Is there iPhone SE 2020 review coming on LTT?

[Alex P]

Well, is it?

[BobVonBob]

Probably.

 

LTT generally does full phone reviews (ones that aren't quick looks at features like they've done with some novel, but not mainstream phones) differently from most other tech reviewers. They don't drop a review right as the review embargo gets lifted, they put the phone through at least a week, and sometimes a month or more, of daily driver usage.

[SenKa]

Almost certainly, seeing how they've reviewed every other iPhone since the 4s.

 

Canada tends to get these things a bit late, and then of course the review itself takes a while. Be patient. Though, my prediction as to the summary of the review is:

 

"Battery life is its weakest point, power users probably can't make it through a full day of use. Everything else is great other than the dated looking bezels and no headphone jack, but this price bracket is so thinly spread between phones in 2020 that there wouldn't be much else to reccomend even if it sucked. Word is there is some competition coming soon from OnePlus, so maybe some android fans on the fence should like and subscribe for that video."

[Alex P]

Thanks. According to some reviews, its battery life is actually not bad. Display resolution (750x1334px) is kinda sucks though... Having iPhone 6s Plus I'm tempted to upgrade with -20% trade in offer from Apple, but having 5.5'' FHD screen on 6s Plus Im not sure I need to sell myself into the slavery...

[Lord Vile]

19 hours ago, Alex P said:

Thanks. According to some reviews, its battery life is actually not bad. Display resolution (750x1334px) is kinda sucks though... Having iPhone 6s Plus I'm tempted to upgrade with -20% trade in offer from Apple, but having 5.5'' FHD screen on 6s Plus Im not sure I need to sell myself into the slavery...

Display res is fine, it’s a 4.7” screen you don’t need a 4K display. Still retina.

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, huilun02 said:

They probably will, because its kind of obvious they are getting paid for it with the # of videos they make per iPhone series release.

 

For the new SE I can already hear Linus saying "if you don't mind the dated design and dog shit battery, you should buy this"

Can we please stop with the "anyone who says anything positive about Apple products is being paid to do it" crap?

 

For goodness' sake, Linus lashes into Apple gear on a level you rarely see elsewhere even when he generally recommends it.  That would make for a pretty lousy ad, don't you think?  Maybe, just maybe, the products actually tend to be good, and any seemingly disproportionate coverage is because they're highly popular and more likely to get views.

 

I'd add that Android Police just posted its review of the iPhone SE wishing that $400 Android phones were as good, so please don't presume there's a sinister conspiracy to make the device look better than it is.  If a hardcore Android fan site likes it, there's probably something to it.

[Blademaster91]

3 hours ago, huilun02 said:

They probably will, because its kind of obvious they are getting paid for it with the # of videos they make per iPhone series release.

 

For the new SE I can already hear Linus saying "if you don't mind the dated design and dog shit battery, you should buy this"

Doesn't really matter IMO, if a reviewer gets paid or not, because they're still going to have a positive review while ignoring the drawbacks as most reviewers do with Apple products because it gets them free products to review instead of having to pay out of pocket for hardware.

 

As for the AndroidPolice review, the title sucks and comes off as clickbait, like there aren't tons of Android phones in the $300-400 range that are a much better value, but at least AndroidPolice gets into the cons of the new SE that average users actually care about like the outdated display, no standardized USB-C port, terrible battery life, and what is supposed to be the "classic" iPhone, Apple doesn't allow you to have a headphone jack.

[Commodus]

11 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

Doesn't really matter IMO, if a reviewer gets paid or not, because they're still going to have a positive review while ignoring the drawbacks as most reviewers do with Apple products because it gets them free products to review instead of having to pay out of pocket for hardware.

 

As for the AndroidPolice review, the title sucks and comes off as clickbait, like there aren't tons of Android phones in the $300-400 range that are a much better value, but at least AndroidPolice gets into the cons of the new SE that average users actually care about like the outdated display, no standardized USB-C port, terrible battery life, and what is supposed to be the "classic" iPhone, Apple doesn't allow you to have a headphone jack.

I've seen plenty of critical reviews of Apple products that clearly came from loaner units (Apple does expect those units back, you know that, right?).  The company isn't asking outlets to kiss its ass, at least not these days; what it seems to be looking for are reviews that are level-headed and professional.  And let's face it, many in the the "omg Apple is rigging reviews" camp just want outlets to rubber stamp their Android fandom.

 

i'm not actually sure that Android phones in the price range will offer "much better value."  Yeah, they'll have larger screens and maybe some camera tricks, but they'll be slower (even the Snapdragon 865 models), probably pack poorer display/speaker/haptic tech, get lousy software support and probably won't live up to the camera quality unless you're looking at a Pixel.  The screen is certainly something to consider, but not at the expense of most other aspects.

[kokakolia]

@CommodusThe battery and screen argument is pretty big for me, and perhaps other people. I might be in the minority. I seldom use the camera and having the absolute best performance means nothing to me, especially considering that I use YouTube, Netflix, Gmail, Google Maps and Spotify 90% of the time. So I want a massive battery and larger screen. Fortunately, there are dozens of Android phones around 200€ that would suit me well. And I find the SE expensive at close to 500€ and considering my needs. 

 

People focus too much on the specs and neglect the end user for the SE:

 

- Work Phones 

- Social media fiends who want iOS (Snapchat) and a good camera

- Most people who are confused AF because of the overwhelming choice of Android phones. I mean there are 7 Motorola "G8" phones which compete with eachother. Just get a brand new iPhone SE and live peacefully. 

 

Android fanbois who chirp on the iPhone SE should rejoice. Android manufacturers will retaliate. 2020 will be a great year for phones. 

 

 

[GDRRiley]

6 hours ago, huilun02 said:

They probably will, because its kind of obvious they are getting paid for it with the # of videos they make per iPhone series release.

 

For the new SE I can already hear Linus saying "if you don't mind the dated design and dog shit battery, you should buy this"

They don't get paid by apple, DBrand sends them a skinned phone. It cus iPhones drive normal people to the channel and drive up viewership

The battery will be fine for a while but yeah bigger would have been nicer

 

OP, he already has one in his hands, but I'd expect another 1-2 weeks for a review.

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, kokakolia said:

@CommodusThe battery and screen argument is pretty big for me, and perhaps other people. I might be in the minority. I seldom use the camera and having the absolute best performance means nothing to me, especially considering that I use YouTube, Netflix, Gmail, Google Maps and Spotify 90% of the time. So I want a massive battery and larger screen. Fortunately, there are dozens of Android phones around 200€ that would suit me well. And I find the SE expensive at close to 500€ and considering my needs. 

 

People focus too much on the specs and neglect the end user for the SE:

 

- Work Phones 

- Social media fiends who want iOS (Snapchat) and a good camera

- Most people who are confused AF because of the overwhelming choice of Android phones. I mean there are 7 Motorola "G8" phones which compete with eachother. Just get a brand new iPhone SE and live peacefully. 

 

Android fanbois who chirp on the iPhone SE should rejoice. Android manufacturers will retaliate. 2020 will be a great year for phones. 

 

 

While I might quibble about the value of some specs, you're right overall -- in many ways, the argument boils down to "it's an iPhone with solid specs for $399."  Android vendors at that price level are already fighting for table scraps... imagine what happens when Apple waltzes in with a safe choice.

 

If there's anything Android vendors take away from this, it's that they shouldn't carve their phone ranges into fine niches in a bid to reach absolutely everyone.  Sometimes it's about making one device that will appeal to a wide-enough swath of people that they'll pay extra.

[Zodiark1593]

Wish granted. 
 

 

[Lord Vile]

17 hours ago, Zodiark1593 said:

Wish granted. 
 

 

Issue is he’s ignorant of iOS.
 

Disregarding things like the 1800mAh battery because he’s used to the 450Ah batteries in android phones. I get it, android phones aren’t great at power management, iPhones are.

[Commodus]

2 hours ago, Lord Vile said:

Issue is he’s ignorant of iOS.
 

Disregarding things like the 1800mAh battery because he’s used to the 450Ah batteries in android phones. I get it, android phones aren’t great at power management, iPhones are.

Eh, I wouldn't be so dismissive.  He's allowed to prefer Android, and while I think the shouts of "garbage" and "awful" batteries were too much, it is fair to say the iPhone SE's battery life is not its highlight.

[Lord Vile]

6 hours ago, Commodus said:

Eh, I wouldn't be so dismissive.  He's allowed to prefer Android, and while I think the shouts of "garbage" and "awful" batteries were too much, it is fair to say the iPhone SE's battery life is not its highlight.

Just kinda highlights how much they don’t know about Apple products or even lower spec machines. Claiming you can’t multitask on a dual core, which you can even on Windows nevermind on MacOS and that the battery in the SE was awful even though it’s the same as the 8 which lasts a day easy unless you’re watching video all day plus it has a more efficient SoC. Also noticed they’ve dropped the “A PC guys persepective” off Mac reviews.

[Alex P]

iPhone 6s Plus still seems to me as a best iPhone yet...I think I literally will not gain anything with upgrade to new SE, but will lose big screen, battery life, headphone jack and some money.

 

P.S. ...Oh, I know i will gain wireless charging ! What an excuse for spending some cash!

 

 

[Commodus]

7 hours ago, Lord Vile said:

Just kinda highlights how much they don’t know about Apple products or even lower spec machines. Claiming you can’t multitask on a dual core, which you can even on Windows nevermind on MacOS and that the battery in the SE was awful even though it’s the same as the 8 which lasts a day easy unless you’re watching video all day plus it has a more efficient SoC. Also noticed they’ve dropped the “A PC guys persepective” off Mac reviews.

They know more than you think.  In the case of this review, it was pretty clear Linus wasn't wholly in agreement on the battery, and still felt he could recommend it.  For the MacBook Air, the argument wasn't that you can't multitask, it's that it chokes sooner -- and that's accurate, at least on a system where the individual cores aren't that powerful.

 

Honestly, it feels like you're trying too hard to defend Apple here.  The iPhone SE is a good deal, but its battery isn't going to be its selling point even though it's better than "garbage."  The new MacBook Air is a fine machine, but the dual-core starter model seems like it was made to upsell you to the quad-core version.  You see the running theme?  You're allowed to like them while admitting there are significant limitations.  LTT may have been blunter or harsher about those limitations, but a good tester doesn't try to excuse or downplay issues that could have a meaningful impact on your experience.