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Comment by mft_ | Hacker News Reader

I'd recommend to give the next size up a chance.

I had a much-loved, carefully-charged and -protected iPhone 5 for about 3 years. I thought it was perfect and that it was all I needed.

When I finally upgraded I was given a 6s, and it took about 3 days for me to realise it was just much better. I still have the 5 somewhere, and it makes my hands want to cramp just thinking about going back to typing on it! The screen real estate is also a huge improvement for just about everything.

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Alright, for a countering point of view, I bought a 6 the day it was released. Used it for a year. Battery issues aside, I found the form factor too thin, too rounded, and too slippery.

I had to buy a case just to not to feel like I was going to drop it.

I went back to the SE, and it reaffirmed to me that this design was peak iPhone. The squared edges let me stand the phone up on the side. There’s no silly camera bump. I’ve used this phone, the 5, and the 5s for over 3 combined years with no case needed.

I’ve dropped these phones a couple times and it’s survived them all. I can use it one handed without the reach, then cancel what my palm hit, then reach, then cancel, then remember the “reachability” home double tap. It has a headphone jack. The volume up button isn’t opposite the power button.

And you know what? It’s still plenty fast. All this for a cheaper price and more pocketable form factor.

The SE is a great phone, easily my favorite of the iPhone lineage. It’s too bad it seems to be going the way of the dodo.

I’m not convinced it’s going the way of the dodo. They can easily add it back later like they did initially.

Their current phone line has no compelling upgrade path for me. I’m not allowed to take photos where I would be using the phone the most.

i got a used one off ebay (had a 16gig SE, and cracked the screen twice). got one last year for around $250 - 64g. I'll probably get another one - seen some for around $130 now - just to have it around. I don't intentionally throw it around, but at ~$200... I don't particularly care if it's banged up a bit, and at $130... even less so.

An upgraded SE - just improved camera and memory - would sell. I think it would sell well enough to hurt sales of the higher priced models though, and probably won't happen.

Do they just assume everyone gets bigger after a few years and suddenly want/need bigger devices? SE-size ticks a lot of boxes for a lot of folks size-wise.

This is really all I want. I don't want a smaller form factor. I don't want a bigger form factor. I want this form factor, and since everything keeps getting smaller, that's more room for a battery or whatever.

With the removal of the SE form the lineup, none of the phones that Apple currently sells fit in the average women's jeans pocket. https://pudding.cool/2018/08/pockets/

That's straight up crazy. I can't believe the market decided "ability to easily place in pocket" is no longer an important feature of cell phones. Especially with Apple's multi-decade history of telling us that thinner and smaller are objectively better when it comes to computing devices.

That's why I'm not switching to the newer IPhone from the older SE. If can't easily carry phone in the pocket I would better use IPad with LTE module since I carry a briefcase anyway.

If the margin on bigger-screen phones is a multiple of the margin on small-screen phones, then that gives Apple a strong incentive to pretend that people want big-screen phones even when they don't.

Also, being a company that relies so heavily on hype and branding, maintaining more than three or so offerings in a market segment is totally against their DNA. We're being dragged kicking and screaming into Apple's vision of it's future cash pile.

One more reason why I preordered a Librem 5.

but... just offer the same price then (or bump the price slightly to protect the margins). margin alone doesn't really explain enough.

Having an SE and an 7 for the same price would still give people choice, and possibly even bigger margins on the SE.

I thought I had answered that in my second paragraph. Apple just isn't the kind of company that can offer real choice. Have you ever gone to a restaurant that had like a hundred different menu items? The chances of any one being really really good is practically zero.

Apple has a lot of product lines already. Phones, laptops, desktops, watches. Too much diversification of one product line effectively makes it two product lines, each of which needs its own department and management structure.

If Apple wanted to be Samsung, sure, I guess they could do that. But they don't.

Cheesecake Factory?

Not an exception. They do everything somewhat well, not very well, and even that level of quality is subject to human vagaries like how well the cooks are trained or even how well they're feeling today.

Whereas I can go to my local bar with like 3 main entrees and a rotating special and know that no matter what I order, it's going to be awesome. Seriously, I never knew how good sliders could be until I let them show me.

The Cheesecake factory is Samsung, and my bar is Apple, at least back when Apple was still great at everything.

I never see women with phones in their front pockets. It’s always in the back pocket, or purse.

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That’s because they can’t. Women’s front pockets are either non-functional or entirely too small to be useful.

But most women’s jeans pockets could still comfortably fit the original iPhone. They got the ergonomics right initially with Jobs in charge.

I am a woman and I don't think the ability to fit a phone in a jean pocket determines best phone dimensions. Most of my pants don't even have front pockets and even large phones fit perfectly well in my purse. I much prefer having a large phone screen to a small phone that can uncomfortably fit into only few items of clothing I regularly wear.

I downgraded from a 6 to an SE and have been really happy. I'd like a slightly better screen (better black levels and contrast), but apart from that it's great.

Technically, isn't that an upgrade, or at the very least a sidegrade? The SE is newer and has better specs in most areas.

SE has mostly 6s internals, IIRC.

Yeah, so it's a step up from the 6 overall.

Yep, my 4S was better in the dark. Surprised by the regression.

How do you "carefully charge" a phone? And by how much would that extend the battery life?

I am on my second "flagship" phone that is down to an hour of battery life after 2 years. This time I will attempt to replace the battery because these things cost way too much to replace every 2-3 years.

You can get it replaced for $29, which is cheaper than doing it yourself in most cases:

https://www.apple.com/iphone-battery-and-performance/

If it is a 6S, you may be able to get it replaced for free:

https://www.apple.com/support/iphone6s-unexpectedshutdown/

Supposedly, lithium ion batteries like to be totally drained before being charged and then charged to max before being unplugged. I personally find this regime difficult to attain with phones because I'd rather not have the phone die while I'm far from a charger, so I often start charging when it is at 20% or so. And when I have to go to work, I unplug the phone, even if it isn't at 100% charge. I think most people do similarly, but the battery would really prefer you use it all the way up and charge to max. I think this is what the GP means by "carefully charging."

Isn't that regime for old NiMH batteries that had the "memory" effect? I thought for lion it's the opposite, never fully charge and never fully drain.

Yep, fully draining just wears the battery down faster.

Not true. Actually, the less capacity is utilized (of theoretical maximum), the longer will be lifetime of li-ion batteries. For example, if kept between 20%...80%, they may last for 10x more cycles. That's why electric cars' batteries does not need to be replaced every couple of years.

Interesting, thanks for correcting me.

It's almost as if you have no idea what you're talking about and are just making stuff up. The top reply proves that.

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