[jb1991]

If this will be your first iPhone, you've picked a good one to get started with. My first and only iPhone, after nearly 5 years, is the iPhone 4S which is seemingly an identical body as this SE. And it is a rock-solid, perfect little machine. I've dropped it countless times on brick and cement and it has no scratches on it after all this time -- never even put a case on it. These larger, thin phones that have come since have been a lot more fragile.

[watmough]

I maintain that the iPhone 4S is still the finest piece of consumer electronics ever created. They really hit a home run with that one.

I've since moved to a big 6S, but my 4S is still quite usable.

[cellularmitosis]

The 4S was a real landmark in UI smoothness as well, as it was the first dual-core iPhone.

Previously, even if a developer was on his best behavior (putting expensive tasks on a background thread to avoid bogging down the main thread and causing a frame rate drop), it didn't really help, because you only had one hardware thread.

Even though the 4S is a "slow" processor compared to the latest phones, it's UI was way more usable than the 4 and 3GS because of the second processor core.

[tholford]

+1, the 4S was Steve's final masterpiece.

[1123581321]

The SE has the same size body as a 5/5S. But I agree with you. I believe the 4S is the best phone Apple made for its time, and it's still very useful.

[m_mueller]

As a longtime 4S user: Let me just tell anyone who takes this comment serious to not upgrade beyond iOS 6.x. 4S with the latest iOS is painfully slow.

[1123581321]

I actually run on 9 because I need a couple apps that rely on 8, but yes, it is slow. If you upgrade too far and want to go back, there are ways to downgrade back to 6 such as http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/downgrade-iphone-4s-ipad-2-ios-6-1-...

I don't think anyone will take pro-4S comments seriously except people who already own a 4S and know the tradeoffs, though!

[m_mueller]

Well, I can see people buying this used because it looks good and fits in their hands. Thanks for the link. I run on 9 too - if it weren't for the SE which I'm going to buy I'd downgrade by now since it has become rather unbearable. I can load like one webpage into the RAM - switching to another app and going back to Safari will reload again - which, depending on connection and complexity of the page can take ages and you're also at the top of the scroll area again. Basically, this iPhone has become my E-Mail notifier and Podcast device (for which it's also at the edge of unbearable).

[1123581321]

Yes, using a 4S at this point definitely changes your behavior. Like you, I was holding out for the SE and I'm really happy it's here and looks good (except for the 1GB RAM; that is disappointing.)

[m_mueller]

Yes, the 1GB is troublesome. However, judging by the 4S at least we know that half of it will be available for apps in iOS 9, since the 512 of the 4S is right at the edge of being filled by the OS. The question is of course how many upgrades it will survive - this smells a lot like planned obsolescence.