atomic101

chaicka said:

Americans are really strange at times. Why would one prefer to have their iPhones crashing instead of having it run stably but at slightly reduced speed, esp when most times that performance degradation isn’t noticeable.

I was among those who had random crashing and auto-shutdown (think was iPhone 6s) which was getting very irritating. It was only much later that it was announced as a battery quality issue and a recall program initiated.

The missing piece here is that for a time, the public was not made aware of what was happening to their phones.  I'm fairly tech-savvy, and even I simply speculated that the slowdown in my phone's performance was just the result of normal software bloat and iOS software progression.  At the time, my 1 year old iPhone SE felt strangely sluggish, and scrolling within some apps would noticeably lag and stutter.  After some investigating, I realized that my CPU was downclocked to a near constant 50%.... and they weren't just "momentary" dips like some are made to believe.

Then of course there was the fiasco where Apple techs refused to let me BUY a replacement battery for it, claiming that their tests showed that it was still a healthy battery and that they were not allowed to perform the service unless the test indicated otherwise.  Talk about infuriating.  For the record, this is BEFORE Apple came out with the revised battery replacement program, after which I was "allowed" to make the replacement and my phone's performance returned to 100%.

At the end of the day, Apple bowed to the public pressure and made good on their mistakes (and offered transparency to what was going on)... but it took a bit of haggling to get there.  These lawsuits are a bit overdone at this point, but I think it's fitting that Apple has to deal with a bit of baggage for some misguided decision making.  If the consumers were legitimately burdened by this ordeal, then the company should share in that frustration.

usersinceos1 said:

iOS works beautifully on my SE. Sure, there are a few minor bugs, like any other OS.

I wish I could say the same.  It works beautifully on my iPad Pro, but not as much on my phone.  Hopefully future updates to the OS and apps alleviates this concern.  But right now it almost feels like my SE is running in "Low Power Mode" for the battery.  Will keep my hopes up!

I am on the fence about the 13.1 update on my iPhone SE, and I almost wonder if remaining on iOS 12 would have been better in the end.  Despite the claims of many reviews, I've found that the update has impacted the performance of the device.  The UI and scrolling have taken a hit, and even swiping between the home screen pages causes noticeable judder.  While most of the native Apple apps seem to work fine, some third party apps exhibit significant slowdown (i.e. the NHL app).  I wonder if the additional OS memory and multitasking overhead has finally overwhelmed the SE's specs.

tadd said:

AppleInsider said:

There are a lot of possible screen sizes for the iPhone. AppleInsider shows you exactly the size of the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max -- and how they compare to other recent models.

You've had this conversation, we've had this conversation: the iPhone SE is tiny and it's a shame there's no longer any iPhone that small. Except if you actually compare the iPhone SE with, say, the iPhone 8 or even the new iPhone 11, then the difference is startling. For all that the newer models have bigger screens, their cases aren't truly that much bigger than that of the iPhone SE.

Um... 29% wider is truly that much bigger

iPhone SE is 4.87" x 2.31"  
That's the same as an iPhone 5

The iPhone 8 is 5.45" x 2.65"

That's 0.34" wider.  

The iPhone XR is 5.94" x 2.98".   Now it's .67" wider than the iPhone SE
The iPhone 11 is 5.94" x 2.98".  Same as the iPhone XR.  

So let's see.   2.31" + 29% =  (2.31" x 1.29) = 2.98"

Exactly.  Looking at the diagrams here can lead to false assumptions as it relates to feel and handling.  I have both an SE and an 8 (one personal, one given to me for work).  Both are enclosed in their respective official Apple leather cases.  Despite the mere 29% of increased width, the phones feel dramatically different in the hands.  The SE feels balanced and secure in one-handed operation.  I don't have to cradle it an awkward fashion, or shimmy my fingers up and down the sides to manipulate the edges or hit the lock/unlock button.  The 8, perhaps due to a combination of its increased size and thin profile, just feels a bit precarious in my hand.  It's really about the center of gravity, and the larger phone, despite being only fractions of an inch larger, loses that delicate balance.  Balance is a finnicky thing as we all know.... minute differences are what make the difference between riding a bike and toppling over into the dirt.

The fact of the matter is, I think what is really behind the desire to keep an SE form factor phone is the ability to confidently use it one-handed. That is incredibly useful, has great utility, and frees my other hand to worry about the hundreds of other important things in life.  Everything that has come after the SE, including the 8, are better suited for two-handed operation.  For myself and others, THAT is the significant factor that separates the phone sizes.... one-handed versus two-handed operation, not the screen or the "size" in and of itself.

StrangeDays said:

AppleInsider said:

Apple Pencil 2 is night and day better than the original, likely what Apple should have shipped the first time 

Every time I see this comment anywhere I point out how absurd it is -- products don't spring forth out of clam shells, fully-formed. They require iterations to get better. Is today's Mac what the first Macintosh should have been? Is today's Porsche what the first Porsche should have been? Etc. It doesn't work that way. Products evolve and get better over time. I have the first Pencil and it does exactly what it's supposed to do, and I haven't lost the cap, destroyed the tips, etc. It does its job. And now, the Pencil 2 does that job better. As it should.

Except we’re not talking decades or generations between Apple pencils as in your examples. The phrase is not absurd given its context. The first pencil, especially with its inelegant charging solution, shows signs of a rushed product or lack of forthought. Surely, this is the product Apple should have come closer to realizing on its first attempt. They’re not amateurs in the industry, after all.