The iPhone SE (2020) Review: A Reinvigorated Classic
by Andrei Frumusanu on April 24, 2020 6:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Apple
- Smartphones
- iPhone SE
- Apple A13
- iPhone SE 2020
Battery Life - Matching the iPhone 8
In terms of battery life, the iPhone SE is said to perform similarly to the iPhone 8. Apple here employs a much newer and more efficient SoC in the form of the A13, while retaining the same battery capacity and display panel as the older phone. In essence, what we’re testing here is merely Apple’s calibration of the iPhone SE’s A13 chip in terms of its performance vs energy usage. Naturally of course, the new SE will have a more efficient cellular and WiFi chip as well which will contribute to the efficiency of the device.
In our web browsing test that we were able to run overnight, the iPhone SE confirms Apple’s claims of it matching the iPhone 8, and we’re essentially getting near identical results at 10.7h vs 10.4h, only a few minutes apart difference between the two devices.
We had noted in our iPhone 11 review that Apple’s battery life marketing claims oddly matched the results in our web test, and this again is the case for the new iPhone SE.
Whilst the iPhone SE isn’t able to match the longevity of the iPhone 11’s, it’s still a reasonably good result considering the battery capacity and size of the phone.
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Che - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
I am happy to see Apple have a phone at the $399 price, and great performance. But my goodness, it is ugly in my opinion.Alistair - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
I personally loved the "white front" design from before, wish they kept that as an option, but it looks good in person.Deicidium369 - Sunday, April 26, 2020 - link
I bet all black phones looks the same to youIrish910 - Wednesday, May 6, 2020 - link
Did you see “stupid” written on the ceiling??lmcd - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
The biggest selling point of this phone is upgraded internals paired with TouchID. Face unlock is a huge detriment compared to fingerprint unlock and will be a selling point when my mom picks one up within the next year.Icehawk - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
If they offered an 8+ version I’d be on it in a heartbeat as I love the home button - the camera is a little bit of a letdown but at $400ish something has gotta givefmcjw - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
With inferior camera hardware, the only selling point over a second hand iPhone 8 is the A13, as it's fast and efficient enough. It seems reviewers are lavishing praise on the computational gimmicks, spending time testing out digital bokeh and HDR (and binning and night modes in other phones), which at the end of the day is just saccharine. Like the proliferation of mini boom boxes which claim to have a "great" sound, the one test is whether your ears get tired from the distortion.In my experience, people who care for quality pocket sized photography is served by the largest sensor (pixel-size, not binning equivalent) coupled with smooth jitter free video and lack of any obvious flaws in the processing algorithms. The Galaxy S20's 12MP main camera is a good example, too bad the package is overpriced.
Perhaps this inspires a market for a thicker phone with Snapdragon 865 and a 22mm ultrawide (non-existant) 1/1.33" 20MP sensor?
hoodlum90 - Saturday, April 25, 2020 - link
"and lack of any obvious flaws in the processing algorithms. The Galaxy S20's 12MP main camera is a good example"Not according to Anandtech's review and may others online as well.
"The main camera sensors on the other hand I feel fall short of the high expectations. Yes, they are better than what we see on the S10 series, however Samsung here is still falling short of proving the same quality that Apple achieves on the iPhone 11 – and it’s also optically inferior to Huawei’s newest devices."
Deicidium369 - Sunday, April 26, 2020 - link
Depends on who the reviewer wasDeicidium369 - Sunday, April 26, 2020 - link
Large parts are probably already 2nd hand