iPhone SE review: looks can be deceiving

It turns out, bigger doesn’t always mean better.

Earlier this year, Tim Cook and his entourage of gawky executives announced a small, new addition to the iPhone family.

Dubbed “the most powerful 4-inch phone in the world” by the copywriters at Apple, iPhone SE has taken us down memory lane, back two generations to the iconic iPhone 5s, in terms of its size and looks.

But, intriguingly, it boasts the same, exceptionally capable innards as the latest generation, iPhone 6s, which does, in fact, make iPhone SE the most powerful 4-inch phone in the world. Looks can certainly be deceiving.

Design

iPhone SE revives the design made incredibly popular by iPhone 5s. A design that’s comprised of bead-blasted aluminium and a premium glass panel. The edges are matt-chamfered to give it a smooth form that’s easy and comfortable to grip. And at 4-inches, iPhone SE is obviously nice and compact, which means it’s easier to use one-handed, and is much lighter than typical mobile phones.

The 4-inch Retina display is sharp, despite the lower resolution. But on a device this size, you don’t need anything in the realms of what flagship Android mobiles offer. Colours are well balanced and true-to-life, and the brightness lends itself to great visibility even when exposed to direct sunlight.

Whilst a bigger display, like that on iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, would be better suited for enjoying video content, iPhone SE still does a great job, and, honestly, doesn’t feel too small at all.

Camera

Apple claims that this is the ‘only camera you’ll ever need’, and we’re struggling to find reasons to disagree. Fitted with the same 12-megapixel shooter as iPhone 6s, the SE takes remarkably fine and detailed photos, and super-sharp 4K video too.

Through Live Photos, iPhone SE brings your images to life with a brief window of sound and movement. Once you’ve taken a shot, go to the gallery, then touch and hold your photo. It’s a feature you’re bound to have a lot of fun with.

Power

Despite displaying the same measurements as iPhone 5s, this year’s iPhone SE boasts a CPU performance that’s twice as fast, and a GPU performance that’s three times as capable. That’s because iPhone SE is built with same advanced A9 chip that’s in iPhone 6s, giving users unwavering speed and experience, whether gaming or using apps.