Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Other 8 Plus, XR or XS Max
- Thread starter PearlWhiteGT
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I was ready to get an XR but then made the mistake of viewing it side by side with XS Max. The screen on the Max blew me away especially for reading text, like newspaper websites, Kindle books, etc. Perfect white background with exceptionally tight black text. The XR is very good and I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it had I not seen the 2 side by side. Damn it all. Now I need to decide if the $$ delta is worth it.
Well the thing is, you won’t be viewing them side by side on a daily basis. Coming from an 8+ then buying and returning an XS Max due to issues with OLED, and now having an XR, I can honestly say it’s just not that noticeable with normal usage. Now, I don’t watch videos/movies on my phone - that’s what my iPad and TV are for. Certainly I’ll occasionally watch a quick music video or you tube that pops up, but nothing other than that (and I think those look just fine, but I’m not an expert by any means).
Certainly the XS Max is a gorgeous phone with a gorgeous display. It was my dream phone - a + phone that had ALL screen. The XR really does hold its own though, and it has a lot of its own positives.
Comes down to whether the differences are worth that $350, or even more if you want to bump up a notch in storage (that bump to 128 on the XR is only $50). Only you can decide that.
Why is there no XS/Max option to get 128 GB?? This is one of those incomprehensibly maddening things like no headphone jack or SD card slot that Apple does that almost puts me off them.
Last edited:
I’m use to the size of the screen on the 6 + so worried that the XR screen might be a little to small for my viewing. Is it really that different between the two?
Not quite because the screen ratios are different, see my explanation below.
The Xr does have overall more screen area but when holding it in portrait mode, the Xr screen is skinnier than the 6+. Therefore the Xr text will be a little smaller, as you alluded to. By my calculations, they will be about 6% smaller than on the 6+. However, you can use displayzoom to make the text bigger on the Xr, but the trade off to that will be less content on the screen.
It’s frustrating that they do that. It hasn’t stopped me from drinking the kool-aid though. ;-p
yeah it's narrower by 3.5mm. I think it's actually closer to 5 percent than 6. My calcs put it about 5.11 percent smaller.
I put my plus next to the zoomed display of the XR and found in safari that they displayed the exact same amount of text and the XR text was either the same size or slightly larger.
I've actually been mucking around with my video player and playing older movies and TV shows at 94 percent size on my plus phone to get used to getting an XR in case the Max LTE issues don't get rectified. I can't really tell the difference unless I had the phones next to each other. IF you check one of my previous threads, I posted a size comparison for Max, plus, XR & X sized screens and showed how it would display 16:9 content size wise.
I have an iPhone 8+ and an XS Max. I waited until the XR was released before I message my decision been it and the Max and chose the Max. I bought the 8+ in April and I use both daily.
I got the maximum storage size for both phones and for the 8+, that was 256GB at the time.
I got the maximum storage size for both phones and for the 8+, that was 256GB at the time.
Well, that arrogant Apple design mentality that they think they know better than I do what I want had kept me away for many many years. My first smartphone was a Samsung Galaxy S3 that I still have and use as a wifi device and movie player. It has micro SD card slot and replaceable battery, still brilliant design details. But no one offers replaceable battery anymore precisely because.... I am still using it and they hate that. Must sell new phones. I might have even placed the S3 back in service except it was on Sprint and is not a world phone. No way I'm going back to Sprint.
The only reason I am considering an iPhone for my next is that I have been using iPhones at work, most recently a 6S, for several years and I dropped my personal cell service. So all my functioning apps are Apple these days. It will be simpler for me to transfer everything from my PC backup to a new iPhone than to rebuild everything on Android.
And the other reason I may stay Apple that the fanboys won't want to hear is that iPhones are boring... but in a good way. They are simple to use, far fewer customization options, and they just work and work and work without a lot of issues or drama. Plus I love the long support for frequent iOS updates. Android updates were few and far between when I used the S3.
But if I can hold out until next year all this may change when Sammy brings out the Galaxy S10. If that keeps the SD card, adds an in-screen fingerprint reader, and hopefully loses the stupid curved glass "edge" design I will probably get that. The lack of in screen fingerprint reader is another big iPhone omission in the current X line IMO. Even if the face ID seems to work well there are times when it'd be better to use the touch ID... and it would be cool to have touch ID as a 2-factor method of opening sensitive apps like banking.
And one final thing pizzes me off... the older iPhones like the 7 and 8 are not much $$ less than the x series. I could see getting one of those for a couple years but not with Apple's pricing.
The only reason I am considering an iPhone for my next is that I have been using iPhones at work, most recently a 6S, for several years and I dropped my personal cell service. So all my functioning apps are Apple these days. It will be simpler for me to transfer everything from my PC backup to a new iPhone than to rebuild everything on Android.
And the other reason I may stay Apple that the fanboys won't want to hear is that iPhones are boring... but in a good way. They are simple to use, far fewer customization options, and they just work and work and work without a lot of issues or drama. Plus I love the long support for frequent iOS updates. Android updates were few and far between when I used the S3.
But if I can hold out until next year all this may change when Sammy brings out the Galaxy S10. If that keeps the SD card, adds an in-screen fingerprint reader, and hopefully loses the stupid curved glass "edge" design I will probably get that. The lack of in screen fingerprint reader is another big iPhone omission in the current X line IMO. Even if the face ID seems to work well there are times when it'd be better to use the touch ID... and it would be cool to have touch ID as a 2-factor method of opening sensitive apps like banking.
And one final thing pizzes me off... the older iPhones like the 7 and 8 are not much $$ less than the x series. I could see getting one of those for a couple years but not with Apple's pricing.
But it doesn’t have a POOR screen. It has a screen that is not as good, to some, as the OLED on the XS/XS Max. I rather prefer the LCD as it doesn’t give me headaches, and I saw absolutely zero difference in the quality of my XR versus my 8+, even though the specs are technically “better” on the 8+.
I feel like they did really well with the XR display.
I have to concur with nayf72. And I regret to say it. Now I am at a loss what to do. Better screen on the 8 plus, or better (perfect) size of the Xr. That's what it comes down to for me. Hate the doubt.
[doublepost=1542046889][/doublepost]
If you use zoomed display on the Xr, font size is fine when using Safari.
I know since I'm using it on my XR, but still not quite the same and you lose some functionality like 2-pane landscape mode in email, calendar, etc.
Well yall must’ve had a better 8+ screen that I did. Maybe if I would’ve taken a magnifying glass to it I would’ve seen a difference. Hell, I don’t see much of a difference in the XR and my daughter’s XS; certainly not $250 worth.
Thanks everyone for all the info and advice. I decided on going with a XR. Just seems like the best bang for the buck for me. Only thing I know I will miss is ID touch since I use it for a few different log in's on my apps.
You won’t regret it. It’ll be a really good surprise. Enjoy it!
I know there are a lot of apps which use TouchID for authentication can also use FaceID for authentication... like pretty much all the banking apps I use.