I finally have the device in hand. I thought people said the screen is trash because of 326PPI? The screen looks damn good to me.
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Anything Special About IPhone XR LCD Display
- Thread starter AppleRobert
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I agree. It's an excellent screen and phone. In early 2019, I'm going to get one and use with my Note. Product Red is awesome!
It’s lovely. I like the size of the phone and the display. It’s just right for me. The weight is a pleasant surprise. I guess I built up some brute muscles carrying around the 8 Plus and the Max. 
Typing on it now.
It's fantastic for an LCD.
See-ya XS Max!
It's fantastic for an LCD.
See-ya XS Max!
Yeah with the gestures Apple have killed off the iPhone's main advantage over Android, namely their granny-friendly UI.I still can't believe Apple is charging $1000 for an OLED display while Samsung offers the S9 at $719, considering OLED displays have been the standard offering on Android flagship phones for a number of years. 64GB at $1K for the XS and $1100 for the Max with no expandable storage is also ridiculous. I thought maybe they would release something so compelling that it would tempt me to switch back from Note 8 to an iPhone but nope. I seriously think they've jumped the shark with their pricing, specs and even naming for the phones. No wonder even deep Apple fans are disillusioned. Animojis, iOS updates, and Face ID do not justify the premium, at least for me.
My mom needs a new phone to replace her 6 Plus and I am her tech advisor. I had thought that she needs to stick with iPhone bc she is so tech-challenged but now I'm re-thinking this as lack of home button and the switch to gestures will completely rock her world.
Well it’s colours are better then a lot of Androids, and none of them can match the thin bezels the XR has, this is due to brand new LCD technology. Go and look at one yourself to see if you think it’s better.
It’s probably the best LCD screen on the market, unless your one of these people with super human sight who can tell the difference in pixels to the 8 Plus, or that the text is fuzzy.. or you use your phone a centimetre from your nose..
IMO it’s better then Aplles OLED screen, probably not the Note 9 screen though.
There are already virtually bezel less android phones out there. The note 9 has a head and a chin but there are no bezels on the sides.
I saw the phone today. I am a screen snob but just like with iPad vs. iPad Pro, the screen quality between the Xr and Max are negligible to the average customers. Yes colour and blacks are better in some photos but comparing some photos it’s hard to tell the difference between the two in the store.
However, the bezels are HUGE and dead UGLY. Compared with an edge less Samsung, the Xr looks like s toy and poorly designed.
However, the bezels are HUGE and dead UGLY. Compared with an edge less Samsung, the Xr looks like s toy and poorly designed.
I realize I may be a loaner here, but for some reason I actually like the “thick” bezels.
The phone is too big for me however, which is why I’ll be going XS whenever I decide to move on from my 6s...though there may be a new iPhone out by that time. Bezel size, however, has no impact on my preference.
To be honest I didn't expect the bezels to bother me and was caught by surprise.
Choosing between the Xr and Xs will be a tough challenge for many. While the Xr is slightly bigger and cheaper, the Xs is easier to handle one handed, has a telephoto lens and a better screen if you can tell the difference.
I held it up side by side with my One+ 6T (which is a 1080p OLED panel) and the iPhone is more yellow (One+ is more blueish) on the whites of webpages, while the text is ever so slightly more bold-looking on the iPhone due to the pixelization. That said, the iPhone XR has a pretty darn good looking screen for an 848p panel. You don't notice the yellowish tint, until you hold it up next to an OLED panel.
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I'm not normally an Apple defender when it comes to screen technology on their LCD IPS panels, but I listened via a podcast into what goes into making these screens for the XR and it is an extremely complex issue. Because of the 2.5D panels bending on the edges (something LCD panels don't like to do), the bezels that you see on the edges aren't actually fully bezels. Approx 1mm is the screen with blacked out pixels. Apparently, this allows for the bending of the screen at the edge, while preventing light-bleed. Or something to that effect. It also has 120hz touch-sensing technology.
Why Apple went through the hassle of making these screens, when they could have simply used OLED panels is beyond me, but I'm guessing that they must have saved them a lot of money??? Or, there was no way to get the number of panels needed to have all 3 phones use OLED?
I don’t know why they used LCD but my migraine wracked brain is ever so grateful they did! It took me several days to get my eyes fully accustomed to the new display from the 8 Plus display. I learned I had to change a habit and now keep my glasses on and hold the phone far from my face. But now I’m adjusted and loving it.
Inititally, I thought the phone would look fine and I do think the color options look terrific and the display looks great, but I just cannot get past the fat bezels. They look huge in person imo. I still think it's a wonderful option for the average consumer, even though I feel it should be priced about $50 lower.
I rather get the 8 plus. The Xr is seriously ugly in the hand.
When I got to try it, surprisingly the resolution was fine for me. I thought it would be more obvious because I could not stand for example the 720p display on the Sony Z5 Compact. But comparing side to side with XS there wasn't all that much difference. Maybe it's more apparent when zooming in pics etc.
The bezels are a bit big. Apple obviously wanted to have uniform bezels to keep the look and it certainly looks better than having smaller side bezels. I think they could have done more to hide them using the edges so visually they don't look as thick.
At around 300 euros cheaper than the XS it's certainly a better deal considering the compromises are not that big. Saying this as a XS owner. That said it's still a very expensive phone, you can get a S9 much cheaper over here so it comes down to how much you love iOS.
The bezels are a bit big. Apple obviously wanted to have uniform bezels to keep the look and it certainly looks better than having smaller side bezels. I think they could have done more to hide them using the edges so visually they don't look as thick.
At around 300 euros cheaper than the XS it's certainly a better deal considering the compromises are not that big. Saying this as a XS owner. That said it's still a very expensive phone, you can get a S9 much cheaper over here so it comes down to how much you love iOS.
I just can't believe how chunky they were. My friends had the product Red and the white one. They let me take it out of their cases to play with and I got some solid hands on time. It was the first time a product Red iPhone looked ugly.
Online pictures and videos don't quite capture how the frame of the device adds awkwardly to the black screen bezels.
The iPhone X notch is already a pretty ugly design. But because the bezels are so thin uniformly all around the rest of the device, it's forgivable. You can't get away with a notch and such a thick mash of screen and frame bezel. The same trick doesn't work here.
The Xr felt unrefined to me. I never thought it looked great to begin with. They were even worse in person.
Online pictures and videos don't quite capture how the frame of the device adds awkwardly to the black screen bezels.
The iPhone X notch is already a pretty ugly design. But because the bezels are so thin uniformly all around the rest of the device, it's forgivable. You can't get away with a notch and such a thick mash of screen and frame bezel. The same trick doesn't work here.
The Xr felt unrefined to me. I never thought it looked great to begin with. They were even worse in person.
What makes it uglier than the 8 Plus?
The bezels on the 8 are gigantic comparatively, offering significantly less display real estate in a much bigger phone that actually has a smaller battery.I can certainly understand when comparing to the XS but against the older iPhone design? That makes no sense at all.
What makes it uglier than the 8 Plus?
I can certainly understand when comparing to the XS but against the older iPhone design? That makes no sense at all.
The answer is simple: the Xr is that ugly.
The 8 Plus may have large bezels but comparatively, it's sleek and slim and feels premium and refined. It's the epitome of last generation's iPhone design. Apple may have used that design language to death, but it was perfected in the 8 Plus. The final form, if you will, of that generation.
I can't say the same about the Xr. At all. It felt the opposite. Thick and chunky, unrefined, hardly premium -- in fact, downright cheap. It's such a poor excuse at an "affordable" "all-screen" iPhone. It's a first-generation device, and it feels it.
It really has to be seen and held in person to get a sense of how ugly it is. Online pictures and videos don't portray the bezels accurately. As I mentioned in another post, the bezels don't just include the already thick black screen borders, but also a lot of the device's metal frame. Forcing LCD to work this way comes at a cost. It's like the bezels have bezels.
This is the best example I can find doing a quick search:
And even this doesn't do it justice.
Another reason? The 8 Plus isn't a rip off.
There's no point in getting deeper into this as I wouldn't purchase either an 8 Plus or an Xr. I'm just pointing out that if I had to buy an "affordable" iPhone, I rather go down to the 8 Plus than overpay for the pleasure of handling the chunky mess that is the iPhone Xr.
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As much as I've moved on from the thick bezel phones of generations past, I don't think I disagree after seeing the Xr in person. Although it packs a lot of new tech in it, for what I think is an okay price but not a game changer, I could just never look past the thick border, which certainly looks thicker in person than in photographs or renders.