Fourscore and 7 iPhones ago. Indeed, the Apple iPhone has come a long way.
From the glorified piece of relic, iPhone 3G, to the newly introduced iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, we know that as far as smartphones are concerned, the iPhone is King. Sure, Nokia phones were the thing, but this is the age of the Empire (and maybe Dynasty) we call Apple.
One feature of the Apple iPhone that we’re always attracted to is the design. As a designer myself, I see to it that my accessories for design and creativity reflect the way I want my art to flow and look like. That’s probably the same philosophy that Apple design head Jony Ive applied on the iPhone. Whatever is around must reflect your art and life. Of course, I’m kidding, because that’s what I believe. But in all things Apple, you gotta hand it to Ive. Man, that dude is a creative bomb!
iPhone SE Price in the Philippines: World’s cheapest iPhone
Kidding aside, it’s been dubbed as a small but powerful handset that matches the iPhone 6S’ capabilities and, as what car strength is termed, horsepower. After a few days with this phone, I could say that the iPhone experience with this kind of handset size and design has been made even better. With the SE, you can get it in the Philippines for as low as P23,000. Not bad for a current iPhone model, eh?
I’d like to counter some reviews saying that the iPhone SE is one of the most mundane or mediocre phone from Apple’s flagship of smartphones. It’s not even close. Sure, it may look like your good ‘ol 5S, but there’s more to it than meets the palm (okay I’ll say “eye” for cliché’s sake). It’s something that expounds upon what Steve Jobs envision the iPhone to be. ‘One iPhone fits everyone’ he says, but Tim Cook adds to that by saying that it’s ‘an iPhone model for everyone’. It’s the first iPhone model that specifically targets the middle class strata, with it being the cheapest iPhone.
I’m not going to tell you (in one boring slab of a paragraph) about its technical specs in one sitting. I want you to know how it feels like to have it with you, to use it, to exist with it. And so, let’s examine this perfect piece of electronic heaven. Shall we?
Ever since Apple announced the iPhone SE in March 2016, I’ve been won over by the size and design. Sure, it is overly similar to its predecessor, but nevertheless I am a big fan of the 5-5S family. I still have the iPhone 5, and I’m never gonna let it go. But when it comes to size, Apple knows that they still have a huge market appeal. Having a small phone that performs like a mad gorilla for speed and productivity is a huge chomp-on-it approach that effectively won us over.
iPhone SE: Same A9 chip as iPhone 6S
Ask people around and you’d get mixed reactions as to what for them is the best design for the iPhone. But if you would look at functionality and design that fits right into one palm and doesn’t necessarily need two hands to use it, you’d get the body and design of the iPhone 5 design family (which the SE has). Why so? Simple. Functionality and design. It’s small, and it has an A9 chip that matches exactly the one that iPhone 6S has. While the GPU of the SE is a bit slower than the 6S, it doesn’t show much as they have basically the same processor and juice. It’s performance remains on par with the 6S.
iPhone SE Storage
The iPhone 5 until 5S boasts of a 1GB RAM. The iPhone SE, however, gives you twice the ego boost. 2. Freaking. Gigabytes. This is a huge leap that once again goes head to head with the 6S. You can open more tabs in Safari, play games with optimal HD quality and switch between your apps faster than The Flash changing the timeline. One minor thing that the SE has ultimately removed from its system is how an app freezes for a half second when it vibrates to notify you of a new message or whatever. Forgive me for my OC tendencies, but damn that is awesome.
One thing that I find weird is the capacity upgrade. Well, you can’t actually call it an upgrade because they basically took one out of the picture. It comes in 16GB and 64GB capacity only. What the heck happened to the 32GB? So you’re telling me that 16GB can handle the A9 fast processing and the 32GB can’t? Weird. Bonkers. Totally un-rad. And then they hit us right in the balls by bumping off the 16GB platform for the iPhone 7 (another review and rant for another time). No explanation has been given, so I guess it’s just there.
iPhone SE Specs
The camera has the same specs as the 6S. 12 megapixels, 4K video recording. No significant change, but definitely a significant upgrade for a phone as small as the SE. There is TouchID and Apple Pay support, the “raise to wake” iOS 10 function, and your friendly neighborhood sexy-voiced digital friend Siri is just as smart as she was intended to be.
But then we have the battery. It’s been a frustrating enigma as how smartphone makers can fit a battery that basically lasts within a working day inside a small phone like the SE. It’s amazing how they have been able pack it all up inside the small frame of the SE and make it last for far longer than the 6S and 6S Plus! These phones are known to be power-hungry iPhone monsters, but the SE kicks them to the curb. Partner that with the latest battery hacks, your iPhone SE is a good phone to trust if you’re more on the go without a handy powerbank.
In short, the iPhone SE is a small device with a gigantic leap for Apple. It has enough power to compete with the latest flagship of iPhones. And with the iOS 10 update upon us, you might just want to have the SE with you to get you through re-learning the software again.
Apple iPhone SE Overall Review: More than OK!
This is Apple’s win with the iPhone craze. Personally I’m not a fan of the 6 family, because it was already ingrained in me that iPhones should and must not exceed the 4-inch size. Everything about the SE makes me feel guaranteed to still be on the brink of what’s current with the iPhone, what with every single app and iOS update being rolled out every month. Using the iPhone SE made me feel familiar, but still amazed with the new features that it can dish out and how efficient it is as a smartphone.
By now I have realized that the iPhone is not a singular device that looks down on its precedent everytime a new model comes out. It’s a phone that shares the same name and branding and experience, and it never fails to keep you satisfied if you’re always on your phone. It’s a great, bold step for Apple to offer us the iPhone SE. And with the cusp of the iPhone 7 upon us, it’s a new way of bringing us Apple fanboys the morale boost that we deserve. An effective selling point that drives the main goal of it all: the world’s cheapest (but powerful) iPhone.