Your english is great. I couldn't even tell it was written by a non-native speaker. Keep writing! You have interesting things to say.

Try iPhone 13 mini!

SE would have been my choice if Apple never released this model.

Mini is slightly smaller than SE and it's a crucial factor for me. And it also has more usable screen and where initially I was wary of FaceID - I don't miss the button! :]

I hope Apple continues with SE+mini merged model for the future.

> And it also has more usable screen

Funnily, after playing with both for a couple minutes in the store, I decided on an SE exactly because of 13's screen. Because of rounded corners, the way it rendered content sometimes became downright ugly and didn't actually grant any extra space: http://puu.sh/JdxXl/985552f316.jpg

That's true in that specific context (most websites in Safari) in that specific orientation. The extra screen real estate you get in native apps, or even Safari in portrait orientation is not nothing.

This is an exception. In almost every other use case the mini will give you more screen estate.

I considered the 13 Mini, gave up due to two things: it's (really) expensive here in Brazil, and its cameras (or its main camera) isn't noticeable better than the one on SE. I couldn't justify spending the extra money for pretty much the same phone plus some niceties.

I use the 13 mini and am satisfied. The battery life is good, which is important… but I actually prefer touchID to faceID. The reason, I guess, is more consistent success and no accidental unlocking. It’s also nice to be able to unlock a phone on your desk without picking it up.

As another point of data, I use the 13 mini and am dissatisfied with the battery life. Listen to a podcast on your commute and watch tiktok on your lunch break and you'll be charging at 5PM.

As a motorcyclist I can not even use FaceID with a full face helmet and typing my access phrase is not an option either so I can only use touchID.

At the cost of some potentially reduced security, I've found that my iPhone will unlock while I'm wearing a full-face helmet as long as the chin bar isn't too high on my face, and the "unlock with a mask on" feature is enabled. It's hit or miss, but I usually give it a shot before pulling off a glove to passcode-unlock. It's worth trying again, if you haven't in a while.

Thanks, will give the "unlock with a mask on" feature a shot.

> As a motorcyclist I can not even use FaceID with a full face helmet […]

This is why I like my Shoei Neotec (I) modular / flip-up helmet. Especially since I got it 40% off when then Neotec IIs were announced. :)

The integrated sun visor is also nice.

i'm not sure which one i have but i know i have hte mini form factor and i love it. My wife and oldest son have the gigantic tablet form factor and it feels like i may as well be using an ipad hah. (and they hate using my phone too)

edit: settings -> general says it's an iphone 12 mini

I agree. The mini is smaller but has a larger screen than the SE. Face ID works really well.

I just hope the 13 has better battery life than the 12. My 12 mini drains half the battery on idle within 24 hours if mobile data is enabled.

I appreciate that's a fair concern, perfectly legitimate, but how far we have come that only having half a charge after 24 hours is disappointing.

That's half a charge after leaving the phone idle for the whole 24 hours. It's disappointing compared to previous generations of iPhone and even compared to much cheaper Android phones.

Any decent phone these days could easily last 3 days if left idling.

How's the battery life? My wife got a 12 mini and while I love the size, the battery is abysmal and barely lasts a day for her.

The iPhone 13 Mini has those sharp pocket destroying edges though.

Are you for real? The edges are not sharp at all.

Not razor sharp but sharp enough to leave marks on your trousers after some usage. Here is an example:

https://i.imgur.com/HZNUoVd.jpg

The iPhone SE has completely rounded edges which is more pocket friendly in this regard.

You're talking about iPhone SE2, probably. I'm still using original iPhone SE, and its shape is on every pair of jeans I had in those 5 years.

Looks like it gave those jeans some character!

Well I am certainly not carrying a device with two fragile glass surfaces without a protection case :( So it doesn’t matter at this point.

Also a huge fan of the iPhone SE and will keep buying them until they stop making them. Don’t take my thumb print away from me!!! I write a lot and it’s slightly faster to unlock via thumb (when it works) than face. Also it works in the dark, eg, when you think of something in the middle of the night or when your face is covered.

The only way to beat thumbprint is authentication via nfc, for example using a biometric chip in your hand, but that’s not palatable for most ;).

Posted on a SE gen 2

FaceID also works in the dark and works with masks. Also works when you have gloves on :)

I used to have my phone unlocked before it was even out of my pocket. FaceID at its fastest (I have a 13 Pro) feels slow.

I haven't had a TouchID phone since 2018 and I still miss it. It never made me wait.

I rarely even think about FaceID whereas I had to actually do something for TouchID. Better experience for me and many others.

You don't think about it even when you see the spinning lock?

Finding the button with my thumb in my pocket was just impulse. Phone unlocked by the time I'm looking at it.

I have to start looking at my phone, watch the screen wake up, FaceID takes a minimum of a half-second? A full second? Feels like an eternity. Longer if I have a mask on but that's only recent, it used to not work with a mask at all.

I think that's my problem. There's nothing I can do to make it faster, I just have to wait for my face to be at the right angle so it can scan me. With my fingerprint, I was fully in control of how fast the unlocking process would be.

FaceID doesn't work if I yawn. Or if I sneeze. Or am squinting in the sunlight. Or if the phone is on my desk, fully readable, but not pointed at my face.

And, yes, all of these cases happened in the past month. I miss the TouchID. It was simple and I can't recall it ever failing me.

Well, some iPhones work with masks — my girlfriend's iPhone 11 doesn't.

Gloves aren't necessary here :) I live in the (allegedly) Brazil's coldest state capital, Curitiba, and you can get through winter here without them.

> Gloves aren't necessary here

Gloves are used in more scenarios than just cold weather, motorcycle gloves for one example.

Wearing motorcycle gloves would make it impossible to touch anything on your screen anyway?

Most gloves accumulate enough dirt over time for touch to start awkwardly working. Some newer ones have a layer applied to the index finger to make it work.

Gloves are not the big problem, my experience is that FaceID is useless when motorcycling because of the helmet.

> FaceID

We are talking about phones without FaceID here. This article and thread are referencing the iPhone SE.

> my experience is that FaceID is useless when motorcycling because of the helmet.

Seems to work fine for me when opening the visor. Do you mean with it closed or open it’s not working for you?

I wear gloves when I ride my bicycle. Unlocking it is necessary to access certain functions that you can invoke with Siri. Even without Siri, most gloves these days are designed to work with capacitive touch.

You're right. Anyway, I don't work or do anything that calls for gloves — haven't use them in… I don't know, 20+ years?

In those scenarios, might as well go with https://www.catphones.com/en-us/cat-s22-flip/

Face ID doesn't work very well in the dark, and it's especially awful if you're lying on your side using an iPad in bed in the dark, since the angle is wrong.

Touch ID was markedly superior in contexts like this, in addition to being easier to activate.

Never had a problem with FaceID in the dark and I lie in bed on my side

FaceId works perfectly in pitch darkness. I just tried it.

FaceID works great in the dark (I'm always surprised at how well) and at angles (as long as I'm holding the phone to match the angle of my face, which seems pretty natural to me).

Phone yes. iPad that you are not holding in-hand the entire time so it directly faces you, not so much.

Well, good point. I have a Mini 6, and it doesn't have face ID (and I don't use it in bed).

It works perfectly fine in dark. I use it every night. It uses a very different tech than just a simple camera.

FaceID sounds way more reliable for you than it is for me. It can't recognise me if I change my glasses.

FaceID definitely didn't work with masks.

But doesn't work with sunglasses.

Yes it does.

Not for me. Looks like it might work if I disable "require attention" (weather has been pretty bad this summer, so I don't have my shades close by to test).

I trained it on my face with and without sunglasses. Maybe it has to do with polarization?

You spelled "misspelled" correctly, which earns a point in my book because (in a profound display of irony) a lot of native speakers misspell that one!

“Misspelt” is the usual UK/Commonwealth spelling, if that’s the spelling you’re referring to. “Misspelled” is the usual North American variant. Both are correct!

Not the person to whom you’re replying, but I think they mean many English speakers misspell the word with only one “s”: “mispell” (sic), “mispelled” (sic), etc.

Or three?

Lol at the first time an American tried to correct me on this.

I had no idea. Your English is better than a lot of Web posts from Americans, who can't even spell "too."

While I agree that the SE is Apple's best offering for the money, the new one fails hard in one main way: ergonomics. While the original SE (which I still use) has flat sides, the current SE went back to the dumb rounded slippery edges. This is a vestige of Jony Ive stupidity: make the phone ever-thinner, then round the edges so it wants to flip sideways out of your grip at all times. Oh, and make sure the screen isn't recessed at all, so when it does flip out of your grip it is sure to break.

Notice that Apple returned to the flat sides on all of its current phones except the SE. It's almost as if they wanted make the SE less appealing.

The lack of a Home button on the new iPhones is a massive pain in the ass and a stupid regression, mainly for the lack of Touch ID but also for app-switching.

Thanks!

Yeah, I also prefer the flat sides (miss my old iPhone 5), but SE's rounded one isn't much a problem for me. Maybe I'm too zealous, but in seven years using this type of phone, I've never dropped one. (They dropped for another reasons, such as sliding from a uneven table thanks to the glass back. It survived without any scratch, anyway.)

I would agree - the round edges are a PITA. The glass back makes it very slippery as well. I'm using an 8 Plus still as it has TouchID (I find FaceID far too creepy) and a large screen, which helps with my failing eyesight. It would be excellent to have something like this but with flat edges.

Your English is generally quite good. The one thing I'll note is that I've not seen native speakers use notation like "+10 years" in the context you do. Generally we'd write that as "10+ years" read as "ten-plus years" or ">10 years" read as "over ten years".

Thanks for the tip! I guess I use “+10 years” because of how we say in Portuguese (“mais de 10 anos”, as the “more than” comes first than the “10 years”).

I suppose more people would read ">10 years" as "more than 10 years"?

How would you interpret “+/- 10 years”?

As a margin of error.

"this tree was planted 200 years ago, +/- 10 years" -> the tree was planted between 190 and 210 years ago.

"this comet will next be seen in 100 years, +/- 10" -> The comet will visible between 90 and 110 years from now.

Yeah, interesting. In The Netherlands it is commonly used to mean "more or less", or "approximately", unless it is used in formulas.

For “approximately 10 years” I would note it as ~10. Native Australian English speaker.

In English, "give or take".

+10 years could be interpreted as 10 years in the future, and makes perfect sense in that context, but -10 years for the past seems weird. I'm not sure why.

I don’t think they are comparable really.

10+ years means over ten years.

+/- 10 years is an addition/subtraction and making a range.

I love my SE 2 - I've had it for ~2.5 yrs now and I'll most likely have it for another 2+. It's a very fast phone, and I like the relatively small form factor compared to most other phones these days that all seem to have colossal screens and are comically large when held up to the ear.

I'll also take TouchID any day over FaceID. The one thing that would get me to upgrade before 2+ yrs from now (other than unexpected failure of my SE 2) is a 13 Mini-like iPhone with touchID.

Your English reads very well. I would not have known it wasn't your first language if you hadn't mentioned that you were from Brazil.

Your writing is excellent. The grammar is almost flawless (see below). Beyond that, I enjoyed your writing style as well -- strong opening, thoughtful variations in paragraph length and sentence structure, and generally concise and focused.

If you are interested in some small feedback to improve a little more: the final three sentences in the article were the only ones where I saw something that could be improved.

> I have already argued in the past that I prefer this iPhone model over any newer one, Face ID capable.

I'm pretty sure this is grammatically correct as-is. (English is funny like that...) Having said that, the more natural-sounding way for a native-speaker would be to lose the appositive and avoid trying to turn "Face ID" into an adjective. So it would be something like: "I have already argued in the past that I prefer this iPhone model over any newer one with Face ID."

> It is perhaps the closest to a perfect gadget I have ever used — no wonder, it is the third “same” device I buy in seven years (before, the iPhone 6S in 2015 and the iPhone 8 in 2017).

I'm pretty sure the verb tenses are technically correct, but the last bit is not how a native speaker would write it, and there's an extraneous comma. Instead of saying 'no wonder, it is the the third "same" device I buy in seven years,' a more native-speaker way of writing it would be: 'no wonder it's the third "same" device I've bought in seven years.'

(EDIT: I was thinking about this a little more because something about the sequence of words "third same device" still didn't sound quite natural. Iterating, I think it could sound even more natural like: 'no wonder I've bought the "same" device three times over the last seven years.')

> If, despite all the rumors, in five years there is a “5th generation iPhone SE” with this same look, but updated internals, it will most likely be my next phone.

This sentence is solid and native-sounding as-is. A professional editor, though, might object to the overwhelming number of commas (even though all the commas are grammatically correct!). They might suggest eliminating some of the repetitive clauses and moving things around a bit to make the sentence flow more smoothly. The end result might be something like this: 'If, despite all the rumors, there's a "5th generation iPhone SE" in five years with the same look and another round of updated internals, it will most likely be my next phone.'

I hope that's all helpful and not too nitpicky. Like I said, your writing is fantastic as it is! I'm looking forward to reading more.

Great reply. I agree that the writing in the post is excellent. While we're giving constructive feedback I'd add this sentence:

> I cover tech here in Brazil for +10 years and run a +9 years old independent,

It should be past tense "I've covered", and in English we do everything backwards so 10+ and 9+ are more natural. So I'd change that to:

I've covered tech here in Brazil for 10+ years and run a 9+ years old independent,

> no wonder, it is the third “same” device I buy in seven years

> no wonder it's the third "same" device I've bought in seven years

> no wonder I've bought the "same" device three times over the last seven years

I liked your critique a lot: showing progressively better sentences and explaining why each is better. As a native English speaker learning Brazilian Portuguese, I have the inverse problem of the OP. I'd like to find a book or app that does more or less what you did —— start with a moderately difficult sentence in Portuguese the way an English speaker might say it, then progressively improve it while explaining the reasoning along the way.

Maybe such a thing exists for people learning English; I can confidently say that there is an order of magnitude more resources for people going from Portuguese to English than the other way around.

Oh, good luck with that! You've probably heard this, but Portuguese grammar is super hard. Except for teachers, enthusiasts, and academics, I guess nobody here really knows, let alone explain most of our grammar rules.

Speaking for myself, as a journalist who've written for major outlets in Brazil, I get away with writing (mostly) correctly based on feeling (reading a lot also helps a lot!).

That's a great feedback! Thanks for it, I'll edit the post :)

Only thing I like about my 2nd iphone SE bought this year (had the 2020 version) is that it has Touch ID.

Other then it's trash with low battery life and at times becomes non-responsive like the SE 2020 did.

What is wrong with Apple .. every other smartphone has touch id system. Its been five years and Touch ID for me is the best UX. It is grab my phone without even looking at it and it's open. Compared to grab it & swipe up while looking at it which is two steps vs. one. Those two steps while driving is dangerous (chide me all you want cause you use your phone when you drive too .. either sometimes, to a little or a lot)!

I want an iPhone SE sized phone with something similar to my Ulefone Power Armor 13's battery life.

The Power Armor 13 weights nearly half a kilogram, and because of this I almost never drip it - you certainly know you've got hold of it, and the battery lasts so long I sometimes forget it needs charging till I get a 15% warning somewhere around day four to six.

It was cool to see your name when reading the post. I follow Manual do Usuário on Twitter and I liked it a lot. The podcast is great as well. Congrats on your work!

I am also very happy with my iPhone SE 2nd gen. I only migrated from Android to iOS after they launched a cheap and small model.

Your English is excellent, and I was surprised to learn that it’s not your first language!

Your English is indistinguishable from that of the top 10% of writers or so. I had no reason to believe you are not a native speaker until you linked to your page with photo samples written in Portuguese.

> I had no reason to believe you are not a native speaker

"Now, I decided to give it a shot in another language" and "may I ask you to subscribe to my blog's newsletter or its RSS feed? They are both on site's footer." both read non-native to me; I'd expect a native to say "Now, I've decided..." and "They are both in/on the site's footer".

But I agree with everyone else that rpgbr's English is excellent, more than adequate to publish English-language journalism. It is extremely difficult to get all the details of a foreign language right every time, and in most cases it's not a standard worth reaching or worrying about.

(And if you do worry about it... practice is the best way to get there.)

Great post! I loved this reading. Btw, I'm Brazilian too. :D

I was considering commenting how much I enjoyed your writing style as I was reading the article. I had no idea you were a non-native speaker.

still rocking my iPhone se 1st gen (though I painstakingly had to change the battery on my own at the beginning of the pandemic...)

it's even smaller than the newer ones!

I would go for cheaper phone but I really value good screen. I read books on my phone. I don’t like owning multiple mobile devices just to read books

I'm not sure where you live and what locale you want, but depending on the LTE bands of your region, the Hisense A9 has a fantastic eink screen. It's a Chinese OS with at parts janky english translation.

Read a review, that A9 seems fantastic. Made by Nokia or similar and I'd give it a go.

Great english, mate. Rock on!