…is the one you have with you.
Well, that’s my “best camera” up above, taken with my actual camera, a Canon EOS 80D that I’ll profile later. This is the iPhone SE that follows me everywhere (and yes, takes most of the blog photos), and as you’ll note from my last post, my first iDevice purchase.
This is the last of the “correctly” sized phones that seems to exist now (as opposed to the “Hummers” Steve Jobs famously fired shots at back in 2010), much to my dismay.
It fits nicely in my pocket, comfortably in my hand, and yet somehow it manages to perform all of the tasks I need it to without being a massive lump of screen. Truly, do wonders never cease?
Moving past my frustrations with the modern obsession with screen size (Galaxy Note, anyone?), this phone has been quite good to me – I keep it in a LifeProof case, which is necessary if you’re me, and I’ve replace the case twice over the 2 and a half years I’ve had it, for the $7 or whatever they charge for shipping and handling.
That’s probably my only complaint with the case – the rubber overmold tends to rub down over time and eventually necessitate replacement. I wouldn’t mind a different design, but for the relatively inexpensive replacement cost, I can’t grouse too badly.
If I end up replacing this phone with a natively waterproof model at some point, I’ll probably go back to Otterbox – their cases have been more reliable for me in the past, but I liked the waterproof feature of the Lifeproof case for this phone.
As far as the phone itself, like I mentioned before, it runs all the apps I need it to, and the security is better than Android, which appeals. The biggest contributor to this is Apple’s walled garden of an app store which, while frustrating for some, ensures better security than the more open and fragmented nature of Android’s store.
That, coupled with some of the native privacy features of Apple’s iOS like iMessage’s native encryption, means that iOS provides a more secure experience while also managing to keep its security relatively frictionless, which significantly aids adoption, in turn leading to more reliable adoption of security measures.
The cameras on Apple’s phones have always been solid, and this SE is no exception. I’ve been very happy with all the pictures I’ve taken with it, though it is no doubt outclassed by this year’s models. I’m not overly concerned with that fact for the simple reason that I have a “real” camera if I want to take high quality photos – for what I need this little guy to do, it’s plenty capable.
To make a long, rambling story short, the security, the simplicity and the quality of the camera all make for a solid phone experience – I’ll be curious to see what’s out when I finally (begrudgingly) switch to a newer phone, and I’ll report back on my findings when that time comes.
-T