First World Problems - my phone! My beloved phone!

[dreamshark]

Aiieee! My smartphone is wearing out. AGAIN. For the last 4 years I have been stubbornly clinging to my outdated but beloved iPhone SE, the last phone that Apple manufactured that wasn't obscenely big and clumsy. It was a refurb (so it is probably actually 5 years old) and irreplaceable because Apple discontinued them in 2018 and hasn't manufactured a decent sized pocket phone since. So I kept good old Rose Gold going with a succession of sleek little charging cases and finally a full battery replacement in 2019. But time marches on; battery #2 is starting to fade and I am down to my last working charging case. 

But just in the nick of time, Apple finally gave in and is now producing a small-format iPhone again! Not a hybrid of two older models this time, but a mini version of their flagship iPhone 12!  It's just a smidge larger than the first generation SE (but with a much larger screen), a BAM-SOCK-ZOWIE new camera, and a high-res OLED display. It also costs a small fortune, and has a number of dubious "improvements" that nobody asked for and I certainly don't want (like Face ID), but it seems like my best option. 

So with a certain amount of trepidation I hit DONE and ordered one. And now I'm actually a little excited to get it. I'm sure it will take me a while to get used to it, but maybe the larger display size really will turn out to be adequate compensation for removal of the Home Button. Maybe. Not convinced, but willing to give it a try. At least there's still a Lightning port, so my collection of charging cables and devices will still work.

But I will need a new case, so... back to shopping. I'm reminded of an article I read when the smartphone craze was just taking off about how people were literally falling in love with their phones: wanting to be with them all the time, constantly worrying about their safety, and dressing them up in cute little outfits. 

Comments

[quility]

I have an iPhone 12 mini if you want to compare notes at some point.

[dreamshark]

Sure! I'll have one today if I can manage to catch the UPS driver at the door. Apparently they tried to deliver yesterday but, as they usually do, sprinted away when nobody answered their first knock.

[davidwilford]

Pardon the belated reply, but Apple still does make an iPhone SE that still has the Home button, and there may be a new SE phone in the works next year. I think Apple wants to still have a budget phone (well, sort of budget phone) on the market.

[dreamshark]

Yeah, I looked at that phone and it is a FARCE. It is just a slightly updated version of an iPhone 8, not related to the original SE at all! It is much larger and heavier than the original SE and will not work with existing SE accessories. In fact, it is significantly larger and heavier than the iPhone 12 mini, yet still has a much smaller screen and outdated technology.

Its only reason for existence is to provide a "cheap" iPhone (but it's not even all that cheap for what you get). My reason for getting the SE was the size and form factor, not the price. It's fine with me if Apple wants to market a line of cheaper phones, but they should think of another name for it so they don't just dash the hopes of SE-lovers.

I'm actually kind of excited about the new phone. I'm apprehensive about learning a whole new set of gestures and control mechanisms, but looking forward to having a larger, sharper screen in a phone that is essentially the same size as what I'm used to. Now I just have to go hang out downstairs for the rest of the day so I don't miss the UPS delivery person again.

[carbonel]

I bought the newer model SE almost a year ago, I think. It was pretty new at the time. It has a Home button, and it's very similar in size to my previous beloved SE. I don't think the one you're talking about was available back then, but I'm pretty happy with my still-new-to-me iPhone.