in a pocket and usable for people with good eyesight (not me). Hopefully Apple will release a version of the iPhone 7 with A10 processor, 3D touch, wireless charging, and water restance, all with the same size as a 5s... I think Phablets are just silly status symbols anyway; if you want a large screen, just carry a tablet and use your phone as a wireless hotspot.
Oh, and shipping a phone with just 16GB of non-upgradeable memory is just silly these days, unless you're trying to make money by charging customers for iCloud storage.
I thought you said KEY features. NONE of these are key features and if needed are actually better off filled by a case.
Wireless charging is actually BAD for lithium batteries and will reduce the life of the battery as well as overheat them which Lithium DOES NOT like at all. Have you seen most of the phones that have a Micro SDHC slot? They generally have very small internal memory and so an extra bulky connection is needed. 32GB is good enough for most people and 64GB is a very decent size. Internal storage is a pain when most of it can be and should be offloaded to the cloud so spending extra for a larger storage amount in iCloud is better than spending extra on a bigger storage phone.
I can't see any compelling features of a Samsung Galaxy to make me move away from my trusted platform. Lack of security and an absolutely heinous operating system do not make the stupid edge screen, waterproofing, or overhyped AMOLED screen seem worth the effort.
I thought the same thing about tablet phones but the iPhone 6 Plus came at a time where I was looking at reducing the size of my iPad to an iPad Mini but then my iPhone 4 died and my wife said I needed a phone. I have not looked back since getting the 6 Plus. They are not status symbols they are very powerful tools used in the right hands. Sounds like a different story if used in your hands.
I have a female friend that is still using a 4s because she found the 5 to be too big for her liking. She would prefer a 3.5" phone - at any price and has even begrudgingly suggested that she might move away from iOS in order to get something she is comfortable with.
I've encouraged her to give the SE a try before she does something drastic - and she's agreed to do so - but I have a question about it. With the release of the iPhone 6, Apple provided a feature (I forget what it's called) where you can double tap the home button lightly and the top of the screen will slide down halfway making it easier to hit the buttons at the top of the screen without stretching. Simple question - will that feature also work on the new 4" phone? If so - I think I'll be able to convince her to stay with Apple. I can't think of a reason why the feature wouldn't work on a smaller phone - but stranger decisions have been made in the past - so I figured I'd ask.
Can anyone with a 5s confirm whether the feature I described is currently available on their phone? Thanks.
Checked and there is no reachability on the SE. As for staying with Apple, not sure where she'd get a a decent 3.5 inch smart phone; there is basically none. Did she actually try the 5 for a while; many people when switching size think it's to big initially but quickly adjust.
All Android phones that size if they even exist would be worse in performance than her 4s or no better; she doesn't really have an option there and I don''t think Apple is going to produce another 3.5 inch phone anytime soon.
Thanks for checking. She did try the 5 for about 3 weeks when it first came out. Unlike most females, she doesn't carry a purse and wants to wear it in a belt clip. She also insists on being able to use it one-handed. I saw her on the weekend and told her about the pending announcement. I showed her how reachability works on my 6s+ and she said that she could probably handle the 4" phone if it had reachability.
I'm a bit surprised that the feature doesn't exist on the 5, 5s or SE. Granted, the majority of users aren't going to need it - but I don't know why they wouldn't include it as something that can be turned on under accessibility for the small number of people who need it - especially since it's a feature that exists and wouldn't require any development cycles.
And I haven't looked - but she said that so far she can't find a smartphone smaller than 4" from any manufacturer. It's a big enough deal to her that she's considering going back to a feature phone.
i'm also a bit surprised that there's so much focus on small with regards to thin - but not so much with overall form factor. I think there would be a decent sized market for an iPhone Nano if one were to be created - say in a 2" package. Obviously it wouldn't be able to run iOS as-is, but maybe they could start with the waychOS and scale it up a tad. I don't think I'd buy such a product, but I do know lots of people who would.
The naming of the this latest iPhone makes perfect sense. It creates a low cost line separate from the flagship models. This new line will probably be on a two year upgrade cycle. At which point I think Apple will knock the price of this first gen. model down to $299.
The SE in two years will still be a good phone especially if the price falls to $250 or less
The SE2 in two years will be a great little phone because it should have the 3D Touch along with an A11 chip.
I hope I can hold out that long. With options like ATT's number sync you will now be able to have your choice of Carrying either a large phone a 5.5 inch 6S plus or 4in SE. Nice to have a choice for a big phone during work at day or a little phone when out at night - and no battery issues then.
I have a female friend that is still using a 4s because she found the 5 to be too big for her liking. She would prefer a 3.5" phone - at any price and has even begrudgingly suggested that she might move away from iOS in order to get something she is comfortable with.
I've encouraged her to give the SE a try before she does something drastic - and she's agreed to do so - but I have a question about it. With the release of the iPhone 6, Apple provided a feature (I forget what it's called) where you can double tap the home button lightly and the top of the screen will slide down halfway making it easier to hit the buttons at the top of the screen without stretching. Simple question - will that feature also work on the new 4" phone? If so - I think I'll be able to convince her to stay with Apple. I can't think of a reason why the feature wouldn't work on a smaller phone - but stranger decisions have been made in the past - so I figured I'd ask.
Can anyone with a 5s confirm whether the feature I described is currently available on their phone? Thanks.
Checked and there is no reachability on the SE. As for staying with Apple, not sure where she'd get a a decent 3.5 inch smart phone; there is basically none. Did she actually try the 5 for a while; many people when switching size think it's to big initially but quickly adjust.
All Android phones that size if they even exist would be worse in performance than her 4s or no better; she doesn't really have an option there and I don''t think Apple is going to produce another 3.5 inch phone anytime soon.
Yeah, the smallest Android phone worth a damn (that I know) is the Sony Z5 compact, and it's slightly larger than the iPhone 5s.
You are probably right but it is not only about price of touch layer. It could mean new display not the same old and cheap one as in 5s. And that cold bring other costs, engineering, testing and as somebody pointed it could lead to thicker case = new case = more costs. One dollar of costs results in several dollars in final price. And 399 USD is pretty tight budget for Apple.
This article appears to suggest that anyone interested in a small phone is ok, yet weird... lol. Now, it's far too late to whine about the iPhone SE because what's done is done. I'm not going to buy one because it's too cheap and I have the need to look important. It's too bad apple couldn't make a 4" phone that didn't look exactly like a three years ago model. Why not a brand newly designed 4" iPhone with high end components and include something special... Heck I don't know; a glowing Apple symbol ? A infrared camera ? A 5MP front camera ? A smaller bezel to fit a slightly larger screen ? 3D screen mode ? A laser pointer ?? lol.
Then it's like; hey, is that the 4" one with the thing instead of that's the SE economy one right.. Sorry Apple you dropped the ball I think.
The need to look important, my ass.
It's a perfectly fine phone
Comments
Wireless charging is actually BAD for lithium batteries and will reduce the life of the battery as well as overheat them which Lithium DOES NOT like at all. Have you seen most of the phones that have a Micro SDHC slot? They generally have very small internal memory and so an extra bulky connection is needed. 32GB is good enough for most people and 64GB is a very decent size. Internal storage is a pain when most of it can be and should be offloaded to the cloud so spending extra for a larger storage amount in iCloud is better than spending extra on a bigger storage phone.
I can't see any compelling features of a Samsung Galaxy to make me move away from my trusted platform. Lack of security and an absolutely heinous operating system do not make the stupid edge screen, waterproofing, or overhyped AMOLED screen seem worth the effort.
I thought the same thing about tablet phones but the iPhone 6 Plus came at a time where I was looking at reducing the size of my iPad to an iPad Mini but then my iPhone 4 died and my wife said I needed a phone. I have not looked back since getting the 6 Plus. They are not status symbols they are very powerful tools used in the right hands. Sounds like a different story if used in your hands.
I'm a bit surprised that the feature doesn't exist on the 5, 5s or SE. Granted, the majority of users aren't going to need it - but I don't know why they wouldn't include it as something that can be turned on under accessibility for the small number of people who need it - especially since it's a feature that exists and wouldn't require any development cycles.
And I haven't looked - but she said that so far she can't find a smartphone smaller than 4" from any manufacturer. It's a big enough deal to her that she's considering going back to a feature phone.
i'm also a bit surprised that there's so much focus on small with regards to thin - but not so much with overall form factor. I think there would be a decent sized market for an iPhone Nano if one were to be created - say in a 2" package. Obviously it wouldn't be able to run iOS as-is, but maybe they could start with the waychOS and scale it up a tad. I don't think I'd buy such a product, but I do know lots of people who would.
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/size#/phones/size/Apple-iPhone-5s,Sony-Xperia-Z5-Compact/phones/7710,9611