switching from SE to SE 2nd generation

By Lou Kolb, 3 September, 2021

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories

Hi, I'm switching from the iPhone SE original to the second generation. What can I expect to be different or better on the new phone? I just received it but have not yet started the process of changing over to the new one. anything I need to know before diving in? Thanks, Lou

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Comments

By BigPawedBear on Saturday, September 25, 2021 - 21:10

it's a great phone. you will notice it's faster, and the home button is still there, that is until you switch the phone off. the home button is simulated on the SE 2020 via haptics, but it really feels like an actual button. you can have haptics on for swiping, soyou can feel a jolt as you swipe, though i turned that down a bit. the main diffrence is speed of reaction to your commands. after a few months with the se 2020, you'll find the SE first gen really quite slow. the Se 2020 is a great phone.

By Gerardo on Saturday, September 25, 2021 - 21:10

Firstly congrats on your new phone! I too switched last June of 2020, from an SE First Generation, to this SE 2nd, thus my experiences: the phone is a little big bigger dan the first Generation SE at 4-inch screen, whereas the 2nd generation is at 4.7. Yes at first you'll feel kind of weird! but as the hours go on, you'll get used to it, especially locating the Status bar is what felt weird! I touched where I thought the Status bar was, but it turned out to be a little bit higher up! In terms of the Home button, whereas the previous generation SE was mechanical, this one's haptic, which I admit, felt weird at first, but again as time goes on, you'll forget the button being haptic. And lastly haptic feedback is awesome on the 2nd SE 2020! Good luck! and Enjoy!

I agree with the previous post. I had a little trouble doing my setup; three quick taps on the home button did turn VO on, but you have to tap on Hello when it reads in English and I apparently was tapping in the wrong place.
Eventually I got it though. When it came to entering my 31-digit wi-fi password, I had more issues though because the phone is about an inch bigger, and I forgot that by default VO is set to split tap so releasing my finger did nothing until I remembered that. Also the ampersand which my password uses is on the numbers section, not the symbols section of the keyboard.
But once I got through the setup it was smooth sailing. It's so much faster than my old SE first generation, and the fingerprint sensor in particular reacts rapidly to my fingerprint.
One tip I read is that in winter your finger contracts slightly and expands slightly when warmer weather arrives again, so re-create your fingerprint when the cold days return. Then re-create it again for summer.
The power button which was on the top of the phone is now on the side, and I always forget when reaching for it. The volume button seems more responsive than on my old SE and also the speaker is way, way better. I understand the camera is better too; I used it with Aira and Be My Eyes and they said it was working fine; I had them read me some tiny text.
My giraffe reader, a scanner stand which makes positioning the camera easier for OCR is a problem though. Its slot for placing the phone is slightly too narrow. It was made before phones were even as wide as the current SE which is actually the smallest phone Apple sells.

My apps and Bluetooth things all work just fine. I splurged for 256GB and am glad I did because I like to have lots of books and podcasts on the phone. It's so much faster compared to my old SE especially since I don't have much on it yet.
Lastly, remember this phone supports the double and tripple tap on the back; there's an excellent podcast here Thomas did showing how to use that feature. You can have it perform a system function like turning low power mode on or a Vo-specific function.
You can also adjust haptic feedback for both the phone in general and VO. I turned it off for VO as I found it kind of annoying but I'm still playing around with using it for other phone things.
And of course, shortcuts too run faster. Unfortunately, I had to re-create all of mine, perhaps because I reported my older phone as stolen. It disappeared when I sent it to Apple to have its battery repaired, presumably stolen in transit. Anyway, restoring my backup didn't restore all my passwords, but that's also a good thing, since it made my backup useless to any thief who might have tried to use it. Other than that, all my apps are there running with much less latency now!

By tripolice on Saturday, September 25, 2021 - 21:10

More icons per page on homescreen, beware Reachability sounds (I didn't know about this feature and was quite taken aback from VO Reachability sounds till I know what it about), but side button doesn't end the call like power button would neatly do.

By Rixon Smith on Saturday, September 25, 2021 - 21:10

The magic tap or double tap will also and phone calls that’s what I’ve always done to end my phone calls when using the phone app Hope this helps and also congratulations on your second generation phone I have the same phone and I’d rather like mine

By Craig on Saturday, September 25, 2021 - 21:10

Congratulations on getting your new phone. I also have the second generation iPhone SE and really love it. I'm amazed at how fast it is and I don't seem to have the battery issues that some people have. I definitely made the right choice when buying the iPhone SE 2020, as I have also been diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome and therefore would struggle trying to use face ID, especially in public.

By Clare Page on Saturday, September 25, 2021 - 21:10

Hi! Even though I have never owned the original iPhone SE, I have had an SE 2nd generation since April 2020, and it doesn't have a headphone jack like older iPhones. You can either use lightning earpods, bluetooth headphones, or buy an adaptor to continue using headphones which would have fitted into the headphone jack on your old phone.

By blindgary1 on Saturday, September 25, 2021 - 21:10

The new SE 2020 has VoiceOver recommission in VoiceOver settings this has 3 settings 1 image descriptions 2 screen recommission 3 text recognition i have screen recommission turned off the camera is greatly improved great for OCR apps just a few of the updates over the original SE enjoy your new SE its a great improvement over the original SE having the 13 a bionic chip from the iphone 11 but in the body of the iPhone 8