[NFB-DB] Article, HKNC: WHEN THE OLD MEETS THE NEW: A REVIEW OF THE IPHONE SE 3

Wed Apr 6 14:30:25 UTC 2022

Thank you so much for this review, Scott. I was wondering about some of these things and this really helped.

Thank you,

Leisa Sekhon

> On Apr 6, 2022, at 8:08 AM, Scott Davert via NFB-DB <nfb-db at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Just passing along FYI
> 
> https://www.helenkeller.org/hknc/iphone-se-3
> 
> Introduction
> This review was completed after 10 days of using the iPhone SE 3.
> Most of my comparison will be with the iPhone SE 2 since that was the
> phone I had been using previously. For the sake of clarity, when
> referring to the previous generation of iPhone SE released in 2020, it
> will be referred to as the iPhone SE 2. Apple refers to the current
> model of iPhone SE simply by that name. This was also true of the
> first and second generation.
> The iPhone SE 3 is a step forward in some respects, but not in others.
> The reviews from the mainstream are generally positive, though many
> people feel the need to comment on the older design. This CNet review
> details how the new iPhone SE 3 compares to the SE 2 and other devices
> on the market. I will not spend much time discussing the mainstream
> features, as other blogs have already done this. I will, however, be
> discussing how the new iPhone SE 3 functions from the perspective of a
> blind and DeafBlind user.
> 
> It’s the same, only not
> If you line up an iPhone SE 2, SE 3 and iPhone 8 side by side, it is
> impossible to tell them apart since the physical profile of each
> device is nearly identical. The 3 models are so similar that you can
> use the same cases for all 3 phones. I purchased a Mophie Juice Pack
> after being very confident in the rumors about the SE 3, and it fits
> perfectly on the new iPhone, just like it did on the SE 2.
> As noted in the linked review, the iPhone SE 3 doesn't have multiple
> rear cameras like you would find on the flagship iPhone 13 series. It
> also lacks the LiDAR sensor found on the iPhone 13 Pro. Another
> missing feature is the U1 chip which means that if you are an owner of
> Air Tags, you will not be able to take advantage of the precision
> finding features which provide useful information when locating an Air
> Tag.
> 
> The Setup
> In my review of the iPhone SE 2, I noted that I was unable to transfer
> data from one device to another unless all other Bluetooth devices
> connected to my other phone were turned off. When setting up my SE 3,
> I left my braille display and hearing aids connected to the iPhone SE
> 2 and found that the transfer between them and the new iPhone worked
> flawlessly. This is a major improvement since I did not have to try
> using speech only through the internal speakers to make the transfer
> happen.
> In 2018, the Universal Serial Bus Implementers Forum (USB-IF) approved
> a new Human Interface Device (HID) standard for braille displays.
> USB-IF is a non-profit organization comprised of many industry-leading
> companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Google. Their goal is to
> advance USB technology to make it more useable. What this means for
> consumers is that, if both the braille display manufacturer and
> mainstream technology manufacturer support it, you will be able to
> start a screen reader, plug a display in via USB and have access to
> braille with no further effort required. It will be unnecessary to
> find and install drivers, connect via Bluetooth or change settings
> before plugging your display into a USB port.
> In 2020, Humanware announced that its forthcoming collaborative
> efforts into the braille display market with APH will also support the
> standard when it's released. I decided to see if the HID standard
> would work 2 years after the announcement. Sadly, it did not work
> during the initial setup, but did work after the initial
> configuration. One limitation I found to the USB connection was
> unresponsiveness from the braille keyboard after the screen has been
> locked. This issue can be resolved by either restarting VoiceOver, or
> unplugging the display and then plugging it back in. It may also be
> worth noting that the braille display customized commands that have
> been set up under Bluetooth do not appear to work when connecting to
> USB. Though Apple indicated to me that they are not officially
> supporting the standard, I thought it would be a good idea to try it
> out.
> 
> Battery Life
> The SE 3, according to Apple, will give the user 1 to 2 more hours of
> battery life than the SE 2. I would say that I get several hours more
> than I do with my SE 2. The SE 2 cannot give me enough power to last a
> full day without a battery case these days, but that could be because
> my location does not have reliable cell phone coverage. This was not
> an issue 2 years ago when I worked at a different location and was
> testing the iPhone SE 2, so I don’t feel confident in commenting on
> how the SE 2’s battery life was when new compared to the SE 3. Running
> 5G certainly offers a speed boost over 4G and doesn’t appear to run
> down the battery any more than when 5G is disabled. That said, I do
> not stream HD video content, which is where the user would most likely
> encounter the further battery drain. Streaming audio did not seem to
> impact battery life as I consistently had between 15-20% battery left
> at the end of the day.
> 
> Buying some bugs
> This particular section is mostly for users of braille displays. If
> you have been holding off on upgrading iOS due to some issues related
> to braille devices, the iPhone SE 3, or any other new iOS Device, will
> be running 15.4 or 15.4.1. The good news about iOS 15.4.1 is that one
> frustration which has been eliminatet. The bug in 15.4  was that quite
> often, when panning through text using a braille display, the panning
> command or buttons will not respond, or will respond twice skipping
> past content that should be displayed.
> Some issues remain in iOS 15.4.1. If you enjoy writing emails in the
> native Mail app, you probably will not on iOS 15.4.1 if you wish to be
> able to insert line breaks. This is because when editing or composing
> an email in the Mail app using a braille display, after inserting a
> line break, focus will appear to jump to the top of the screen, even
> though the cursor has not. If that’s not enough, the aforementioned
> bug also appears to trigger another one: when composing a lengthy
> email with the Apple Mail app using a braille display random words
> will be inserted in the incorrect place, especially after a line break
> is inserted. The first bug has been around since iOS 15.1, so there is
> no guarantee a fix will be coming any time soon. Interestingly, there
> were also issues with braille and editing text noted in my SE 2 review
> so, in some ways, this seems as though things may not change anytime
> soon. Those considering the purchase of any new iOS Device may wish to
> bear this information in mind.
> 
> The Home Button and Touch ID
> The SE 3 maintains Touch ID and the Home button. The Home button seems
> to be preferred by a large number of the consumers I work with. In
> fact, customizing a gesture for going to the Home screen on iOS
> Devices without Home buttons is probably the most common thing I
> support consumers with when we begin training. As such, many have
> requested the SE 2 and now may begin requesting the SE 3 for this
> reason.
> Though Apple has said that users can now unlock their iOS devices with
> a face mask in iOS 15.4, several Users have reported struggles using
> this new feature. With Touch ID, there isn’t an issue. For my use
> case, the Home button isn’t really a consideration itself. Touch ID is
> the biggest reason I decided to upgrade to this particular model. As a
> braille-only user, there is no point to me taking my phone out of my
> pocket since my braille display is connected through Bluetooth. Touch
> ID is very fast, since I can just rest a thumb on the Home button to
> unlock my iPhone. When comparing Touch ID between the SE 2 and SE 3,
> there was no noticeable difference in terms of the speed at which the
> device was unlocked.
> 
> Recognition
> One of the concerns with the SE 3 when compared to the other flagship
> iOS devices is that the lack of a series of cameras will negatively
> impact the results of OCR. In my testing, where I compared the iPhone
> 13 Mini with the SE 2 and SE 3, there is little discernible difference
> between the 3. I used Voice Dream Scanner to obtain these results and
> performed all testing on the same stand in the same environment with
> the same lighting. One of the exceptions in my results was in
> situations where there was less light. The iPhone SE 2 and SE 3
> appeared to have the same number of errors, whereas the 13 I was
> testing had none. The one area where the SE 3 outperforms the SE 2 is
> the speed at which it gets an OCR result. The SE 3, not surprisingly,
> produced faster results. This is likely a difference between the A13
> chip on the SE 2 and the A15 processor found in the SE 3.
> Currency recognition, when using the Cash Reader app seemed equally
> fast and accurate on all 3 devices. The SE 2, SE 3, and 13 all were
> able to recognize bills in under 2 seconds. These bills were tested
> under the same environmental conditions mentioned above.
> 
> Hearing aid performance
> I reported in my SE 2 review that it seemed as though the difference
> in processors between the iPhone 8 and SE 2 allowed the user to have a
> more stable Bluetooth connection. I was a little disappointed to find
> no further improvements between the SE 2 and SE 3, other than that,
> the lag with Live Listen seems to have decreased. I would estimate
> about a half second delay between when the person speaks and when
> their speech comes through the iPhone using the SE 2. The SE 3 seems
> to have a delay of about a quarter of a second.
> Whether using mFI hearing aids or those which simply connect through
> Bluetooth, the only improvement I noticed was that the Bluetooth
> connection did not become less stable when I was using, for example,
> my braille display to interact with the phone and my hearing aids to
> listen to audio. Though the Bluetooth connection still becomes choppy
> from time to time on the SE 3, I have noticed it happens a bit less
> than on the SE 2. I noticed, for example, that I had issues with
> Bluetooth 3 times in an hour when using the SE 2. That went down to 1
> time the next hour when using the SE 3.
> 
> Audio
> Though my ears are certainly not the best judge, I am still able to
> hear sound quality differences when they are dramatic enough. Unless
> I’m comparing the SE 2 with the SE 3. I had a friend hang on to both
> the SE 2 and SE 3 and randomly play the same song through one device
> or another. My guesses were only correct about 40% of the time. When
> reversing the exercise, my friend, who says he has normal hearing,
> could also not tell the difference reliably. If there is an
> improvement, then it is my conclusion that the differences are very
> subtle.
> When testing for any sort of lagginess with the SE 2 and SE 3, I noted
> none when using speech output. Concerning Siri, I noticed that the SE
> 3 is much faster than the SE 2, likely because of the 5G connection.
> Speaking of 5G, the SE 3 does not have access to the MM wave band of
> frequencies. What this means is that the iPhone 13 will likely
> outperform the SE 3 when in cities where 5g has been deployed and
> works correctly. Locally, there appeared to be no difference between
> the 13 and SE 3.
> 
> Conclusion
> Just like with the flagship products versus the older models going
> back to the original iPhone SE, there are compromises with the SE 3.
> One of those compromises is the price tag. At $429 for the 64 GB
> version, it’s the cheapest iPhone on the market. Though there are some
> things missing from the SE 3 which are on the flagship iPhones, like
> the camera system, Face ID and a longer battery life, for some
> individuals it will be a more solid solution. As for me, I was
> considering returning the SE 3 due to the annoying braille panning
> issues I did not have to contend with on my SE 2, which is still
> running iOS 15.1. After some bugs were resolved in 15.4.1, I will keep
> the phone since the increased speed and longer battery life when
> compared to the SE 2 are welcomed changes.
> 
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