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Comment by aphextron | Hacker News Reader

I don't even see SE as a value phone, it's just the best damn phone available from any manufacturer. I've used this body style exclusively since the 5 came out in 2012. It's the perfect form factor. I simply cannot understand the appeal of these massive phablets. A phone is a tool for calling, texting, and listening to music. Anything else is for a laptop/desktop (to me).

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I was saying the same thing a couple of years ago. I held on to my SE as long as possible because I didn't want an iPad phone. "There's no way I'm upgrading," I said. I thought those with iPhone Plus' and Galaxy Notes were either giants or hard of seeing.

However, I have the X now and I can't imagine going back to anything smaller. When I look at my buddy's SE now the screen looks so tiny. I guess the moral of the story is, "Don't knock it until you try it... at least for more than a few days."

Are you able to operate the X with one hand? If not, was the transition difficult?

Absolutely, I highly recommend trying the various sizes in person either at an Apple Store or at another retailer. The hands-on test was what sold me on the Apple Pen.

I went from a 5s to an X.

Typing this one-handed using the right-aligned keyboard.

There’s also an accessibility feature that allows for pulling down the display if you have trouble reaching the top-right.

Personally, I see those as software hacks for an ergonomic failure. I understand why people want big phones and I'm glad they have those options. But I don't want a software band-aid to be required to make a phone usable for me. I just want it to be the right size.

The problem is that “right size” is a tradeoff. A phone is a thing you hold, a thing you read, and a thing you carry around with you.

The X is actually usable with one hand for me without those features. But the keyboard alignment is very nice and a single hand motion away so why not use it? No phone is going to fit everyone’s hands, and making it 5s size means you miss out on the X’s big screen.

I upgraded to an X from an SE and I miss the small form factor a lot. I’ll definitely go back down in size the next time I upgrade assuming Apple make that phone.

I have a 6, I'm planning on going to an SE just so I can actually reach the top of the screen with my thumb one handed.

I had a 5, then a 6, and my last two phones have been SE for that reason. It’s great. Really fits in the hand. No more double tapping to bring down the screen or awkwardly straining to reach buttons on the left hand side. Like, I will hit this reply button with one hand right now...

I also love my SE (and loved my 5S and 5 before them), and I do quite a bit of "real app stuff" (but no games).

I don't mind being a little behind on the processor, and I don't care about Face ID. I really hope they keep it in the lineup and give it a little update to at least an A10, but I fear they won't.

The "Compare iPhone models" page[0] still lists the SE, but says "Available at authorized resellers" under it.

It sure looks like they're going to make us "supersize" to at least the 7/8 sizes, and eventually to the X size. Which will be a real disappointment to a lot of people I know.

I doubt I'd ever switch to Android but I wonder if there's a market niche open for a really good non-Apple 4" phone, for people who care about the form factor more than the price.

[0]: https://www.apple.com/lae/iphone/compare/

I tried recently to find a good Android with 4” screen. I suspect they do not exist. There are sub 100usd phones from China with terrible screen and camera and unknown build quality, but nothing comparable to SE.

Recent Sony Xperia Cpmpact du to the edge-edge design could be a replacenent for SE if they had a version with sub 5” screen. But the available models are too big for my taste.

So I ended up with SE and hope that at least for 3 years I will have small quality phone.

>A phone is a tool for calling, texting, and listening to music. Anything else is for a laptop/desktop (to me).

I think you've kinda acknowledged an understanding that how people's usage of the device differs is the reason such devices may or may not appeal. I make and receive very few calls or texts on my phone, it's primarily a device to get emails, listen to music, watch video.

These devices are a lot of different things to different people, so it makes sense there's a fairly wide range of (sometimes mutually exclusive) features that different folks prioritize.

There's also an element of chicken-before-egg - If you had a larger format phone possibly you would also start using it for stuff you currently use your laptop for?

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