Sweet Sweevil, its the SE

Has Apple stepped up its game with the new iPhone SE?

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We are almost halfway into the year and in a surprising release Apple, the leading company in smartphones, released a new iPhone.

While most thought it would be the new iPhone 7, it actually is the iPhone SE. This iPhone is to serve as the bridge leading up to the next generation of phones.

Has Apple hit a new stride with the new iPhone, or is it merely a repeat of the previous releases?

The iPhone SE look is interesting from the start. Apple decided to revert back to the smaller 4” look as seen on the iPhone 5. From any onlooker the phone will look just like the previous generation.

“It’ looks just like the iPhone 5s, no improvement at all,” senior Ryan Nyamazana said.

He uses the iPhone 6s and says that he sees no reason to upgrade because it strongly resembles an older phone.

The new reversion back to smaller design will appeal users who don’t like the bigger, bulkier phone.

“It’s very convenient if you don’t want the bigger phones,”  senior Aylin Minjares said. “I like the older iPhone designs better,  they looked more distinct that the Android.”

The new iPhone design does not feature any new buttons and the locations of the face/ side buttons remain the same as the previous release.

“I would give it a chance and if I ended up not liking it I would revert back to whatever phone I was previously using,” Minjares said.

There were rumors that the new iPhone would feature a special, smaller headphone jack that would only be only compatible with Apple earpods unless an adapter was inserted. This feature is left out.

The notable returns to this new phone are the fingerprint scanner and the Apple Pay app that allows users to pay with their phones and Siri makes a return (no known update).

What’s really new about the iPhone is what is inside.

According to Apple’s website, the phone’s CPU/ GPU will perform at a faster rate than the iPhone 6 and 6s did giving users faster loading speeds and better performance. The iPhone camera improves in quality, allowing users to shoot 4K videos, which is four times better than 1080p.

Also, Apple is targeting users switching from Android to iPhone. The new iPhone software and the updates iTunes computer program will make transferring old data from your Android phone easier.

This iPhone has features to allow transferring your contacts, apps, message history and more from your old Android smartphone. Apple has also created a way to migrate all your apps from your old Android in a few steps.

And if you can’t figure it out, Apple says you can take it down to your local Apple store and they can do it for you and you can recycle your old Android for free at any Apple store (although any purchased media may not be retained).

Apple is trying their best to appealing to the frustrated Android users refrains from leaving because of the users fear of starting completely over on the iOS device.

The iPhone may be new, but Apple came up short trying to reinvent one the most popular phone.

“I would feel like it would be a waste to upgrade if it has almost the exact same features,” Minjares said.

If you may have at least the iPhone 5 there really isn’t any glaring reason to make the upgrade. Perhaps you’d be better off holding off for the next iPhone release (most likely the 7th generation) possibly coming out this fall. It may be a new iPhone but the best way to describe this new item is a mere improvement from the last.