Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

bergedse

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 10, 2020
17
18
Gothenburg, Sweden
So my iPhone XR that I got on launch day back in 2018 has been great, really. But over the last year I’ve become really bothered with the size and weight of it. I often find myself in situations where I want to use the phone with one hand and with the XR it takes a lot of hand gymnastics for me to do that. It’s just not very comfortable to use in my opinion.

Because of this I’ve been keeping my eye on the 12 mini and it’s upcoming successor. At the moment though, I am not at a place where I want to spend a lot of money buying a new phone, so when I found the SE2020 at a pretty big discount it felt too hard to resist so I got that one instead. Even if the 12 mini were to be discounted after the fall event, the discounted SE that I got would still be considerably cheaper.

I basically realized that the SE could do all I really needed from a phone. Is this what growing up is like? Not feeling the need for the most flashy new gadget? Just something nice that works well.

Anyway, what’s it been like? After about a week now it feels kind of great really! It felt a bit weird at first to go back to the old form factor with the big bezels, but I’ve kind of adjusted to it. The phone feels quick and snappy and the pictures from the camera look a bit better than those from the XR thanks to the newer processor. And the size and weight is really nice! I honestly don’t miss the bigger screen that much, since I already did a lot of stuff on my iPad and not my iPhone. Battery performance is of course worse, but not a huge problem for me.

What bothers me a bit though is not having the ability to use any of the swipe gestures from the full screen iPhones. Swipe up from the bottom to go home feels bit more convenient than pushing the home button. Tap to wake (anywhere on the screen) is also something i’ve grown accustomed to and miss a bit. But other than that, it’s been great! And, oh, I almost forgot, the white color option looks really good!

Have you switched from a bigger iPhone to an SE 2020?
 
  • Like
Reactions: snipr125

Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
16,250
11,745
I haven’t. But I’m looking into it.
No longer an active advocate of home button, but since I use iPad way way way more than iPhone (even carrying it out for grocery shopping), I don’t think I need top of the line bleeding tech that much anymore. iPhone can’t multitask. Screen way too small. Has small battery naturally, and kind of heavy. Plus soon to be no port means offline contents are almost off the card, thus pointless to have a 1TB iPhone to store tons of contents.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bergedse

snipr125

macrumors 68010
Oct 17, 2015
2,003
3,111
UK
I was a bit different, in that I switched from the Iphone 8+ to the SE2, so was a move to the same Touch ID form factor, just smaller and more compact. I was using my Ipad Air 3 at the same time, which although has Touch ID via Home button, actually gives the option to use the gestures from Face ID iphones, which I actually liked a lot. I have since got the 12 Mini, so using gestures in all their glory.

Personally for me though, I have no issues whatsoever using Touch ID navigation with the home button or using gestures, classic bezels or all screen, they all work great for me.
 

0128672

Cancelled
Apr 16, 2020
5,962
4,783
I have an xR too and am thinking about the SE as well, and don't want or need a larger phone. You make a good case for it. Decisions, decisions.
 

austyn23

macrumors 6502a
Nov 22, 2017
620
709
I’m on the mini now and is good, the weight is excellent.

But every time I pick my old SE I feel is just perfect, even more than the Mini, maybe is the aspect ratio of the clean screen (no notch).

But I like more the cameras on the Mini, night mode is really good.

Maybe next 2022 SE would see some good improvement on cameras to match the actual Mini?
 

winxdon

macrumors newbie
Mar 29, 2016
28
12
I was using the X and bought the se2 because FaceID is useless with masks. Yes the screen is smaller and need to get used to, but i will keeping using both devices until Apple makes a full screen iPhone with under screen/power button touchID
 

LFC2020

macrumors P6
Apr 4, 2020
16,874
38,037
I’m looking at going bigger than my 6.7” screen on my 12 pro max, knowing apple a 7”-7.2” iPhone is most likely 10 years away. 😬🤦‍♂️

Looks like a apple 8” foldable phone in the next couple of years will have to do. 😳😂
 

bergedse

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 10, 2020
17
18
Gothenburg, Sweden
Just a quick update a few months in:
I really love having a reasonably sized phone again. It’s so much better to handle when I’m out and about. One handed use is great. The phone feels super snappy on ios15 which is really nice as well. The white back of my SE 2020 looks super clean as a bonus 🙂

I do miss tap to wake from the XR quite a lot sometimes. But that’s about it. Really happy with it overall.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jimmy_uk
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.