John Gruber:
For anyone with an iPhone 5S (or older) who has been holding out on an upgrade in the hopes of a new top-tier “small” iPhone, the iPhone SE is cause for celebration. If you are such a person, run, don’t walk, to buy one. You will be delighted.
For the rest of you:
If you’ve already upgraded to an iPhone 6 or 6S and have made peace with the trade-offs of a larger, heavier, less-grippy-because-of-the-round-edges form factor, the appeal is less clear. Me, I talk the talk about preferring the smaller form factor, but ultimately I’m a sucker for top-of-the-line CPU/GPU performance and camera quality.
Gruber really nails the details, paints an accurate picture. If you have the slightest inkling about buying an iPhone SE, between reading Gruber’s review, and Jim’s review before it, you’ll have your answer.
I spent some time yesterday perusing the comments on “tech” sites about the 5se and the comments were pathetic and frankly idiotic. From morons that think this literally is a 5s with new edges to yammering nerds pretending that on a 4″ screen with 326 PPI, it matters whether the phone is “1080p capable”.
So, with regards to Apple’s strident critics in the fever swamps of comment sections, absolutely nothing has changed.