I have been using the iPhone SE for 5 days now, here is my review of it coming from an iPhone 6s.
Sort of a preface here, I've been using 6s for 3-4 years now, its a great phone until today but I've decided to make the change because of the SE price tag.
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What I like about the iPhone SE 2020
- A13 Bionic chip in a small form factor, not many compact phone nowadays have the latest chip. The compact size is perfect for daily usage, iPhone 11 and 11 Pro is a bit big for one handed usage.
- Haptic Feedback is really good, it gives you the feeling that the phone are talking to you. Plus with no physical button, your home button will not spoil.
- That RM2,199 price tag (128GB) of course. The closest one is iPhone 11 (RM3,599 at 128GB).
- Camera is so fast as if there is no image processing going on. Also the video quality is superb at 1080p 60 fps (can go up to 4k). Portrait mode is good as well.
Also since it is using A13 bionic chip, you can swipe right to record video (like the iPhone 11 and up, iPhone 8 and below can't do that).
- Touch ID is very speedy and responsive, also it is a plus point during this Covid season because we are wearing mask.
- Water resistant and wireless charging, not many Android phone at this price tag has it.
What I don't like about the iPhone SE 2020
- 1821 mah battery, even though its miles better than my old 6s (SOT around 2-3 hours), I expected much more. Or probably because I'm staying at home much more now, the battery life feels poorer than usual. I can get up to 5-6 hours SOT per day, so usually I need to charge once during the day, and charge again before I go to sleep. It should be able to last me a full working day if I'm working full time at office.
- 4.7 inch screen feels small when doing media consumption and gaming. There is a lot of bezel on the top and bottom of the phone, so I expect the next iPhone 12 to utilize on that and gives a bigger display with the same body size.
Coming from an iPhone 6s, the experience is not a huge jump actually. The difference is mainly two things, the camera and the processor. The battery life is much better of course, but that's because my 6s is few years old already. Also other thing to consider is the water resistant and wireless charging. For the package that you are getting, RM2,199 is definitely a good deal. To put things into perspective, iPhone 6s was launched in 2015 at RM4,199 for 128GB. Four years later, it is still a flagship (display not flagship I guess) at half the price.
All in all, if you can look past the display and the battery life, the iPhone SE definitely a bang for your buck. Maybe it's because I'm stuck at home now, I would have hope that I have a bigger display and better battery life. When I start going back to the office, I will definitely appreciate the small form factor of the iPhone SE because it can do basically anything the 11 or even the 11 Pro can do.
Just adding something here, if you are not in a rush to get a phone now and is contemplating the design of the iPhone 11, I would advise you to wait for the iPhone 12. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 12 this year with a 5.4" OLED display with 5G and it will be ~RM200 cheaper than the current iPhone 11. For me that will be the perfect phone because iPhone 11 6.1" LCD display is a bit big for one handed usage. But possibly it will be delayed until end of this year due to the covid 19

Yeah, I think your review nicely sums up the iPhone SE 2020 in a nutshell. Of course, the other advantage which many will only come to appreciate three or four years down the line is that the A13 bionic chip will still run great even then and Apple still constantly provides updates for the phone. The RM2199 will feel most bang for buck then!