What are people's thoughts on the quality of the screen versus some Android competitors? Is the screen quality basically the same as the iphone 6? Having been in a few phone shops lately I was staggered by how good some of the Android screens looked compared to the xs.
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iPhone XR XR screen quality v competitors
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It's a decent LCD display, but it's not in the same league as a premium OLED display as found on the Xs.
For 99.9% of people it will be fine, especially those weirdos who wrap the phone in a case/screen protector and all that other junk.
For 99.9% of people it will be fine, especially those weirdos who wrap the phone in a case/screen protector and all that other junk.
While I feel 1440p screens are excessive on something with the screen size of Galaxy S9 or iPhone XS they certainly look extremely sharp. For big phones like the Note 9 1440p seems like a good idea as they can make use of all those pixels a bit better.
XR resolution is low for a 2018 phone. I want to see how it looks in person before making judgement but I've had experiences where 4.6" 720p on a Sony Z5 Compact was blurry (323 ppi LCD), 5.5" 1080p on my Oneplus One (401 ppi LCD) was ok but not as sharp as say the iPhone XS (458 ppi OLED).
XR resolution is low for a 2018 phone. I want to see how it looks in person before making judgement but I've had experiences where 4.6" 720p on a Sony Z5 Compact was blurry (323 ppi LCD), 5.5" 1080p on my Oneplus One (401 ppi LCD) was ok but not as sharp as say the iPhone XS (458 ppi OLED).
Yeah, this sums up my perspective. Nobody can answer OP's question with certainty (except perhaps the people who had the chance to play with the XR the day it was announced). My guess is that the display will be approximately as good as the iPhone 8 screen (same basic technology and pixel density). However, given that Apple bothered to apply the name "Liquid Retina" - perhaps it's superior to the 8. Maybe they've got some tricks up their sleeves...better color accuracy, brightness, who knows.
In all probability "Liquid Retina" is meaningless marketing drivel, but I won't know that for sure until I see the XR myself.
Well they kind of brushed over it in the keynote just by saying it's the best LCD ever made without telling what makes it the best. I fully expect it to be marketing drivel just to make it sound better than it is.
How the heck would anyone here know? It's not been released yet.
One thing you must say for the non-released XR, it has certainly generated some hilarious internet threads! 
Apple LCD technology is the best on the market. There’s no competition.
These comments make me laugh a bit. You do realize that the Note 9 renders at 1080p and upscales the image to 1440p by default because of the performance and battery overhead? And there are very good technical reasons for this that center around the limitations of OLED screens with pentile sub pixels.
My point is that you can’t simply compare DPI when you are crossing display technologies.
That said the gulf between 720 and 1080 is still high on these displays and the Note will look more crisp than the XR.
I would hate to have an Xr and be forced to watch all YouTube videos on 720p setting. This is all they get...and on a 6.1 screen. This is not going to look good. I think for navigating the general interface it’s going to be fine but people are going to have a rude awakening after they watch an hour of YouTube.
With android phones you would get either the 1080P or 1440P option.
With android phones you would get either the 1080P or 1440P option.
"The most advanced LCD in the industry" is the wording they use.
In most cases, 300 ppi or so exceeds what the human eye is able to distinguish at a normal viewing distance, and XR is at 326 ppi. so their difference isnt due to resolution (or ppi), but that oled has higher contrast ratio and more vibrant colors. i have watched many videos at 720p on my laptop. it's fine, it's sharp, it's just that the color doesnt pop.
I agree in that I think if the iPhone XR is your only phone it will be fine. I think the real problem is going to be when folks purchase this phone and other family members have a higher resolution screen on their phone. That is when I think the comparisons and unhappiness will begin. My opinion is that people will buy the iPhone Xr because of the colors more than the screen, but secretly hoping the screen will be good enough.
I guess we will all have to wait until next Friday when the first reviews and comparisons come out. This is all just conjecture until someone has a considerable amount of time with the phone in their hands.
that is from their websites.. on keynote they actually said ”the most advanced lcd ever in a smartphone”... i heard/remembered that they said ”in iphone”.. oh well, it is propably the most advanced lcd because everyone else is using oled nowadays in phones cost the same as xr - only budget priced phones have lcd with 720p or so.
Furthermore, the increased sharpness of 1080p over 720p on a screen as small as a mobile phone would be more prominent for small text than video, especially considering a lot of Youtube video is compressed despite being 1080p. Even if the video wasn't compressed to hell, small text would still be a more apparent factor when determining how much better a higher DPI display is. That said, I do acknowledge it would easier to tell the difference of uncompressed 1080p video on a 1080p vs 720p screen.
And yes, I totally agree that colors and contrast ratio is what makes an OLED stand out from and LCD on mobile sized displays that are >300DPI, more so than DPI.
The resolution is frankly not the problem for majority of the user who hold the phone at about 10 inches and/or have a normal 20/20 vision or worse. Even those with better than 20/20 vision or hold the phone closer would have to try really hard to see pixels and let those bother them. I suppose if you frequently read really tiny text, you might benefit from higher pixel density screen. I generally zoom or view at a normal sane font size, however.
Having said that, nearly all Android phones in XR's price range does have OLED screen. Now, there are segments of people that experience eye strains using OLED, but if you don't, I think OLED is hugely superior for many reasons. The black is pure black, so much better deep contrast. Also, most OLED tends to be HDR with brighter peaks (HDR is supported by Photos and TV apps, as well as few third party like YouTube, Netflix, and Vimeo). And OLED has much better viewing angle (frankly not much of an issue for small screens intended for single user)
Having said that, nearly all Android phones in XR's price range does have OLED screen. Now, there are segments of people that experience eye strains using OLED, but if you don't, I think OLED is hugely superior for many reasons. The black is pure black, so much better deep contrast. Also, most OLED tends to be HDR with brighter peaks (HDR is supported by Photos and TV apps, as well as few third party like YouTube, Netflix, and Vimeo). And OLED has much better viewing angle (frankly not much of an issue for small screens intended for single user)
The XR does have low resolution for a 2018 phone or iPhone. The XR is by no means an entry level phone at an entry level price. Nor has apple stated this. The XR is being priced at the normal prices held by the 6,7 or 8. Yet the 8 plus came with a 5.5" LCD display and had 10800 x 1920 resolution. I also will reserve judgement until I see the phone with my own eyes, but it is disappointing that the display is a downgrade while you get the better processor, True Depth Camera, FaceID, Wireless charging....
I can't say as I have ever watched an hour of YouTube on any phone.
But when I do watch it I set it to 480p. And this is on my Pixel 2 XL 2880×1440 at 538 ppi. I have set it to 1080p and 1440p and don't see that much of a difference. It's a small screen. Not a 70" 4k set.
I'm so glad I save my display pickiness for big screens and not phones.
I agree. I’m not going to watch much video on my phone anyway. I’ll watch on my 51” Samsung plasma or 15” retina MBP or 10.5” IPP, in that order. On a phone’s small screen, I doubt for me higher ppi will make much difference in satisfactory viewing
It’s liquid. And retina. Like searing wet eyeballs. What could be better?
I just watched a few videos in 480p, 720p, and 1080p on my X. I honestly was surprised at the 480p quality. It wasn’t as bad I thought it would be. Try it for yourself. 720p on these small screens is fine.