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iPhone XR XR is great

R

roxysdad

macrumors member
Original poster
May 19, 2005
69
127
Long time member and usually a daily reader of macrumors and the forums. Just felt the urge to chime into the XR discussions to report that the phone is amazing. I have had all iPhones except for the 7+, 8+, and X, so my opinions don’t include those screens as references. Ordered the blue XR 128 gig, but upon receipt I noticed it was just too light blue for my taste. So I exchanged it at the store for the Product Red version. The white is interesting, the black is normal black, the yellow is better in person, and the coral is as well. The red and black mix is the best IMHO. Will be a popular choice of the non black/white colors I believe.

Initial thoughts:
Great build quality, weight
What a screen, vibrant and beautiful
So easy to use (OS with no button)
A little big in the hand and pocket
No available case at launch which is odd to me
Red color is awesome and glad to see on launch day
Don’t notice the bezels at all
A couple of misses with the Face ID unlock process
All in all this is a really fun gift for myself

For your average guy, which I am in many respects, this phone is just awesome. It’s everything I need or want in an iPhone, and for $450 less - which I think is just amazing right there. Middle storage tier is necessary for my memory needs, so it’s 256 gig XSM vs 128 gig XR, which is a difference of $450 by my math. One could have this phone AND the new Apple watch for the same price as the 256 gig XSM.
 
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Applefan4 said:
The only problem with XR is its sub 1080p screen.
Click to expand...
I thought similar, but then I bought one and was/am impressed with the screen. But again, I’m in my late 40’s and use reading glasses now, and the screen seems just as awesome as my 10.5 IPP, so for me the screen is just great. No issues on my end. Not to say that the OLED screens aren’t way better in many respects, but not for my uses and money.
 
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Applefan4 said:
The only problem with XR is its sub 1080p screen.
Click to expand...

That is a spec and in real use this is just not an issue! I am not sure why everyone feels that a phone need these high resolution screens when most cellular services stream at 480p or 720p unless you pay more to get full HD. But I can click on 1080p and while it downsizes it... it looks fantastic!!!
 
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Applefan4 said:
The only problem with XR is its sub 1080p screen.
Click to expand...
I have the XS Max. Bought my wife the XR. I can honestly say that there isn’t much difference in the screens. You would be hard pressed to tell the difference. The specs on paper say one thing, but real life side by side shows different. In fact, the XR screen is a little brighter which looks slightly better
 
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Applefan4 said:
The only problem with XR is its sub 1080p screen.
Click to expand...

That is spec chaser speak. The screen is fine. I compared it to the XS in store and to my Pixel 2 XL and side by side there is only the slightest of difference. It's bright and crisp. I see zero pixels.

People need to quit dwelling on numbers and just go look themselves. But have an open mind when doing so.
 
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Garemlin said:
That is spec chaser speak. The screen is fine. I compared it to the XS in store and to my Pixel 2 XL and side by side there is only the slightest of difference. It's bright and crisp. I see zero pixels.

People need to quit dwelling on numbers and just go look themselves. But have an open mind when doing so.
Click to expand...

They (Average consumers) don’t dwell on numbers. The only minority that does, are those who are more functionally concerned on a tech forum. Average consumers don’t even know the difference between 720P and 1080 P, let alone even what a pixel is.
 
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Relentless Power said:
They (Average consumers) don’t dwell on numbers. The only minority that does, are those who are more functionally concerned on a tech forum. Average consumers don’t even know the difference between 720P and 1080 P, let alone even what a pixel is.
Click to expand...
If you can’t see then why do you need it. I have the XR it’s the best apple phone of all time IMO
 
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I have tested my Xs with an Xr at same display brightness.
Display of the Xr is very, very good, despite being LCD.

Let's put it this way; the display of the Xs Max is in no way worth €400/$350 more than the Xr display.

All of the online nitpicking of the oled vs LCD display ( Xs vs Xr) the last few weeks was completely far from reality
 
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Reno Raines said:
Got mine today but have not had a chance to open it. Hope I like it as much as OP!
Click to expand...
I am curious to hear your opinion, but I suspect you will like it. I was prepared for a less than stellar initial opinion according to the hundreds of threads about the screen quality and so forth. But I’m just pleased as punch with this screen. I think its great, and after all - thats what is most important. For me and my eyes, I think it is a steal of a phone for 800 bucks.
 
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Geert76 said:
I have tested my Xs with an Xr at same display brightness.
Display of the Xr is very, very good, despite being LCD.

Let's put it this way; the display of the Xs Max is in no way worth €400/$350 more than the Xr display.

All of the online nitpicking of the oled vs LCD display ( Xs vs Xr) the last few weeks was completely far from reality
Click to expand...

Could you put a movie on both, pause it, and then compare? I'd be very interested to see how small or large the difference in quality is.
 
I agree. It's a great phone! I'm loving mine alongside my iPhone XS Max.

I have an iPhone 7, X, and regular XS also to compare it too and the screen is not a big deal at all. It's definitely Apple's best LCD to date, and you do not notice the resolution unless you are an inch away from the screen. Looks perfectly fine and clear, looks identical to my XS Max at normal viewing length. Battery is by far the best on any iPhone thus far. Other than that it's just as premium as the XS, the only thing I have missed is 3D touch, I use it all the time for moving the cursor in text with the keyboard.

9/10 iPhone.
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smoking monkey said:
Could you put a movie on both, pause it, and then compare? I'd be very interested to see how small or large the difference in quality is.
Click to expand...

Here is my XS Max (right) and XR (left).

The XR colors are much more accurate with the obvious exception of black. It’s a fantastic LCD.

D766C6ED-2170-4BFA-8730-53DD04A56327.jpeg CDE3F072-1B94-4A36-979A-D6C7B89C4001.jpeg F5232A65-1F61-48AD-B5F4-368D67D31644.jpeg
 
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I have the product red XR, my only issue is adjusting to a screen that is bigger but narrower than my 6S Plus. I am loving how fast the XR is, how much lighter than my 6s plus. I am also rather enjoying swiping though I must confess to looking for the home button :) Also loving the Animoji:) I quickly learned how to sing with the Fox, saved it & sent it to my kids.

As Steve Jobs once said death is
Life’s change agent, old device features die off so that new ones take their places. Learning how to use my new phone is actually a delight
 
Geekbabe said:
I have the product red XR, my only issue is adjusting to a screen that is bigger but narrower than my 6S Plus. I am loving how fast the XR is, how much lighter than my 6s plus. I am also rather enjoying swiping though I must confess to looking for the home button :) Also loving the Animoji:) I quickly learned how to sing with the Fox, saved it & sent it to my kids.

As Steve Jobs once said death is
Life’s change agent, old device features die off so that new ones take their places. Learning how to use my new phone is actually a delight
Click to expand...
Your one issue is my one and only issue, and I don't think I can get past it. Because of how narrow the phone is combined with the notch, videos are actually smaller on this phone than on my old 5.3 inch phone unless I use Zoom, which I'll never do because of how much of the video is lost. It also results in skinny website pages, which leads to tiny text/fonts. As someone that uses their phone for web browsing and video watching, this is a real killer to me. I'm not a fan at all of the screen size format they've gone with. It also doesn't help that a bunch of apps/games I own don't account for the notch at all and simply cut off large sections of the top and bottom of the screen, leaving me wondering why I own a 6.1 inch phone if huge sections of it are going to be cut out.
 
Mackinjosh said:
Your one issue is my one and only issue, and I don't think I can get past it. Because of how narrow the phone is combined with the notch, videos are actually smaller on this phone than on my old 5.3 inch phone unless I use Zoom, which I'll never do because of how much of the video is lost. It also results in skinny website pages, which leads to tiny text/fonts. As someone that uses their phone for web browsing and video watching, this is a real killer to me. I'm not a fan at all of the screen size format they've gone with. It also doesn't help that a bunch of apps/games I own don't account for the notch at all and simply cut off large sections of the top and bottom of the screen, leaving me wondering why I own a 6.1 inch phone if huge sections of it are going to be cut out.
Click to expand...
I don’t mind turning the phone around to use a bit of zoom particularly on forums because let’s be serious, most of the side bars on sites are mostly ads. Not sure video is an issue, YouTube looked and sounded good to me
 
ILowry82 said:
I have the XS Max. Bought my wife the XR. I can honestly say that there isn’t much difference in the screens. You would be hard pressed to tell the difference. The specs on paper say one thing, but real life side by side shows different. In fact, the XR screen is a little brighter which looks slightly better
Click to expand...

I will never understand the obsession with extreme resolution on a 6 inch phone.

1080p is almost 2k, which is used on 20-30 foot movie screens all over the world.
 
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Geekbabe said:
I don’t mind turning the phone around to use a bit of zoom particularly on forums because let’s be serious, most of the side bars on sites are mostly ads. Not sure video is an issue, YouTube looked and sounded good to me
Click to expand...
Youtube sounds great (all audio sounds great on these speakers), but you dont notice a huge chunk of screen being removed on each side of the video in landscape mode? The only way I see around that is to zoom the video, which I can't bring myself to do since doing that chops off large portions of the video on the edges.
 
Here’s the issue as I see it, the wide screen, home button setup is going away. If I can’t adjust to the XR I could give it to my son, get another battery for my 6S plus but that basically buys me another year. Forget shipping the XR back to Verizon and paying a hefty restocking fee, also not interested in switching back to android as I am firmly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem. I’m almost 62, perhaps it’s time to use my glasses more or use the access features of the phone. The form factor isn’t going to go backwards so we all have choices to make
 
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