iPhone X Returning Xs/Xs Max and Getting the Xr...

[OTACORB]

I love my new XS.. it doesn’t blow the XR away though. Screens are REALLY close and I’ve inspected closely at an Apple Store. I am extremely tempted by XR but really enjoying a smaller phone.

This is the one thing that I've been surprised by is that the Xr while not a great deal smaller width wise, it's shorter and it just feels like a much smaller phone and I find it well balanced. I really liked that Max a lot, but it was just so darn wide and tall. I have read many say.. man I wish this phone had the OLED screen at that size, so this does seem to be the sweet spot.

 

[Harthag]

I think you will be thrilled when you get it. I too was worried about getting a bum screen. We ordered two and they both arrived flawless.

Fingers crossed for you ! Keep us posted I know you’re a screen devout

Wonder where @WilliamG stands on this.

I had the Xs Max and while everyone says that OLED display is just so great and wonderful.. the best ever. I actually prefer that LCD and returned my Max. Sure it's not as vivid in terms of colors and the clarity might not be as crisp if I am comparing them side by side. However, the text and video looks good. I do have to run my Xr in zoom mode to make the text a bit larger on Safari, but other than that it's peachy. LOL

Good luck and report back!

Thanks guys. 1st one had a dead pixel smack in the center-bottom of screen. The 2nd one is good. For those who are interested, the Belkin glass screen protectors that Apple sells actually fit now on the XR! The one for the XR is perfect, no rainbow effect / gaps at the screen edges. It covers the entire viewable area of the screen! About time Apple / Belkin...

As for the screen, it is a little cooler than my XS. Yes it gets dimmer at an angle but it's far less distracting to me than color shift on the XS. Had I not compared my XR to 4 demo XR units, I'd have never noticed or cared that mine is slightly warmer than all of them. When tilting my screen on the "settings" screen it shifts the gray parts to just a darker gray, whereas on the store units' "settings" screens gray shifts to a slight red tinge. So pick your poison re: that. I can either have a very cool screen (which I do prefer) with very slight pink shift, or a slightly warmer screen with no pink filth. I'll take no pink filth any day.

I like that the XR has landscape mode / dual pane mode for messaging like the Plus phones. Also like zoomed display but in the end think I'll leave it at standard. I don't notice any pixelation or other "issues" with the screen. Love it. The phone reminds me of the Plus but is only a tad larger than the standard XS which is great.

I'm still keeping my XS and will use both. Likely will use the XR at night for reading due to no PWM and easier on the eyes.

 

[PBz]

This is the one thing that I've been surprised by is that the Xr while not a great deal smaller width wise, it's shorter and it just feels like a much smaller phone and I find it well balanced. I really liked that Max a lot, but it was just so darn wide and tall. I have read many say.. man I wish this phone had the OLED screen at that size, so this does seem to be the sweet spot.

I was most surprised by the screen of the XR. I still have over a week to be sure of XS instead of XR. One-handed typing is nice.. & a case for ‘small’ ..tonight the boys and I took the golf cart for dinner and ice cream. Normally I’m looking for place to put the big/heavy 8+. The XS in the leather case disappeared in my jeans pocket.

I can make the case that OLED XS is a draw with LCD XR when you consider everything.. color shift especially. It’s worse with True Tone. I put the XR & my XS side by side opening many articles and the text of the XR wasn’t coming up short at all.

Love the XR but less size winning so far. Can’t go wrong with it though.

 

[thadoggfather]

I was most surprised by the screen of the XR. I still have over a week to be sure of XS instead of XR. One-handed typing is nice.. & a case for ‘small’ ..tonight the boys and I took the golf cart for dinner and ice cream. Normally I’m looking for place to put the big/heavy 8+. The XS in the leather case disappeared in my jeans pocket.

I can make the case that OLED XS is a draw with LCD XR when you consider everything.. color shift especially. It’s worse with True Tone. I put the XR & my XS side by side opening many articles and the text of the XR wasn’t coming up short at all.

Love the XR but less size winning so far. Can’t go wrong with it though.

Yes I feel like this is my first real True Tone display iPhone despite having x as well

True Tone and oled doesn’t pair well

 

[mikehalloran]

I looked at the XR before I bought my XS. I waited in case I could use the XR. Very nice iPhone but...

The deal killer on all the single-lens iPhones is pinch-zoom. To frame a shot requires two hands, a luxury I no longer enjoy.

The dual-lens iPhones do not use pinch-zoom and all camera functions can be done while holding the phone.

I don't need all the bells and whistles of an XS but it is a lot smaller than the 7+ I'd been using the last two years. Whew!

 

[PBz]

I looked at the XR before I bought my XS. I waited in case I could use the XR. Very nice iPhone but...

The deal killer on all the single-lens iPhones is pinch-zoom. To frame a shot requires two hands, a luxury I no longer enjoy.

The dual-lens iPhones do not use pinch-zoom and all camera functions can be done while holding the phone.

I don't need all the bells and whistles of an XS but it is a lot smaller than the 7+ I'd been using the last two years. Whew!

Pinch to zoom (optical) zoom is always a bad idea. Images borderline trash on any phone IMO. The 2x zoom on the XS works well.

WTS, I use zoom very rarely. In fact, I don’t even own zoom lenses for my real camera. Only primes.

The advantage of single lens (unknown extent as Apple has never elaborated on this ‘math’.. but is XR advantage IMO) is that the XR doesn’t produce images sharing data between both wide and zoom lenses.

 

[dspdoc]

Glad to see quite a few peeps here enjoying their Xr. The wife and I love ours!

 

[PBz]

For the it’s-barely-over-720 crowd.

 

[Shanghaichica]

For the it’s-barely-over-720 crowd.

It beat a 1080p display on a $300 budget android phone ....

 

[PBz]

It beat a 1080p display on a $300 budget android phone ....

You said it. 1080p. Countless here commenting how it can’t do 1080p. The XR screen is very good & people who haven’t seen it should see it before discounting. That’s the point.

 

[DNichter]

I love my new XS.. it doesn’t blow the XR away though. Screens are REALLY close and I’ve inspected closely at an Apple Store. I am extremely tempted by XR but really enjoying a smaller phone.

Yea I am surprised how close they are. I played with one the other day and it seemed totally fine, although I did notice the screen wasn't as good. I think it's so close though that most wouldn't notice. Unfortunately for me, I tend to notice things like that.

 

[PBz]

Yea I am surprised how close they are. I played with one the other day and it seemed totally fine, although I did notice the screen wasn't as good. I think it's so close though that most wouldn't notice. Unfortunately for me, I tend to notice things like that.

An advantage of the OLED is it looks like the viewing area is crazy close to the screen. No ‘depth’ of text/screen issues. This is why I can’t use glsss screen protectors as I can see that added depth really well.

 

[Harthag]

My love is short-lived, haha. I think I've got a "dingy" screen. Looks brownish toward the bottom from head on I'm noticing. Will live with it or sell it I guess. Already went through 3 XS before my good one and 1 XR with a dead pixel. Not to mention last year's X lottery and dead pixels with the 8 before that. Don't want to risk being banned.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Well, I disagree that these discussions should be removed because I think there are different things that are important to different people.

For some people, having longer battery life IS superior. For others, the LCD may be a superior choice because they can’t handle OLED. For others, the in-between size of the XR may be the perfect balance. For still others the colors may make it a more desireable choice. Of course for many, the price point is the tipping point.

Bottom line - certainly the XS/XS Max are what is to be considered, by most if not all, the top of the line, but to say there is nothing that could make this phone more superior to some is just not a fair statement.

The max still has a better battery life than the Xr.

 

[PBz]

The max still has a better battery life than the Xr.

You have source.. people are seeing similar battery life with XS and XSM. XR is 90 over 8+.

 

[UnifiedMelody]

iphone xs max user here.

battery life is an inaccurate representation to be honest. it is totally subjective to each individual user.
if you are a business person who only uses it mainly for calls and text due to the nature of work not allowing you to stream video, you'll get a ton of battery life without a doubt. on my off days my phone obviously drains more quicker because i'm engaging it consistently. on days where i have work, my phone always has a lot of juice at the end of a typical work day...

not to mention i just have a 29W brick + usb-c/lightning cable in my bag... which negates the issue of battery life. if i get near 10-20% i just plug in and don't use it for 25-30 minutes.

that being said i seen the iPhone XRs in store and to be honest i don't really like it... the fact it ditched 3D touch was the reason it had better battery life. That panel takes up a slither of mm of the actual phone which means more battery could be slotted in.

but to be honest while its a nice design for the majority that don't feel like plunking 1629++aud (the iPhone xs max 256g for me was 2049aud) on a phone, for me i use my iphone for 4k 60fps video projects and i get paid real cash for video making/editing so that makes it easily justifiable imo over the XR.

3d touch is a huge dealbreaker and for iPhone XR to omit that seemed like a dull decision for more battery life... if it did keep the 3D touch in i would be inclined to probably change towards it since i use 3D touch alot.

 

[Shanghaichica]

You have source.. people are seeing similar battery life with XS and XSM. XR is 90 over 8+.

 

[ssledoux]

The max still has a better battery life than the Xr.

The Max has a bigger battery, but everything I've read points to longer usage with the XR.

 

[biracialfamily91]

From my brother-in-law who has both, he says the XR has better battery life, but not by much he can get an extra 30 minutes on the XR vs the Max. However the XR has less pixels to push out than the Max.

 

[Sugadaddy]

The max still has a better battery life than the Xr.

Nope, I had XS Max for 2 weeks and the XR has better battery life.

 

[dspdoc]

The max still has a better battery life than the Xr.

Bullocks to that!
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You said it. 1080p. Countless here commenting how it can’t do 1080p. The XR screen is very good & people who haven’t seen it should see it before discounting. That’s the point.

Amen! People commenting that don't own an Xr or having even seen one in person is pathetic. And this thread is FULL of them!!

 

[PBz]

Any of these tests done on a phone within a few days of setting up are worthless.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Bullocks to that!
[doublepost=1541003240][/doublepost]
Amen! People commenting that don't own an Xr or having even seen one in person is pathetic. And this thread is FULL of them!!

Yes the screen is the best to ever be put on a phone.

 

[PBz]

Revisited the Apple Store today at lunch to check out the XR again. I will say it is a VERY hard decision between going XR versus my XS. I don’t care about 3DT. I do care about battery life. My main reason for going from 8+ to XS was wanting a smaller phone.

The XS does feel perfect in-hand.. however, XR is pretty close to feeling perfect in-hand. I can type one-handed with both. Tested that today. The screen really is VERY close and I kind of lean towards the XR as I don’t love the color-shift of the OLED. I really don’t like color-shift in regards to editing photos on my phone (white balance and colors). I also prefer the data from one lens. I don’t love some of the distortion I have seen from the XR. Some close-up images have some people looking weird.

It’s a tough call. If I wasn’t afraid I would drop the XR I would just put it on a CC and test it for a week alongside the XS.

Those bashing the screen of the XR aren’t credible IMO. It’s an amazing screen. I even watched some trailers on the XR in-store and I would be more than happy with the clarity/resolution.

 

[Kiddy89]

Can we talk about depreciation here for a second... personally I think the XS Max is a better phone overall but not worth the extra 450. However, most of us have bought it/will buy it outright and if you plan on selling it before the event next year (or maybe just after) which one do you reckon will depreciate more? I think if you’re making an investment which this phone is, that has to be a consideration. Would be interested to hear what people think...