16 ms·
The Apple iPhone XR Review
- RubberShoes 8y ago"...is only outmatched by the more recent Mate 20 with its 33% larger battery." As a fan of OLED, it's hard to swallow this simple fact that LCD is superior in power consumption
- webkike 8y agoI don’t find it hard to swallow at all. The colors of OLED are way superior to LCD
- Dylan16807 8y agoThe hard to swallow part is that it's outputting a fraction as much light, using a simpler method, and that translates to more watts.
- danielsju6 8y agoMo pixels mo watts
- MBCook 8y agoThe OLED on the XS has more pixels and thus needs more RAM and GPU time to render, using up more energy.
- iknowstuff 8y agoIt also needs more pixels due to its pentile pixel structure which reduces perceptible resolution.
- bryanlarsen 8y agoIf your screen is mostly black most of the time, OLED power consumption is superior to LCD. I wish more apps had a dark mode.
- hprotagonist 8y agoI have one, love it, and real high on the list for why is that at the end of a busy day I regularly have 40% battery left in the bank. Put side-by-side with a XS, i'm hard pressed to find a visual difference between screens, quality-wise.
- abc_lisper 8y agoMe too. I think media has generally been unfair about XR not selling well. It is easily the best iPhone I have used. I actually enjoy reading on it; just finished a 1000 page fiction novel on it. And yeah, hacker news loads fasssst. Faster than my MacPro :)
- jefft255 8y agoI second this. Switching from a Galaxy S7, the battery life for my Xr has been amazing!
- Intermernet 8y agoOdd, I just finished a night shift in which I used my Galaxy S9 quite a lot, after a day of using it quite a lot (including wifi hotspot, camera, video, maps & navigation) and it's showing 65% battery. This is after 23 hours of constant usage. I think this may be due to both better and larger batteries in all flagship phones, as well as better power management in both Android and iOS. Or maybe I just got lucky?
- thealfreds 8y agoI have an S8 and generally have to charge it half way through the day. Going on a 1 1/2 walk while just listening to spotify will drain the battery between 18-24%. Been trying to decide between the Pixel, XR, or S9 since its been so bad recently. If the S9 really has that amount of improvement I wouldn't mind doing the straight upgrade since video/picture quality isn't a big deal for me.
- voltagex_ 8y ago
- shadowmore 8y ago"The iPhone XR is an interesting product for Apple: It is clear that it aims to be a lower-cost alternative to the higher-end XS flagships." In what world is $800 an affordable price point?
- o10449366 8y agoThey never use the word "affordable" in that sentence. They just say that it's less expensive than the XS, which is true.
- TwoNineA 8y agoAdjusted to inflation, the iPhone 4S was 722$. XR is 749$(not 800 by the way). 27$ difference, not too bad considering the technology is superior in every way to the 4S. https://i.redd.it/jclu70hbjzw11.png https://i.redd.it/jclu70hbjzw11.png
- JustSomeNobody 8y agoWhat about when you adjust for stagnant wages?
- jbarberu 8y agoTwist it the other way around. What used to get you the top of the line, now only gets you the lower-cost model.
- ceejayoz 8y ago
- danbolt 8y agoI switched from a 5S I bought at launch to an XR. I’m enjoying the battery life, although the larger screen took a bit of getting used to.
- 2muchcoffeeman 8y agoI caved and got an XR. I’m starting to like the huge screen because I can no longer idlely play with my phone.
- rubicon33 8y agoProps for sticking to the 5s for this long! I'm still rocking mine as well. Although, I just picked up a $200 Moto G6 (first android device ever) for development, but might just use it as my daily driver since even that budget android phone is an upgrade to the 5s at this point! Gotta say though, I've been so impressed with how the 5s has held up over the years, that the investment in a higher priced iPhone might just be the way to go.
- danbolt 8y agoThanks! I’m hoping that the XR lasts for the next five years (at least!) too. I get some smart remarks from others, but the end goal is to minimize the amount of rare metals consumed in my lifetime. I’ve been really pleased that the 5S continuously got updates for so long.
- jld 8y agoI wanted to love the XR, but it was too big. I’d prefer a 4.5” phone, but ended up with an iPhone X as a kind of cheaper, smaller, currentish iOS device.
- JustSomeNobody 8y agoI ended up getting an 8. I love the size and after trading in a 6s was on $399. I don't game, and as fast as this thing is, it should last quite a while.
- TylerE 8y agoI really like my XS. After getting used to the big screen on my 7+ and 8+ i find the XS a really nice tradeoff of having almost as much useful screen area while not having the formfactor of a Hershey bar.
- setquk 8y agoIt is large. Definitely a two handed phone even with my massive hands.
- maxxxxx 8y agoI would like to see an SE that’s thicker to accommodate a bigger battery.
- saagarjha 8y agoA phone as large as iPhone XR with iPhone SE's thickness would be pretty hefty…
- dkonieczek 8y agoXR user here that switched from Android after leaving the iPhone 4. The battery life is amazing. With my minimal use, it's lasting me 3 days with about 20% before I plug it in again. Great app ecosystem too. It's the little things like LastPass just being so much better on iOS. Widgets and notifications have come a long way but I still wish I could have widgets for email instead of having to manually open email. The screen often feels a bit large but gestures make it usable.
- wlesieutre 8y agoThere are rumors about a homescreen revamp for iPads in iOS 13, I wonder if that will finally allow widgets mixed in with app icons. I also wonder why it would be iPad specific given that the phones are so damn big, but that's what the rumors say.
- SlowRobotAhead 8y ago>It's the little things like LastPass just being so much better on iOS. Preach. They killed it. So very pleasant to use.
- misterprime 8y agoOh man, I'm having a much harder time with LastPass on iOS than on Android. What's an easy way to generate a new complex password when a dumb old site forces you to set a new password? It was very easy for me on Android, but feels quite difficult on iOS.
- sexyrouter 8y agoPlease enlighten me. Which one is worth buying iPhone X or iPhone XS Vs iPhone 8? - Writing this with an android phone attached to a powerbank in park.
- zdwolfe 8y agoI just got an 8 and wish I had gotten an X-series (X or XS). Spending a bit extra on something you use for hours every day is OK.
- 8y ago
- i_am_nomad 8y agoSeconding some other users: the battery life on the XR is phenomenal. I upgraded from an iPhone 6, which even with the $29 battery replacement couldn't last till the afternoon with heavy use. Now, with the XR, I've stopped feeling the need to carry a backup battery with me, and I rarely even use my charger at work. It's quite possibly the only product Apple makes today that Steve Jobs might approve of. Maybe that, and the AirPods.
- djanogo 8y agoXR is the cheapest smart phone people can buy, you have to consider cost of OS upgrades, free apps that Apple spends $ on (Screentime for parents is worth $5/month by itself). It amazes me how these professional reviewers ignore the fact that most android devices are lucky to get 2 OS upgrades, and have to wait several months after OS is released. iPhone will easily last twice as long and will get all the feature updates the hardware can support.
- handzbagz 8y agoMy Nokia 7.1 has monthly updates guaranteed for two years, is fast with a decent camera and has all the apps I need. Battery life and build quality are fantastic. All for about a quarter of the price of an iPhone XR. Not sure I agree with you there.
- majewsky 8y agoI'm considering a Nokia 6.1 or 7.1 as my next phone, but I'm concerned that it's allegedly killing background processes so that IMs don't get delivered. Can you comment on that?
- Multicomp 8y agoMy sister is non tech savvy and thus loves to complain about things not working on her phone or computer. She has a 6.1 and no complaints on that regard. .
- scarface74 8y agoTwo years compared to the iPhone 5S that was introduced in 2013 and still getting updates?
- teolandon 8y agoI can buy a Moto G6 Plus at around $260, something around the same price after 2 years, and once again something at around the same price 2 years after that. That amounts up the the price of a single XR. How is $750 considered cheap, even accounting for OS upgrades and free apps?
- CloudNetworking 8y agoSwitched from a Google Pixel (the original one) to the XR. Supper happy about the phone's quality and specially its battery. At night I noticed that the screen is not OLED or AMOLED or whatevs, the blacks are quite bright, but I don't watch movies or series on it so I can really live with that. All in all I'm very happy with the phone and it'll last me for years.
- yellow_postit 8y agoUpdated to the XR from a 6 (replaced battery) and the battery life is amazing. My biggest complaint is how fragile the phone is. The shell already has scratches and is wildly expensive to repair. I want a premium plastic body like the Lumia phones so badly on this tier of device.
- mediaman 8y agoI don't know what polymer Lumia uses, but I wonder why Apple doesn't use ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) for their budget phone cases. This material is used among other things on artificial joints such as knees and hips, as well as the bottoms of snowboards. It's very tough and scratch resistant.
- andjd 8y agoI got the XR. I would prefer a smaller phone, but none of the extra features on the XS justified paying 33% more for them. (In fact, I didn't feel that 64 GB was enough, so if you compare the cheapest models with more than that, you're looking at closer to a 50% premium for the XS). I had a 5S, and I considered the SE, but I had already started to see apps and websites that don't support the smaller screen size very well, and I didn't want to get a phone that I intend to use for 4 or 5 years that was already several years closer to obsolescence. The XR is a good phone, but it shows evidence of value engineering that you don't usually see on apple products. The larger bezels, the lightning port not being centered on the bottom of the phone, the fact that is thicker and almost heavier than the XS Max. My biggest disappointment with getting the XR was that general day-to-day tasks that felt sluggish on my 5S since the iOS 11 update . . . are still slow and sluggish. I have watched the phone take over 15 seconds to respond in any way to a tap inside Apple's pre-installed apps. I thought that iOS 11 was just too resource-intensive for my old phone, and I guess its just that Apple has forgotten how to write solid and responsive software -- which used to be one of the key differentiators between Apple and Android phones.
- xvector 8y ago> day-to-day tasks that felt sluggish on my 5S since the iOS 11 update . . . are still slow and sluggish. If you restored from a backup, try setting up the phone fresh instead. If that doesn't help, just go back to the backup.
- erikpukinskis 8y agoCan anyone explain the current iPhone lineup in a few sentences?
- 1123581321 8y agoThe new models are XR (LCD phone in the link), XS (OLED phone) and XS Max (larger OLED phone.) The 8 was last year’s LCD phone and the X was last year’s OLED phone (the first year it was offered.) They also sell the 7, which was the phone from two years ago.
- chrisper 8y agoIsn't there also a difference in Camera and other small features? Don't think it's just the screen that is different.
- jvzr 8y agoXS and XS Max have two cameras on the back (two lenses, two sensors, one telephoto, one wide angle) XR only has one (wide angle) All three do Portrait mode, although XR uses its wide angle lens and computational photography for that, whereas both XSs use their two lenses (and the subtle shift between the two) with computational photography to make a bigger resolution depth map I have a XS Max, but I'd say the XR is excellent (camera wise) and good enough for almost everyone. Let that not be your deciding factor
- cweiss 8y agoIs there an effective mnemonic for the model designations? I've heard the lineup several times and it's just not sticking. Because of this, I tend to forcibly _not_ think about the iPhone to save mental CPU cycles.
- 1123581321 8y agoIt’s messy right now. -S still means an improved version of a previous form factor (X->XS, just like 6-6S a few years ago.) X- seems to mean a curved corner screen and no home buttons (X/XS, XS Max, XR.) Max And Plus both mean a larger version of another phone (XS/XS Max, but it’s confusing because the XR also has a bigger screen.) I agree it’s not worth thinking about unless you’re really into Apple news.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- karmakaze 8y agoFor those comparing battery life with Android phones, I've noticed that location services is what always drains my battery the fastest (on Nexus/Pixel) branded phones. Turning it off or using Low power location services easily doubled battery life.
- Shorel 8y agoI disliked when the reviewer starts complaining about the thickness of the device. It has great battery life, much better than most other phones. That battery needs to be somewhere. You can't have it both ways.