On Wednesday Apple announced a new version of the iPhone SE. Rumored for months with different names, including iPhone 9 and SE 2, the budget phone essentially crams an iPhone 11 into an iPhone 8 body. We haven’t seen it in person yet — Apple didn’t hold a traditional event due to the coronavirus pandemic and instead announced the new iPhone in a press release — so we’ll need to wait until we can review it before we can say whether it’s a good phone or not.
But based on what Apple showed off today, the new SE wisely follows the successful recipe for the original 2016 version, giving it a lot of promise.
At a time when the “value” iPhone 11 costs $699 and the flagship 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max cost $999 and $1,099 respectively, an option more people can afford is welcome. Like the original when it was introduced, the new iPhone SE is the cheapest iPhone you can buy. In fact, it starts at the exact same $399 price as the original SE.
It’s a perfect time for an affordable phone. With shelter-in-place being a daily reality that won’t let up anytime soon, millions of us rely more than ever on a phone to stay in contact with friends, a loved one or work. At the same time, millions of people are in financial distress. If you’re in the unfortunate situation where you need a new phone or can’t fix a damaged phone, today’s announcement offers some relief.
The iPhone SE will join Apple’s other Product Red devices.
The $399 price of the SE places it alongside a growing crowd of budget-friendly Android phones, which includes the upcoming Moto G Power and G Stylus ($249 and $300 respectively), the $400 Samsung Galaxy A51 and the heavily discounted Google Pixel 4, which currently sells for $500. There’s also last year’s Google Pixel 3A, which normally costs $399 and now sells for around $300.
Though Apple introduced the original SE a few months after the bigger iPhone 6S, its body was based more on the older iPhone 5 and 5S. The SE had an itsy bitsy 4-inch screen (the iPhone 6S had a 4.7-inch display), but its small size was one reason people craved it.
I, like many other people, was hoping Apple might bring back that petite design. Instead Apple took the body from the iPhone 6, 6S, 7 and 8, along with the 4.7-inch screen on those phones, and revamped it. Though that makes it much smaller than the 6.1-inch iPhone 11 and 5.8-inch iPhone 11 Pro, I wonder if it’s small enough to sway tiny phone lovers to upgrade from their original iPhone SEs.
In 2016, when Apple put the iPhone 6S’s A9 processor and camera in the original SE, not every feature followed them over. It’s a similar story for the new SE. It has a lot of what the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro has: a True Tone display, fast charging (though you’ll need to buy a fast charger) and wireless charging, and it’s rated IP67 for dust and water resistance, meaning it can survive being submerged under 1 meter of water for 30 minutes.
The new phone has an A13 Bionic processor, which is the same one used in the 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max. The benefit here is that it’s faster than the A11 processor found in the iPhone 8, and should be able to run new versions of iOS for years to come. Apple has a terrific record of supporting older devices through software upgrades.
The new iPhone SE comes in black, white or Product Red.
You won’t find the double or triple rear cameras from Apple’s current flagship devices. Instead, it has a single rear 12-megapixel camera (with a 28-millimeter f/1.8 lens) which is less wide than the main camera (with a 26-millimeter f/1.8 lens) on the 11 and 11 Pro.
The new camera can take portrait mode photos (both on the main and the selfie cameras). There’s also Apple’s excellent SmartHDR, which helps optimize every detail in your pictures. You can shoot 4K video up to 60 frames per second or with extended dynamic range up to 30fps. There’s even cinematic video stabilization for both the front and back cameras.
Apple hasn’t confirmed whether the new camera supports Night Mode. And obviously there’s not the popular ultrawide-angle camera either. But those are smart sacrifices to get a small version of an iPhone 11 for $399.
Apple has faithfully replicated the most important aspects of the original SE. But if you’re wondering if you should preorder one, well, I can’t tell you right now. I’ll need to test the new iPhone SE first.
That said, if you’re still using an original SE, and are comfortable with a new phone that has a tiny increase in size and an enormous increase in features, functionality and future-proofing, then the new SE is definitely worth considering. And for those of you who want an iPhone 11 but at a lower price, the iPhone SE might be the compromise you’re looking for.
Watch this:
Apple’s new iPhone SE is basically an iPhone 11 in a…
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Leaving her elderly father on a basement floor for two days in a soiled adult diaper won’t mean jail for a Calgary woman.
Justice Indra Maharaj accepted a joint Crown and defence submission on Wednesday for a two-year-less-a-day conditional sentence order for Tara Picard to be followed by 12 months of probation.
Prosecutor Donna Spaner and defence counsel Shaun Leochko proposed a community-based term which will include eight months of 24-hour house arrest followed by a nightly curfew for the second eight months.
Maharaj also agreed with the lawyers to order Picard to commit 300 hours of community service over the length of the three-year sentence.
The Calgary Court of Justice noted that amount of community-service hours was “a lot” to commit to.
But Maharaj said it showed Picard, 52, was truly remorseful for her conduct towards her father, whom Postmedia is not identifying because of the embarrassing nature of the facts of the case.
“What that shows me is Ms. Picard does sincerely recognize what has happened here,” the judge said of her willingness to complete community service.
“What I interpret from that is Ms. Picard’s willingness to give back to the community.”
Picard pleaded guilty in January to charges of assault and failing to provide the necessaries of life to her 77-year-old father.
Court heard caregivers found the elderly Calgary man on the basement floor of his daughter’s southeast home wearing a soiled adult diaper.
At the time, Picard was responsible for her father’s day-to-day care after he was moved to her residence, Spaner, reading from a statement of agreed facts, told court at the time.
“He had a number of medical ailments, including non-insulin dependent diabetes, coronary artery disease, some early onset dementia-like symptoms and chronic alcoholism,” Spaner said.
“(He) had been living independently in a Calgary apartment building. Family members became concerned that he was not caring for himself safely.”
With the help of Alberta Health Services he was moved to a home where Picard resided.
A registered nurse assigned to his care attended the 38 Street S.E. home on Nov. 15, 2021, to drop off food bank supplies for him and was told he was sleeping downstairs.
When the nurse called about an hour and a half later and spoke to the man on the phone he said he was lying on the floor, had fallen and was unable to get up.
When she returned to the home with a co-worker she found the victim lying on his back on the floor.
“(He) said that he had been lying on the floor for two days,” Spaner said.
Leochko said Picard was overwhelmed by the situation she was thrust into.
“It really was more than she could handle,” he said.
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@juanhall: I gotta say, this was the most interesting bike in this post….love that Intense is experimenting with gearboxes…I can see it have a huge effect on DH bikes….thank god there’s still people pushing things. Now, they need to make an Enduro bike with the Pinion MGU!
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The City of Pointe-Claire would like to inform you that the Bob-Birnie arena will be closed for its annual maintenance as of Monday, April 29. The Annex rink will reopen to the public on Monday, May 13, and the arena’s Main rink will be accessible as of Monday, June 3.
Public skating will resume on May 13, and the summer public activities programming will begin on June 3 when both rinks have reopened to the public.
In addition to the annual maintenance of the facility, two renovation projects are also scheduled to start at the same time:
Installation of new sound systems
The City will be replacing its current sound systems in both the Main rink and Annex rink, to offer arena visitors a better overall experience, whether watching from the stands or participating in on-ice activities. This project is expected to be conducted throughout the month of May.
Renovation of locker rooms in the Main Rink
The City will also be renovating the five locker rooms located in the Main rink, to bring up to date the amenities currently available to participants. These renovations are expected to begin in early May and will be completed by mid-August.
For all information about the Bob-Birnie arena, visit the arena’s page on our website.
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