iPhone XR iPhone Xr screen size, opinion wanted

[pdp1]

First off, this is not another [OLED vs LCD] or [458DPI vs 326DPI] question. I'm more interested in "usable real estate" of the screen coming from an iPhone 6, or as Apple refers to as display "points" of the screen. Since I read that the XsMax has the same display point resolution as the Xr (414 x 896) feel free to chime in if you have an XsMax. Likewise, the 6 has the same horizontal display point resolution as the Xs (375 horizontal) but Xs has more vertical (667 vs 812 vertical 6 vs Xs), so feel free to chime in if you have the Xs.

Anyway, I'm dying to ditch my iPhone 6 and am a bit torn between the Xs and Xr. My hands are on the smaller side so I'm a bit hesitant to jump to the Xr and would settle on the Xs. However the extra screen "real estate" on the Xr compared to the Xs makes me think I might be able to deal with the larger size if the extra "real estate" makes a big enough usability improvement.

So I'd like your opinions on the following

1) For those of you who went from a iPhone 6,7,8 to a X/Xs, how big was the improvement from 667 to 812 vertical points to you, whether you felt it was a good enough jump or if you should have got the XsMax instead for the vertical jump to 896 points? (as a side note, the exact same horizontal points of 375 between the 6,7,8 and Xs is a little disappointing to me).

2) For those of you who went from a 6,7,8 to an XsMax or for those of you who went from an X to XsMax, how big was the improvement going from 375x667/375x812 to 414x896 points? Is the horizontal increase from 375=>414 a bigger deal than the vertical increase from 667/812=>896. Or were both axis increases a big deal?

Please feel free to include specific examples of apps where the difference in points was very apparent.

Again, I don't want this to blow up to another pixel density or contrast ratio comparison, so please don't bring those up if you don't have to, thanks!

 

[now i see it]

Maybe just wait a few weeks and try all the phones out for yourself side by side in a store?

 

[pdp1]

Maybe just wait a few weeks and try all the phones out for yourself side by side in a store?

I'm more interested in slightly more long term opinions on the screen "real estate" differences. I don't think playing with the phones in the store for 5-10 minutes will give me a complete picture, hence why I want some real world usage opinions. And I wouldn't have to wait a few weeks to see it in the store either because the XsMax has the same point resolution as the Xr.

 

[white4s]

I'm coming from the SE so, enough said lol.

 

[NorthSeaBeach]

It is discussed in this thread. From page 3 onwards.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/so-xr’s-screen-is-only-720p.2136774/page-3

Member EugW gives an explanation.

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

Honestly I think you're overthinking this somewhat.

Just go into a store and play with the XS and XS Max, the XR is between the two. Your best bet might be to just wait until all three are in stores, don't worry about stock levels or anything - after a couple of weeks you'll be fine picking either up.

Personally I went from a 6 and was very interested in the XR, however after playing with the XS/Max I really felt the XS was 'perfect' for me. I can use it one-handed and it's still a much bigger screen, the Max was great but just too big to comfortably use one-handed (Resting on your finger), whilst I think it's great for media, it was a little too cumbersome to use for me. As the XR would be bigger than the XS (Albeit very minutely) I opted for the regular XS.

So I would encourage you to play with them. If you feel the XS is still too small but the Max too big, then the XR would be perfect - and I do think it's a great screen size choice, but to me an XS and iPad combo is better.

If you're coming from a 6 then anything will feel like an improvement, the XS is about the same size as the 6 just all screen, if you're comfortable using it then hold it in one hand and try reach all the points. If you use the phone two-handed most of the time then get the XR maybe.

As for the extra real-estate on the screen, it's mostly covered by UI buffering around icons. Videos will obviously be bigger but as it's not a 16:9 display you're only gaining a tiny bit extra. So yes there is extra screen, however the usability trade off is in ergonomically accessing this, and it's mostly a visual thing - maybe one extra line of text when horizontal.

To each their own, some want a phone as big as possible and the Max is definitely that.

 

[pdp1]

I'm coming from the SE so, enough said lol.

Coming from an SE but going to what?!

Seriously though, I also had an SE and felt it was perfect because of my smaller hands, but then I accidentally jumped into the pool with it and now I'm using my wife's old/retired iPhone 6. While the iPhone 6 performs terribly compared to the SE (mainly because, I think, of the 1GB RAM vs the 2GB in the SE), I feel the extra real estate of the iPhone 6 screen compared to the SE is a big improvement and I can't go back to the SE despite the better ergonomics of the SE. That's why I'm now thinking there is a chance I might want to up the screen all the way to the Xr size.[doublepost=1539711190][/doublepost]

Honestly I think you're overthinking this somewhat.

Just go into a store and play with the XS and XS Max, the XR is between the two. Your best bet might be to just wait until all three are in stores, don't worry about stock levels or anything - after a couple of weeks you'll be fine picking either up.

Personally I went from a 6 and was very interested in the XR, however after playing with the XS/Max I really felt the XS was 'perfect' for me. I can use it one-handed and it's still a much bigger screen, the Max was great but just too big to comfortably use one-handed (Resting on your finger), whilst I think it's great for media, it was a little too cumbersome to use for me. As the XR would be bigger than the XS (Albeit very minutely) I opted for the regular XS.

So I would encourage you to play with them. If you feel the XS is still too small but the Max too big, then the XR would be perfect - and I do think it's a great screen size choice, but to me an XS and iPad combo is better.

If you're coming from a 6 then anything will feel like an improvement, the XS is about the same size as the 6 just all screen, if you're comfortable using it then hold it in one hand and try reach all the points. If you use the phone two-handed most of the time then get the XR maybe.

As for the extra real-estate on the screen, it's mostly covered by UI buffering around icons. Videos will obviously be bigger but as it's not a 16:9 display you're only gaining a tiny bit extra. So yes there is extra screen, however the usability trade off is in ergonomically accessing this, and it's mostly a visual thing - maybe one extra line of text when horizontal.

To each their own, some want a phone as big as possible and the Max is definitely that.

I think you're right, I am overthinking this. There was just so much time between the announcement of the XR and when it actually hits stores that I had to do something with that time

Thanks for your opinions, it helped me summarize my concerns into one sentence: Is the extra screen real estate on the XS Max/XR, compared to the XS, worth the ergonomic trade-offs for people with smaller hands like me? This summarized version makes it easier to go through the decision process.

Based on what you say, it doesn't sound like it would be worth it. Come to think of it, it probably boils down to landscape mode and if more apps which I'd use support it. Chances are, the answer to that would be no as my list of most frequently used apps is probably around a dozen or so.

Anyway, I'm also now leaning towards "no, the extra screen real estate is not worth the ergonomic trade-offs". So with that bit out of the way, the next hurdle would be price, $250 less for the Xr... no need to comment on that, that's for me to decide Thanks again.

 

[white4s]

XR. The Pitaka case came in yesterday actually. 4 to 6.1 one shot LOL but really though it's smaller physically than a 8+ but .3 bigger screen size

Wins all around.

 

[Derek87]

i have fairly large hands and used an iPhone 6 for 2 years, followed by another 2 years with a 7, so i'm familiar with that size. i could easily span corner to corner on the 6 and 7, yet with the XS, i can no longer do that.

that being said, i love the XS. the extra screen accomplished by removing the top and bottom bezels mean there is a lot more readable text on the screen for emails, web pages, etc. at a given time. that is a huge improvement to me.

even though i cannot fully one hand the XS, i wouldn't want to go up to the XR or XS max. this is about as big a phone as i want and i hope this "getting bigger every year or two" trend ends.

the most notable thing which you will notice is all of these new phones are appreciably heavier than the 6. while the XS is almost the same footprint as the 6, it is significantly heavier. (look up the specs) it took me a little while to get used to, but it's something i didn't realize until after i had gotten the phone.

finally, as others have suggested: spend a little time with the different models in the store. while its not a full test drive you'll get an idea of what you are getting with the added screen real estate, as well as the size / weight differences.

 

[pdp1]

i have fairly large hands and used an iPhone 6 for 2 years, followed by another 2 years with a 7, so i'm familiar with that size. i could easily span corner to corner on the 6 and 7, yet with the XS, i can no longer do that.

that being said, i love the XS. the extra screen accomplished by removing the top and bottom bezels mean there is a lot more readable text on the screen for emails, web pages, etc. at a given time. that is a huge improvement to me.

even though i cannot fully one hand the XS, i wouldn't want to go up to the XR or XS max. this is about as big a phone as i want and i hope this "getting bigger every year or two" trend ends.

the most notable thing which you will notice is all of these new phones are appreciably heavier than the 6. while the XS is almost the same footprint as the 6, it is significantly heavier. (look up the specs) it took me a little while to get used to, but it's something i didn't realize until after i had gotten the phone.

finally, as others have suggested: spend a little time with the different models in the store. while its not a full test drive you'll get an idea of what you are getting with the added screen real estate, as well as the size / weight differences.

If you have larger hands and can't successfully one hand an XS, then I would have no hope of doing that. Which then means, regardless of Xs or Xr, I'm going to be two handing it, or using reachability frequently. Which then also means, maybe I should still consider the Xr since the ergonomics of either will not be ideal for me. Thanks a lot, just when I thought I was close to settling on the Xs!

But thank you for bringing up the weight factor of the phones, that's something I will pay closer attention to when I see/feel the phones in person.

 

[craigio85]

I went from 8 Plus to XS. Partner went from 7 to XS.

He much prefers the size of the XS over his old iPhone 7. When it comes to things like watching YouTube videos, the difference is less noticeable, but where he’s found it a lot better is the less cramped UI. For example, when typing an iMessage - there’s much more space to see the message thread and the keyboard doesn’t feel so busy.

For me, coming from a Plus model, I find the XS screen size to be perfect. It’s exactly the right balance of feeling that you have a large screen and also feeling you have a device that is comfortable to use and carry.

 

[Gudi]

I can’t speak from any long term experience handing a large phone, but your reasoning coming from the SE and finding it almost perfect except for the screen real estate, makes you an ideal customer for the XR. You know the difference between pixels and points and you care about the points. So why pay $250 more for an XS, which shows less points with more pixels?

 

[Mackinjosh]

XR. The Pitaka case came in yesterday actually. 4 to 6.1 one shot LOL but really though it's smaller physically than a 8+ but .3 bigger screen size

Wins all around.

I thought the 8+ was 5.5.

 

[tops2]

I went from an iPhone 6+ to iPhone 8 earlier this year. I love the size of the smaller phone in the pockets. But using the phone, I really miss the larger screen (and the longer battery life). I got used to the amount of information I can see on the 6+. I have smaller hands so the 6+ was a bit of a challenge using it one handed. I've honestly never used reachability, and I just do some 6+ hand juggling (I do have a grippy/ribbed "thin-ish" case I like so I've never dropped the phone while using it in my hands). The 6+ I always felt was just slightly too tall for my pants (I don't wear skinny jeans). With my 6+, I basically stopped using my iPad Mini. But with the 8, I'm back to using my iPad Mini more.

In terms of app difference between a larger vs smaller phone.. For things like my RSS feeds or Reddit, I find the smaller 8 to fit less text per line and less lines are displayed vertically so I'm scrolling a lot more with my 8. The weekend we spent at Disneyland, it felt like I see such a small part of the map and see less restaurant menu items in the Disneyland app as compared to the 6+. On the 6+, I can fit more of the map at the same zoom level while still have the text labels for the attractions. Personally, it was pretty frustrating for me.

I'm at the point I only like my iPhone 8 only while its in the pockets. Otherwise, I love using my iPhone 6+ so much more.

I'm currently waiting for some feedback for the XR, but I'm totally ready to jump back to the larger phone.

Edit: If you're really worried about one hand use, maybe go for the XS and don't think twice about the XR. But if you're willing to give it a try, then maybe consider waiting for the XR. If its still too large, then exchange it for the XS.

 

[white4s]

I thought the 8+ was 5.5.

Oh **** right. Even better