iPhone SE review
Awards
SUMMARY
OUR SCORE:
PROS
- Compact body
- Great camera
- Excellent performance
- Solid battery life
CONS
- Average screen
- Poor front-facing camera
- Still 16GB starting storage
KEY FEATURES
- 4-inch IPS Retina screen
- iOS 9.3
- A9 dual-core processor
- 2GB RAM
- Touch ID fingerprint sensor
- 1624 mAh battery
- 16 or 64GB storage
- 12MP rear camera
- 1.2MP Facetime front camera
- Live photos
- Manufacturer: Apple
- Review Price: £359.00
WHAT IS THE IPHONE SE?
According to reports, Apple is scaling up its chip manufacturing for the iPhone SEdue to unexpected demand for the 4-inch display toting handset. And after using the phone for a number of weeks, I can see why.
Yes, it might not match the Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10 or LG G5 when it comes to specs. It’s much more in line with the iPhone 6S from 2016, but it still performs like a champion. If you’re not enticed by the swathes of large-screened devices and want something more much more manageable, the iPhone SE is a great pick.
It has an impressive camera, a battery that can last, an iconic (if recycled) design and the latest version of iOS. It’s also the most affordable iPhone yet, starting from £359/$399.
Watch our iPhone SE video
Related: iPhone 7
IPHONE SE – DESIGN, SCREEN AND AUDIO
A surprising amount of people I speak to say they want a small phone that packs all the features of a full-fat flagship. Sony is the only manufacturer to have previously attempted anything like this, but even its Xperia Z5 Compact has a not-so-tiny 4.6-inch screen and it's quite thick. The iPhone SE is much smaller and much easier to handle.
Anyone who's used an iPhone 5 or iPhone 5S will feel at ease with the iPhone SE – it looks and feels almost identical, except now you can get it in a fetching rose-gold colour and its cut edges are matte rather than shiny chrome.
Those phones have an iconic design and I have no problem with Apple reusing it, especially if it means they can keep costs down and pass the savings on. The best thing about the design of the iPhone SE is that it still feels quality. The brushed aluminium back is both hard and cool to touch, the buttons are solid, and it’s easily small enough to use one-handed, regardless of the size of your hands.
Coming from using the giant iPhone 6S Plus and Huawei Mate 8 I also found it a relief to be able to bend my leg again when I put a phone in my front pocket.
In other ways it’s taken me time to adjust to the smaller screen. It’s not just that I have to move it closer to my face to read text, like my granddad reading the morning paper, I also struggle with the small keyboard. Ironically I often have to use both my hands and thumbs on the phone to minimise the potential for embarrassing autocorrect fails. I've gotten more used to it, but I still don't find it comfortable after a few weeks of using the phone non-stop. The small screen also means watching video is a little cramped and, while the iPhone SE is more than powerful enough to play all the best games, trying to maneuver precisely requires daintier digits than mine.
While the iPhone SE still looks good there are a couple of aspects of the design that aren’t perfect, and others that feel dated. For starters, if you don’t use a case with the iPhone SE you might find the edges a little harsh, particularly if you’re more used to the rounded metal sides on contemporary phone designs. The screen bezel is also rather wide – especially at the top and bottom – and that means you don’t get a lot of screen for the size of the phone.
That’s not the only problem with the screen.
It packs the exact same display as the 5S. While the 1136 x 640 resolution provides a perfectly sharp 326 pixels per inch the screen lacks punch and has a reddish tinge that is exacerbated when it’s tilted at some angles. Compare it to Samsung’s colour-packed Super AMOLED screens or even the newer LCD technology on a phone like the HTC 10 and it really starts looking its age.
Still, it's quite acceptable – bright enough to be used outdoors and sharp enough to read websites on the go without noticing any fuzzy edges to letters.
The speaker located at the bottom of the phone is decent rather than outstanding. Top-level volume isn’t as high as some other phones, but the quality of the audio output is surprisingly good from such a small package – sound is balanced, if a little thin, and there’s no distortion at the highest volume.
Call quality is also strong. The ear speaker is clear and loud and the noise-cancelling mic does a good job of clearing up any distracting external noises when you're on a call. There are louder call speakers out there but I didn't have any problems hearing or making myself heard even on windy days with lots of traffic noise around me.
Neither the design, screen or sound quality excites the blood much – so far the iPhone SE isn't very different at all when compared to its predecessors. That all changes, though, when I scratch the surface and take the camera for a spin around London.
Awards
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SUMMARY
OUR SCORE:
IPHONE SE – CAMERA
The rear iSight camera is where the iPhone SE gets interesting. It packs the same sensor and lens as the iPhone 6S, which means it has one of the most impressive phone cameras on the market right now.
It’s not just the quality of the pictures the iPhone SE delivers that makes it a corker; it’s also dead easy to use. This is thanks to the simple and robust camera app, which also enables the shooting of Live Photos – pictures that can also be viewed as short videos.
The iPhone SE’s camera produces results that belie its specs.
The iPhone SE can deliver cracking photos in good light
A 12-megapixel sensor seems adequate these days, rather than impressive, as does the f/2.2 aperture. By comparison the Samsung Galaxy S7 has a wider f/1.7 aperture and the LG G5 an f/1.8 aperture. This is one of those cases where you want the number to be smaller. A smaller aperture means more light can get into the sensor, making for better low-light performance and less chance of blur.
However the iPhone SE doesn’t seem to suffer by comparison. The lens is plenty fast and the “Focus Pixel” (otherwise known as phase detection) technology it uses means speedy focusing too.
Cropped image of a pigeon taking off, showing that the iPhone SE can focus quickly and capture movement well
Shots look more natural and lifelike when compared to some of its high-end competitors, and noise is kept to a minimum.
Macro shot of an orchid shows the iPhone SE can capture details and natural colours
Is it better than the Samsung Galaxy S7 or LG G5 when it comes to image quality in good light? The lines are fine and some will prefer the punchier colours the Samsung or LG deliver over the more lifelike tones of the iPhone. Others won’t. There's no definitive winner.
It’s in low light that the iPhone SE suffers. Wider apertures and optical image stabilisation (OIS) help competing phones deliver more detailed, contrasty shots in dark environments.
The cameras on the iPhone SE and 6S Plus are identical apart from OIS, but this makes a difference at night
Of course, there is a flash on the back of the SE and this is of the True Tone variety we first saw on the iPhone 5S. Two LED lights adapt to produce a varied flash depending on the ambient light. The aim is to reproduce a realistic colour tone, where a normal flash tends to produce a “ghost face” effect. It’s not just a gimmick, either – True Tone does work.
Since the SE has the same camera and processor as the 6S, it also shares 4K video recording at 30 frames per second. Not only that but it comes with the excellent slo-mo video recording that lets you shoot at a whopping 240fps for 720p and 120fps at 1080p resolutions.
The rear camera on the iPhone SE is outstanding, particularly considering how much less this phone costs than the iPhone 6S.
The front camera is less impressive. Instead of the 5-megapixel sensor on the iPhone 6S it's a disappointing 1.2-megapixel one. Megapixels aren’t everything, but with a difference this large you can expect poorer shots.
There's a big difference between the iPhone SE (left) and 6S (right) when it comes to the front camera in low-light conditions
It seems strange that Apple's decided to opt for a weak front camera. I see the iPhone SE being popular with kids whose parents don't want to fork out for the iPhone 6S, but it's exactly these young people who tend to make the most out of a selfie cam.
The one plus side is that Retina Flash makes an appearance. Retina Flash allows the iPhone SE's screen to light up three times more brightly than normal, so you get some light when taking a selfie in the dark. It works well enough but the smaller screen size means it's not quite as effective as on the iPhone 6S.
There's more to a phone than its cameras and the iPhone SE manages to squeeze incredible performance into a small shell
iPhone SE – Software and Performance
Awards
SUMMARY
OUR SCORE:
IPHONE SE – IOS 9 AND APPS
The iPhone SE runs Apple’s latest iOS 9 operating system. Anyone familiar with an iPhone or iPad will get to grips with it in seconds, and it won't take much longer for first-timers.
Some might say it’s too restrictive, that you can’t customise an iPhone anywhere near as much as an Android or even Windows phone. There are no widgets for your homepages, nor a manual mode for the camera – it’s all kept simple and light.
I don’t find it much of a problem. The older and busier I get, the more I appreciate the fact that I don’t have to tinker too much to get a slick experience or great results. iOS 9.3 works, and it works well right out of the box.
It also comes with a few cool new features. One of the highlights is Night Shift. Turn this on and the iPhone SE’s display changes colour tone, removing a lot of the blue light and becoming much warmer. There’s a good reason for this. The blue light that electronic screens emit trick the body into thinking it’s still daylight and makes getting a good night’s sleep harder. Night Shift helps to stop that.
The Apple App Store is also still the one to beat. It’s packed full of high-quality apps and games that make the most out of the iPhone SE.
The iPhone SE also comes with an NFC chip you can use with Apple Pay. That means you can hand over your money simply by holding your phone to a tap-and-pay terminal and using the Touch ID fingerprint sensor that's built into the home button. But it only works if your bank and country participates in the program, so best to check before you get too excited about that feature.
IPHONE SE – PERFORMANCE, STORAGE AND FEATURES
A dual-core A9 processor and 2GB of RAM might not sound like much when compared to top-flight Android phones, but the iPhone SE is one of the most powerful handsets you can get right now.
It blitzes our like-for-like benchmark tests with results that are almost identical to those from the iPhone 6S, but because the screen resolution is so much lower it actually tests better on some hardcore gaming tests.
There’s an incredible amount of processing muscle in the iPhone SE’s diminutive frame and it doesn’t get too hot or bothered by all that horsepower either. Touch ID also unlocks your phone more quickly than it does on the iPhone 5S thanks to the new processor.
The A9 processor offers more than an incredibly fast and smooth experience; it also helps the iPhone SE keep going for longer. Efficiency improvements mean the A9 uses less of the iPhone SE’s battery and the M9 co-processor helps reduce power drain when the SE is immobile or out of signal.
It’s clever stuff and means the SE lasts a good long while for such a small phone.
Watch our iPhone SE video
Performance may be identical to that of the 6S, but there is one feature lacking on the iPhone SE – 3D Touch, which lets you access additional features by pressing harder on the 6S's screen. Ironically it's a bit like a right mouse click, which is something Apple computers don't have. It's a useful feature, but not one that I particularly miss when it's not there.
More problematic is Apple's continued insistence that 16GB of storage is enough for an entry-level phone these days. It isn’t, particularly when you can’t add extra storage via a microSD card. Thankfully the iPhone SE also comes in a 64GB configuration, which is the one I’d recommend, even though it is a lot more expensive.
iPhone SE: Battery life
Awards
SUMMARY
OUR SCORE:
IPHONE SE – BATTERY LIFE
The iPhone 5S didn't have the stamina I hoped for when I reviewed it back in 2013. It was average at best. Since the iPhone SE’s battery is only a smidgen larger, I didn’t have high hopes, despite the fact that Apple told me battery life is 50% better than the old flagship's.
Scoff I did, but my scoff was thrown back in my face with gusto. This phone has impressive staying power.
In day-to-day use I regularly find myself with more than 60% left over by the time I get home from a hard day at the TrustedReviews offices, and more than 40% by the time I’m ready to head to the land of nod.
Different uses drain the battery more than others. I found that it lasted a long time when streaming content to it via Wi-Fi with the screen brightness at 70% – 11 hours of Netflix on one charge is a great effort. Of course, intense 3D gaming impacts the battery more than simple Wi-Fi web browsing and I found using the iPhone SE to navigate around London drained the battery more quickly than I expected.
It took a fair amount of effort to run the battery down to zero in a single day, but I managed it with two hours of Wi-Fi video streaming, shooting 100 photos, doing less than an hour of 2D gaming, two-ish hours of GPS navigation and four hours of browsing the web, reading emails and looking at my favourite news apps – the latter on 4G.
That’s seriously impressive stuff and beats the iPhone 6S, although it doesn’t quite reach the heady levels of the iPhone 6S Plus.
If you want to make the battery on the iPhone SE last a little longer then make sure you select “Yes” when it asks you to turn on “Battery Saver Mode”. This appears when you’re down to your last 20%, but you can turn it on any time manually by going to Settings and then to the Battery section. Battery saver mode reduces the power consumption of the processor and limits background tasks so the iPhone SE can last longer.
Unlike some of the latest Android flagships, the iPhone SE doesn’t have fast charging or wireless charging capabilities, so you’ll need to tether it to a Lightning cable when it’s running low on juice. A one-hour charge gives you 63% of your battery back from empty and you can fully recharge in a little under two hours.
SHOULD I BUY THE IPHONE SE?
If you love a small phone but feel you’re missing out on a top-notch camera, solid battery life and speedy processor, the iPhone SE is impossible to ignore. It delivers in spades and doesn't have a comparable competitor.
