iPhone XR review: Keeping compromises to a minimum

Apple’s slightly cheaper iPhone is the best new iPhone for most people.

Read the whole story

 

[Constructor]

The lack of 3D Touch is a real head scratcher.
It's a feature that's existed on iPhones since the 6s-era (which, coincidentally, I'm using right now)

If Apple's intent was to move from 3D Touch to haptic Touch, that'd be one thing.. but the excess (see what I did there?) still has it.

It makes the XR the "have not" phone in ways other than just the display.

I keep hearing that many people are having trouble distinguishing between the different pressure levels on 3D Touch, often triggering it inadvertently. That's more easily controllable by checking the duration of the touch rather than the pressure ("Haptic Touch" on the XR). I find it pretty nice on the XR. I just hope they'll kick the long-press-to-jiggle icon arrangement mode to a different gesture and offer context functions instead. And preliminary statements from Apple seem to point towards that. Then 3D Touch won't be missed by me at all.

My guess is that the full-size LCD was already thick and complex enough to do and that pressure sensing just wouldn't work consistently enough everywhere to justify the added complexity and expense.

They may also abandon it because it caused too many user mistakes.

On another note.. how does the XR display compared to previous LCD iPhones?

Excellent, actually, and comparable to previous LCD iPhones. Especially the contrast is excellent for an LCD – I'm using fully black backgrounds on both the lock screen and on the Springboard (the launcher) and it's not a problem.

I particularly like the scaling-free display with full RGB pixels and the smooth scrolling.

I'm also not seeing orange discolourations at an angle – I've got TrueTone disabled because I don't like it and the display gets just somewhat but not dramatically dimmer at an angle, but without any major discolouration.

I've got more issues with the OLED displays on the other models, with their splotchy discolourations at high-contrast edges due to their PenTile arrangement, the weird diagonal PenTile patterns in certain colours and the jittery scrolling.

To me the LCD looks just better overall, or I would have gone for the XS.

I'll add.. at the price point of the XR, this is not the "budget" iPhone. To me, it's still the "flagship" even if the excess is.. excessively.. priced above it.

The XR is the new baseline model, replacing the iPhone 8. The XS and the XS Max are both extra-expensive premium models.

 

[Snark218]

So this has a better contrast ratio than the 7 plus, but worse resolution /ppi? Is that correct?

I think I might just hold on to my 7 plus, and my wife will hold on to her 7 for a while longer.

Why did they have to get rid of the X?

Because there's no place for it. The replacement for the X is the XS.

 

[Gruia]

I hear you but who, these days, does not use a case? Almost a crazy idea when you’re paying £700+ for your phone.

I wonder how you feel about those people who keep their couch in plastic so as not to damage it.

 

[cateye]

So this has a better contrast ratio than the 7 plus, but worse resolution /ppi? Is that correct?

Correct. iPhone 7 Plus is 1920 x 1080 @ 401ppi. The screen density of the XR is the same as your wife's iPhone 7, 326ppi, but a higher resolution due to the screen being a larger physical size.

Put another way: Based on pixel density alone, the XR should look slightly worse than the 7 Plus, and identical to the 7. Given there are other improvements to the screen (brightness, etc.) the reality is that it's probably a wash. The consensus seems to be that the screen of the XR is "bad" only in comparison to the stellar OLED screens of the XS/XS Max.

 

[jaberg]

Instead, we get “Haptic Touch,” which basically amounts to applying the same amount of pressure as always, but for longer.
It doesn’t work as well [...] But this solution is better than nothing, and it works great with the pressing-on-the-keyboard-to-zip-through-your-text interaction, at least.

How does it detect the difference between a long press on a key (i.e. to put accents on some letters), and a long press on the keyboard for the zip-through-text? Is it a matter of touch radius?

Sans 3D Touch you must long-press on the spacebar to activate the iOS “trackpad mode.”

 

[THT]

$750. How is this OK? How did that happen? No, $750 isn't OK for a phone, even the nicest - and this is the cheapest one Apple can make?! It's a completely unacceptable situation. Cell phones need to be severely censured, completely stripped of their "cool" status. "Oh wow, it recognizes my face!" So would your friends, if you ever looked at them!

Even as an ardent Apple basher, I would argue that this is a fairly acceptable price. It's expensive, but compared to the $1000+ that most of the other modern iPhones cost, it's pretty reasonable, especially when you factor in the potential longevity.

The XR likely has the highest CPU perf per dollar and highest GPU per pixel per dollar on the market. The entire market, unless you can get a SD845 phone for $325 or maybe an SD835 phone for $200, but once you get down to those levels of dollars for a phone, the dollar differences start to become less and less significant relative to TCO.

I don’t think Apple can lay claim to having the highest performing hardware for the cheapest price in its entire history, ever. Maybe the iPhone SE when it came out, but the XR outclasses it in GPU perf per $ even with the SE at $350; and obviously, Apple never can lay claim to cheapest perf/$ for personal computers.

If someone wants a phone to play games, be fast for the life of the phone, this is it. The XS and other OLED phones carry burn out or have pixel degradation risks that an LCD phone won’t. So, even from a display perspective, it has advantages over OLED phones that reviewers never caveat, which they always should have as a “bad” for OLED displays until proven otherwise.

For consumers who want a handheld with great performance, great service and great longevity, I think the XR is either the top option or top 5.

 

[vvk]

Anyone know why Apple hasn't released any of their cases for the XR? I've used the Apple leather cases on my iPhones for a couple of years now, and was surprised that there was not XR version of the case.

 

[Constructor]

So this has a better contrast ratio than the 7 plus, but worse resolution /ppi? Is that correct?

No, the contrast ratio is the same as the previous LCD iPhones, as is the resolution.

Why did they have to get rid of the X?

Because the Premium iPhones don't get reduced, only the standard model, so the 8 from last year now and the XR next year.

 

[Snark218]

So this has a better contrast ratio than the 7 plus, but worse resolution /ppi? Is that correct?

Correct. iPhone 7 Plus is 1920 x 1080 @ 401ppi. The screen density of the XR is the same as your wife's iPhone 7, 326ppi, but a higher resolution due to the screen being a larger physical size.

Put another way: Based on pixel density alone, the XR should look slightly worse than the 7 Plus, and identical to the 7. Given there are other improvements to the screen (brightness, etc.) the reality is that it's probably a wash. The consensus seems to be that the screen of the XR is "bad" only in comparison to the stellar OLED screens of the XS/XS Max.

Having recently upgraded to the gorgeousness that is the X, I can understand it, though - those OLEDs are really beautiful, perfect inky blacks and great contrast.

 

[firsttimecaller]

I'm probably in the minority here, but the lack of 3D Touch is probably a deal breaker for me. I have so much muscle memory built around 3D Touch workflows. Oh well.

only recently found out about the 3D tough keyboard cursor position change.

they should have really advertised that feature more.

 

[Constructor]

Instead, we get “Haptic Touch,” which basically amounts to applying the same amount of pressure as always, but for longer.
It doesn’t work as well [...] But this solution is better than nothing, and it works great with the pressing-on-the-keyboard-to-zip-through-your-text interaction, at least.

How does it detect the difference between a long press on a key (i.e. to put accents on some letters), and a long press on the keyboard for the zip-through-text? Is it a matter of touch radius?

You hold the space bar which doesn't have any alternate character glyphs to pop up.

 

[grommit!]

The iPhone 5C and iPhone SE were both sale flops. There weren't that many people who wanted a small phone.

Similar claims were made by many ars commenters when the SE was reviewed. They were wrong too:

https://www.macworld.com/article/306257 ... e-hit.html

And Cook owned up to it. “It is clear that there is demand there, even much beyond what we thought, and so that is really why we have the constraint that we have,” he said. More specifically, Cook suggested that Apple underestimated the number of people who “wanted the latest technologies, but wanted it in a more compact package.”

 

[mrsilver]

After uprading my wife's iPhone 6 to an XR, and my N6 to Pixel 3 XL, I feel buyer's remorse for my Pixel. The XR is a superb phone. Only thing keeping me in Google's land are three things, out of which I could compromise on 2:

1- Custom launcher or a much more customizable default launcher.
2- Default browser change (I could maybe live with Safari)
3- Pulling down pictures with ADB (I could maybe use iPhoto for that).

Make #1 a thing Apple and you got a convert.

For #3, what do you mean by "pulling down" photos? Transferring them to a computer? The last time I plugged my iPhone into a Windows PC it was recognized as a mass storage device and gives you access to photos.

That still works.

What doesn't work:

* You can't access over USB any files from any other apps - even if they expose them in Files App and/or through the iTunes file sharing API.
* Apps which offer their files through the iTunes file transfer API don't automatically offer them through the Files App and vice versa.

So basically there are three ways to get at your files, one is limited to photos and videos only and the other two aren't compatible with each other or the first.

It feels like there are three separate development teams at Apple and they aren't talking to each other.

 

[afedon]

I still don't understand why iPhone reviews do not include comparisons with the Pixel phones, when the Pixel phones include comparisons to the iPhone. Could someone please explain this? (This is coming from someone who currently has a Nexus 5X but is planning to switch to a iPhone XR as it looks like a damn nice phone, and it will limit Google's intrusions into my privacy.)

General audience stuff. Most of the people who read iPhone reviews already own iPhones and want to know how much of an upgrade over their current model the new one is and whether it's worth the cost, and Android is an afterthought to them. Comparatively, most Android users tend to be more curious about how their performance stacks up against iOS and appreciate the information.

This isn't an indictment of Apple users, just an observation based on my experiences with them.

That's what I was thinking as well. However, I wonder how much of a self-fulfilling prophecy/safety bubble (pick your metaphor) this type of reviewing creates. I would guess that employees at the Apple store are not telling people to check out Pixel phones as they have excellent battery life and a better camera, which may matter more to most users than performance benchmark scores. Add that to the fact that the iPhone reviews make it seem like the new iPhone's only decent competitors are the iPhones of yesteryear and why would Apple users be interested in anything else?

Even if every Apple user still decides to pick the iPhone, wouldn't be nice if that decision could be based an informed opinion of the competition? Wouldn't the type of person who is going to read an Ars review and actually comb through the benchmark/battery slides/photo comparisons be interested in that information?

 

[Snark218]

The iPhone 5C and iPhone SE were both sale flops. There weren't that many people who wanted a small phone.

Similar claims were made by many ars commenters when the SE was reviewed. They were wrong too:

https://www.macworld.com/article/306257 ... e-hit.html

And Cook owned up to it. “It is clear that there is demand there, even much beyond what we thought, and so that is really why we have the constraint that we have,” he said. More specifically, Cook suggested that Apple underestimated the number of people who “wanted the latest technologies, but wanted it in a more compact package.”

My feeling is that there's probably a market for that hypothetical phone, but there's no bones for Apple to build one on. The SE was basically a juiced-up 5S - same guts, same case, same display, new guts, touch ID. Apple doesn't currently make phone of those basic exterior dimensions. My guess is they'd want to make it full-face and home button free, so that's a new case, new display, shoehorning guts from an XR into a smaller case....basically, a niche-market device that'd cost Apple as much to design and build as the XR. I just don't see that happening, even if there are buyers who'd buy it - and even then, how many of those buyers absolutely will not buy an XR or XS?

 

[Constructor]

I wouldn't get the XR because of the inferior display it uses.

It isn't "inferior".

Both OLED and LCD are compromises, and you're paying for each one's specific advantages with equally specific disadvantages:

LC
+ no burn in
+ very power-efficient regardless of content (due to crystalline backlight LEDs)
+ full, square RGB pixels for crisp, clear and coulour-neutral edges
+ perfectly smooth scrolling
– no perfect black (XR: 1400:1 is already very good)
– slightly smaller colour space possible (although at P3 in the XR that is pretty much a non issue already)
– edge-mounted backlight requires a certain bezel width
– backlight+LCD is thicker than OLED alone

OLE
+ slightly larger colour space possible
+ higher resolutions more easily feasible
+ almost completely bezel-free designs possible (no backlight necessary)
– perfect black possible (but still limited by ambient light reflectivity)
– PenTile subpixel arrangement necessary due to low lifespan of blue OLEDs
– PenTile causes red-blue colour shifts at contrast edges and diagonal patterns in certain colours
– PenTile arrangement requires about double the resolution to compensate vs. LCD full RGB
– much higher power consumption in regular use
– jittery scrolling
– burn in (progressive degradation especially during high-brightness use)

I personally have looked at both and then decided for the XR and its LCD on its actual merits. Cost didn't play a role.

It's nice, though, that the XR comes in 2001-monolith black!

 

[BullBearMS]

We seem to be underselling just how much more powerful the A12 is than anything in the Android ecosystem.

>Apple’s SoCs have better energy efficiency than all recent Android SoCs while having a nearly 2x performance advantage. I wouldn’t be surprised that if we were to normalise for energy used, Apple would have a 3x performance lead.

Apple has moved into striking distance of Intel's performance levels. Something no other Smartphone/tablet. SOC vendor has come close to accomplishing.

>What is quite astonishing, is just how close Apple’s A11 and A12 are to current desktop CPUs. I haven’t had the opportunity to run things in a more comparable manner, but taking our server editor, Johan De Gelas’ recent figures from earlier this summer, we see that the A12 outperforms a moderately-clocked Skylake CPU in single-threaded performance.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13392/th ... -secrets/4

 

[woodelf]

...the iPhone XR at least brings all the benefits of the iPhone X-series phones to consumers who aren’t too keen on raising the bar on the cost of a flagship. For that reason, it's the iPhone we'd recommend to most people.

So... Seems like the XR is the iPhone to get, especially if the price gap remains a significant $300-400 for basically an upgraded screen.

More like a side-graded screen: it's smaller (could be pro or con), higher resolution (pro), OLED (could be pro or con), HDR (pro), 3D Touch (pro). Depending on how you weigh some of those things, the Xs screen might not be any better, or might be slightly worse, on balance.

Also, I think you're selling the camera differences short. Those could be a deciding factor, too, I would think, and even if they aren't for you personally, you're definitely getting more camera along with that screen for your extra money.

For me, if it were LCD I'd pick the Xs no question, just because of 3D Touch and smaller screen. As is, I think those are still more important than any negatives of OLED, but I do consider it putting up with a slight negative in return. My partner didn't even consider the Xr solely because of size, but I suspect if they had not cared about size still would've chosen it because they like OLED.

In reality, I'm just gonna wait. My SE is still going strong, so I'm not going to buy a too-large phone until I don't have a choice.

 

[Ogre_]

So this has a better contrast ratio than the 7 plus, but worse resolution /ppi? Is that correct?

Correct. iPhone 7 Plus is 1920 x 1080 @ 401ppi. The screen density of the XR is the same as your wife's iPhone 7, 326ppi, but a higher resolution due to the screen being a larger physical size.

Put another way: Based on pixel density alone, the XR should look slightly worse than the 7 Plus, and identical to the 7. Given there are other improvements to the screen (brightness, etc.) the reality is that it's probably a wash. The consensus seems to be that the screen of the XR is "bad" only in comparison to the stellar OLED screens of the XS/XS Max.

And if you are over 40 it’s likely your eyes will prefer a phone with better contrast and a brighter screen over one with higher resolution regardless. Maybe it should be called the Retina OH display.

 

[toasterwaffle86]

I own an XS, and played around with a friend's XR for a bit. The build on the XS feels premium in a way that the XR doesn't - it's a phone that I actually want to use without a case. (The downside is while it sits in your hand well, that it's SUPER slippery on any other surface. And the camera bulge doesn't help the surface area in contact with the table. It falls off even the faintest of slopes. I've had notifications slowly vibrate it just far enough that it's no longer wirelessly charging. The upside is a case solves this and works just fine with the charging pad.) The other thing is these phones are surprisingly heavy compared to the old 6S/7/8. The XR even more so. I've gotten used to it though.

The screen on the XS is very noticeably better - although I'm super picky, and I have my wallpaper set to the earth with pitch black around it to show off the AMOLED. Hides the notch beautifully, while the XR ever so faintly highlights it. That said, it's not a bad display, the ppi didn't bother me, and I routinely jump between the XS and my rMBP (a very good display but still LCD) without complaints. Bezel's noticeable if you're comparing them side by side, but again, that's nit picking. Shouldn't bother anyone in normal use.

The lack of 3D touch means that the flashlight/camera buttons on the lock screen feel a bit weird - on the XS they click like an actual button, while on the XR you hold and then it clicks. Reminds me of the long press on my SE on the Control Center, definitely feels like a workaround once you've experienced better.

Also, I did a bunch of side-by-side tests against my SE - screen is MASSIVELY better on either of these. It's not even close. But app loading times were by and large identical, i.e. very fast on any of them. If you're coming from a 6S, the screen quality on the XR isn't as big of a jump.


Basically, if you're a techie and you've got money to burn, there are noticeable upsides to the XS. I don't regret buying mine. But if you're an average person and you're not insanely picky like me, the XR's totally fine.

Also get yourself a 2 amp charger (they come with a 1A in the box) - a 2A here is equivalent to a 1A on a 6S in terms of charging times. The batteries are way bigger, but they draw proportionally more power. They can go ever so slightly faster on USB-C fast charging, but that also costs far more.

 

[kmmatney]

At the current prices and the current new features, I think I'll stick with the 6S. Hopefully, a cheaper phone does come out next year. With some sort of TouchID, I do recall that Apple won't go back to TouchID since "FaceID is so much better".

I have an iPhone 6S plus 64GB. Mine cost about $800 3 years ago (work paid for it, paid off over 30 months). So a 128GB XR will be the same cost, give me a bigger screen, twice the storage, be physically smaller, a tiny bit heavier, have slightly lower screen resolution, and be water resistant. Although I wish it was cheaper, the price isn't too bad for what you get. I just need to see if work will pay for it...

 

[Snark218]

– burn in (progressive degradation especially during high-brightness use)

I would argue that this is not really a negative that will affect most users, particularly of mobile devices - they're not displaying the same thing for long enough at top brightness for burn-in to really present itself as an issue, typically.

 

[Statistical]

– burn in (progressive degradation especially during high-brightness use)

I would argue that this is not really a negative that will affect most users, particularly of mobile devices - they're not displaying the same thing for long enough at top brightness for burn-in to really present itself as an issue, typically.

Status bar? Also outdoors most users run their phones at very high brightness.

 

[BullBearMS]

For those who want to see a GPU comparison, Anandtech's A12 deep dive provides the goods instead of ignoring the topic.

>Apple makes heavy use of GPU compute for various uses, such as general hardware acceleration in apps to using the GPU compute for camera image processing. These are use-cases where sustained performance doesn’t really matter because they’re transactional workloads, meaning fixed workloads that need to be processed as fast as possible.

Android GPU compute has been a literal disaster over the last few years, and I primarily blame Google for not supporting OpenCL in AOSP – leaving support to be extremely patchy among vendors. RenderScript has never picked up much as it just doesn’t guarantee performance. The fragmentation of Android devices and SoCs has meant that in third-party apps GPU compute is essentially non-existent (Please correct me if I’m wrong!).

Apple’s vertical integration and tight control of the API stack means that GPU compute is a reality, and peak transactional GPU performance is a metric that is worth consideration

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13392/th ... -secrets/7

 

[Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer]

I'm probably in the minority here, but the lack of 3D Touch is probably a deal breaker for me. I have so much muscle memory built around 3D Touch workflows. Oh well.

I never used 3D touch to its full potential, and I found it frustrating when it detected a 3D Touch when one was not intended, or vice versa. That being said, I'm glad to see that the "pressing-on-the-keyboard-to-zip-through-your-text interaction" survived.

3D Touching the settings icon to access BlueTooth, &c., was a great idea that I always forgot about until too late, and swiping from the left to switch between applications was a great idea that failed on me enough times that I never really developed the habit.

So it won't be a deal-breaker for me personally, but I imagine you're not the only person who'll be disappointed with this regression in functionality.

Same here. The "pressing-on-the-keyboard-to-zip-through-your-text interaction" is really the only thing I really use 3D Touch for...

BTW, TIL that once you force-press to navigate through text, you can press in again to select a word and then, from there, select more words. It's probably just as well that I didn't know, since apparently that doesn't make it over to the "Taptic Touch" version.

The XR, despite being iPhone 6S Plus sized, does feel like a regression over my 6S Plus (and later Plus phones) in a few ways, though obviously it has a more modern design. The 3D Touch is gone, of course, but also the pixel density is noticeably lower, matching that of the 5S/SE and non-Plus 6-8 phones.

I have a 5S and a 6S Plus side by side and I can definitely tell the difference if I bring them just a little bit closer to my face than the normal "holding in hands, hunched over the desk" viewing distance. The W on the keyboard benefits from the extra 75 ppi, for instance.

Then again, it'll be a fine upgrade for the poor old 5S at some point.

 

[BullBearMS]

After uprading my wife's iPhone 6 to an XR, and my N6 to Pixel 3 XL, I feel buyer's remorse for my Pixel. The XR is a superb phone. Only thing keeping me in Google's land are three things, out of which I could compromise on 2:

1- Custom launcher or a much more customizable default launcher.
2- Default browser change (I could maybe live with Safari)
3- Pulling down pictures with ADB (I could maybe use iPhoto for that).

Make #1 a thing Apple and you got a convert.

For #3, what do you mean by "pulling down" photos? Transferring them to a computer? The last time I plugged my iPhone into a Windows PC it was recognized as a mass storage device and gives you access to photos.

That still works.

What doesn't work:

* You can't access over USB any files from any other apps - even if they expose them in Files App and/or through the iTunes file sharing API.
* Apps which offer their files through the iTunes file transfer API don't automatically offer them through the Files App and vice versa.

So basically there are three ways to get at your files, one is limited to photos and videos only and the other two aren't compatible with each other or the first.

It feels like there are three separate development teams at Apple and they aren't talking to each other.

I use one of the apps like File Explorer that provides access to local files on device, files on cloud services, and files in the shared directories of your local computers over wifi.

You can move files back and forth easily now.

 

[itfa]

Haven't seen anything from any smartphone in the last few years that have made me want to upgrade and the new iPhones are no different. Same old mediocre battery life, same old tiny annual improvements in performance, all with a hefty price bump. With improvements in mobile slowing down so much, I have to wonder how long Apple's strategy of skimming more money per device from each customer will keep them moving forward.

 

[Snark218]

– burn in (progressive degradation especially during high-brightness use)

I would argue that this is not really a negative that will affect most users, particularly of mobile devices - they're not displaying the same thing for long enough at top brightness for burn-in to really present itself as an issue, typically.

Status bar? Also outdoors most users run their phones at very high brightness.

Yeah, but not for hours nonstop.

 

[Constructor]

Haven't seen anything from any smartphone in the last few years that have made me want to upgrade and the new iPhones are no different. Same old mediocre battery life, same old tiny annual improvements in performance, all with a hefty price bump. With improvements in mobile slowing down so much, I have to wonder how long Apple's strategy of skimming more money per device from each customer will keep them moving forward.

You clearly haven't read the article or followed the actual progression of the devices in recent years.

 

[THT]

– burn in (progressive degradation especially during high-brightness use)

I would argue that this is not really a negative that will affect most users, particularly of mobile devices - they're not displaying the same thing for long enough at top brightness for burn-in to really present itself as an issue, typically.

Oh, I definitely think it is the opposite as it will effect mass market users more than proficient users or reviewers. I think a lot of mass market users end up doing the same thing on a phone a lot. A lot. Like play the same game for hours a day, every day. A lot of users will just leave a phone on high brightness, either because they like it or won’t bother to change it. Virtually all the phones on display in retail are set to max brightness because users like it better, and some will use it that way. Then, these are the users who keep a phone for 3 or 4 years.

Proficient users or expert users or tech fan users have nearly the opposite habits. They try lots of different apps, they tune their device to their liking and keep it tuned, and many use a phone around 2 years or less before getting a new one.

 

[Constructor]

I'm probably in the minority here, but the lack of 3D Touch is probably a deal breaker for me. I have so much muscle memory built around 3D Touch workflows. Oh well.

I never used 3D touch to its full potential, and I found it frustrating when it detected a 3D Touch when one was not intended, or vice versa. That being said, I'm glad to see that the "pressing-on-the-keyboard-to-zip-through-your-text interaction" survived.

3D Touching the settings icon to access BlueTooth, &c., was a great idea that I always forgot about until too late, and swiping from the left to switch between applications was a great idea that failed on me enough times that I never really developed the habit.

So it won't be a deal-breaker for me personally, but I imagine you're not the only person who'll be disappointed with this regression in functionality.

Same here. The "pressing-on-the-keyboard-to-zip-through-your-text interaction" is really the only thing I really use 3D Touch for...

BTW, TIL that once you force-press to navigate through text, you can press in again to select a word and then, from there, select more words. It's probably just as well that I didn't know, since apparently that doesn't make it over to the "Taptic Touch" version.

Nope, that still works! It's just that while dragging the cursor you tap with another finger anywhere on the keyboard to start the selection at the current cursor position and you can then drag the end of the selection wherever you want.

The XR, despite being iPhone 6S Plus sized, does feel like a regression over my 6S Plus (and later Plus phones) in a few ways, though obviously it has a more modern design. The 3D Touch is gone, of course, but also the pixel density is noticeably lower, matching that of the 5S/SE and non-Plus 6-8 phones.

I have a 5S and a 6S Plus side by side and I can definitely tell the difference if I bring them just a little bit closer to my face than the normal "holding in hands, hunched over the desk" viewing distance. The W on the keyboard benefits from the extra 75 ppi, for instance.

At normal usage distance I don't see an actual resolution difference there, but I see the detestable colour-shifting at edges and the diagonal PenTile Patterns on the OLEDs, so the proper RGB LCD wins out for me.

 

[itfa]

Haven't seen anything from any smartphone in the last few years that have made me want to upgrade and the new iPhones are no different. Same old mediocre battery life, same old tiny annual improvements in performance, all with a hefty price bump. With improvements in mobile slowing down so much, I have to wonder how long Apple's strategy of skimming more money per device from each customer will keep them moving forward.

You clearly haven't read the article or followed the actual progression of the devices in recent years.

Pick it up, use it side by side with an iphone from 2-3 years ago, and there really is minimal real world difference in the things most people use it for.

 

[ZippyPeanut]

Axon's review is very good.

 

[Statistical]

– burn in (progressive degradation especially during high-brightness use)

I would argue that this is not really a negative that will affect most users, particularly of mobile devices - they're not displaying the same thing for long enough at top brightness for burn-in to really present itself as an issue, typically.

Status bar? Also outdoors most users run their phones at very high brightness.

Yeah, but not for hours nonstop.

Burn-in doesn't require non-stop usage just cumulative usage. 1000 hours is 1000 hours regardless of if it is 24 hours a day for 40 days or 1 hour a day for 1000 days.

I think it is up to the user. The person who buys a new phone every 18-24 months probably won't notice an issue. For the person who likes to keep a phone 4-5 years it might be less than ideal.

 

[Constructor]

Haven't seen anything from any smartphone in the last few years that have made me want to upgrade and the new iPhones are no different. Same old mediocre battery life, same old tiny annual improvements in performance, all with a hefty price bump. With improvements in mobile slowing down so much, I have to wonder how long Apple's strategy of skimming more money per device from each customer will keep them moving forward.

You clearly haven't read the article or followed the actual progression of the devices in recent years.

Pick it up, use it side by side with an iphone from 2-3 years ago, and there really is minimal real world difference in the things most people use it for.

Even just taking photos and recording video consumes substantial amounts of computing power and a significant portion of the advances there depends on the much-improved processors.

Web pages are getting ever more complex and unfortunately come with ever greater amounts of JavaScript crap, whether you want it or not, so older phones are progressively drowning in the ever-increasing bloat.

And the screens get bigger and brighter at the same time, especially with the iPhone X series now.

Sure, it is still possible to use slower devices for many things, but it would be an illusion to believe that there won't be deficiencies relative to the newer ones.

 

[Deleted member 459881]

A display that can't even display FULL HD content in 2018 and that too for $750+, Apple treating people as Mugs as usual

 

[mrboba1]

As an iPhone XR owner, upgrading from the iPhone 6S, my issues with the phone are primarily…

- The phone is very slippery. It frequently falls off even flat surfaces, if it happens to be plugged in. I can sit it on an almost flat table (imperceptibly sloped, presumably) and it'll gradually creep towards the edge like it's possessed. I think the camera bump exacerbates this as it means there's only a small surface area in contact with the table.

Yeah, that's the case with the X (and I assume the Xs as well). It doesn't have to do with the bump, as I have that happen when I put it face down as well. I'm surprised when I hear a thump on the carpet.

 

[mrsilver]

After uprading my wife's iPhone 6 to an XR, and my N6 to Pixel 3 XL, I feel buyer's remorse for my Pixel. The XR is a superb phone. Only thing keeping me in Google's land are three things, out of which I could compromise on 2:

1- Custom launcher or a much more customizable default launcher.
2- Default browser change (I could maybe live with Safari)
3- Pulling down pictures with ADB (I could maybe use iPhoto for that).

Make #1 a thing Apple and you got a convert.

For #3, what do you mean by "pulling down" photos? Transferring them to a computer? The last time I plugged my iPhone into a Windows PC it was recognized as a mass storage device and gives you access to photos.

That still works.

What doesn't work:

* You can't access over USB any files from any other apps - even if they expose them in Files App and/or through the iTunes file sharing API.
* Apps which offer their files through the iTunes file transfer API don't automatically offer them through the Files App and vice versa.

So basically there are three ways to get at your files, one is limited to photos and videos only and the other two aren't compatible with each other or the first.

It feels like there are three separate development teams at Apple and they aren't talking to each other.

I use one of the apps like File Explorer that provides access to local files on device, files on cloud services, and files in the shared directories of your local computers over wifi.

You can move files back and forth easily now.

I've tried a couple but they are all generally constrained by Apple's sandbox and that they can't be the default.

It's one of those things which Files app should be best positioned to give the very best experience, but doesn't.

 

[Deleted member 330960]

A display that can't even display FULL HD content in 2018 and that too for $750+, Apple treating people as Mugs as usual

Good lord, it's 2018 and we are still talking about FHD?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcFXEXJicgc