Apple iPhone SE review: a superb smartphone for a humble price
In 2020, April 15, Apple company has confirmed Apple iPhone SE (2020) will going to release. Now Apple iPhone SE (2020) is available in the market. The current status is: Coming soon. Exp. release 2020, April 24. Check the article to get Apple iPhone SE (2020) details.
Apple iPhone SE (2020) Key information
brand Apple
Mobile Name Apple iPhone SE (2020)
Price in Bangladesh 46000 BDT (Approx)
announced 2020, April 15
status Coming soon. Exp. release 2020, April 24
Apple iPhone SE (2020) body Constructions
While Purchasing smartphone, body Dimension plays an important role. Some like heavy and large? Some like slim? What is your choice? What kind of sim you can use? What’s about the frame? The Below table provides a description of the Apple iPhone SE (2020) body.
The Apple iPhone SE 2020 is powered by a Apple A13 Bionic (7 nm+) CPU processor with 64GB 3GB RAM, 128GB 3GB RAM, 256GB 3GB RAM. The device also features a 4.7-inch Retina IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen (750 x 1334 pixels, 326 ppi) display. It has a 12MP rear camera and supports Wifi, NFC, GPS, 3G and 4G LTE. It packs in a Non-removable Li-Ion 1821 mAh battery (6.96 Wh) at 7.3mm device thickness and weight 148g, running on iOS 13.
Apple iPhone SE 2020
General
Available Status: Coming soon. Exp. release 2020, April 24
Network Bands: 3G & 4G
SIM: Nano-SIM and/or eSIM
Dimension: 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 mm
Weight: 148 g (5.22 oz)
Body Type:
Glass front, glass back, aluminum frame
Apple Pay (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX certified)
OS: iOS 13
CPU: Hexa-core (2x2.65 GHz Lightning + 4x1.8 GHz Thunder)
Chipset: Apple A13 Bionic (7 nm+)
External Memory: No
Battery: Non-removable Li-Ion 1821 mAh battery (6.96 Wh)
Fast charging 18W, 50% in 30 min (advertised)
Qi wireless charging
Colors: Black, White, Red
Connectivity Connectivity
3G/4G Speed: HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (5CA) Cat16 1024/150 Mbps, EV-DO Rev.A 3.1 Mbps
Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, dual-band, hotspot
Bluetooth: 5.0, A2DP, LE
NFC: Yes
USB: 2.0, proprietary reversible connector
Entertainment & Features Entertainment & Features
Sensor: Fingerprint (front-mounted), accelerometer, proximity, gyro, compass, barometer
GPS: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
Radio: No
Camera Camera & Video
Primary: 12 MP, f/1.8 (wide), PDAF, OIS
Secondary: 7 MP, f/2.2
Video: 2160p@24/30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, HDR, OIS, stereo sound rec.
1080p@30fps; gyro-EIS
Feature: Dual-LED dual-tone flash, HDR
Face detection, HDR, panorama
Screen Screen
Retina IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
4.7 inches, 60.9 cm2 (~65.4% screen-to-body ratio)
Ion-strengthened glass, oleophobic coating
Wide color gamut
True-tone
625 nits max brightness (advertised)
Sound Sound & Music
Loud Speaker: Yes, with stereo speakers
3.5mm jack: No
Radio: No
Many of us have been waiting for this moment. Long ago, the technologies driving TVs and personal computers became so commonplace that good television sets and PCs became affordable for the masses. The ubiquitous smartphone, we presumed, would follow
The new iPhone SE’s lack of compromise is what makes it remarkable. Apple took all the simplest parts from its expensive iPhones — including a quick computing processor and a superb camera — and squeezed them into the shell of an older iPhone with a home button and smaller screen. At the same time, it managed to include useful features that were previously exclusive to fancy new phones, like water resistance, wireless charging and so-called portrait photos.
That means state-of-the-art smartphone technology has finally come down to a modest price. It’s about time.
After testing the new SE for a couple of weeks, I can confidently say that this device is right for several people — especially for those that believe buying tech only when they feel they have to.
Justin Adler, 33, is one of them. He owned the first SE, which debuted in 2016, for years, subjecting himself to mockery from his techie colleagues in San Francisco who had much nicer phones. He recently bought the latest SE.
“I just never wanted to shell out $1,000 to replace something that was working perfectly fine,” he said. “I was the exact core audience of, if you haven’t upgraded your phone we’re going to give you the cheapest bait as possible.”
This new iPhone may suit you as well. Here’s what you need to know.
Zooming in on the camera
With the SE, Apple took the computing processor of the $699 iPhone 11 — the fastest on the market — and stuck it in a body that is practically the same as the iPhone 8 from 2017. In the process, the company also made significant improvements to the SE’s camera, which has a single lens but now relies on software and artificial intelligence to make photos look much better.
In past iterations of high-end iPhones, the devices had two camera lenses that worked together to produce the popular effect known as portrait mode, which sharpens a subject while gently blurring the background.
But within the iPhone XR from 2018, Apple used machine learning, which involved computers analysing images to recognise people and properly sharpen them while blurring the background, to supply portrait shots of people using a single lens.
Apple has applied a similar AI-assisted approach to the SE, making portrait photos of people possible with a single lens on the cheaper device. In my tests, portrait shots looked excellent — on a par with similar photos crazy the iPhone 11. This is significant for a device of this price. (Google’s $399 Pixel 3A, my favourite Android phone, is also exceptional for its ability to take portrait photos, though that phone is much slower.)
Of course, Apple had to cut costs somewhere, so the cheaper iPhone SE’s camera lacks some frills seen in the iPhone 11 and $999 iPhone 11 Pro.
Specifically, Apple limited its machine-assisted image processing specifically to human subjects, meaning I couldn’t take artsy photos of my dogs. The camera also lacks the so-called ultra-wide-angle lens for taking shots with a broader field of view, as well as night mode, a feature to take better photos in the dark.
But if you are a casual photographer, you could probably live without those whiz-bang features and be happy saving lots of money by choosing the SE.
For what it’s worth, the shots I took in daylight of my corgi Max on the SE looked just as good as similar shots with the iPhone 11 and other phones on the market, like Google’s $399 Pixel 3A. They came out crisp with natural-looking colours and nice shadow detail.
Putting the iPhone SE’s value in perspective
To fully understand the SE’s value, it’s important to note that this isn’t Apple’s first rodeo with a cheaper iPhone. Those past models were not as compelling when compared with their pricier counterparts. To wit:
— The $549 iPhone 5C, introduced in 2013, came in colourful plastic and felt cheaper and slower than the iPhone 5S, the model with a sleek aluminium body that cost $100 more.
— The $399 iPhone SE from 2016 had the design of older iPhones, with the same computing power as newer ones at the time. Yet that SE had a notably inferior camera and dim screen compared with its $649, bigger-screen counterpart at the time, the iPhone 6S.
This time, the new SE’s trade-offs seem trivial. No face scanner, shooting photos in the dark or humongous screen? Those are minor inconveniences when you are paying 40% less than for an iPhone 11.
I will note one big downside: The SE has significantly shorter battery life than the iPhone 11.
After a day of shooting photos and juggling work tasks, the SE battery needed to be replenished by dinner time. With the more expensive phone, I had more than 25% battery by bedtime. So people who work long hours and rely on their phones would probably be happier with a high-end one.
So who is this for?
I’m not the target demographic for the SE since I’m willing to pay for fancier features. I splurged on the $999 iPhone XS two years ago because I loved taking portrait photos of food and my dogs.
But there was something unique about the announcement of the SE, which I found striking in a pandemic that has dampened most people’s enthusiasm for buying nice things.
When new iPhones are unveiled, I usually get questions from friends who work in tech and are giddy about shiny new gadgets. With the SE, I got text messages from people who hate talking about tech: a friend who is in her 60s and self-proclaimed Luddite, and a family member who is an environmentalist. Both are using iPhones that are at least five years old, and both were relieved that their next phone won’t cost more than a month’s mortgage.
“It’s a slow burner that’s going to help Apple upgrade their base,” Carolina Milanesi, a consumer tech analyst for the research firm Creative Strategies, said of the SE.
That includes people who hold on to phones for three to five years and those with hand-me-downs, she said.