 The iPhone SE. Possibly the least exciting product that Apple has launched since like some random iPod touch refresh. But I spent a couple of weeks with it knowing full well that I wouldn't be switching to it as a daily driver because in addition to giving my impressions on the iPhone SE, this felt like a good opportunity to discuss Apple's direction in general right now. So let's get crack-a-lackin. Intel's Skull Canyon Nook features a sixth generation Core i7 processor and Thunderbolt 3. Learn more at the link in the video description. The iPhone SE packs truly flagship specifications into an unapologetically small 4-inch screen form factor for little girls and men who happen to have little girl sized hands. It boasts Apple's latest A9 processor, the same one found in the 6s and the 6s plus, 2 gigs of RAM, the same 12 megapixel camera sensor found in the 6s, AC wireless, LTE advanced, NFC for Apple Pay, a 1624 milliamp hour non removable battery and an IPS 640 by 1136 Retina display. And there's a lot to like about that. I mean honestly, it's the kind of product whose merits I've been arguing for since the phablet race started a handful of years ago asking who needs 1440p or 4k phone screens? Who can operate these things with one hand? To which the answer was always bigger is better and use two hands, bitch. But there are of course some compromises to be made here. Some of them are minor. The storage speed has been downgraded somewhat, but not to the point where it's likely to bother anyone and the same goes IMO for the slower Wi-Fi and LTE advanced. I mean, I haven't had an issue streaming YouTube videos, team viewer desktops or music in years, and I actually can't figure out what people need these ever climbing data speeds for. But there are a few things that ground my gears a bit more. The inclusion of an NFC radio for Apple Pay gets 4 inch device users closer to feature parity with current generation devices than they were before. But Touch ID was already present on the iPhone 5s, and it even uses the same older slower and less accurate first generation sensor. Though in practice this didn't end up bothering me much. And the other big thing missing is 3D touch. Having a right click is always better than not having one. Always, Apple. And that's what 3D touch effectively is. So ignoring the distinctly last-gen industrial design with only a pink color option and a sandblasted versus polished edge to distinguish it from the 5s, the lack of a push harder to do more stuff faster button is the most outdated feeling thing about this device. I mean of course aside from the fact that Apple is still equipping a 400 US dollar smartphone with 16 gigs of onboard storage and no SD card expansion, making the cost of this device effectively $500 for anyone who intends to use the 12 megapixel stills 4k video rear camera. So let's talk about that camera now then, shall we? It lacks optical image stabilization like the 6 and the 6s, but it's characteristically really good. It opens and focuses quickly, it's got a two-tone flash and the full auto mode gets it right the vast majority of the time. The zo- excuse me. Live photo mode is great for capturing moving objects like children, but the app just sucks. I actually used to prefer Apple's hands-off-the-wheel approach to phone pictures, but that was back when a great phone camera shot and a decent phone camera shot both kind of looked like trash. And when Android phone makers were baking all these weird half baked like put dinosaurs and fish all over the scene functionalities in. I mean these days a Samsung device can take videos and photos with as much or as little control as I want from the same screen with one tap when Apple still requires swiping through modes one by one with their extremely limited first-party app or opening an entirely separate in the case of camera plus $3 app to enable manual control just for stills. I mean that coupled with their lack of a screen off gesture to launch the camera made it noticeably slower for me to capture unexpected moments. With that said though, that's about all I can criticize about the SE from a performance perspective. Actually using the device is about like using my old iPhone 4 if my iPhone 4 was the equivalent of a Pontiac Firefly with an 8-cylinder engine in it. And they did this remarkably without hurting battery life. Which isn't to say I don't still think there's room for improvement. I mean can you imagine living on a planet where you could buy a phone with iOS's idle power management and your typical Android handsets 2500 to 3500 milliamp hour battery? The SE on most days would actually best the S6 and the Z5 compact for me for percentage remaining at the end of the day. But then on heavy days I could run out of battery by dessert. Still impressive though considering its size and raw horsepower. With that said it's shocking to me after all the moaning that I've done about smaller devices being better for people with smaller hands. How much less I personally found myself using this phone due to its smaller screen. It's frustrating how little real estate is left for the actual conversation I'm having once you've got the keyboard on there. And during my veg time watching videos on CuriosityStream or whatever I actually found myself more than once running upstairs for a tablet. Something I really haven't felt I needed to do in a long time. Which I guess leads us into the conclusion. It's strange to be saying this so soon after giving Apple my best smartphone of 2015 award for the iPhone 6s only a few short months ago, but it seems like the accountants are running certain aspects of the company at this point instead of the designers. Apple's own words. People wanted a smaller better iPhone says it all. The iPhone SE is a carefully engineered and carefully timed response to this feedback. One that brings existing customers who are on the brink of a somewhat forced obsolescence. And all 64-bit app stories going to happen soon. iPhone 5 and below users will be on the outside looking in and potential customers in developing markets an obvious and a lower cost way to stay in or enter the Apple ecosystem. It's a strong business move. But there's really no artistry or innovation or pride in it. It's just cheaper. They reused the older blockier design language because they want it to look and feel cheaper to drive customers who can afford it to the much higher margin 6s and 6s Plus. I mean remember those contain basically the same hardware, and if you've ever bought a replacement screen on eBay that should give you some idea what the cost of a 4-inch versus a 4.7-inch screen is. They're pretty much the same. But this move delivers zero innovation. Apple's customers are crying. We want you to remake that thing we liked from before but faster, and they're doing it. It's about the least Apple manner of behaving that I can possibly imagine. I mean I don't always agree with Apple's choices. But I respect that they have the guts to make what they think is best and then educate their customers about how that should enrich their lives. And while the objective likely one from the bean counters of build a lower cost skew to maintain the install base and improve gross profit dollars at the cost of some margin has pretty much been accomplished here, I have some serious misgivings about what this means for Apple's direction as a company over the coming years. Maybe the iPhone 7 will completely prove me wrong. Maybe I'll be able to rearrange the icons on my home screen the way I want. I guess we'll find out in the fall. Okay, so I know that there are some of you who complain about our phone reviews always having these dbrand skins on the phone saying that you find them ugly. So I said to dbrand, I was like, look you guys, you got that great configurator on your site where you can pick out exactly, you know, what type of skin you want on which part of the phone. You can preview it on the site and see what it's going to look like in person. So if you guys have got this great configurator, why are you guys always picking the color scheme and sending it to me? And people are complaining that why are we doing this? Let me pick the color scheme this time. So they did. And I used dbrand's configurator to cover the iPhone SE in what I think is the most beautiful vinyl skin that I have ever seen in my life. I mean, look at this. I have one, two, three, four, five different colors if you count wood grain as one color because it's got multiple colors to it. It's like wood grain. And with this skin, not only does my phone look great, it is protected from incidental scratches, the kinds that come about during life. So check it out. Get your dbrand skin. They ship worldwide and they're affordable at the link in the video description. Let's see if you can put together something even sexier than mine. Thanks for watching, guys. If this video sucked, you know what to do. But if it was awesome, get subscribed, hit the like button or even consider supporting us directly by using our affiliate code to shop at Amazon. Instructions up there. Buying a cool shirt like this one or with a direct monthly contribution through our community forum. You get a cool little contributor badge. So you're probably wondering what to watch next at this point now that you've done all those things. So check out that little button in the top right corner to check out our recent channel super fun video where we all get dressed up and sold on murder mystery.