For the past few years, phone makers have actually stated that if you want a small phone, you should have small demands. But that simply isn't real. Some individuals have little hands and concepts. The new iPhone SE from Apple ($ 399 for 32GB; $499 for 128GB) is the small phone that many people have been waiting for, with a careful balance of parts that keep it existing, while likewise striking a midrange cost point. Anyone who has been driven nuts by increasingly large gadgets and wishes to go back to simpler, one-handed days will like this phone. It's our Editors' Choice for smaller smart devices.
Sincere, Goal Reviews PCMag.com is a leading authority on innovation, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Our specialist market analysis and useful services help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.
Physical Functions and Ergonomics Here's a fast rundown: The iPhone SE has the exact same body, screen, and storage as the iPhone 5s (at Amazon). It has the same modem, Touch ID sensor with NFC for Apple Pay, and front camera as the iPhone 6. And it shares a processor and rear electronic camera with the iPhone sixes (599.99 with code VZWDEAL at Verizon). These elements add up to a phone that can run the latest apps without grumbling, and suits a kid's hand.
From a design perspective, the iPhone SE (at Amazon) uses the iPhone fives body. That indicates it measures 4.87 by 2.31 by 0.30 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.0 ounces, and has a brushed-metal back with glass panels at the top and bottom. There's a Touch ID-equipped, fingerprint-sensing physical Home button below the display screen. The phone fits quickly into iPhone 5 or iPhone 5s cases. There are only two noticeable distinctions between this and the older phones: there's a small SE logo design on the back, and the diagonal edges are matte instead of shiny. The phone also now can be found in increased gold, in addition to dark gray, gold, and silver.The iPhone SE also uses the very same screen as the iPhone fives, a 4-inch, 1,136-by-640 panel that has 326 pixels per inch. In regards to quality, it's pretty similar to the iPhone 6 and sixes screens, which are simply bigger. These are high-quality LCDs that have actually made numerous millions of people delighted for many years, but it is essential to remember they aren't leading-edge: The screens on the Samsung Galaxy S7 ($ 199.99 at Samsung) and the LG G5 ($ 624.00 at Verizon), for instance, are brighter, with richer colors and much greater pixel density, making everything look more vibrant than it does on iPhones.
The 4-inch screen lowers functional real estate, of course. Checking out an e-mail in Outlook, I could see about 90 words on the SE's screen, as compared to 160 words on the iPhone sixes, 250 on the Galaxy S7, and 360 on Samsung Galaxy Note 5. Looking at a Google Sheet spreadsheet, I could see 13 rows on the SE, as compared to 17 on the sixes, 22 on the Galaxy S7, and 27 on the Note 5.
That can be frustrating, but it can likewise be liberating. I used the SE as my primary phone for a weekend, coming off of a couple of months with a Galaxy Note 5, and found that you use them in a different way. I discovered myself less likely to write long e-mails and social media messages on the iPhone SE than on the larger Note 5, however most likely to quickly examine different feeds and read news, especially while doing something else. The iPhone SE sat so strongly in my hand that I never felt like I was going to drop it, the method I in some cases felt with the Galaxy Note 5. I commute with my tween daughter, and she discovered it more comfy to play games on the SE than on the Note 5-- which is so huge that she really can't hold it safely in one hand.
Call Quality and Networking
Call quality here resembles the iPhone 6: Voices are loud and strong through the earpiece, with support for HD calling, Wi-Fi calling, and voice-over-LTE (VoLTE). The speakerphone is adequate, however not incredible. Transmissions through the microphone on the T-Mobile VoLTE network were clear and solid.
There are 2 designs of the iPhone SE. The model we checked-- A1662, which Apple describes as SIM-free-- is sold for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon; it's likewise the model sold opened. It supports LTE bands 1/2/3/ 4/5/8/ 12/13/17/ 18/19/20/ 25/26/29. That significantly leaves out Sprint's high-speed band 41, so a various unit, A1723, is cost Sprint. The SIM-free design also has the most-used standard LTE wandering bands, but not band 7, which enhances speeds on Canadian and some European networks. The iPhone 6s has all the bands, and recovers from dead zones far more quickly than the SE.
That said, the iPhone SE is going Check out here to exceed both the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 6 (but not the sixes) on T-Mobile, because it supports band 12, which has actually become very crucial for extended LTE protection. The fives and 6 don't have that band; the sixes and SE do. The iPhone 6 and SE ought to have comparable efficiency to each other on the AT&T and Verizon networks.
The iPhone SE carries out consistently much better than the iPhone 5s, but not in addition to the iPhone 6s, on Wi-Fi networks. While the SE and sixes did about in addition to each other within 25 feet of a Wi-Fi router, the 6s used better speeds on the edge of the Wi-Fi cell and in a really Wi-Fi-noisy area. I got double the Wi-Fi speed of the SE on the 6s in edge cases, where both phones were stuck under 10Mbps on a 100Mbps connection. That's to be anticipated, because the sixes supports MIMO and the 6 does not.