Do you like it,

or too small?

- So this is the question without

a definitive answer.

Yes, by today's standards,

the iPhone SE is small.

It's a four inch display, and personally,

I don't think I could back to a screen that size,

but it doesn't mean it's not

the right option for everyone.

The most important point you need

to remember about the SE

is that it's not the iPhone 7.

As obvious as that sounds,

acknowledging that fact

is the only way to look at the SE for what it is.

I've watched countless videos

looking at the SE as a step back from the 6S.

They've gone back to a smaller screen,

they've moved the sleep/wake button

back from the side to the top,

and in reality, they didn't.

The SE is an iteration of the 5S,

not the 6S.

It's simply an option for those who want

2016 performance without a bigger form factor.

Now for scale, here's what Instagram looks like

on the SE and the 6S,

so this should give you a good idea

of what you're sacrificing on a smaller screen,

but also potentially what you're gaining

with a larger one.

So for me, I appreciate the extra screen real estate.

Putting myself on the other side of the fence,

I can see the appeal towards the size of the SE,

and surprisingly, there are quite a few people

out there who didn't want to upgrade

to the 6 or the 6S simply because

they didn't want a bigger phone.

For me, typing was definitely a struggle at first,

but the more I used it,

the more comfortable I got.

Do I enjoy typing on a four inch screen?

Absolutely not, but I think that's because

I'm coming from a 6S Plus,

and while I do think typing is generally easier on a bigger display,

if you're coming from a 5, a 5S,

or even something like a 4S,

you will feel right at home.

The other thing that I noticed for me anyways

is that this is not a two handed phone,

and once I embraced that,

whether it be swiping or typing,

that is where I felt most comfortable with the SE

On top of that, I think most of us can agree

the look and the design of the 5S

is classy as hell.

So I'm not sure if a redesign or a shrunken down

iPhone 6S would have made much sense.

If that were the case,

there would need to be a bigger battery,

there would be a camera hump like the 6S,

and most importantly,

you could not stand the iPhone SE upright

without a salt shaker.

Now there are subtle tweaks on the SE

that will let you know it isn't a 5S,

the most obvious being the SE branding on the bottom,

but then there's also a stainless steel Apple logo,

matte chamfered edges, and a new rose gold color.

- Is the iPhone SE really as powerful

as the iPhone 6S?

- Surprisingly, it is.

And to me, the iPhone SE is basically Isaiah Thomas.

It's small, but fast as hell,

and somehow hangs with the giants.

Inside is the same A9 processor

found on the 6S and 6S Plus,

and sure, on paper, it sounds fancy.

Two times faster CPU performance,

three times better GPU performance,

but what does it all mean?

So to actually show you performance

between the iPhone SE and the 6S,

what I did was take a 30 second 4K

iMovie project and exported them on both,

and surprisingly, you might not have expected it,

but export times between the SE and the 6S

were nearly identical.

Now that's cool, but I also wanted to showcase

what you're potentially gaining if you're upgrading from a 5 or a 5S.

So in this case, I have a one minute

1080p iMovie project,

and the reason I'm not doing 4K

is simply because the 5 and 5S

do not support 4K.

But this should give you a really good idea

of how much faster the SE is compared to the 5S

and how much it obliterates the 5.

Now the other major upgrade to the iPhone SE

is the camera.

We see a jump where the iPhone 5S

had an eight megapixel camera,

up to 12 on the iPhone SE.

There's not a huge difference

if we're talking strictly quality

from the 5S to the SE,

but where there is a significant difference

is comparing the SE to the iPhone 5.

Overall, it is a really good camera.

The interface is extremely simple to use.

It has fantastic dynamic range,

and really it is a smart phone camera

that you can trust to get a good shot.

Now picture wise, where there really wasn't

a huge difference jumping from the 5S to the SE,

where you do see a big difference is video.

The iPhone 5S maxed out at 1080p,

whereas with the SE, you can record 4K video.

The video you're watching right now

is in 4K, so for scale and for context,

here's an iPhone 5S video at 1080p.

This is an example of how many pixels

you're losing with 1080p versus 4K.

So not only are you getting more pixels,

you're also getting really fantastic looking video.

One thing to take note though

is out of the box, the iPhone SE

is not going to shoot 4K video.

You actually have to go into Settings

and System Preferences

and change it from 1080p up to 4K.

Now I assume the reason it's set to 1080 by default

is to save space on the iPhone,

and that's where you gotta be careful

because roughly a seven minute 4K video clip

on the iPhone SE takes up nearly three gigs.

So if 4K video recording's appealing to you

and that's something you want to do with the iPhone SE,

I would heavily consider stepping up

to the 64 gigabyte model.

That way, you're not constantly needing to dump

and delete footage.

Now of course, everything is not rainbows and unicorns,

so there are some sacrifices

with the iPhone SE compared

to what you'd get on the iPhone 6S.

For starters, the front facing camera

is only 1.7 megapixels compared to five

on the iPhone 6S.

I understand the iPhone SE is a lower cost phone

priced at 399 and 499,

but to me, this is where I really feel

Apple fell short here because something

like a front facing camera

is really important to a lot of people.

The other noticeable difference for me

coming from a 6S Plus was touch ID.

It is nowhere near as fast.

Now again, it's not unusable, but I think this

is where the 6S and 6S Plus really spoiled me

because with that, it is literally a touch to unlock,

whereas with the SE, you kinda gotta wait a second.

Lastly, the other big missing feature

from the 6S or 6S Plus is 3D touch.

Now this was probably the least important

missing feature on the SE in my opinion.

It's cool and it's useful on a 6S and 6S Plus,

but I don't know how practical it would be

on a four inch display.

Plus I understand that is a big reason why

the iPhone SE is cheaper.

It's really just things like the front facing camera

and touch ID where I would have loved

to see Apple go the extra mile.

At the end of the day,

the iPhone SE is what it is.

It's not innovative,

it's not fresh, but I don't think it's trying to be.

What it is however is exactly what it's intended for.

It is a really solid smart phone choice

for those who don't want a bigger screen

but want better performance,

4K video recording, and a better camera.

You definitely are sacrificing screen real estate

with a smaller screen,

but if you're coming from a 5 or a 5S,

battery life is better.

It is still a great one handed phone,

but now you don't have to deal

with slow performance.