Author Topic: iPhone SE 2020?  (Read 3710 times)

wooooooooooooo

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iPhone SE 2020?
« on: November 28, 2020, 12:44:04 AM »
I am using a phone which stopped getting android security updates in April 2020. It also has an issue with the USB-C connector that prevents it from working reliably with android auto in my Hyundai, but it still charges fine.

I am a sprint/tmobile customer, so I need a phone that will activate on the sprint network but is compatible with all of the tmobile bands.

It seems there are three reasonable options under $500:
1. iPhone SE 2020($380 at costco, 5+ years updates)
2. Google Pixel 4a ($349, 32 months updates left - too close in price to the iPhone to justify the shorter lifespan)
3. Moto g fast/ g power ($150/$179, 18 months updates left)

I had looked at Nokia, none of the models support band n71 which matters in rural areas.

My plan was to get the SE with the plan of keeping it for 4-5 years, but I've noticed that tmobile has already deployed low band 5g (which offers coverage, but not necessarily high throughput) to many rural areas around me. Some of these don't have 4G coverage today. It seems like the smarter move might be to buy a cheaper phone to use for 1-2 years and then replacing with a 5G phone rather than planning to use a phone without 5G for many years.

Should I get the iPhone SE or another cheap phone to last until there is a suitable 5g replacement?

Cranky

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #1 on: November 28, 2020, 04:26:03 AM »
I just got the new SE this week, replacing an original SE that I dropped and cracked a year ago. It’s a very nice phone, though a bit bigger than the old one, which is not a plus for me.

I don’t care about 5G one way or the other, though.

rothwem

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #2 on: November 28, 2020, 05:41:39 AM »
I got an SE also, it replaced a 7 year old iPhone 6. I’ve been pretty happy with it, it works well as “just a phone”, something my old one was having issues with. It’s also waterproof, which was a big priority for me since I always toss my phone into my jersey pocket on bike rides in case I have an issue.

The only downsides I’ve encountered are that the camera isn’t awesome, and I’ve encountered some apps were the top corners of the screen don’t work well since the app was designed for the larger iPhone screens.  Oh and I guess it doesn’t do 5G, though I’ve never used 5G so I guess I’m in blissful ignorance there. And Bill Gates can’t steal my DNA.

ChpBstrd

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #3 on: November 28, 2020, 09:01:22 AM »
If you can hold out just a couple more months, the price of 4G phones is likely to plummet and the market for barely used SE’s is likely to become saturated. Remember, the goal is to meet requirements while spending as little as possible.

mozar

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2020, 01:58:41 PM »
I love my new iphone SE. That said I got it for free when I switched carriers.

If I had to pay I would get the moto g power. Which I'm planning to get for my dad.

iluvzbeach

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2020, 03:06:30 PM »
We’ve recently purchased two iPhone SE 2020s and have been perfectly happy with them. As far as I’m concerned, it’d be hard to do better for the price.

Syonyk

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #6 on: November 28, 2020, 10:13:28 PM »
Buying based on what might, maybe, perhaps happen in the future is a good way to drive yourself mad.  Who's to say that T-Mobile actually deploys those 5G towers, or that they're not the combined 4G/5G stuff that's often enough deployed (the two are generally compatible on lower frequencies and a single tower can do both)?

I would say the 2020 SE is certainly a compelling option for a phone, because (as properly noted) the security update line is long and honestly unknown.  I've got an iPhone 6S that's into 5 years of OS support, and assuming it ends with iOS 14, it will have been supported from late 2015 when it came out, to late 2021 when iOS 14 sunsets - plus a couple years of critical security updates.  Apple tends to do that for older OSes if there's something really critical they have to patch.  So, while I won't generally run a device out of OS support, if you're OK with some looser tolerances there, you might get an iPhone 6S to run for 7-8 years and still have critical security issues patched.  Not half bad...

Plus the whole waterproof thing, charging the battery to 80% until needed for improved battery longevity, just works, etc...

And you know you'll be able to get parts for the long haul.  Expect to replace the battery in 3-4 years, but then it should last through the rest of the useful service life.

Cranky

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2020, 04:22:43 AM »
Also, T-Mobile’s coverage has improved a LOT over the last couple of years, with whatever g’s they are currently using. ;-)

MissPeach

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2020, 12:39:37 PM »
I like iphones but I don't care about having the latest model and I like the smaller sizes. I would probably get the SE if I needed one today.

dang1

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #9 on: November 30, 2020, 12:58:23 PM »
yeah iPhones, 5+ years updates but iPhones slow down / get throttled by Apple to get you to buy new iPhones, way before that- to the point that old iPhones are unusable. Just stay away from Apple - always overhyped, overpriced

Syonyk

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #10 on: November 30, 2020, 04:38:11 PM »
yeah iPhones, 5+ years updates but iPhones slow down / get throttled by Apple to get you to buy new iPhones, way before that- to the point that old iPhones are unusable. Just stay away from Apple - always overhyped, overpriced

What's the better behavior?  Slowing a phone down so it still works, or just shutting down completely if the battery is aging badly (the Android alternative)?

Apple screwed up by not notifying users, got caught, and has done a properly good job of fixing their battery handling since then - they support charging to 80% until just before you typically take it off the charger, which helps a lot with longevity, and they now give you the option to restore maximum performance if the phone shut down due to voltage sag (from, say, an exceedingly cold day and a frozen phone).

Replace the battery, and they're fine.  I'm still using a nearly 5 year old 6S, and it's just fine for my limited uses.  I'm not playing modern games on it, so that might bias my view somewhat, but I'm using it for email, text, phone calls, a few text based messengers... does all of it just fine.

My wife has been through quite a few more Android devices (at least a Nexus 5X or two with hardware failures and a Pixel 3A with weird display issues towards the end) in the time I've owned my 6S, and we've spent more money on her phones than mine, by a good margin.  She's got a 2020 SE now, because she was tired of Android's antics (losing photos was one of them - the Nexus 5X was bad at this - it would take a photo and not save it some of the time if you rapidly went to do something else).  Given that I expect a 6-8 year service life with a mid-life battery refresh on the SE, hard to really argue that it's a more expensive option.  They even work with Project Fi, though only on the TMobile towers (IIRC).

It's hard to make a case for Android these days.  The support is far worse, the costs are higher than the entry level iOS devices (the SE being discussed is a budget priced phone that's faster than most flagship Android devices at twice the cost), and far too many Android OEMs can't make a phone that lasts more than about 2 years without hardware problems of some variety or another.

ChpBstrd

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #11 on: November 30, 2020, 08:07:31 PM »
yeah iPhones, 5+ years updates but iPhones slow down / get throttled by Apple to get you to buy new iPhones, way before that- to the point that old iPhones are unusable. Just stay away from Apple - always overhyped, overpriced

What's the better behavior?  Slowing a phone down so it still works, or just shutting down completely if the battery is aging badly (the Android alternative)?

Apple screwed up by not notifying users, got caught, and has done a properly good job of fixing their battery handling since then - they support charging to 80% until just before you typically take it off the charger, which helps a lot with longevity, and they now give you the option to restore maximum performance if the phone shut down due to voltage sag (from, say, an exceedingly cold day and a frozen phone).

Replace the battery, and they're fine.  I'm still using a nearly 5 year old 6S, and it's just fine for my limited uses.  I'm not playing modern games on it, so that might bias my view somewhat, but I'm using it for email, text, phone calls, a few text based messengers... does all of it just fine.

My wife has been through quite a few more Android devices (at least a Nexus 5X or two with hardware failures and a Pixel 3A with weird display issues towards the end) in the time I've owned my 6S, and we've spent more money on her phones than mine, by a good margin.  She's got a 2020 SE now, because she was tired of Android's antics (losing photos was one of them - the Nexus 5X was bad at this - it would take a photo and not save it some of the time if you rapidly went to do something else).  Given that I expect a 6-8 year service life with a mid-life battery refresh on the SE, hard to really argue that it's a more expensive option.  They even work with Project Fi, though only on the TMobile towers (IIRC).

It's hard to make a case for Android these days.  The support is far worse, the costs are higher than the entry level iOS devices (the SE being discussed is a budget priced phone that's faster than most flagship Android devices at twice the cost), and far too many Android OEMs can't make a phone that lasts more than about 2 years without hardware problems of some variety or another.

The USB-C charging cable is shite. My old android was always leaving me stranded because it didn't charge the night before because some pocket lint got in there. Later in its life (i.e. 3 years), you had to jiggle the wire to get a connection and hope it stayed that way overnight so you could charge. That's when I decided to go vintage Apple and my hand-me-down has lasted several years. Parents still have a 5C that went swimming and was replaced before it dried out and resumed working just fine, lol.

Syonyk

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #12 on: November 30, 2020, 09:06:22 PM »
Lightning tends to accumulate lint too, but it's easy to clean out because it's a single, hollow port with a cable that fills it - not a... whatever you'd describe a USB-C port as.  Which, I admit, do beat micro USB.

But, Lightning?  A small bit of wire, or a toothpick, or something similar?  Clean it out and go on your way.  Yeah, it builds up lint, but you don't have to replace the whole damned port like with the various USBs.

I typically clean (and blast out with compressed air) my Lightning and headphone jack (yeah, still got one...) every 6 months or so.  Works fine.

To really have a thing for Android at this point, you have to start with "I hate Apple and will never consider any of their stuff."  The 2020 SE?  Better than any Android device out there, for less money.  Seriously.

OtherJen

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #13 on: December 01, 2020, 06:23:27 AM »
Lightning tends to accumulate lint too, but it's easy to clean out because it's a single, hollow port with a cable that fills it - not a... whatever you'd describe a USB-C port as.  Which, I admit, do beat micro USB.

But, Lightning?  A small bit of wire, or a toothpick, or something similar?  Clean it out and go on your way.  Yeah, it builds up lint, but you don't have to replace the whole damned port like with the various USBs.

I typically clean (and blast out with compressed air) my Lightning and headphone jack (yeah, still got one...) every 6 months or so.  Works fine.

To really have a thing for Android at this point, you have to start with "I hate Apple and will never consider any of their stuff."  The 2020 SE?  Better than any Android device out there, for less money.  Seriously.

I switched from iPhone to Google Nexus and Pixel about 4.5 years ago, but will probably switch back when I hit the 3-year limit for security updates if Apple keeps the SE price point where it is. I won’t be able to get a new Pixel for that price, and the SE will have a significantly longer lifespan.

GreenSheep

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #14 on: December 01, 2020, 01:43:48 PM »
Another happy SE 2020 user here. My old SE started dumping its charge quickly, so I started looking at newer options. I usually buy a refurbished phone when it's time for a new-to-me one, but I couldn't find any refurbished SE 2020s. I've had the new one for less than a month, but it's been doing very well with the few basic functions I use it for -- phone calls, texting, occasional email, podcasts, occasional apps for weather, and photos. I haven't noticed a decline in photo quality, but I'm not a professional photographer! It's interesting that, based on Apple's marketing, most people seem to have gone from buying a "telephone that happens to have other functions" to a "camera/video camera that happens to have other functions."

I didn't like the price tag or the size of the other iPhones. I agree with someone who said upthread that the new SE is larger than the old one, and that's not a plus for me, either. I can just barely operate it with one hand, but not comfortably. And my hands are not abnormally small. I wear a standard "Small" latex glove or a size 6 winter or gardening glove. But the new SE is manageable, and I'll be happy with it for, I hope, several years.

JSMustachian

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #15 on: December 02, 2020, 03:43:40 PM »
We like our iPhone SE 2020's. Its basically an iPhone 6S was updated hardware. We bought two for $800. Received $400 in Visa gift cards from Xfinity mobile and sold our old phones for $400. Zero money out of pocket in the end.

The only con was we finally lost the 3.5mm jack for headphones. Now we cant charge the phone and use headphones at the same time unless you buy blue tooth earpods. That will be the same for any new iPhone though.

PDXTabs

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #16 on: December 02, 2020, 04:24:45 PM »
It seems there are three reasonable options under $500:
1. iPhone SE 2020($380 at costco, 5+ years updates)
2. Google Pixel 4a ($349, 32 months updates left - too close in price to the iPhone to justify the shorter lifespan)
3. Moto g fast/ g power ($150/$179, 18 months updates left)

Do you prefer Android or iOS? Apple ecosystem or Google? Do headphones matter to you? Having owned the original iPhone SE and a Pixel 3a I'd personally buy the Pixel 4a, because I have a strong preference to avoid Apple and have a real headphone jack. But if you prefer Apple get the SE IMHO.

Syonyk

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #17 on: December 02, 2020, 05:13:10 PM »
The only con was we finally lost the 3.5mm jack for headphones. Now we cant charge the phone and use headphones at the same time unless you buy blue tooth earpods. That will be the same for any new iPhone though.

Not strictly true.  Just, annoyingly expensively true, for small values of annoying.

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HLJV2ZM/A/belkin-35-mm-audio-charge-rockstar

There exist adapters that will let you do both.  They're just expensive enough to be irritating.

That said, the battery life in newer iPhones is good enough that even if you don't charge it daily, it's usually not an issue.  And if you do have to charge, they charge quickly enough that 15 minutes on the charger gains you an awful lot.

dang1

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #18 on: December 02, 2020, 05:29:49 PM »
old iPhones useless for anything, other than for just email, text, phone calls- sounds about right.
Might as well use a feature phone- cheaper, and the battery lasts way longer than any overhyped, overpriced iPhones- old or new.

I have been through some Androids, (current dd an S9 Plus bought used off eBay, of course, lol)- pretty happy with them, playing games works great, going through 70-80 GB of Verizon data every month- no problem. Started with Android, actually, in some large part because at the time, Apple couldn’t be bothered with a bigger screen. I aint squinting to look a tiny Apple screen then, most certainly wouldn’t want to squint now to look a tiny (even if it’s made by Samsung or LG) Apple iPhone SE screen in 2020.

Maybe one way, rather than consuming new iPhones, but not wanting to use a featurephone; is go with an older, cheaper, used, still-supported Android flagship with still decent hardware. After support ends, install an open-source Android like LineageOS. Sounds kinda mustachian actually. And also actually, if Apple had its way, only rich people would have access to tech. Total douchebag.

That it's hard to make a case for Android these days is quite strange, when Android is the most used OS. It’s iPhone sales that is on a downward trend. Out there in the world, there’s some Android that’s a great fit, rather than inside Apple’s straightjacket.

To really have a thing for Apple at this point, it’s fashion thing, I guess.
The 2020 SE? Do your squinting  eyes a favor, just don’t.
There’s is a better Android way out there, for less money.  Seriously.

Sandi_k

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #19 on: December 02, 2020, 07:31:02 PM »

The only con was we finally lost the 3.5mm jack for headphones. Now we cant charge the phone and use headphones at the same time unless you buy blue tooth earpods. That will be the same for any new iPhone though.

Not true: you can buy a dongle that splits from the power port.

https://www.hedocell.com/Apple-iPhone-SE-2020-Lightning-Dongle-Aux-3-5mm-Audio-Charger-Adapter-Splitter.html?cmpg=gshop&rfid=GN&country=US&gbid=HDH-34047548-19124&fpdb=adw&gclid=Cj0KCQiAk53-BRD0ARIsAJuNhpvaZIc6tli3-9gCcOAiylqWLxhweIRpQsTjGtE2dnNw_sgiZ3VodiwaAi6YEALw_wcB

Syonyk

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #20 on: December 02, 2020, 09:21:25 PM »
old iPhones useless for anything, other than for just email, text, phone calls- sounds about right.
Might as well use a feature phone- cheaper, and the battery lasts way longer than any overhyped, overpriced iPhones- old or new.

I get that you have an axe to grind on iPhones, but you're delving pretty far from the bounds of reality here...

Out of OS support for more than a year or so, yes, I agree with you that an iPhone is good for phone/text, though I will disagree with email - to have email on my device require core credentials I consider sensitive (my main Google account, which is on a personally hosted and paid for domain).

As far as battery life?  I actually can't agree there, because I've had a variety of modern corporate iPhones (translation, "I didn't pay for them and don't make heavy use of them"), and if you set them down, don't touch them, don't use them for anything, they easily last a week, if not longer.  I tend to shut my current corp phone down when I'm not using it (so Thurs evening through Monday morning), and I've found it going over 2 weeks between charges.  It's actually radically better than my 6S, which I can only get 3-4 days on without charging (and that's rare, I tend to run music or something through it and charge it every 2-3 days).

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I have been through some Androids, (current dd an S9 Plus bought used off eBay, of course, lol)- pretty happy with them, playing games works great, going through 70-80 GB of Verizon data every month- no problem.

Sorry, I'm still struggling with your use here.  You're optimizing for low phone cost, while burning through utterly staggering amounts of monthly data?  The unlimited plans are $70-$80/mo before taxes and add-ons with Verizon, so... ok?  I spend rather radically less than that a month, as do friends, because we just don't use phones for much.

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Started with Android, actually, in some large part because at the time, Apple couldn’t be bothered with a bigger screen. I aint squinting to look a tiny Apple screen then, most certainly wouldn’t want to squint now to look a tiny (even if it’s made by Samsung or LG) Apple iPhone SE screen in 2020.

Hard to call a a 4.7" screen tiny, but... m'kay?  Maybe get some glasses.  I'm on a 6S, and I find it perfectly adequate for the limited use I have for a phone.  Phone calls, text communication with individuals and small groups, reading email, etc.  I don't use it for web, I don't use it for much in the way of streaming stuff.  Seriously, I don't think I could use 80GB/mo if I tried.

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Maybe one way, rather than consuming new iPhones, but not wanting to use a featurephone; is go with an older, cheaper, used, still-supported Android flagship with still decent hardware. After support ends, install an open-source Android like LineageOS.

What "still supported" Android flagship from 2015 or 2016 can you name?  My iPhone 6S, from late 2015, is still on the latest OS with full security updates.  Name one Android device of that age that's still supported by the OEM.

I'm familiar with Lineage and such, and consider them to be a failure on the part of the OEM to support the device.  They're better than running a device out of OS support, but, seriously, that level of hassle (been there, done that) is absurd for a modern computing device.  If your device is supported.  And God help you if you've got a kernel vuln.

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Sounds kinda mustachian actually. And also actually, if Apple had its way, only rich people would have access to tech. Total douchebag.

At some point, "not bothering with a smartphone" is better than "I spend a lot of my free time working on keeping an obsolete device abandoned by the OEM updated and halfway secure."

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That it's hard to make a case for Android these days is quite strange, when Android is the most used OS. It’s iPhone sales that is on a downward trend. Out there in the world, there’s some Android that’s a great fit, rather than inside Apple’s straightjacket.

Well, in that case, it's hard to make a case for a car, when pickup trucks are the best selling vehicles!

At least in the US, iOS marketshare is rising compared to Android over time.  I'm not going to pick nits with world marketshare, because China is a huge market and gives no shits about any sort of infringement, so Android is easier, but... where's your source for iPhone sales on a downward trend?  If anything, the slowing is because the phones are better and last longer.  I haven't bought a new phone since 2016 - because my iPhone still works.  Yeah, I've replaced the battery, and done other work to repair damage of my own doing, but that doesn't alter the fact that the core phone is still operational, still gets OS updates, and still works for my needs.  My wife has gone through at the very least, two Nexus 5X (boot loop failures), a Pixel 3A (screen... glitchiness?  Not sure, colors got screwed up), and is now on a SE 2020.  My iPhone has been radically cheaper than her Android experience, and that's before digging into the fact that she hated her phones because they failed at basic things we expect phones to do, like save the photos taken!

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To really have a thing for Apple at this point, it’s fashion thing, I guess.

Or a TCO thing.  I mean, if you're going to run old device long past OS support and update them yourself, fix them, etc, I'm not one to argue, but I also recognize this isn't a generally applicable thing for most people.


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The 2020 SE? Do your squinting  eyes a favor, just don’t.
There’s is a better Android way out there, for less money.  Seriously.

Sure, if you don't care about longevity, I agree!  If you care about longevity, OS updates, or TCO... prove it.

jrhampt

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #21 on: December 03, 2020, 01:55:06 PM »
I got a new iPhone SE earlier this year directly from Apple and after I traded in my old one (I think it was a 6), it cost me less than $200.  I think it's a great phone for the money and am very satisfied with it.

ChpBstrd

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #22 on: December 04, 2020, 09:21:54 AM »
It may be a "bargain" compared to other vendors' offerings, but bear in mind it's still a smartphone. It's a device that doesn't exist because it is a human need. It exists because it encourages compulsive behaviors like social media, shopping, viewing thousands of ads, and using apps that make money for the industry. It does this at the expense of an U.S. average of 3 hours of your time per day (21 hours per week, a part-time job essentially).

You may expect to "enjoy" your particular phone more than some other vendor's product or more than a device that meets your minimal communication requirements, but what does that mean, exactly? Is your phone a hobby now? Is a phone how one has fun? Are we doing this because it's "normal"? Is a more enjoyable phone what we work long hours to achieve? Do we want to retire so we can spend more hours per day on it?

A more enjoyable phone also comes at the expense of whatever else you might have done. When's the last time you went hiking, painted something, watched ducks in a pond, practiced a musical instrument, read a book, baked your own bread, or went for a swim? What's on your bucket list of "things I've never tried but want to try some day"? 

What if a shitty phone would cut your usage and free up an hour or two of your life per day? What could you do with the extra 10 hours per week a burner phone could give you? Sure, the SE is a good phone and I'll probably end up getting one someday. But it's nothing to be enthusiastic about. It's kind of like being excited about one's new vape pen.

Syonyk

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #23 on: December 05, 2020, 09:39:19 AM »
It may be a "bargain" compared to other vendors' offerings, but bear in mind it's still a smartphone. It's a device that doesn't exist because it is a human need. It exists because it encourages compulsive behaviors like social media, shopping, viewing thousands of ads, and using apps that make money for the industry. It does this at the expense of an U.S. average of 3 hours of your time per day (21 hours per week, a part-time job essentially).

It can.  It doesn't have to.  And the nature of the phone doesn't really impact how one chooses to use it, one can not use a long lived, high quality device just as easily as not using a crappy device much.

The difference is that I don't have to spend my free time managing security updates and such on a supported device.  While I'm not a huge fan of the modern tech ecosystem we've made, the reality is that my phone, having SMS/email/Authenticator on it (2FA for Google services) is probably the most privileged device in my fleet, because it contains the credentials required to use my core accounts and contains one of the 2FA methods (the others are hardware keys, but not everything has supported those, and Authenticator is better than SMS by far).  A modern, supported device means that in general, I'm not at any more risk than anyone else using an in-support device from a competent OEM (which Apple mostly is - they have their faults, but we've made computers so complex that nobody can reason about them anymore).

From a life balance perspective, having a device that just works, that I trust to be reasonably secure, and that I don't have to think about for years on end is worth a good bit.

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What if a shitty phone would cut your usage and free up an hour or two of your life per day? What could you do with the extra 10 hours per week a burner phone could give you? Sure, the SE is a good phone and I'll probably end up getting one someday. But it's nothing to be enthusiastic about. It's kind of like being excited about one's new vape pen.

I'd probably charge an SE about once a week, given my use.  A crappier phone would take more maintenance, more care, and would almost certainly end up being more expensive over a period of time than a long supported phone (I wouldn't be surprised with 7-8 years, the 6S is getting 6 years of OS updates on a far less competent SOC).  Given that, and my goals of having a supported device, a $400-$500 SE with a 7-8 year service life and a $50 mid-life battery refresh is pretty well down in the weeds of "TCO I don't care too much to optimize further."  And, almost certainly is cheaper than surfing cheap Android devices with a year of OS support - assuming, again, that you care about security updates.

The alternative would be to have a device with no accounts on it, where a compromise of it can't accomplish anything of value, but given that it's on my LAN, even then, I'm not sure I'd want to go that route.

dang1

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #24 on: December 05, 2020, 12:29:57 PM »
just trying to cleave Apple's reality distortion field here, lol
 
great, since you're not even heavy user, your company can quit wasting money on an iPhone for you and get you a featurephone instead. It'd be grand- cheaper, and months between charges.
 
yeah, I bought a cheaper phone that works for me, then I have more money to pay for more data.
 
4.7" screen tiny.. teeny tiny. hurts to look at that tiny iPhone screen, lol
 
Android support is not as long as iPhone, sure; but what's the use of that longer iPhone support, which includes throttling, when that older iPhone is useless for anything, other than for just text and phone calls. Might as well just get a featurephone, the battery lasts longer. Pair it with email on the PC, ftw. Really, for people who have a limited use for a phone- featurephone and PC combo is ideal.

iPhone supports fails after 6 years, but Lineage can still be installed in a 2013 Galaxy S4. Maybe even sideload Fortnite. Actually, 6 years is atrocious. I have a bought-new  back-up Nokia 3110, on t-mob payg. I might have to get an airvoice sim soon, since apparently t-mob 3g sunsets next month, otherwise, been a great phone for its use. You can sure try try hard to run Doom on a non-jailbroken iPhone 3G; I can still make calls and text right now on my 3110 as intended.

Actually, car sales, like iPhones, is also on a downward trend. If you're unaware that, then maybe you would never wonder what other iOS vulns lurk undiscovered beside the Wi-Fi exploit.  About those bad Android experiences, you must be holding it the wrong way! lol

Increasing phone prices is why phones are kept longer.  Fashionistas and their money easily parted will pay any price, but to mere mortals it is truly rediculous to pay $1000 or so, every year or two. In the past, real phone cost was masked by carrier subsidies, but when that went away, Apple sure found out that iPhone demand is price elastic. Apple had to come out with the SE to compete with Android in the lower price range where the growth is.

I’m not the featurephone/PC combo type though. With my multi-GB use, my daily drivers haven’t lasted more than 2 years or so- used Android flagships have worked great for me. Anything from 2016 would be useless to me as my main phone.

Syonyk

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #25 on: December 05, 2020, 01:01:34 PM »
great, since you're not even heavy user, your company can quit wasting money on an iPhone for you and get you a featurephone instead. It'd be grand- cheaper, and months between charges.

For corporate use, wasn't an option I had.  They shipped me what they shipped me, and in general, I've found corp phones to be a "This is what we ship, because we support it, deal with it."  In particular, a featurephone won't support the enterprise management stuff they use, and won't support the various authentication and tunnel/VPN solutions.  So, again, not my choice, and I'm not going to second guess them for sending me a common device.

For personal use, I've looked very hard at alternatives, but as person-to-person text based communication has somewhat fragmented and there's no easy way to combine them (I've tried, Matrix bridges are... still quite thorny), I would prefer to be able to use the assortment of text based messengers that are in common use.  Signal, Hangouts, Matrix, and SMS/iMessage cover most of my needs, though I've rejected requests to use a couple weirder ones.  Unfortunately, the alternative option don't support most of those, and some of those do require a phone (or did, I'm not sure if Signal has removed the phone # requirement or not, as I've been using it for a while).

I could probably make most of it work on something like a Pinephone, but I try to keep my "not working computing projects" down to a few at a time, and I've already got a PineBook Pro ($200 ARM laptop that's... mostly functional).

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4.7" screen tiny.. teeny tiny. hurts to look at that tiny iPhone screen, lol

Which doesn't matter if you don't use it for much, does it?  If I used 70+GB of data a month on my phone, I might care a bit more, but, seriously, how do you manage that?  A basic home internet connection or coffee shop for caching content has to be cheaper than a gigantic cell data plan.
 
Quote
Android support is not as long as iPhone, sure; but what's the use of that longer iPhone support, which includes throttling, when that older iPhone is useless for anything, other than for just text and phone calls. Might as well just get a featurephone, the battery lasts longer. Pair it with email on the PC, ftw. Really, for people who have a limited use for a phone- featurephone and PC combo is ideal.

I don't care to drag a laptop with me everywhere, mostly.  Email access is convenient on the run.

Though I disagree that it's "useless for everything."  I've tossed the occasional halfway decent game on it for travel, back when that was a thing last year, and it was just fine.  Apple's SoCs are an awful lot faster than Android, so they are useful for longer.  But my 6S handles literally everything I care to do with it - light web use, games, video chat (against a Jitsi instance I run, Facetime is fine too), etc.  I expect others on the forum with older phones find the same thing to be true.

I just won't run past the end of OS support.

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iPhone supports fails after 6 years, but Lineage can still be installed in a 2013 Galaxy S4. Maybe even sideload Fortnite. Actually, 6 years is atrocious.

I'm sorry, I cannot figure out what you're arguing anymore.  Six years as "atrocious" but seven years is amazing?  While arguing that old phones are totally useless for anything as well?

I can deal with Lineage and such.  I don't want to.  I have enough projects in my life without making a phone another one.  I would argue that most people don't want to, or don't have the skills, and even then, you have to have unlocked bootloaders and other stuff that makes a strong security claim about the platform pretty hard to make.  Further, it is not worth the time investment to save $10-$15/mo.  I have plenty of easier ways to do that than fighting with community builds on old phones.  Been there, done that, got tired of it.

Quote
Increasing phone prices is why phones are kept longer.  Fashionistas and their money easily parted will pay any price, but to mere mortals it is truly rediculous to pay $1000 or so, every year or two. In the past, real phone cost was masked by carrier subsidies, but when that went away, Apple sure found out that iPhone demand is price elastic. Apple had to come out with the SE to compete with Android in the lower price range where the growth is.

Yes.  And again, I'm not sure what you're going on about, because nobody in this thread is talking about a $1000 phone every year or two!  We're talking about a $400-$500 phone that should last 7-8 years with a midlife battery replacement.  It's literally the opposite of what you're trying to argue against.

Quote
I’m not the featurephone/PC combo type though. With my multi-GB use, my daily drivers haven’t lasted more than 2 years or so- used Android flagships have worked great for me. Anything from 2016 would be useless to me as my main phone.

You're not the target audience in this thread, pretty clearly, and your advice as an Apple-hating, Android-flagship using, 70GB/mo user, is really not at all relevant to those having a conversation about a particular phone.

Fuck it, I'm out, I've hit my internet tolerance limit for the month.

alsoknownasDean

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #26 on: December 05, 2020, 06:47:21 PM »
An iPhone SE 64GB is still $A679 here. I can get a decent budget Android unit for half that that's probably still good for 2-3 years. An iPhone 12 is $A1349, my 'phone budget' is $A300-400 these days :)

My current phone (Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro) has a 4500mAh battery, and honestly not having to worry about the battery life is a huge plus (although yes, there's some software quirks with MIUI). It's recently had a software update and it's running MIUI 12 based on Android 10 with the security update from October.

But hey, if you're in an environment where your friends/family mostly use iMessage and you own other Apple items, hey, go ahead and get an iPhone. They're decent devices.

ChpBstrd

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #27 on: December 07, 2020, 09:21:02 AM »
An iPhone SE 64GB is still $A679 here. I can get a decent budget Android unit for half that that's probably still good for 2-3 years. An iPhone 12 is $A1349, my 'phone budget' is $A300-400 these days :)

My current phone (Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro) has a 4500mAh battery, and honestly not having to worry about the battery life is a huge plus (although yes, there's some software quirks with MIUI). It's recently had a software update and it's running MIUI 12 based on Android 10 with the security update from October.

But hey, if you're in an environment where your friends/family mostly use iMessage and you own other Apple items, hey, go ahead and get an iPhone. They're decent devices.

That's strange how the SE appears to be about $USD 506 / $A 679 in Australia but Wal-Mart and a couple of other vendors just dropped the price in the US to $USD 250 / $A 336. Is sales tax included in your quote?

We might have to sort out the frequency range and organize a trafficking scheme!

*side note: I called it when I said 4G phones are about to plummet in price.

alsoknownasDean

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Re: iPhone SE 2020?
« Reply #28 on: December 09, 2020, 03:30:16 AM »
That's strange how the SE appears to be about $USD 506 / $A 679 in Australia but Wal-Mart and a couple of other vendors just dropped the price in the US to $USD 250 / $A 336. Is sales tax included in your quote?

Part of the difference is due to the fact that prices here are generally including tax (10% GST), part of it is an allowance for exchange rate fluctuations (pricing calculations based on a lower exchange rate than currently applicable), and the rest may be the good old "Australia Tax".

In this instance, it's probably more the first two.

The carriers discounted the iPhone SE during Black Friday sales (I saw $499 but of course that's paid in instalments through the carrier). Most Apple stuff (especially iOS devices) doesn't see much in the way of discounts.

No go on LTE band compatibility, the US models don't have Band 28 which is a common coverage band here:

https://www.apple.com/iphone/cellular/#iphone-se

However, I can currently buy an unlocked Oppo A52 for $A237 on Amazon. An iPhone SE is undoubtedly a better phone, but is it three times as good?

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!