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gelie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 7, 2010
614
214
Thinking of trading in my XsMax. wonder how badly the aluminum case scratches? Can you go case less? Is it akin to the aluminum apple watch?
Thanks
 
I bought the XR late October. Since then it was in a case for the vast majority of the time.

However, I didn't like the cases so now the phone is caseless and skinless. It's been like this for about a month now and everything is fine. I have a small scuff underneath the right antenna band (above the power button), but this happened a few months ago while I was using the case, ironically. I have no other scuffs or any marks on the phone other than that.

I pay attention to this beause I decided to not have anything protecting the phone so I keep track of whether something appears on the frame or the glass. So far so good. My wife has scratches on her Galaxy phone (glass has no screen protector anymore), she inspected the XR's display and couldn't see a single scratch.

So if you want to go caseless with the XR, apparently you can, but maybe someone else will share a different opinion. I found that using the phone without a case or a screen protector is a much better experience. Decided to go caseless as I almost never drop the phone so here's hoping the "almost" part happens on a not-so-hard surface.

I never used an Apple Watch so don't know about the comparison.
 
Same coating and rounded corners since the 6. So it’s perfect as long as you don’t drop it
 
I'd rather have an aluminum case, tbh; I'm going from my 6s Plus (aluminum) to the heavier 11 Pro Max (glass) and surely to be terrified if I drop it - even though I'll have a good protective Spigen Slim Armor case on it.

My 6s Plus survived the past 4 years with a number of drops, and remains unscathed.
 
In my experience, naked aluminum gets little pits when dropped. I had dropped an Apple Watch Sport and an iPhone 6 Plus and and iPhone 8 Plus. All got little dents that look like a pinprick.

On my XR, I use a Caudabe Lucid Clear case. I’ve tried all kinds of cases over the years and thanks to Slickdeals tried a bunch of nice brands sold on Amazon for the Xr on the cheap. But it was the Caudabe that I decided I won’t be without on my iPhone 11.

This case is optically clear and covers all sides of the phone. It’s just the right amount of thickness to save my daughter’s Xr from a bouncy drop down concrete stairs. The case did chip but the phone was fine. But it’s thin enough to look nice. I think it probably is more flattering on lighter colors. With all clear cases I’ve found on darker colors the case is more noticeable.

If you’re into pop sockets, it holds them well. I don’t think it’s any more slippery than the naked phone. It’s a hard polycarbonate, so make sure both the phone and the case are clean before putting the case on. I haven’t had any problems with debris getting into the case as I’ve had with other cases I’ve tried.

I hope the quality will be high for the 2019 phones. It’s definitely been good on the Xr. I didn’t much care for the one I got for my 8 Plus, though. It was a bit yellowish and just didn’t look or feel as good.

My Xr case hasn’t yellowed. I think I’ve had it 9 months.
 
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