No, images look fine. Pixel density is not a significant issue at all here.
The biggest difference is with text. With big fonts it doesn’t matter but with some small fonts it’s relatively easy for some to recognize the difference if they know what to look for. The problem is once you see it, it’s hard to unsee it. Note that most (or at least I) can’t see the individual pixels on a 326 ppi display at normal viewing distances, but what can be seen is the decreased text crispness.
On the 7 the text is definitely very readable but looks softer with slightly blurred edges. On the Plus and Max that blurriness is completely gone.
Now, this is in English. With languages like Chinese or Korean, the effect is often even worse.
If you haven’t used a Plus before and if you’re happy with the 7, then you will likely be even happier with the XR. The XR’s screen has the same pixel density as the 7 but other features should be improved over the 7’s screen. However, if you’re in the minority that can consistently see the reduced text quality the 7 has, then it is likely you won’t be completely happy with the XR.
I understand what you mean. Maybe you are right saying that not having used extensively something as crisp as a X I’m not “spoiled” with the improvement. Having said that I genuinely don’t see the “softness” on my 7, everything seems to be as crisp as it can get. But then again it might be because I’ve never spent time on a X or because my eyesight doesn’t allow me to appreciate this difference.
What I feel though is that even if I would be able to appreciate the difference I would still probably choose battery life over screen resolution because of the role that a smartphone has in my life (and probably many other people’s lives). In the end a smartphone is mainly a tool to be productive, get our stuff done on a daily basis, with the bonus of being able to entertain us on the go and stay constantly connected.
Again, if we want to consume HD media properly we need to use another device that’s been made for that, if we wanna edit audio, photos, or videos properly we need other devices made for those purposes, if we wanna game properly a phone is not the right device, if we wanna read for very long time maybe an iPad would serve us better and so on. Hell even the discussion on the dual camera is marginal in my opinion because I’m sorry (any) smartphone photos are good only until you put them on a big screen to do some proper editing, then you see the limitation of a the small sensor of the phone compared to a proper full frame camera (but I admit that’s just my photographer perspective on this matter).
A phone does all of these things well but doesn’t excel in any of them, nor it should because is not specialised in any of them, for obvious reasons.
It’s an amazing object to partially sort us out on the go, but when we need to sit down and do some of those things properly, we wouldn’t use a phone anyway, battery life being one of the reasons.
To be honest I see a discussion about being picky on screen sharpness and absolutely needing OLED on an iPad at this point rather than a phone.
When boiled down is quite simple: wouldn’t you want the battery of your phone to last even longer so you wouldn’t even need to be concerned about doing everything you want and more with it and having the dilemma of “mmmmh I’m at 30% maybe I shouldn’t watch this episode of Stranger Things on Netflix on my way back, because I’m not too sure where to take the next bus” so you have to stare at the foggy window in silence waiting for the City Mapper notification?
That’s why I say battery life first then the rest, with the assumption that the rest got good enough.
But that’s just my opinion I guess.
