iPhone SE 2020-Excellent hardware in an oudated design


Apple recently launched the iPhone SE 2020 in India. It got spectacular international exposure with its $399 price point and powerful Apple A13 chip. However, when it comes to the Indian market, the situation is a lot different. Here the phone is starting at Rs. 42,500($570) for the 64 GB variant, way higher than its US price tag. In the US, the iPhone SE does not have any great competition from products that match its software and hardware refinement.

But in the Indian market, we have devices such as the OnePlus 8 and Realme X50 Pro in a similar price range. OnePlus provides one of the most polished Android experiences today. So here we are going to explain our thoughts about picking the iPhone SE 2020 over the likes of the OnePlus 8 or Realme X50 Pro

Design:

iPhone SE 2020 is among the smallest smartphones available in the market today. Its size is exactly like our new 500 Rupees banknote. it just weighs 150g, so one of the lightest out there. The iPhone SE 2020 comes with the iPhone 8 body, with a centred apple logo on the back and All black front in all colour variants. So it still carries the outdated design and it is one of the major drawbacks of this phone.

iPhone SE 2020 design

But if you are okay with big, chunky borders on the front, you are getting a small phone which can be used single-handedly. I would not recommend anyone who used to a bigger screen to come back to this, you will face high difficulty in typing and cause multiple errors. With time you will be automatically adjusted to it.

Other than that the phones come with good old TouchID which works perfectly fine. There is no facial unlocking duo to apple being apple. Also, the phone comes with the iP67 certificate which is not usually found in this price range. it comes without the headphone jack.

Display:

iPhone SE 2020 comes with an LCD panel. You will miss out the AMOLED panel that comes with android phones in this price range. But I have to say it got one of the best LCD panels out there with wide colour gamut, good brightness level, HDR10, super crisp details, etc. Even though the resolution is still near to HD(750* 1334 pixels), it is plenty enough for a 4.7-inch screen. But due to the old design language, the display will still look outdated.

Performance:

The performance will be the most prominent reason behind huge interest behind this device. Having an A13 Bionic chip which is powering the iPhone 11 series is overkill for a device like this with this type of design and HD screen. You will get top-notch performance which will not let you down for the next 3 to 4 years.

Even though the phones come with A13 bionic chips like the iPhone 11 series, the synthetic benchmark scores are slightly lesser than the iPhone 11 series. Maybe some under-clocking is happening. But still, the chip is overpowered for a device like this

Due to this Processor, the gaming capability of this device is top-notch, but the gaming experience from games Like PUBG, COD will not be as good as playing on a phone with a bigger screen. The phones also have excellent haptic feedback that will also enhance your gaming experience. The device will get slightly warm in extended gaming sessions.

iPhone SE 2020 Gaming

Software experience:

The phone comes with iOS 13. The software experience from this phone is excellent as you expect from an Apple device and you can expect up to 5 to 6 years of software update considering the apple track record. But the iOS 14 widgets look like a very big due to small display.

Camera:

The iPhone SE 2020 got a single 12MP camera on the back and 7 MP on the front. Due to Apple excellent software processing, the photos from the cameras have crisp details, super dynamic range, excellent colour reproduction, great portraits in daylight situation. But as the light gets dimmer the photos will become not impressive due to the absence of night mode. Even without night mod low lights images seems inferior to old iPhone 7. But the ISP(image signal processor) and the image sensor is definitely capable of doing the night mode. Maybe Apple limited this feature for their premium offering. We can use the Neural camera app for night mode, it will slightly improve low light photos.

The picture quality from this device can outthrow any phone in this price range in terms of dynamic range, colour reproduction and in portrait images in good lighting conditions.

Selfies are good in good lighting but will become soft when the light drops, portrait selfies look good on good lighting conditions. checkout the detailed camera comparison between OnePlus 8, Realme X50 Pro and iPhone SE 2020 from Mr.Phone youtube channel

one thing to note that android devices in this category come with multiple cameras, so you will miss out the convenience of using multiple cameras in various situations.

Video:

The video taken from its single camera is class-leading with its excellent dynamic range, great cinematic stabilisation at 4K 30 FPS. You will lose some dynamic range in 4K 60 FPS but still the best you can get in this price range. Front camera video resolution is limited to 1080P but the quality is very good.

Battery Life:

The Battery life on the new iPhone SE is below average. Most of the reviewers said the SOT(screen on time) is the worst among 2020 smartphones. The battery life on this phone is bad from day 1 onward. So it will become worse day by day, considering an average 10% battery capacity will lose per year. Especially considering having a bigger battery is one of the major trends in 2020, the battery life on this device is a major con

The phone ships with a 5W charger in the box, which will charge your device as slowly as possible!!. The phone supports 18W PD charging, but some of the users complained the phone still limits the charging speed after reaching above 60% battery. It will charge up to 50% in 30 minutes, then for the next 20% it will take another 30 minutes, and for the next 30%, it will take 1 more hour. So it is not a good thing for a phone with such low battery life.

Miscellaneous:

The call quality on the iPhone SE 2020 is one of the best you can get.It has excellent haptic feedback and it’s something Apple is very proud of. The speaker quality is excellent and it has an excellent stereo effect. It supports Qi wireless charging, Wi-Fi 6,  Dual Sim (One is eSIM)

Android Offerings.

We have a lot of great Android smartphones in this price range with flagship processors like SD865, SD855+, SD855. when we think about the 40K price range, devices that come to our mind are OnePlus 8, Realme X50 Pro, Asus ROG 2, IQOO 3, Oneplus 7T, S10 Lite, etc. For the sake of comparison to the iPhone SE 2020, I am taking Oneplus 8 here, which in my opinion is the best device this price range and only this phone can match Apple software and hardware refinement.

OnePlus 8 vs iPhone SE 2020

OnePlus 8

Comparing Oneplus 8 to iPhone SE, Oneplus 8 provides a much better display with nearly borderless design, HDR10+, 1080P AMOLED 90 Hz refresh rate display with great colours and very high brightness level. OnePlus 8 is bigger, heavier, but looks better. They both perform exceptionally well in every task, but I think the gaming experience on onePlus 8 will be a much better duo to the larger screen. They both sound good and have a great stereo, but apple sound slightly better here. Both have good haptic feedback but Apple always stays above a little. The camera on the Oneplus is good. However, the iPhone SE 2020 main camera and front camera produce better pictures in good lighting conditions and OnePlus 8 performs better in low light situations. Also, OnePlus 8 has a wide-angle camera which also gives another perception of view.

The battery life and charging speed on the OnePlus 8 is one of the best in the flagship. So the iPhone SE 2020 isn’t even comparable to it. But the iPhone SE 2020 provides wireless charging (slow) and has an IP67 certificate, both are absent in Oneplus 8. Apple provides software updates up to 5-6 years compared to OnePlus 2-3 years. But it doesn’t matter according to me, because I don’t think anyone will use a device for that long, even though it helps in resale values. So OnePlus 8 is a more well-rounded package than iPhone SE 2020. But that doesn’t mean iPhone SE 2020 is a bad phone. It is a great phone intended for different kinds of users. For more about that check out the verdict section.

Verdict:

The iPhone SE 2020 is an excellent offering from Apple in the more affordable price category. The outdated design and pretty bad battery life make it hard to recommend the device. Especially considering we have a more complete package like Oneplus 8 in the similar price category. But they both target different audiences.

Target Audience of iPhone SE 2020:

If you need a small phone with powerful internals, exceptional performance, great cameras and don’t care about outdated design can go for it. The battery life and charging speed are below average, and If you need longer battery life and faster-charging speeds, you should stay away from iPhone SE 2020.

The iPhone SE will be a good choice for people with old iPhones looking for a new upgrade. The design is similar, so almost anyone will be comfortable with it. Also, you can expect IOS updates for up to 5-6 years because it is an Apple device. The device will also appeal to people who buy iPhones to demonstrate their wealth. For them, it is the most affordable latest iPhone out there. However, we recommend the OnePlus 8 over iPhone SE 2020 any day.


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Source: Mr.Phone | C4ETech | TechPP | Dhananjay Bhosale | Parth Aggarwal | Apple

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