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iPhone X So Xr’s screen is only 720p...
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You are counting the vertical pixels which is completely irrelevant. I understand how you got 62 percent now but it is a misleading figure.
I’m sure the screen won’t be awful, but I can tell the difference in resolution between the current 4.7” 326 ppi iPhone 8 screen and the 5.5” 401 ppi iPhone 8 Plus screen, so how much more noticeable will 326 ppi be at 6.1”?
The Xr looks like a really good phone for people who want the new iPhone form factor and features and don’t care how Apple is getting them there. Doing portrait mode entirely in software instead of using dual lenses is a perfectly good solution for many people. Using an LCD display is fine, even with bigger bezels, for people who want a big edge to edge display and don’t follow tech trends of display technologies. It’s a shrewd product that I think will be very popular. And while I wouldn’t call it a budget phone like the 5c or the SE, I also wouldn’t call it a premium phone given what premium means in the current cellphone market.
If you know the difference between LCD and OLED and can tell them apart at ten paces, the Xr probably isn’t for you. If you like utilizing 2x optical zoom, the Xr isn’t for you. If you just want an iPhone that does what the other new iPhones do, and you want to save some money, and you’re willing to live with a few compromises, the Xr is a fantastic phone for you.
The Xr looks like a really good phone for people who want the new iPhone form factor and features and don’t care how Apple is getting them there. Doing portrait mode entirely in software instead of using dual lenses is a perfectly good solution for many people. Using an LCD display is fine, even with bigger bezels, for people who want a big edge to edge display and don’t follow tech trends of display technologies. It’s a shrewd product that I think will be very popular. And while I wouldn’t call it a budget phone like the 5c or the SE, I also wouldn’t call it a premium phone given what premium means in the current cellphone market.
If you know the difference between LCD and OLED and can tell them apart at ten paces, the Xr probably isn’t for you. If you like utilizing 2x optical zoom, the Xr isn’t for you. If you just want an iPhone that does what the other new iPhones do, and you want to save some money, and you’re willing to live with a few compromises, the Xr is a fantastic phone for you.
It won’t be any more noticeable because it will still be 326 ppi....
Well, technically what matters is that it’s an @2x Retina display, it’s doing the reverse pixel binning trick of rendering what on an @1x display would be a single pixel across 4. With that in mind, even if you pumped up the screen’s physical resolution, it wouldn’t necessarily look better. With the plus iPhones and the oled models, they render @3x (a single pixel across 9) and in the case of the plus iPhones interpolate that to a 1080p panel, and with the oled models they have to adapt it to a pentile matrix display. Overall, if the screen resolution actually matches what’s being rendered (I will have to do some research to see if this is indeed the case) it might actually be better off than trying to stretch an @2x image to a higher resolution panel.
What “old tech” are you talking about? XR has the most advanced, fastest mobile CPU on the market. It has a second generation of the most advanced facial recognition hardware. It has the most advanced camera sensor on an iPhone (and possibly on the market, we’ll have to wait for reviews). It also has one of the most advanced LCD screens on the market. It also comes with all the exclusive features for this year: smart HDR and depth control, faster Qi charging, stereo video recording, extended dynamic range in video recording.... All of the new XS features compared to iPhone X - it has them. Compared to current iPhone tech - it is cutting-edge. Yes, based on your little dictionary definition.
So what exactly is old about it? Aluminium? No, seriously, I’m asking.
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You are absolutely correct. But to no avail, some people have decided it’s low-tech because of one insignificant number. Or, better yet, because hating Apple is a trend. Take your pick.
iPhone XR is 95% of XS for a few hundred dollars less. It will sell like crazy.
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I'm new here, but I'm really starting to be very concerned about the average brain power on this site! I mean, how many times people have to be corrected about this very simple logic?! Talk about PPIs started yeeeears ago and people still don't understand what it stands for? I'm lost...
The other poster's original post is basically correct. The XR has exactly 61% more pixels than 720p.
But all of this is rather moot since the most important determinant here is the pixel density. It's 326 ppi on the XR, just like most of Apple's non-Plus phones.
So, if you you like the iPhone 8's screen, then you'll like the XR's screen, because they have the exact same pixel density. Screen size doesn't matter.
Actually, the XR has much more in common with the XS Max than the XS.
The XS is a 375x812 phone in terms of display points. However, it displays it x3 at 1125x2436.
The Max is a 414x896 phone in terms of display points. However, it displays it x3 at 1242x2688.
The XR is a 414x896 phone in terms of display points. However, it displays it at x2 at 828x1792.
For this reason, like the XS Max, the XR gets the fancy landscape views. The XS does not.
Interestingly, like the X, the XS also does not have Zoomed Display mode, so if your age-related eyesight is getting worse, the XS may be a problem. OTOH, both the XR and Max both have Zoomed Display mode.
I can spot the difference, but I'm probably somewhere in between you guys. I think 326 ppi looks decent, but if I look for it, I see a difference from 401 ppi.
I don't think my wife has ever spotted the pixel density difference between her 6s and my 7 Plus though. However, if I pointed it out I suppose she might be able to spot the difference. I won't do that though, to keep her happy.
I am thinking of getting the XR for her, to replace the 6s.
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This is my plan. I love the idea of the Xr. I prefer 1 camera lens to keep normal/wide math out of my pictures. The battery life will be awesome. WTS, if video isn’t better than 8+.. pass.
Yes technically that's true but its highly misleading as the aspect ratio of the XR is not the same as native 720P which is (16:9) if you take the aspect ratios into account which you absolutely should be it's not anywhere near 61 percent more pixels. Also the iPhone 4 from 2010 had a pixel density of 326ppi, if you really think it's acceptable for Apple to sell a phone for 750usd in 2018 with that same pixel density then i really don't know what to say..
Being 100% accurate is not "highly misleading".
You may not like the value proposition of a US$750 326 ppi iPhone, but when you compare that to a $1099 XS Max, I think the XR is actually a much better overall value. It may not suit you, but it will suit an awful lot of people out there. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the XR turns out to be this year's best-selling iPhone.
Saying something out of context no matter how accurate can be very misleading, all those extra pixels come from the fact the XR is a long/tall phone. 720P by definition is a 16:9 aspect ratio so it's not even accurate if you want to get technical. Is this really so hard for you to understand?
This is not as straightforward as it all sounds. There is a reason that OLED manufactures had to keep pushing up the resolution. OLED is more prone to screen burn in. To help reduce this, they use non-uniform Pentile sub pixels. Everything else being equal, Pentile looks worse than Full RGB. It has a fuzziness on text and a graininess on flat areas. To compensate for this new limitation, they had to brute force increase resolution beyond what would be needed for traditional sub pixels. While this does work well, your GPU has to work extra hard to compensate, with less than expected results.
All that said, the XR is still lower than I would like. I feel that the sweet spot is around 400 DPI for full RGB and 450-500 for Pentile.
All that said, the XR is still lower than I would like. I feel that the sweet spot is around 400 DPI for full RGB and 450-500 for Pentile.
Sounds about right. There really isn't any clarity advantage of the X screen over the Plus screen at even closer than usual viewing distances. However, while 326 ppi is fine for most people, it's not the same as 400 ppi LCD.
It’s not really that it’s a 720p phone, it’s that it’s displaying the iPhones interface @2x and the resolution is basically the number of rendered pixels made real. You could argue perhaps Apple could have gone with the @3x interpolation to a 1080p panel like the plus models do (and I absolutely agree the plus models look better, I don’t think that is even debatable tbh) but really the overall resolution or number of pixels is basically irrelevant here as it’s just dictated by this retina arithmetic. It looks as good as it’s meant to and that’s equal to the iPhone 8...
Exactly, I live in Western Europe, where the iPhone Xr is sold at 859€ ($1001); the pricing for iPhone Xs is even crazier here, it's 1159€ ($1350). I am looking into buying a used iPhone X at the moment, but the second hand iPhone market where I live is not as active as the one in most major US cities, with a 64gb iPhone X selling at around 800€.
Moreover, we pay out of pocket much more often than most Americans (most Americans usually have some kind of upgrade plan with their carriers?), which is why it is often a much bigger purchase for us. Unfortunately, we don't have iPhone upgrade program or even the new AppleCare+ (the one with theft and loss option) in where I live.
Let's not forget that (most) OLED screens are "cheating" with the PPI. For example the iPhone X:
Red 324 SPPI (Sub-Pixels Per Inch)
Green 458 SPPI
Blue 324 SPPI
Diamond Sub-Pixel displays have only half the number of Red and Blue Sub-Pixels as RGB Stripe displays. At High PPI this is generally not visible due to the use of Sub-Pixel Rendering. But it is still not quite as good, as if it had the same amount.
And it seems pretty obvious that Apple was targeting a number of Blue/Red Subpixels very close to the 326ppi, which they still seem to consider to be the best compromise between energy usage and visual quality.
Red 324 SPPI (Sub-Pixels Per Inch)
Green 458 SPPI
Blue 324 SPPI
Diamond Sub-Pixel displays have only half the number of Red and Blue Sub-Pixels as RGB Stripe displays. At High PPI this is generally not visible due to the use of Sub-Pixel Rendering. But it is still not quite as good, as if it had the same amount.
And it seems pretty obvious that Apple was targeting a number of Blue/Red Subpixels very close to the 326ppi, which they still seem to consider to be the best compromise between energy usage and visual quality.
How did you calculate this number?
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So this is similar to upscaling content from 720p to 1080p?
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This is a good point. However, the hypothetical comparison between a Max and XR is very unlikely to produce the same visual observation (no difference) as between and 8 and 8 Plus. I own an 8 Plus and bought and returned a Max due to the way I reacted to the OLED screen. The difference between those screens is patent due to their using completely different screen technologies.
It’s my view the marketing of the plus phones as retina HD was not really about higher quality as much as it was about being able to watch 1080p videos that perfectly fit the screen of of a Plus. Viewing these same videos on the XR is much less satisfying based on hands-on videos i saw after the event. You get either black bars on top and bottom or the notch covering up content. On the other hand the XR is a modern phone and is has the same screen real estate as the Max albeit at a lower resolution that Apple feels still gets you over the retina goal line.
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This is a very prescient comment that nails it. It is a fools errand to focus on specs. You have to consider the totality of the product and how it looks and feels when you are using it. Since I could not get used to the OLED display on the Max, this is a truly great offering me to upgrade from the 8 Plus.
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For some people that will be the case. It depends the distance between you eyes and phone. Some people say they see a difference between a 1080p and 4K TV even though reviewers say you have to sit 4 feet away before you can perceive a differnence. Some people have much better than 20/20 visions. Put a bunch of hitters w/a greater than .300 average in the major leagues and they probably would see a difference due to their generally greater vision and visual acuity.
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No doubt about it there are trade-offs. Apple doesn’t seem to be focused on delivering the experience of a 16x9 screen, ie watching a TV. I have been out walking at night watching videos from CNN etc and it’s great. Other trade-offs are no fast charging, no optical zoom etc. Apple’s emphasis is delivering a modern premium iPhone at $750/800 with the same screen real estate as the Max w/an optimized LCD screen. A reasonable approach to be sure.
It's not calculated. It's the actual resolution posted right on Apple's XR webpage.
It's actually not that difficult for some people to tell the difference between an 8 and 8 Plus, myself included, and I wear glasses (see below).
For 16:9 1080p video in landscape mode, you will get no top and bottom black bars on the XR. The aspect ratio is exactly the same as the X, XS, and XS Max. None of those models will have top and bottom black bars in this context. The 8 and 8 Plus won't have top and bottom black bars either in this context.
The time you will have top and bottom black bars in landscape mode is if you're watching something like 2.35:1 content, so perhaps that is what you were seeing in the demo videos, but phones like the XR are actually more suited to this type of content than the 8 and 8 Plus. The top and bottom black bars would be even bigger on the 8 and 8 Plus for 2.35:1 content.
Ppi is one spec which is very important to some users, because if you can see the image degradation on the 8 from the lower pixel density, you will also see the image degradation on the XR. Text quality doesn't look any different on say the iPhone 6 as the iPhone 8 despite the advancements in LCD technology in the intervening 3 years.
The main thing is to determine if 1) If you can see it in the first place, and/or 2) If it matters to you.
1) Many people with 20/20 vision won't notice much difference, but people should remember, that 20/20 vision isn't actually great vision. It's average vision for older eyes. People who are younger often have better vision than 20/20, and people who use corrective lenses (ie. many with glasses or contacts esp. if their prescriptions aren't several years out of date) will have better than 20/20 vision.
Furthermore, the 20/20 number refers to to the ability to resolve individual pixels. This is not the only criterion with which to assess text clarity. There are others such as edge crispness one small fonts and even text colour. Very small text on an 8 can sometimes look soft on the edges, and may even show up as a less intense black (more greyish) because of the way the text is rendered.
2) Some people just won't care much, even if they do just occasionally see the difference.
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Don’t get a job in marketing fellas will you? First sign of critique and you recommend the competition lol. Doh.
For Apple is it a budget phone and they had to cut costs somewhere. There is always the X.
I would say the iPhone 7 is now Apples ‘budget’ offering and the XR is aiming squarely at the mainstream market. I think the XR is beyond their mid tier pricing so it’s difficult to refer to it as ‘budget’ IMO.
I agree. For me the valid comparison is between the screen of the 8 Plus and the XR. I have had plus phones for 3 years. Given that the XR LCD (Liquid Retina) has a lot of other improvements over the Plus LCDS, that may diminish the perception that the screen is not as eye pleasing due to the lower resolution of the XR vs. the plus phones.
I'd rather pay $799 for a XR with 401 ppi screen than $749 for a XR with 326 ppi screen. I do understand many wouldn't though.
The main problem here is there is too much of a jump in cost between the model lines.
The XR 128 GB is US$799. The Max 256 GB (since there is no 128 GB model) is $1249. That's a difference of US$450 or 56% percent. Seriously, WTF.