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iPhone XR iPhone XR mini review - Gorgeous phone overall, but text somewhat blurrier than Plus/XS/Max
- Thread starter EugW
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Here's one pic:
These fonts actually aren't that small, but the picture is still useful because when you blow it up you can see the difference. iPhone 8 on the left, and iPhone 8 Plus on the right. (The XR would be more similar to the 8.)
Maximize the picture, and then look at the "O" and "t" in the word "Ottawa" on the left. Then look at the "O" and "t" in the word "Ontario" on the right. It's a lot more jagged on the left. Another option is to look at the "v" in the word "visiting" on both phones.
I don't actually see the jaggies in real life. However, with some small fonts, what I see is a slight blurriness on the edges of the text, due to the nature of the sub-pixel anti-aliasing. If the font is small enough, I can sometimes see the text to be paler on the 8 as well (because less of the rendered letter is solid black, but instead is composed of more sub-pixel anti-aliasing).
It's not a complete dealbreaker, but the problem here is once you've seen it, it's difficult to stop seeing it. I suspect if I used an XR full time for a while I'd get used to it again, but nonetheless it is a compromise.
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You guys must have a hell of a lot better eyesight than me. Ive been using my X and XR all day, I cant tell any difference in text sharpness.
Me either. I find the text quite sharp. And I’m coming from an 8+.
It comes down to how close the user holds their phone. The XR is unsuitable for people holding their phone 6" from their face.
We've talked about this before. Apple's "Retina" designation basically assumes 20/20 vision roughly. However, 20/20 vision isn't actually perfect vision. It's average vision, and moreover, it's average vision for a middle aged person.It comes down to how close the user holds their phone. The XR is unsuitable for people holding their phone 6" from their face.
People who are young (eg. 15-25) and people with properly corrected eyesight with glasses may have 20/15 or sometimes even 20/10 vision, which is significantly better than 20/20 vision.
Ironically, some people with really bad shortsightness may benefit from high pixel densities, esp. if they have presbyopia. Why? Cuz with standard glasses they have to hold their phones way too far to see anything clearly cuz they can't focus closer up when wearing those glasses. So what they do is take off their glasses and hold the phone 6 inches from their face. Not ideal I know though. Ideally, they would get reading glasses, or else progressives suitable for mobile devices. A lot of people don't like having to swap back and forth between reading glasses and glasses for viewing objects at a distance, however.
In my case I use so-called digital progressives, and my vision was corrected to better than 20/20 vision, with a boost area in the lenses specifically designed for mobile devices. That was a few years ago though, so I'm due to get my glasses updated.
Nice review! But I’m curious why you spent so much time on the blurry text of Xr vs a Plus iPhone. I mean the Xr is exactly the same PPI as the 6/7/8 therefore that comparison could have been done 4 years ago when the 6 and 6+ were released. Or if you wanted to compare it to Xs, it could have been done a year ago. Were you expecting the Xr to be clearer relative to the 6/7/8?
Anyway, my point is, that part seems orthogonal to a review for the Xr.
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I talked about this because I've been saying all along that the Plus models (and the X/XS/Max) are crisper for small text than the non-Plus models and I expected the XR to be similar to the non-Plus models, but then tons of people just said the XR has a better screen so it may not have this issue.
My results here confirm that while the XR is indeed a better screen, it's still limited by its 326 ppi for small text clarity. As we suspected, better brightness and contrast (vs. the 6) and better colours and True Tone etc. don't fix the 326 ppi limitation.
That said, I've mentioned many times already that I think it's fine for most people, esp. if they're coming from a 6-8 non-Plus model, and I've even said it's not a complete dealkiller for me coming from a 7 Plus. It's an important issue for me, but if next year the OLED models are still so ridiculously priced, I'd consider getting a 2019 XR model even it had a 326 ppi screen. Or I may not, and may decide to splurge and get the 2019 XS Max (or some other phone).
I understand what you’re saying, but the PPI clarity of the Xr is not exclusive to the Xr and could have been “tested” long before the Xr went on sale by comparing screens to an iPhone 6/7/8. Unless there was some potential miracle that made the 326PPI on the Xr is sharper than the 326PPI of the 6/7/8?
It just seemed out of place in the review and not relevant to a review exclusively for the Xr. For everything else in the review you did, I appreciate the time you took to do it. Sorry if I sound too critical, it was meant to be constructive!
I agree with you, and have been saying that all along. In fact, I compared the 6s vs 7 Plus years ago, and then did the same comparison of the 7 vs 7 Plus, and last month compared the 8 vs 8 Plus.
However, lots of people here just refused to believe we could extrapolate that experience to the XR as well. So, I repeated the comparison with the XR, and again came up with the same conclusion.
Agreed. I call BS. I have the X and the XR and can’t see any difference.You guys must have a hell of a lot better eyesight than me. Ive been using my X and XR all day, I cant tell any difference in text sharpness.
Just so you're aware, some have calculated that for normal viewing distances for a phone, true Retina would be closer to about 475 ppi, for someone with near-perfect vision (ie. better than 20/20 vision).
For me I'm GUESSING it'd probably be somewhere around 375 ppi or so. But at 326 ppi, it's good but not quite enough to be true Retina for me.
For me I'm GUESSING it'd probably be somewhere around 375 ppi or so. But at 326 ppi, it's good but not quite enough to be true Retina for me.
But you are wrong. Is like saying: When VGA came out you were ok with that anf you thought that VGA was great. Of course but then we were introduced to best res.
That's why today a 326ppi bothers people . We are used to higher resolutions and pixel density
You completely misunderstood my point. I wasn’t making any comments on the clarity of 326PPI, I was saying if you wanted to compare 326PPI to 401PPI or 326PPI to 458PPI like the review did, you didn’t have to wait until the Xr came out. Thus, to me, it seemed out of place to include it in the review that was meant for the Xr.
That said, now I see why OP did include it, it’s because so many people are still hung up on 326PPI...
Thanks for posting. Looking at your photo on an iPhone 7, without zooming in, the text on the right looks clearer to me, probably because it is bigger. If I zoom in to an unrealistic level (the word ‘Accessibility’ filling the iPhone 7 screen) I don’t see a difference in sharpness.You guys must have a hell of a lot better eyesight than me. Ive been using my X and XR all day, I cant tell any difference in text sharpness.
My plan was always to compare various aspects of the three new phones in person, and hopefully I’ll find time tomorrow, but in my mentally tally of pros and cons, the XR is currently out in front by a good margin.
I have to say... having used the Max and now XR, I don't see fuzzy or blurry text. I've had several people compare them as I was making my final decision and not one single person that looked (I had them look at text specifically) thought the text looked fuzzy or blurry. Granted OLED is going to have better contrast and colors a bit more vivid... but fuzzy/blurry text... Not on my XR. I do wear glasses with progressive lens if that quantifies anything for someone. 
Can't you just go into settings and make the text bigger? That's what I do and I'm on a plus. I'm a couple of notches off halfway from the smallest font size, so 5 sizes up.
Would that make the text non blurry? I assume that setting works throughout all Apple Apps on the phone. Probably not many 3rd party apps though.
It doesn’t work in Safari. Display Zoom works for everything though (on phones that have it!)
Yeap, I will with a bit of luck find an XR later today to see for myself, if not I’ll be in an Apple store next week but I’ll reserve judgment till then. I have a 6S.
I have an XS Max and got my XR yesterday. Shame for the OP but for my eyes the screen is amazing for an LCD. Everything looks crisp and I see no blur whatsoever.
But as others have said. Go and look at it yourself and forge your own opinion.
But as others have said. Go and look at it yourself and forge your own opinion.
Nice review @EugW. Also just received the XR for my wife (128GB, white). I’m very impressed with the phone overall, and currently jealous of the additional real estate she has compared to my X. Face ID noticeably faster than my X.
I do have to say though, first thing I did was look close up to see how the 326ppi looked on this screen and I didn’t think it was too bad. Could just be my vision as well, and it’s likely subjective based on the person but if I wanted to go for the XR myself the screen wouldn’t be a deal breaker. I’m quite tempted to get a blue one myself and sell my X, but I’m trying to show some restraint this year, lol, and I’m sure I’m going to be upgrading my iPad in a few weeks.
I do have to say though, first thing I did was look close up to see how the 326ppi looked on this screen and I didn’t think it was too bad. Could just be my vision as well, and it’s likely subjective based on the person but if I wanted to go for the XR myself the screen wouldn’t be a deal breaker. I’m quite tempted to get a blue one myself and sell my X, but I’m trying to show some restraint this year, lol, and I’m sure I’m going to be upgrading my iPad in a few weeks.
Yes.
If you’re fine with the 6s then don’t worry about it. The XR will be fine. In fact, overall the XR screen is even nicer than the 6s screen.
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PS. I can’t stop myself from calling it ex r instead of ten r. Ten r just doesn’t come naturally when I see it written as XR.
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