I'd love an SE with a better camera and a "weekend long" battery, meaning I can go camping or whatever Friday evening, come back Sunday night, and use it a fair bit for photos and music and stuff while away. Give it a tough exterior and I'd settle for it being twice as thick as current, and all the associated weight, and pay a premium for it.
I miss having tough phones that lasted for days. All the current tough phones have really really crap specs and run Android that's multiple versions behind, and Apple hardware these days needs to be treated like a newborn baby.
Totally with you. I've been thinking of getting a rugged battery case for my SE to accomplish this, but obviously the camera will still be not great compared to newer phones.
The SE is so small that you could add all of these elements to the existing phone with a well designed case and you'd still have a reasonably small (albeit thick) device.
(Of course it would be nice if a next-gen SE had IP67+ water/dust resistance and a larger battery, then all you'd need is to add a highly ruggedized case and you'd be golden.)
I recently upgraded my 7 to an 8 because my 7 was too easy to damage - even with a rather rugged case (a simple drop shattered the screen). I'm really uninterested in things like camera upgrades (male, early 30s). After this phone, this will be the first time I seriously entertain a non-Apple product for my computing hardware.
At the usual Apple price point, a military grade phone is what I should expect.
