Re:The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10
by pwthornton on Tuesday January 28, 2020 @10:31AM
(#22170258)
The iPhone SE had a metal body. I have one in my desk drawer right now. It was fantastic hardware. It just used cheaper cameras and a smaller screen.
My kids still use SEs. It's still a very functional phone. The internals are iPhone 6s era (A9). The plastic phone was the 5c (A6, same as the 5) and it's not even 64-bit so it can't be upgraded past iOS 10. (The SE is three generations newer than the 5C.)
My teenagers love their SEs. Oldest lost hers, tried Mom's old 6 for a while, then asked for another SE.
My son's friends make fun of him for the small screen size of the SE compared to their 7s and 8s but he just says he's dropped it hundreds of times and it's working fine. It's in a case, of course.
Re:The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10
by wool_gather on Tuesday January 28, 2020 @11:40AM
(#22171019)
> The original low-end iPhone SE had the plastic case
You're thinking of the iPhone 5c, which came out at the same time as the 5s -- well before the SE, which, slightly confusingly, was released after the 6. The SE has always had a metal body.
Woops, sorry, yes, I was conflating the 5c with the original SE release.
So that gives another example of apples making a new low-end device from a mix of old and new components.
5c new plastic body, better front camera and LTE than 5.
SE new low-end device with display of 5s, processor and back camera of 6s, front camera of ??, etc.
The newer low-end models have various changes from the previous high-end models, including case changes, but also other hardware. The original low-end iPhone SE had the plastic case with the hardware of the 5-something - but a smaller display. The iPad mini had the guts of an iPad 2, except it was a smaller device, requiring a new motherboard and display, and it had a better camera, too.
Similarly, the 2017 iPad was closest to the iPad Air 2, just a bit thicker with more battery, but it also had a new CPU and brighter display.
That pattern of component upgrades and size changes continues, and as the GP mentioned, Pencil 2 support (magnets and charging) hasn't trickled down to any non-pro devices yet, in spite of new releases to those non-pro devices.