I have small hands. And I don’t like large phones because it’s an effort to hold them. That’s why I was disappointed when the iPhone 6 was released… I figured that there’s no way the iPhones will get smaller than 4″. So when the iPhone SE (4″) was due to release, I knew that this is what I’m going to upgrade to. I have to admit, I took it for the size (and because I was overdue for an upgrade); the fact that it came with higher spec’ed internals was just a cherry on the top for me.
It’s true – it doesn’t look like an upgrade when you’re coming from an iPhone 5S but the improved user-interface is instantly recognisable. The grey on the Space Grey is a lighter shade of grey (which actually looks quite good), and the responsiveness is more fluid. Otherwise it looks exactly like an iPhone 5S. The iPhone SE has the same CPU, GPU and RAM as the iPhone 6S. Apple’s marketing it as “the most powerful 4-inch phone ever” (and it’s the cheapest entry-level iPhone… ever). The camera’s excellent (12 MP and 4K video) and you can take live photos – I am going to have so much of fun with that!
Out of sheer laziness I wasn’t looking forward to setting up my new phone. I assumed the process would take long and may be laborious. My husband suggested I try setting it up via my Mac. To my surprise, that option turned out to be simple and straightforward.
Setting up iPhone SE via MacBook Air
- Backup your iPhone via iCloud
- To ensure a full backup of all app info/content, I also did a manual backup on my Mac
- Plug the iPhone SE into your Mac
- iTunes will launch with 2 options:
- Set up as a new iPhone, or
- Restore from previous backup (the backup that was just completed above)
- Select the second option; to start the restore from previous backup
- A few minutes later the iPhone SE will contain all your backed up info
You’re now ready to ‘slide to unlock’ your iPhone and set up the touch ID, confirm iCloud login and all the other standard settings. The apps needed time to download on the new phone (the more apps you have, the longer it will take as it downloads from scratch).
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Once that was done and I was ready to use it, it felt like I didn’t even change my phone. Right down to my last WhatsApp message and missed call, every bit of information was restored. However, some apps like Twitter and Gmail requested my login details.
The excitement of getting a new phone is quickly wearing off, but I am rather pleased that I don’t (or shouldn’t) need to bother changing my phone for a newer one in the next year or two. 🙂
Your thoughts?