First impressions after spending quality time with the 4-inch Apple iPhone SE

When news of Apple launching a 4-inch iPhone broke, it was met with widely mixed reactions. On the one hand, there were legions of users who still swore by a small form factor phone, one that literally fit within that elusive one-thumb radius. On the other, there were those who scoffed as this seeming devolution from the current-day phablet rage.

Well to each their own. But still, a tiny iPhone packed with the same guts as Apple’s flagship devices is compelling indeed. The iPhone SE does after all have the same brains (the A9 processor along with the M9 motion coprocessor), camera (12MP iSight camera capable of 4K recording, optical image stabilization etc,) WiFi 802.11ac and fingerprint sensor as the top-end iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.

We got our hands on one and dived right in.

First looks

From the familiarly designed iPhone box itself, beholding it there's an unmistakable sense of deja vu of the iPhone 5S--it’s just so tiny compared to the much larger packaging we’ve been accustomed to with today’s phones.

Peeling away that shrink wrapping and opening the box reveals the phone nestled in, where the first reaction is “aww, adorable!” It’s clearly been a while since we’ve seen a 4-inch phone.

Package contents are nothing out of the ordinary--the mandatory booklets, earphones, a charger and charging cable. Lifting out the phone, it’s immediately apparent how much my hands missed the feeling of a small phone--it just.. fits.

At first, it’s hard not to mistake this phone for the old-school iPhone 5S. Apple’s decision to adopt a design that is so reminiscent of their earlier 4-inch phone instead of the newer rounded design language that has prevailed since the iPhone 6S is a curious one.

Be that as it may, the phone is expectedly well crafted. From the matt-chamfered edges to the satin finish on its aluminium body, it feels undeniably ‘Apple’. On the face of it, everything looks normal--the power button up top, the mute switch and volume buttons along the left edge, the nano SIM tray on the right and the stereo speakers at the bottom along with the USB and 3.5mm headphone jack.

But capability-wise it’s a virtual re-read of the iPhone 6S or 6S Plus, apart from its more compact 4-inch screen size with its 640x1136 resolution (still razor sharp at 326ppi) and the absence of 3D Touch.

But its two core components--the processor and the camera--being the same as what’s used in its flagship sibling--makes for a compelling proposition. It implies you now have the ability to do 4K video recording (with on-phone editing,) with simultaneous 8MP photo capture an optical image stabilization in a phone that’s smaller than anything else out there with similar capabilities.

The phone also shares many of the other 6S goodies such as Live Photos, the fingerprint scanner, the ‘retina’ flash with color matching for the front camera et al. So that’s top-notch performance in a tiny smartphone package.

This is the kind of phone that grows on you. Before long, you’ll wonder how it was possible to forfeit that innately human single-handed use. I took a bunch of photos and videos and fired up some of my favourite apps (from news readers like Flipboard to games like Real Racing 3.) It took a while re-calibrating my own interaction with the 4-inch interface (especially typing!), but before long the  ‘disruption’ of the smaller screen fades away.

The iPhone SE is a fun, snappy phone to use--one that is bound to be an instant hit with anyone who’s pined for the days where phones were comfortably handheld. Its premium pricing unfortunately foils the plans of anyone under the incorrect notion that a smaller iPhone would have been a low-priced one (even though at Rs 39,000 for the 16GB version it is the lowest priced iPhone you can officially buy today from its current generation.)

I am thinking, though, that this phone would probably turn out to be the most-requested iPhone from friends and family visiting from the US, the price delta being so large.

If you’re looking for a phone that’s akin to having Bentley-class performance in a Mini Cooper class body, look no further. The iPhone SE goes on sale in India starting Friday, 8 April.

Stay tuned for our deep-dive review.