Hi, I got my XS yesterday after years of iPhone 7 Plus and brief week with the XR. Love the size and I was torn between XR and XS, I've pulled the trigger after owning the XR for one week.
My priorities were ergonomics (as I use the phone usually with one hand), oled screen, camera and battery life (one full day with moderate use).
Bear in mind, the XR is a fantastic phone.
Screen: I don't care about higher resolution, XR display is superb, but black levels and viewing angles on the XS are a no-brainer for me. Icons seem painted on the screen and there is virtually no space between the screen and the glass. I love it. Win: XS, but it's my personal opinion.
Ergonomics: I think they are both a step forward compared to the plus size phones, much better than the XS Max. Tie.
Camera: I use secondary lens sometimes, both cameras are awesome. The only let down of the XR was portrait mode available for people only, this is a feature I use a lot. Win: XS.
3D touch: I use it only to preview notifications and web links and to interact with widgets in the lock/control screen. I can live with XR long press. Tie.
Battery: battery life on XR was very good, but keep in mind one week only is not enough to judge battery performance as usually they get better after 10-15 days.
For now I can make a comparison between my old 7 Plus (with a brand new battery replaced, because I will give the phone to my partner).
Both iPhones have the same settings:
4G on
WiFi and Bluetooth always on
Paired with an apple watch
Screen Time off
Background app refresh on for all apps
Location on ("in use") for few apps only: weather, transporation app (uber, apple maps), food delivery apps, apple watch faces, find my phone.
System services: all disabled, but I kept active SOS&emergency, compass calibration, movement calibration (temporary as I am calibrating my apple watch), find my iphone. Location for product improvements is on for maps improving and traffic only.
I unplug my phone at 8am and replug it at midnight usually.
I live and work in places with good 4G and WiFi coverage.
Usage: a lot of safari, imessage, whatsapp, slack, email, few checks on social medias (instagram and linkedin mainly), youtube (i watch a couple of short videos a day), few photos sometimes.
With this pattern, I usually end the day with my 7 Plus with a new battery between 65% (moderate-low usage day) and 40% (moderate-high usage day). During the weekends I play with my phone more, sometimes I play Hearthstone for 1 hour, in this scenario I end the day between 40% and 20%.
Now, I am playing with my XS and comparing to the 7 Plus but keep in mind:
- I set it up yesterday, as new phone
- It's still indexing all its stuff and I still have to change few settings (like notifications for all apps) so I will play with it a bit more during these days
It's now 11.30 am and my XS is sitting at 88%, so apparently is draining a bit more battery than the 7 Plus, but again it's early to judge I should wait for few battery cycles to have final figures.
1st update: it's 6pm now, and my XS is at 70%. Not bad considering I used it lightly, 1 phone call, few messages and around 15 minutes of hotspot. Still it's the first day, I think it can do a bit better after few cycles, but should last a full day with a good 30-50% of juice left. Probably about 5-10% less than my 7 Plus.
NOTE: an XR with a 720p OLED screen and portrait mode unlocked would be the DEFINITIVE phone.
