Second iPhone I acquired. First iPhone I bought. I know, I
know. I also did not plan to own, more so buy one. But, this one has a story,
too.
It was bought by my sister along with the iPhone 11 Pro she
gave me. There are two main reasons why she wants to get rid of it. (1) It
limits her in connecting to her friends. Despite of having social media to
share photos and files, she still has to deal with Bluetooth connectivity. I
guess, it is easier to change phone than friends, 😁. (2) Battery health.
Yes, that iPhone feature that brought paranoia especially to Android-iOS
switchers. In a couple of months, it went 99% and after a week, right after she
updated it to a minor iOS16 upgrade, it went down to 98%. Although I told her
that it is normal – 80% battery health is expected in 2 years. So, by linear
estimate, 90% is normal after a year, and 95% is still normal in 6 months. Her
iPhone is ahead of the curve, actually. But, considering that I still have 90%
on my iPhone 11 Pro since she gave it to me and that her paranoia is still up,
she decided to dispose it. As a big brother who cares about her, 😁 and also the phone, 😂 I bought it in full price. A sub-30k php (~530 usd) is not
that bad to burn, right?
Long story short. I now have the iPhone SE 2022 that looks like the iPhone 6 from years ago – and very close to iPhone 8, also from the distant past. I assume, existence of this phone is meant for early iFans who love such design. The next dilemma is to decide if this phone becomes my work phone, personal phone or a “drawer” phone. The phone’s software support is too good to place it on my drawer of collections. Yet, the phone is too small and limited to use as a work phone – my experience on iPhone 11 Pro as a work phone was not that good. So, using it as a personal phone is the most sensible thing to do. Besides, I won’t be sharing much via Bluetooth. The lack of headphone jack has not swayed me away from XZ2 Compact, so I think it would be okay. It also has similar size with the latter. So, while I am reviewing this phone – with the 6 tasks I considered – I would be comparing the experience with the XZ2 Compact at some point.
Task 1 – Music
Playback
The Music app, like on iPhone 11 Pro, prioritizes online
streaming, but local audio files can be transferred to the phone from PC using
iTunes or 3uTools. And like any iPhone, there is no microSD card slot to
swap-in and –out those audio collections you may have.
For audio outputs, there are three choices – wired via
lightning, wireless, and the loudspeakers. I have no lightning earphones, yet.
But, wireless is good on this phone, yet with limited codecs (no LDAC here). The
loudspeakers are certainly loud and have some good amount of bass. It has a
stereo loudspeaker set-up similar to most smartphones – down-firing and through
the earpiece. The balance is not as good as XZ2 Compact, but the loudness and
bass is way better than the latter. Both can fill my room with music, but I
have to turn the volume of XZ2 Compact halfway (50%) to match the loudness of
SE 2022 at about 30%. So, that is one of the things I like more on my new
personal phone against the older XZ2 Compact.
Task 2 – Web Browsing
The built-in Safari browser, like I mentioned on my iPhone 11 Pro review is good except for some weird responses and scrolling dilemmas I
faced – it scrolls when I zoom, I can only have vertical or horizontal
scrolling, at a time without lifting my finger off the display.
However, the phone’s small display makes me use mobile versions
of web pages most of the time. It is worth-noting, but not a deal-breaker, that
iPhone SE 2022 (326ppi, 16:9, 4.7 inches) is less sharp than XZ2 Compact (483ppi,
18:9, 5 inches). Apart from that noticeable difference, their displays are
similar. They both use IPS LCD display, making it appear sharper than oleds
with similar resolution. They can also handle HDR contents, XZ2 Compact still
better on this area. They can have good dim-lighting when used in dark rooms,
like bedroom on bedtime. So, it is comfortable to the eye. Both also have a
feature to automatically adjust the white balance of the display, for night time – Xperia calls
it Night Light, while it is called Night Shift on iPhones. Overall, they are
comparable on this aspect.
But there is one crucial feature this phone has over my
previous compact phone – 5G connectivity! And a better “designed” display than
my “notchy” iPhone 11 Pro. These make SE 2022 a worthy personal phone for casual
web browsing in more years to come.
Task 3 – Gaming
As always, Subway Surfer is my go-to game, being for
not-gamer “me” and that it is action-packed enough to challenge the
responsiveness of the phone. I still get some hiccups when I am playing too long,
but not as bad as on iPhone 11 Pro. Overall, the experience is good. Like my
old personal phones, the game matches the phone as I can play one-handedly.
But, I slightly lean towards XZ2 Compact for overall casual gaming experience
due to better handling for longer gameplay.
Task 4 – Photo Shoots
Like on all iPhones, the camera UI is straightforward –
point-and-shoot friendly. It has 6 different modes – pano, portrait, photo,
video, slo-mo, time-lapse. The lack of manual adjustments slightly puts me off,
but at least there is a way to control exposure.
Image quality is satisfying enough. However, I get better
quality on some other phones with 12MP. Photos tend to be slightly warmer than
the actual scene, but there are presets on “photographic styles” option. You
can even fine-tune those presets if you want particular look.
Lowlight photography is not a cup of tea of this phone. The
chipset (A15) is capable of doing that (even on iPhone 11 Pro’s A13), but the
sensor cannot. It made me question its use of A15 just to claim that – “it has
the same chipset as the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 14”. Maybe, it just has
something to do with raw performance. But, aside from benchmarks, I really do
not see a major advantage. Trying to make a sense out of it, software support
might be a good reason.
Having only one rear camera – with the wide angle lens, the phone has limited versatility. And with only 12mp, cropped zoom is not good. I also find the wide lens a bit “narrower” than my older personal phones. So, on this part, I lean towards XZ2 Compact. This is not to say that the camera system and output is bad in any way. Casual picture-taking and some creative shots can still be done nicely with this phone.
Task 5 – Video
Recording
Image quality of iPhone SE 2022 is similar on both stills
and video – I get a warmer tone, sharpness is ideal, contrast and saturation are good. I get up to 4k60, but only 4k30 on XZ2 Compact. I also get better
stabilization on this phone than on XZ2 Compact, enough for me to lean towards
iPhone SE 2022 on this part.
Task 6 - Video Playback
Video playback is good. Its strength is on audio side, especially
the loudspeaker. It is immersive. I cannot say the same on the small display.
But being similar to my previous personal phones, I do not think it would be a
deal-breaker. I just lose the advantage of playing a full HD, natively.
Having a 16:9 panel, all traditional videos – including the
ones you take with the phone, you won’t see any black bars. Of course, except
the bezels. But, I realize that there are already a lot of videos I have been
watching with modern aspect ratios – especially the 21:9. I get them mostly
from YouTube and digitized collections of movies I have.
Overall, and especially its stereo loudspeakers, this is
better than XZ2 Compact.
Battery Test Results
I did a similar recording as that of the iPhone 11 Pro
battery testing. iPhone SE 2022 is still on iOS16 while doing the test. For
charging, I used an official 20 watts apple charger, turned off optimized
charging to fill it up as fast as possible, placed it on a cool area. The
result is –
[Chart – Apple iPhone SE 2022
charging breakdown]
In 30 minutes, it charges up to 58% which is faster than the
advertised 50%. So, if you do intermittent charging, this is already decent. To
fully charge, it needed an hour and 28 minutes. It is way faster than my XZ2 Compact which took two hours and seven minutes of charging duration. I expected
such difference, since XZ2 Compact has significantly higher battery capacity
and slightly slower charging at 18 watts.
It is important to note here, that SE 2022 supports wireless
charging, but XZ2 Compact does not.
Then, here is the usual battery life score card –
[Chart – Apple iPhone SE 2022
battery life test, level 1, battery level x hours]
Sure, the lower battery capacity and faster charging makes
the SE 2022 better when it comes to charging duration. But, such capacity made
it weak when it comes to battery life. From the score card, the battery manages
to last for a day, 3 hours and 37 minutes, with 6 hours and 37 minutes of
screen on time. This is significantly shorter than the battery life of XZ2 Compact with a day, 21 hours and 32 minutes, with 8 hours and 32 minutes of
screen on time. However, if you happen to practice daily charging or
intermittent charging, then it won’t affect you that much. To prolong battery
life, Xperia has stamina mode, and iPhone has low battery mode. It is also
noticeable, that during the 16-hour rest, the battery depleted by 10%, which is
not the case on XZ2 Compact, where it only shed 3% during those long idle time.
A breakdown of the battery consumption of the 6 tasks is as
follows –
[Chart – Apple iPhone SE 2022
battery life test, level 2, battery level x minutes]
With the details above, I would like to focus on the last
row – Adjusted Average for Equal Minutes of Usage. Based on this, Photo Shoot
has the largest battery consumption, i.e. ~9%. Followed closely by Video
Recording with ~8%. I missed this interpretation on my iPhone 11 Pro, which is
why I was confused on its battery result.
In the end, for balance of charging duration and battery
life, my Xperia XZ2 Compact is better.
Conclusion
XZ2 Compact is generally better on gaming, photo shoot and
battery life. While SE 2022 gets the cake on music playback with its louder
stereo speakers, web browsing with its 5g connectivity, video recording with
its better stabilization, video playback and faster charging duration.
The issues I faced when I made iPhone 11 Pro as my work
phone is not of a big deal on iPhone SE 2022 being intended for personal use. I
also think it is “future proof” with its 5G connectivity (and, oh, the
capability to use an eSIM) and its software support.
The general experience is not cumbersome since both iOS and
Android are starting to look similar. I am already fine with its limitations on
customization, interconnection, slower animations and other issues I mentioned
on one of my previous blogs. That is, if the phone is used for personal
purposes, not for work.
[the previous blog - My Work Phone through the Years (and the unintended switch to iOS)]
Likewise, I am fine with the overall design even though I am
not an iPhone fan. But, for sure, some core fans will love its traditional
iPhone design cues. Especially, now that rumors lead to design cues of SE 4
different from SE 3 and will be joining other iPhones with the iPhone 14 design,
yet smaller – flat display and frames, and a notch to name some design cues.
Being not on the ecosystem, I know I cannot maximize its
use.
If I am going to maximize its software support, I might use
this until 2028. If that happens, then it will have the longest time for a
personal phone that I will ever use (all my previous xperias for personal use
served over 3 years, but less than 4 years). So, good luck to me with that. 😁.
How about you? Whether a switcher or a long-time iPhone
user, what do you think of SE 2022? Do you own one? Do you think Apple will
release its sequel – the rumored SE4 being based from iPhone 14, just smaller? Or,
just sack the entire idea?
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