JULY 2020 PCWorld 97platforms, the user
experience on iOS is
across-the-board better.
Even if you don’t use
Apple’s apps, apps on iOS
are faster, menus are
smarter, and navigation is
more intuitive on iOS,
even with some of
Google’s own apps. I
might be gaining a lot
more screen with the S20
Ultra, but there’s little
point when the apps don’t
know what to do with it.
- AN ALWAYS-ON DISPLAY
IS A NECESSITY IN 2020
Apple doesn’t even offer an always-on
display option for its OLED phones, so I
wasn’t surprised that the LCD-based iPhone
SE doesn’t have one. But man, do I miss it.
It’s most glaring when I want to check time in
the middle of the night, but it’s equally
annoying at work when I glance over to see
a blank screen a few seconds too late after a
notification appears. I don’t know why
Apple refuses to have an always-on display
on any of its phones, but it’s a definite knock
on the experience. The SE doesn’t even
have the tap-to-wake option that the Face ID
models have. I mean, who wants the whole
screen to light up every time a message
comes in?
4. THE RIGHT HAPTICS
MAKE EVERYTHING BETTER
If you haven’t thought about your phone’s
haptics, lately it’s probably because they’re
not very good. At best, Android’s haptics
are little more than vibrations that
accompany taps and swipes to make the
digital images on your phone feel more
tangible, and often they’re sometimes
either too buzzy or not buzzy enough.
(They were so aggressive on the S20 Ultra, I
actually turned them off.) On the iPhone SE,
they’re an extension of the hardware and a
subtle blending of the physical and digital
worlds. Roll your eyes all you want, but the
haptics and Haptic Touch on the iPhone SE
elevate the system in a way Android phones
just don’t.
The iPhone 11 (left) is a dark spot among a crowd of always-on displays.